It All Started With An Apple

Chapter 13

“Well, you really should share.”  She stared at me.  I swallowed, glancing from my candy bar to her.  The tone of her voice showed me that it wasn’t a suggestion.  Oh, no.  It was an order.

Oh hell no!  This was my stolen candy, and I was planning on savoring every single bite.  I paused as I was about to take a bite.  Oh gosh.  I sounded like a five-year-old.  I shrugged, deciding that my maturity didn’t really matter at the moment, and took a bite out of the chocolate, chewing it with a broad smile on my face.

My mom scowled at me.  “Let me fix my sentence,” she drawled.  “Share or you’re grounded.”

Well, wasn’t she Mrs. Sunshine this morning? 

I turned and glared at my fellow back-seat members, daring them with my eyes to ask me for some of my chocolate bar.  Kyla rolled her eyes, shaking her head while Dannon simply laughed, finding me amusing in some way or another.

“Don’t worry,” Dannon said softly, a smile turning up the ends of his lips, “I don’t like chocolate.”

Oh.  My.  Gosh.  He did not just say that.

My mouth dropped as I gaped at him, almost dropping the candy from my hand.  Someone not liking chocolate was like someone not liking to breathe!  Life without chocolate was like a star without its nebula.  Impossible and unimaginable. 

There was something wrong with me.  Seriously wrong with me.

Kyla shot me a strange look.  “Don’t tell me that you’re thinking about how it’s like to live without chocolate in your diet.” 

I paused before saying, “No,” while dragging out the O.  “Of course not!”

Kyla shook her head, leaning back in her seat and stretching out her legs.  “There’s something wrong with you,” she felt the need to inform me.

“My thoughts exactly.”

It was silent for a moment excluding the crinkling of the Hersey bar wrapper.  I felt awkward, being the only source of noise in the vehicle.  I had the sudden urge to ask for the radio to be turned on so that I wouldn’t sound so loud.  But, alas, that would require me to open my mouth—and that would only make me sound louder.  Which, obviously, would not help my case.

As though my mom could read my mind, she slammed her finger onto the AM/FM button, subsequently making the wondrous land of music and creativity bellow out of the speakers.  I sat up in my seat, straining to see what station we were listening to.  I could recognize the band.  Switchfoot.  And the fact that my family was rather religious and only listened to Christian stations narrowed down the options considerably.

“I dare you to move!” I sang along with the song, falling back in my seat and ignoring my chocolate for a moment.  “I dare you to move like today never happened.”

Kyla sang with me too despite her self-consciousness about her voice in front of Mr. Barone.  I thought the stuck-at-my-cousins’-house scenario really did her good.  Maybe she wouldn’t be such a fan-girl anymore.  Fan-girls were so annoying.

I glanced over at Dannon.  He was looking out the window, his chin resting on his hand.  There was a troubled expression on his face, like he was incredibly stressed out about something.  I wanted to ask him what was wrong, but then I realized that it was probably just the appointment that he’d missed and decided against it.  He did sound upset on the phone when he was conferring with his dad.

“Air 1,” came a masculine voice—probably Ashton’s.  “This is Ashton.”  So called that!  “That was Dare You To Move by Switchfoot.”