Crumbling Time

Crumbling Time (Chap. 6)

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6. More Changes

"Have a nice day, honey."

"I will, Mom," I called back, closing the door behind me as I left the house. Daphne was waiting on the porch, her car in the driveway, and we were about to head to school.

"Good morning," Daphne said.

"Hey," I replied, slipping one of the backpack's straps on my shoulder.

"Ready?"

"Yep. As ready as you can be for school."

We headed towards her car, and just as we stepped off the final stair from the porch, a blue-gray Chevy truck pulled up at the curb.

"Isn't that...?" Daphne said, surprised.

"Uh huh," I replied, just as dumbfounded.

It was Cam.

He stepped out of the car and leaned his elbows on the side of the hood, nodding at me.

I cocked my head. "Wait here," I said to Daphne.

"Sure," she drawled.

I walked over to Cam hesitantly. "What are you doing here?" I asked, mimicking his pose and leaning on the opposite side of the hood. I could practically feel Daphne's eyes boring through my backpack into my back.

"Just wanted to make sure you were still alive," he replied. "And see if you wanted a ride to school."

"You could've called. I gave you my number," I reminded him.

He shrugged. "I wanted to let you relax if anything had happened after I left."

"Oh. Well, as you can see, I'm okay. Thanks for the concern." I was really flattered that he came all the way over to my house to check on me. He really did care and that just made me like him more.

"No problem. And I see you already have a ride." He glanced over my shoulder.

I looked behind me at Daphne and noticed she had stepped closer.

"Oh," she said, realizing she was the current subject of conversation. "Don't worry about me. You can ride with him. I'm fine." She gave me a look that said, tell me everything later.

I nodded and gazed at Cam again. "I guess I'll take your ride, then." I smiled sweetly.

"Cool. Hop in." He got back into the driver's side.

I looked at Daphne and waved. "See ya."

She pointed at me, and said "Don't leave out any details." Then she spun and went to her car.

I got inside Cam's truck, placing my backpack on the floor between my legs and buckled the safety belt.

He started the car and pulled away from the curb after Daphne got out of the driveway. "So you're okay?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I'm not growing gills or scales or anything like that."

"That's really odd. I mean, it's good that you're okay, but it's weird that the toxic waste didn't affect you."

"My powers probably give me immunity to stuff like that."

He shrugged. "You might be right about that." He looked at me. "I'm glad you're okay."