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AMANDA BOWERS DIDN'T RIDE IN CARS OFTEN.
The main reason being because the majority of her time was either spent at home or at school and she rides Princess Sparkles to and from school. The other reason was that she didn't trust anybody to give her a ride - the only people she had known with cars had been her father (always a little bit drunk) and Belch Huggins (a dick).
And now the two adults who sat in the front two seats of the car she was in at the time.
Amanda still didn't know their names, but their faces were kind enough to trust and anywhere they take her would be better than her own house. Her only regret of agreeing to let them take care of her wounds was that she didn't have her jacket with her anymore. They would see her blood-soaked jeans, her old cuts and bruises, she would be completely vulnerable in a strangers house.
Vulnerability wasn't a Bowers family trait.
"Glad that schools over?" The woman in the front seat asked kindly, breaking the tense silence they had been in ever since Amanda had entered the car.
The three of them were cruising steadily down Main Street, further and further away from Amanda's house and further and further away from any danger she could be in. Assuming that the couple wasn't planning to kill her themselves...a part of her thought she wouldn't stop them.
Sunset was starting to become more prominent across the horizon line and Amanda, who had been admiring its beauty in her small world of ugliness, swapped her attention from then sky to the woman in the front seat. Her pretty eyes were looking at her through the rear-view mirror and Amanda thought of how she could answer the question.
"Kind of." She started, looking down at her lap where her hands were fiddling together nervously. "I didn't like most of my classes but I don't have much to do this summer. Just a summer essay and a book to read."
"You don't like reading?" The woman asked kindly, making conversation although the teenager would prefer to ride in silence. Amanda picked up the book from beside her and played with it in her hands.
"I just don't do it that often." Amanda answered truthfully, eyeing the gold embellishment of the books title upon the leather cover. "We don't have many books in our house."
"Well, if you would prefer to start with something smaller," The woman began, looking at the width of the large book Amanda brought into her lap. "We have plenty at home you could borrow. Bird-watching books if you're interested, there may be some fantasy in there..."
"Nothing like cuddling up with an illustration of the Toucan." The man driving hummed with a sarcastic smile and his wife hit him lightly on the arm, shaking her head.
Amanda managed a weaker smile as she watched the couple interact; the man's soft smile turned tight as he gripped the wheel a bit more and then looked back out at the road as they turned past the Synagogue which was just before the suburbs.
