Why Me?

Chapter 28

Noor:

            Miranda and Jerry were not officially husband and wife, so Luke and I were officially brother and sister.  It felt pretty cool, as if we were double siblings or something.

            “Are we ever gonna tell them?” I asked him as we climbed into the car to go back home.  

            “Tell them what?” he asked, confused.

            “About us being brother and sister already.”

            “I don’t think we should,” Sophia said, looking up from her phone for the first time since the wedding had ended.

            “Well thanks for your opinion, Miss Important,” I replied.

            “What’s that supposed to mean?”

            “It means I am oh so ever grateful that you provided us with a bit of what runs through that head of yours,” I said, smirking.

            “No, the ‘Miss Important’ part,” Sophia said, rolling her eyes.  

            “Well, you do seem to be pretty darn important, always on that phone of yours.  Someone always wanting to talk to you, huh?” I said, teasing her.  I could see that Sophia was getting annoyed.

            “Well compared to you-”

          “Why don’t you think we should?” Luke asked Sophia, obviously trying to change the subject before we broke out into a fight.

            “Because then we may have to explain all the Drake garbage and-”

            “Ready for the new house?” Jerry asked Luke, grinning at him.

            “Yeah, Dad,” he replied, grinning as well.  

            “Then let’s go pick up your suitcases!”  Luckily he hadn’t even finished unpacking from when they had moved here a few weeks ago, so he didn’t have much to do.  Just threw in the few things he had actually unpacked, and he was ready to go.  Jerry started the car and I turned towards Sophia.

            “So, who are you texting?” I asked her, genuinely curious.

             “Your mom,” she retorted.

          “You are?  Oh, I didn’t receive them yet, I guess,” Miranda said.  I stared at her incredulously until I realized she was just kidding.  I shook my head.  There goes to another bad joke, I thought to myself.

            “Sophiaaa,” I whined.

            “Do you really wanna know?” she asked me.  

            “Yes!”

            “Okay.  So there’s this kid in my English class and his name is Za-”

           “What the-” Jerry let off a string of words I had never imagined he would say as he slammed on the brakes to the car.  Miranda shrieked and Sophia’s phone flew out of her hands as we all jerked.  My head hit the back of the car seat as the car swerved wildly.  I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping this would end well.  I had the strangest feeling that I was falling and I opened my eyes to see just the sky looking at me through the window.  The car was leaning sideways and wobbled precariously before crashing onto its side.  The sound of shattering glass filled my ears as Miranda, who was sitting in the passenger seat, and Luke, sitting on the same side in the back, met the ground and shattered mess, gravity forcing them up against it.  After a moment, airbags came out, pressing up against us before deflating.  That was a bit late, I thought to myself.