Seth's Point of View
"Seth Waters! Where are you? You told me you were coming straight home," Kelly's voice barks through my phone, annoyed.
"I'm running late, Kells. I got detention and had to stay at the school," I say, juggling my backpack and pressing the phone between my shoulder and ear. I finally find my car keys and head out to the parking lot.
"You got detention? What did you do?"
Then I see a girl sitting in the deserted parking lot, sitting by the edge cross-legged and bent over a book.
"I was just late to class, okay? Listen I've got to go, I don't think I'm coming home right away. Text me," I tell her, hanging up before she can protest.
Instead of going to my car I walk over to wear Peyton is sitting. I stand over her and wait for her to look up.
She sighs without glancing up, "Seth, you're blocking the light."
"School let out an hour ago. What the fuck are you doing here?" She slams the book closed.
Finally she stands up and brushes pieces of asphalt off of her jeans. Then she glares up at me.
"It was quiet out here before you came along," she mutters and starts to walk away. I grab her wrist and spin her around.
"Seriously, Peyton, what are you doing?"
It was like you could see the change in her face as she let her guard down for just a second, "Bri's always my ride home."
"You're so stubborn. You could've called someone," I say, meaning myself.
"As if it's not embarrassing enough that your best friend hates you too much to give you give a ride home, you should tell people about it?"
"You were just going to sit and read in the parking lot all night?"
"It was working just fine before you came along," she sighs.
"Let's go somewhere," I insist, tugging her towards my car. She follows reluctantly, and waves her book in the air.
"I'm kind of busy."
"You already read Into the Wild at the beginning of the year," I inform her as we get into the car.
"Well, it's nonfiction and it has lots of information and dates and places, so I wanted to read it again for it to sink in. Besides, it's really well written," she defends and turns on her seat warmer. Then she realizes what I just said.
"How do you know I read that at the beginning of the year?"
I shrug, "I'm observant."
She takes a long look at my face, "Should I be flattered or scared?"
"Neither, I'm just observant," I insist. It was true, I am observant.
I'm just more observant when it comes to her.
I take a left turn at the intersection. "Where are we going?"
"You'll see," I answer.
"Do you ever give a straight answer, Seth?"
"Of course I do," I scoff.
"Why did you ditch me the summer before Sophomore year?"
I give her a surprised look, "It's in the past, just forget about it."
I cannot believe she brought that up.
"That wasn't a straight answer," she frowns.
"That wasn't a normal question. Look, we're here."
