Redeemed

Chapter Two

I closed the front door behind me and took a deep breath. The air was moist and cool--just the way I liked it. I was fuming inside, angry that I couldn't stay in my own house and that the only other place I could go was a school I hated. There was no getting around it though, and as I made my way to my hand-me-down Honda CR-V. It was silver. Uncle Caleb got it new in 2004, and while it wasn't new now, it was the thing that was most mine in the world. They gave it to me when we moved--it hadn't made sense to have a crossover SUV in the city, but out here you practically needed one to survive. One good thing about Astoria.

I slammed the driver's side door and started up the engine, turning the heat on full blast. The radio was blaring some top 40's station that I had been listening to when I took a drive around town on Sunday morning. I turned it down and gripped my hands around the steering wheel. I couldn't quite push down the tightness in my stomach--a combination of anger at my aunt and uncle, nervousness for school, and guilt for yelling at Aunt Sarah. I should be doing a better job of convincing them I was happy so they wouldn't spend time worrying about me. There were more important things. I didn't want them to think they had to worry about me, and I certainly didn't want them snooping in my business.

Not that I had any business to speak of, I thought sadly as I threw the car into reverse. Just Supernatural reruns, Superman comics, and high school angst. I resolved to apologize to Aunt Sarah when I got back from school. Not that I was going to Hobby Lobby with her--I still didn't want to decorate the house, just on principle. That didn't excuse my being rude, though.

I started down the street, but quickly slammed on the breaks when I realized that my next door neighbor was pulling out of their driveway without checking behind them.

"Gosh!" I said in surprise, the seat belt tightening against me as the sudden braking sent me flying forward. I saw the car, a bright blue sedan that was newer than mine, also come to a hurried stop. The woman on the driver's side, a pale woman with brown hair, waved at me apologetically. I shrugged and waved back hesitantly. There was a boy in the passenger's seat who peered around the woman to look at me too--the person who had almost T-boned them. I recognized him from school. He had warm tan skin, a strong nose, and wild curling hair. I thought I remembered from a couple of my classes that he was named Noah. As he looked at me through the car windows, his face split into a grin as he started laughing.

Was he laughing at me? I blushed, suddenly aware that my face was stuck in the surprised expression that I had when I realized they were backing out. I quickly rearranged my face, hoping he wouldn't remember this and make fun of me at school. I looked down until I heard their car drive off. I would have to take back roads to school--there was no way I was risking spotting them again as we drove to the same destination. No way I was giving him any more reason to laugh at me!

I had to admit, I thought in self-reproach as I got closer to school, part of the reason I didn't want him seeing me doing anything else remotely embarassing was because he was really cute.

Finally I pulled into the parking lot. The cars that filled the lot were a lot like mine--good for any weather and definitely handed down from older siblings or parents. Kids were hanging out around their cars in groups of boys and girls. As I slid out and shut my door, shrugging my backpack around my shoulders, I realized there was a group nearby made of up of some people I vaguely recognized from some of my senior-level classes.

One of them, a curvy girl with curly red hair knotted on top of her head in a messy spiral, caught sight of me. "Hey!" she called out, "Help me prove a point."

I couldn't believe she was singling me out. I looked behind me, expecting to see someone cooler and popular lurking in my shadow.

"Maggie, right?" the girl said hesitantly. I looked back, aware that I probably looked really crazy.