keep driving // max mayfield

02

"Thank you for picking me up"

Jonathan parked the car in the schools lot.

"You're welcome," He said, "Now get out, I've got to go to work."

I grabbed my bag from the backseat and got out. It was 9:12, so I had two choices, go to science class late and get yelled at, or skip first period all together. Fuck it I need to get an A this year. I walked towards science class.

Deep breath. I opened the door to class and kept my head down. Mr. Marks was writing something on the board so I beelined for an empty seat in the back. I spotted Robin and she gave me a confused look.

"Later" I mouthed to her.

I quietly pulled out my desk chair, being careful to stay quiet. I sat down and immediately made direct eye contact with Mr. Marks. Fuck.

"Ms. Ryker! How lovely of you to bless us with your presence." He said.

"Always a pleasure sir."

He grabbed a stack of papers from his desk and walked towards mine.

"Why don't you do us all a favor and pass these out." He said, slamming the papers on my desk.

Cunt.

---

When first period was over Robin rushed me out of the classroom and into a bathroom. She slammed the door and grabbed onto my shirt.

"Okay, handsy"

"Where the hell were you?!" She asked me in a panic.

"Calm down, I was just late."

She dragged her hands down her face. "Ughhhhh!"

"What the hell happened the literal 30 minutes I was gone?" I asked.

She took a deep breath and begun, "So, Steve had the brilliant idea to make me talk to Vickie, he says that apparently I can't date her unless I talk to her and so I said that makes sense, but then when we went up to talk to her she was SOO flirting with him and he wasn't flirting back but-"

"Robin, Robin" I said grabbing her shoulders to calm her down, "Vickie was not flirting with Steve because Vickie is gay. Gayest woman I've ever seen."

"How do you know??" Robin whined out.

"Robin she wears Doc Martens."

She laughed, "I know, I know."

I turned Robin around and walked her out of the stall.

"Okay heres our game plan, next time you grow a pair and decide to talk to her, do it ALONE."

We went into the hall, "See look at Eddie, see how he so seamlessly flirts with Mrs. Smith"

Robin laughed, "Yeah I heard he's very into the whole decomposing old woman look."

"Oh yeah aren't you?"

"Completely." She said laughing.

We walked through the hall with my arm around her shoulder. We got dirty looks a lot. No one knew about her being gay but the sight of two girls who'd never had boyfriends being so close didn't go over well. As we walked Robin ranted about her classes and Vickie and whatever bullshit she was overthinking. Robin is the kind of person that no matter what you're talking about you're happy. She had an energy about her that comforted everyone.