Booksmarts

chapter 009

"We live in Virginia, we can barely call ourselves southern." I roll my eyes at his sarcasm.

He shuts the door and heads to the drivers' side. A few minutes later, he pulls out of the school parking lot and proceeds to take me home. Well, we live in the same neighborhood so he's really taking US home. His hands find their way to the car stereo volume knob and turn it up, assuming to avoid the painful silence. The vehicle is soon filled with classical music. Mason's music taste often takes people by surprise, since everyone assumes from his demeanor that he would be the type to enjoy rap music or R&B. Usually I can tolerate classical music but Mason picks the boring pieces, and never the fun kind.

Is classical music ever fun?

Oh, whatever.

I pull out my phone and connect it to his car. Soon the car was filled with vibrant pop music, which annoys Mason.

"Did you just turn off my music? To play whatever the hell this is?"

"Maybe if you'd listen to fun music it'd rub off on you." I retort.

"What's that supposed to mean? Are you implying that I'm boring?" He eyes me amusingly, I laugh and say.

"You implied that your music was boring, not me. But yes, exactly. I'd rather watch paint dry than listen to you speak."

Before he could reply, I turn up the volume to drown out whatever he was going to say. He takes his eyes off the road and tries to speak over the music.

"Real mature Alinna." He shakes his head at me and turns his attention back to the road. I roll my eyes and hum along to the music. Mason was VERY used to the sound of pop music but if it wasn't from me, it'd be from his older sister Briar Cantley. A picture of her and Mason dangles from the rear-view mirror as he drives over a speed bump. Briar and I used to be extremely close when we were younger. She was five years older than me, but she never treated me like I was a child. When she headed off to NYU, it broke my heart a bit. She had big aspirations of being some big shot lawyer, and when the opportunity opened up, she packed her things and left. Briar and Mason were almost polar opposites, but they were so alike at the same time. Along with Mason, she hated this town, it suffocated her. Which always confused me, since New York would be way more cramped than a small town in Alexandria, Virginia. Ever since she left, she hasn't kept in contact with really any of us. The last message I got from Briar was last year– just her telling me that she missed me, and to not take her moving away personally.

Of course, the song she loves comes on. "Teenage Dream" by Katy Perry echoes throughout the car. A bit cheesy, but she's always loved this song since she never got the chance to enjoy her teenage years. To pay for university, she had to work three jobs, since she didn't want to rely on her parents. She's always criticized the thought of working for minimum wage, saying that people shouldn't pick up two or more jobs just to get paid enough to barely scrape by. But whenever she got home I would sit on her bed and wait for her, so I could listen to her speak on really everything. Not a day goes by that I don't miss her. I turn and see the fond look in Mason's eyes, I can tell he feels the same way. We silently sit through the song until it passes through. He finally breaks the silence.

"You know Briar is coming back home for my birthday?" He glances to see my reaction. I was pretty surprised upon hearing the news. Briar hasn't been back in four years and only sent birthday cards to us because she knows that Mason and I get very excited during those times. Since she's been gone for so long, she probably still thinks Mason and I are still friends.

"Wait for real? That's awesome! I'm glad you'll get to see her!" I force a bit of a smile. It was true, I knew how excited Mason must be to see Briar and I was so happy for him. But it stings every year when he mentions his birthday. Only because he completely banished me from his party for obvious reasons.