Up in the Air

Chapter 3

My head snapped when I turned me head to face him. "Excuse me?"

"I told you this morning that I was catching a ride home with you, remember?"

Oh, yes, you did. In fact, you yelled it right after making me wait in the car like a stupid limousine driver while you were happily shoving your tongue down your girl friend's throat.

That was it. There wasn't even a sorry for what went down this morning. I closed my eyes, took in one deep breath and rolled down my window to call Jenny and Allie over. "What are you two waiting for? Get in!"

I wasn't the kind of person who could hold a good poker face so it might as well have been written in Sharpie on my face that I was mad. Jenny and Allie knew enough about me that they stayed quiet when they entered the truck. Each of them was holding onto their school bags like it would shield them from any blow back from my anger. If I wasn't so mad at them, I would have been laughing.  I drove the truck out of the parking lot in silence.

Nate, despite our many years of friendship, had never fully grasped the idea that it was better to let me brood when I was pissed off. His tone was still inappropriately cheerful when he asked, "What are you ladies up to this afternoon?"

I sighed. "Math homework," I answered for Jenny and Allie.  They were choosing to stay quiet.

"Homework? Really? We're two weeks into the year, we don't have that much homework," Nate scoffed.

"We have AP Math. We got homework on the first day and every day since then." No need to mention that I also had AP Chem, AP Physics and AP English. My only non-AP subjects were History, French and my Creative Writing elective.

"Really? So that just means you're done with Geometry, right? I skipped on it last year for that Environmental Science elective Mr. Gershwin offered. This is great! You could help me out just like the good old days."

Because he'd begun rummaging around in his backpack, Nate stayed oblivious to Allie's nervous squeak, Jenny's widened eyes and my flaring nostrils. He pulled out his math notebook to show it to Allie and Jenny.

"If you two ladies don't mind, I'm sure it'd be OK if I borrowed Sara here for thirty minutes or so, right?" He flashed them one of those smiles.

Jenny and Allie, for all the teasing they'd done to me about how I easily fell for Nate's good looks and movie star smile, were now nodding their ponytailed heads off. Traitors.

Nate had dark blonde hair cropped close to his head so it wouldn't get messy when he had his football helmet on. Apart from functionality, it showed off his strong jaw and hardlined, symmetrical features. His green eyes were so dark that a few people thought they were black and he had a smile capable of lighting up the New York City skyline. He was just as tall as Daniel but he had the lean muscle of a star quarterback. To top it all off, the idiot had an unlimited reservoir of charm. He knew how to play each and all of the cards he'd been dealt.

I still sometimes got sucked in even after years of being friends with the guy so I couldn't fault Jenny and Allie for falling for his charm and his smile in the confined spaces of my truck. It didn't, however, stop my anger from swelling up. Channeling it by irrationally and dramatically slamming on the breaks would not be wise since we were in the middle of ongoing traffic but screaming seemed like a good, solid second choice.

"They might not mind but I do! Is that what I've been reduced to now – your homework helper anddriver?"

"Jesus! Calm down, woman. Indoor voice, why don't you?" Nate joked then he turned to actually face me. Nate wasn't fazed by my screaming – I'd screamed at him too many times over the years for it to have any effect – but it was the blotchy, angry red hue of my cheeks that got to him. He blinked and was quiet for a while.