A Gang of Our Own

Chapter Twenty

On Thursday I was waiting outside of school for Cory to pick me up for our lunch date. He pulled up in his beat up truck and rolled down the window, the ones you have to use the crank.

"Hey, pretty lady!" He said as he winked at me.

"Hey, handsome!"

"Ready to go?"

I leaned against the truck and pecked him on the lips. " Sure, babe." I said as I ran around the front of the truck and to the passenger's side.

"How's your day been?"

I groaned and rubbed my eyes. I didn't worry about smearing my eye makeup, since I convinced Blair at school this morning that I was tired of looking like a raccoon.

"That bad, huh?"

"Remember Mr. Rhodes?"

Cory wrinkled his nose, trying to remember as he pulled out of the school's parking lot. "Yeah?"

"Well the old troll gave me after school detention today."

Cory laughed. "What'd ya do now, Avery?"

"He was being a jerk!"

"Are you sure or were you overreacting?"

"I was not overreacting."

He looked at me with an expression that said "Are you really sure?" He looked at the road. "How was he being a jerk? Give me details."

"OK, fine. You want details, here you go. I'm on my freaking period and need to change my girl stuff every hour."

Cory almost swerved off the road, surprised at my bluntness. "Ok?" He said cautiously.

"So I asked him ' Mr. Rhodes, may I please use the restroom.' He glared at me and told me he was in the middle of a lesson and I would have to wait. So, I bit my tongue and waited until he was done. When he was done, I asked him again if I could use the bathroom. He just looked at me for a moment with a disapproving look and told me no. I said,' Please let me go, Mr. Rhodes. It's an emergency.' I lowered my voice and said 'a girl emergency'. He told me that wasn't his problem, but I needed to sit down and do my work. He looked back to a stack of papers on his desk and began grading them. That's when I ripped the pen out of his hand and said 'Let me rephrase that. I am using the restroom so the janitor won't have a bloody hell to clean up on that chair.' And then I left the room."

Cory was laughing so hard he bounced his head off the steering wheel. "You said that? Avery, this is why I love you."

We pulled into Texas Roadhouse and sat down at a booth.

"How often do you come here?" I asked him.

"Oh, all the time."

"Well guess what?"

"What?"

"I'm going to be working here. "

"You are?"

"Yeah. They told us we could start on Monday, but it will only be for a few days. I guess two of their workers won't be working for a little bit and they need a little extra help to pick up the slack."

"Us?"

"Triston will be working with me. He's going to be my ride too."

"Triston?"

"Yeah."

Cory stared at the menu, but his eyes weren't moving so I knew he wasn't reading.

"Cory?" I asked. "Are you ok?"