Me and the Gretchen Boys

Chapter 7: Hand in Hand

The character list-

~Mr and Mrs.Gretchen
~Lucas (the college student with blond hair)
~Noah (the adorable one)
~Shawn (the smart one)
~Lance (the one who talked about Carmen's flaws)
~Dontae (the angry one who doesn't  like Carmen)
~Justin (the nice one who is friendly)
~Christian( the one who made a grand entrance)

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   To keep a long story short, Christian refuses to drive until I sit in the front with him.

"For the love of God, can you just drive!" Lance shouts angrily ready to pounce him at any second.

"No can do. Not until milady in the second row accompanies me in the front," Christian responds playfully bowing at me.

I am seriously not in the mood for his antics! I take a slow deep breath in and get up from my seat.

I feel Justin put his hand on top of mine and he says, "You don't have to do this."

I look at his empathetic gaze and can feel his hand tighten around mine.

"Your acting like I'm about to go off to war or something," I joke.

    Justin let my hand go and I climb out of the car. I wait for Dontae to get out of his seat so we can trade places. He scowls at me abruptly opening the door almost hitting me!

I take a deep breath and look over to Justin who looks like he is about to say something. I shake my head 'no' at him and climb into the passenger seat with my arms crossed.

"That's more like it!" Christian exclaims staring at me with those green eyes and adorable dimples. NO! NO! NO! Now is not the time Carmen, get a grip!

"What are you mad at me?" Christian asks getting all in my face.

"Can you please stop flirting with your next victim and drive," Shawn says not lifting his head from a new book he is reading. I smile knowing this is Shawn's way of saving me from Christian. I can see straight through your facade now Shawn. With that, we go on the road, and Christian wastes no time or try to start a conversation with me.

"So what was your school like?"

Unintentionally being sarcastic I answer, "Public."

This earns me a gut-busting laugh from both Christian and Lance. I can also hear Justin snicker, Shawn quietly chuckle, and a cute little giggle from Noah. I look back to see that even Dontae has a little smirk on his face that he's trying to suppress.

I am embarrassed at first, but I realize that this is a good thing if I want my relationship with the boys to progress. Score, me!

"Ok Ms.Public, better question what was your old school life like?" Christian asks out of breath while wiping a tear away.

Before I could even think about what I am about to say I feel my mouth moving on its own and the words just sliding out.

"To be honest I used to be a popular student. I had a lot of friends, well I mean acquaintances. Yeah, that's a better word for them. I was actively involved in school activities. I was a straight-A student and the teachers absolutely loved me."

I pause knowing that the next words that fall out of my mouth will leave me bare with nothing to shield me from their responses.

"Something happened that changed my life. I had to resign from all school activities and I fell behind on all of my work. My popularity overall decreased tremendously, All because of that one event. It's funny how in a snap everything can change."