More than Black & White

6- ouch

Kim sat outside the back entrance of the school, near the gym. She hoped that her mom or her brother would have been there waiting but she was left alone in the warm night air.

She checked her watch. They were almost half an hour late. She checked her phone again. No messages.

She decided that she should start walking home. It wasn't terribly far but she was exhausted. She was thankful that the next day the school was closed in the afternoon for teacher development day and she had the entire afternoon free.

She reached the end of the driveway and a car pulled in beside her. Her heart leapt at the thought that it was her ride, but when she glanced over it wasn't a car she recognized so her excitement drained.

When the passenger window slid down she felt her heart skip a beat. She couldn't see who was in the car and suddenly she was hyper aware of the fact that she was alone in the dark and no one was aware of what she was doing.

"Sorry I'm late, get in." A deep voice said over the music.

She ignored him. She was not about to be the girl that got into a strange car in the dark. She looked around for any signs of life. She looked for a place she could run to if this guy was to decide to attack her.

"Kiki! I said I was sorry!" The voice sounded amused.

Her blood went cold. She immediately knew who it was.

West.

"What are you doing here?" She said, her mood suddenly shifted from scared to irritated. She crossed her arms over her chest. She was glad to have a ride but she was stubborn and was trying to decide which was the lesser of the two evils, walking home already exhausted, or getting into the car with West.

"Grey texted he got offered a second shift at the golf club and your mom is at Jack's something. So... you get me princess." She hated the amused tone in his voice.

She so badly wanted to refuse the ride but her painful shoulders and heavy backpack made her decision for her.

"Ugh! Fine!" She was mad at her self for being tired. But even more mad at the little spot in her chest that had a flutter of excitement at seeing West again.

"You don't seem excited to see me." He grinned in the light of the dashboard as he pulled out onto the street.

"Wow, that collage of yours is definitely worth the money." She said sarcastically.  She pulled out her phone and quickly texted her brother.

Dead, so dead.

"What happened to the little Kiki who used to cry when we wouldn't let her play with us?" He teased again.

"She died." Kim said tucking her phone away and settling into her seat.

"Ouch, that was dark." He said Turning the corner.

"My house is that way." She pointed. "Or has it been so long you have forgotten?" She sounded more snippy than she had intended.

"I could never forget. I just thought we could catch up a little." He said quietly as if testing to see how mad she really was.

"Why?" She asked hating that flutter that reacted to him. He wanted to spend time catching up with her? That wasn't weird, they had grown up together, right?

"I don't know, it's been a while, I just thought I would see how you are." His tone was hard to read.

"I'm fine." She said not knowing what else to do.

He drove them to an old looking shack that sat at the edge of a parking lot of an abandoned interior design store.

"I haven't had a shake from Shawnee Shake Shack in-" He started to say with a grin.