Bad Things

Chapter 3

Three
☢☢☢

For the first fifteen minutes, Jay had me clinging onto him like a koala to a tree while he overtook everyone in front of him. Amidst all my screaming, in the depths of my mind, I decided I wouldn't do something like this ever again, putting my life in danger because I was nearly suffering a heart attack. My eyes which were squeezed shut started watering out of fear and I was finding it impossible to breathe behind him. The wind slapping against my face, plus my hyperventilation was doing an extremely coordinated job of suffocating me.

I wished he'd given me a helmet. But he wasn't wearing one himself.

The next half of the ride, he slowed down but that didn't mean he drove at a decent speed. He was still mad and I was dying. Clenching my teeth tight together, I kept my cheek pressed against his back, my hands locked together as firm as I could. At least, he told me that. Otherwise, I might have been rolling on the side of the highway, late at night.

After moments that felt like a lifetime, the bike came to a halt. I was literally panting behind him and I kept my eyes shut for long, taking my time to collect the pieces of my soul that I'd left behind all along the highway. Jay turned off the engine and then he chuckled.

"You're mad," I grumbled at him and he chuckled even more.

I tightened my arms around him, pressed my forehead against his back and took two-three deep breaths again, giving my heart a chance. Only after that could I hear the noise around me. People everywhere. Music. Stereo boxes. Party.

"Are you ever letting go of me, Lola?"

I opened my eyes, disentangled my hands and got down from his bike. I looked around and there were people everywhere. For a moment, I wondered if this was a party but it didn't look exactly like that. At my right, I saw a long deserted street.

"Lola! Are you okay?" Vanessa asked me once she got down from the bike.

"Yeah. Still in one piece."

With an amused smile, Jay lit another cigarette and holding it better his thumb and forefinger, he sucked it hard and then, turned to the other side to blow off the smoke.

Looking back at me, he gazed straight into my eyes and said nothing. His prominent Adam-apple moved as he swallowed and he simply stared at me like he was trying to guess my personality, read my past, predict my future. In an attempt to avoid his gaze, I looked around me to the huge crowd of gangsters or racers, their cars and bikes parked all around the road.

"Where are we?" I asked Jay.

"We're at the outskirt of town. The Ghetto's just a mile away from here," he said, motioning his head towards the crowd that was blocking the road. I figured it leads to the Ghetto.

"What are we doing here?"

"What else would we be doing here? We're just hanging out," he replied slowly with an air of infamous confidence about him, turning his chin up and looking at me like I was a very small, terrified little ant. "Are you afraid? Lola?"

I didn't answer. I could be more than a little worried but I had no plan of telling him that. I pulled my jacket tighter to my body and braced myself against the wind coming from the empty side of the road.

"You could get carried away but you're brave," he added.

Behind him, I saw a girl with piercing on her blood-red lips, boyfriend jeans and a cropped cami top, stalk towards us. She had very straight blonde hair with a red scarf tied around her forehead.

Coming over to Jay and leaning close to his face, she asked, "Who's she, Jay?"

He looked at her face, almost kissing her, and before putting his cigarette to his lips yet again, answered, "A girl from the college."