she's mine.

4

"This is a pretty nice car," I looked around. Impressed that someone with no parents could afford it. Maybe they were living with rich relatives.

Jake glanced in his rear view mirror at Lea, they seemed to share an understanding look, but all he said was, "we like it."

"What kind of food do you like?" Lea changed the subject.

"I'm not too picky," I said. "As long as I have some dark chocolate throughout the day, I'll be fine."

"Dark??" Jake wiggled his nose at me in disgust.

"Dark is the only way to eat chocolate!" I defended.

"Don't mind him," Lea laughed. "He would live off of packages hot dogs and raw ramen if we let him."

"You eat raw ramen and think you can talk to me about my love for dark chocolate??"

"Hey! I like the crunch!!"

We all laughed as Lea grabbed the aux. She put on some upbeat music (which may have surprised me a little- nothing goth about her song choice) and we sang out the windows to the pedestrians in the streets the rest of the way.

I stuck my head and arms out the window, letting the wind tangle my dark hair screaming to Salvation by The Strumbellas to anyone who would listen. They both laughed and I redirected my singing in their direction, giving them a show. I whipped my hair from side to side and played air drums embracing every bit of freedom I had in that moment.

Lea rolled in the back seat laughing as Jake blushed when I sang directly at him. I was on top of the world by the time we pulled into the diner parking lot.

We all tumbled out of the car and into the diner. I, of course, was still showing off my epically pitiful dancing skills when Jake caught me by the wrists pulling me into a booth. "Shhh! You're embarrassing me!" he teased.

"You do that on your own, Jake," Lea was unbothered by my dancing skills that looked more like a flopping seal than they did dance moves.

"Wait here, I have to order." He said to both of us. He turned back around in a split second though and looked at me, "I almost forgot, what do you want?"

"Oh it's okay, I'll eat at home."

"Raina," he said in an unarguable tone that reminded me, not unnoticeably, of his older brother.

I let out a sigh. "A burger with sweet potato fries if they have them."

"Cheese?"

"Yes, please," what kind of question was that?? I was no fool.

He smiled his Jake smile, turned, and headed for the counter.

"Why didn't he ask you for your order?" I looked at Lea.

"He already knows what I like," she smiled at me. "So how old are you?"

"17," I said, and when she gave me a questioning look I added, "I know, I'm young for my grade. What about you? You're in a creative writing class for seniors, how'd you pull that?"

She blushed and looked down, obviously embarrassed by her smarts. Wish I had that problem. My father used to tell me I was wise beyond measure; I guess wisdom didn't help in calculus.

"I like to write," she said as if it were a bad thing.

"Really? What do you write? I would love to read something some time," I encouraged.

"I don't write so much anymore," she looked out the window at nothing in particular, but something made me think she was remembering her parents. "I used to write a lot."