"Hey, the bus is leaving!" Ana calls, her arm dangling over the open door, the two front windows already open to catch the slightest cool breeze that might come through the parking lot.
"Yeah, I know we're coming!" Freddie calls back, muttering about her lack of patience.
"Ana is giving both Jade and I a ride today," I comment, glancing behind me for my sister.
"Oh, really?" Freddie tries to appear casually interested, but the kid can't lie for shit.
"That wouldn't have anything to do with your sudden need for a ride too, would it?" I ask.
He tries to look shocked, and maybe a little insulted by my line of questions but the only real emotion conveyed in his gaze is guilt.
"Of course not, I don't need an excuse to spend extra time with my buddies." He gives me a dorky smile and puts his arm around mine.
I snort but don't comment on the obvious evasion of his true intentions.
"She's gonna chew you up and spit you out man. Trust me she's not the type of girl you gon walk away from whole."
He opens his mouth to comment and then closes it. From the sly look in his eye, I feel like he was about to make some form of an inappropriate joke, but held it back, which I'm thankful for. I'm not sure if I would have punched him, or thrown up.
We approach the car, where Ana is turned sideways in the driver's seat, her back to the passenger door and focused on her phone. Freddie whacks my arm and crouches, making weird hand gestures in an attempt to quietly communicate with me. I raise an eyebrow and shrug noncommittally, unsure what the hell he's trying to say. He waves in a never mind gesture, the first one I actually understand. I approach the car and Ana turns to see me making my way towards her.
"Where's Jade at?" Ana asks, glancing up from her phone when I lean on the open door.
I shrug. "She should be coming soon, I saw her um, picking something up from... umm, the front office." I manage, focused on the appearance of one upside-down leg outside the cars passenger window.
She glances at me with a raised eyebrow, probably wondering if I hit my head at some point during the day. I try for an innocent smile.
"Where's Freddie? I thought he was with you."
"He went back inside, he said he forgot something," I say, watching him shimmy his narrow ass into the car. "He probably went to embarrass himself in front of Jade some more."
Freddie's hand appears, doing a very common hand gesture for fuck off. I snort and pretend to cough to cover up a laugh. Luckily Anastacia is still focused on her phone, not looking over her shoulder at the white boy halfway into her car.
"Hey guys, thanks for waiting," Jade says as she joins us, slightly out of breath as she brushes a hand next to her ear as if to push her hair back, a reflex from when it was longer.
"Don't even worry about it," Ana says with a reassuring smile, pushing her phone into her pocket, and continuing without turning around. "Freddie, the doors are unlocked, you know that right?"
I hear a groan of frustration and his red face appears, as the rest of his body slides into the seat.
"How'd you know?" He asks as Jade and I slide into the backseat.
"I'm sorry to have to be the one to break it to you, but you're not the stealthiest person alive," Ana says, buckling her seatbelt and starting the car. The car starts and Ana turns on her mini speaker and plays Mac Miller. She's been listening, good for her.
"So, are y'all going to homecoming?" Freddie asks as Ana pulls out of the school parking lot.
"I might," Ana says. "Probably with the girls and Strella."
Freddie looks to me expectantly and I shrug. "I'm not sure. I haven't really gone to a lot of the dances." I'm not one for dancing or being surrounded by a crowd. Dances are alright if you have someone to go with, but I've yet to find someone I'd enjoy going to a dance with. The chances of me going to homecoming are slim at this point.
"What about you?" Freddie asks, glancing at Jade.
She shakes her head and makes a face. "Most definitely not. The couch is gonna be my date, dances aren't my thing at all." She throws her head down to look at her phone.
Freddie nods, feigning casual indifference. "Yeah me neither. I don't really do dances."
I raise my eyebrow, recalling a couple days ago when Freddie kept talking about how he needed to find a date and rambled about the songs he planned on requesting. Ana catches my eye in the rearview mirror and I try to keep from laughing as I say, "Um, buddy didn't you say the other day you were looking for a date to the dance?"
He turns to look at me, a shut the fuck up look that only spurs me on.
"I could have sworn you were planning on going," I say.
"This is the first I've heard of an aversion to the dance," Ana adds, and I can hear the smirk in the lilt of her voice.
"Really?" Freddie exclaims in exasperation. "Both of you?"
Jade nudges me and when I look she mouths leave him alone, though she's trying not to smile as well.
I pretend to gag and she shoves me, drawing Freddie's attention again. His gaze lingers on Jade and I can't help myself; I whack him upside the head.
He flinches slightly and mutters "I deserved that."
Ana pulls up to the curb at the edge of the crumbling sidewalk bordering my house and we call out thank you as Jade and I get out and Freddie says, "Thank God," running a hand through his hair.
It doesn't escape my attention that Jade's gaze lingers on Freddie as the car pulls away.
______
A hush has settled over the house after dark. Mom is working late, so we had cereal and french fries for dinner - a combination dreamed up by Amari, who is currently napping curled up next to me with his head on my lap, like a cat. Jade, as per usual, has her legs draped over the arm of the chair she's sitting in and a cereal bowl filled with ice cream in her lap.
"It was nice of Ana to drop us off today." She comments and I tip my head to the side, wondering what her angle is.
"Yea, she's pretty casual about it, she doesn't mind dropping me here sometimes."
"You guys have gotten pretty close." The way she states it, it's not a question.
"Jade what are you getting at?" I ask finally.
She shrugs, still looking into her ice cream. "I'm just saying, you're what we girls would call a heartbreaker. Worded nicely of course."
I roll my eyes, brushing a hand over Amari's head. I want to argue, but I don't exactly have the cleanest relationship track record. I've made mistakes, like anyone, and some rumors that circulate the school are less than true, but not everyone knows that.
"What about you?" I say, tired of her nagging me about Ana.
"What about me?" She asks, giving me innocent eyes, and I snort.
"You weren't exactly denying Freddie when he was coming onto you."
"Is that what he was doing? I thought he was having a stroke and I wanted to be polite and not mention it."
I roll my eyes again at her sarcasm. "I'm just saying, you're not the most innocent person, so it's rich for you to come at me about Ana."
"Let's drop it." She says abruptly. "I get what you're doing, I'll drop it."
I dip my head in acknowledgment, and we fall back into companionable silence.
YOU ARE READING
Salted Wound
Teen FictionAnastacia Flores doesn't live a perfect life, but she pushes herself into her education to have a bright future and become a teacher. She is loved and supported by her family, her boyfriend, Luis, and her best friends. Zamari Sabian is a deviant wh...
