Crush

Chapter 4

     As the car slowed next to me, I sighed and laughed, stopping in my tracks to see what they wanted.

     “Heeeey Alley!” Maya exclaimed from her window, “What are you doing out there?”

     “My mom had to go to work early this morning so I have to walk to school,” I said, stepping a little closer to the passenger seat.

     “Oh, bummer,” Maya said smiling wide.

     “Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked, utterly confused.

     “You really think your mom would let you walk like 10 miles to school by yourself!?” she asked with her eyes wide.

     “Uh, I don’t know? It’s only like 2 miles. It’s not that bad.” What was she talking about?

     “She called us this morning asking if we could come pick you up,” she said cheerily, “Hop in!”

     “Really?”

     “Yes, really!” she laughed, “C’mon silly, get in!”

     I stood there for another moment, grateful for the amazing mom I had. Then I came back to reality and opened the back seat door.

     The car’s paint was a deep charcoal gray, and the interior was black on black. It smelled of pineapple and some other fruit that I just couldn’t pinpoint. I looked around as I put on my seat belt; this was a brand new car!

     “Uh, sorry for asking, but did you guys get a new car??” I asked slowly.

     “Wow, you noticed!” Maya said, “See mom, I told you she loved cars.” She turned around in her seat to look at me. “I told my mom you really liked cars, and I bet her that you would notice we got a new one, but she didn’t think so. After all, it’s kind of hard to notice, right?”

     “Yeah, you know me and my cars. My mom tells me I got it from my dad,” I said looking down, “But anyway, it’s pretty nice.”

     “Thank you!” Mrs. Carter said, looking at me in the rear view mirror, “Maya picked it out. We just went shopping this past weekend.”

     “I love it!” I exclaimed, giving them a bright smile.

     After that, Maya returned to her normal position and put her seat belt back on. The rest of the ride was pretty silent. I just stared out the window, admiring the scenery as it passed. The only thing I really liked about Oregon was the beautiful views. Mostly everything was green and there were bright flowers sprouting out from the grass everywhere you walked. There were tall evergreen trees and small shrubs scattered throughout the whole area. All in all, it was really beautiful and amazing.

     In a few minutes, we had finally made it to school. Maya and I hopped out of the car at the same time.

     “Thank you Mrs. Carter,” I said before closing the car door.

     “Anytime Alley!” she called.

     Maya and I rushed into homeroom right as the bell rang and took a seat in the very back of the class.

     “Alright class, get out your books, the problems up on the board are due by the end of the period,” Mr. Keith announced, going back to sit at his desk.

     “This is so unfair!” Maya complained, “He’s just too lazy of a teacher to teach us anything so he gives us problems to do out of the book. What kind of crap is that!?”

     “I know, this blows,” I said, pulling my cinder block book out of my backpack.

     I flipped through the pages, and when I finally reached the right one, I groaned.