Don't Let Jack Drive!

Chapter Three

BETH'S P.O.V:

Despite the fact that I get to wake up an hour later than usual, don't have to put on a strict uniform and don't have to see the people who made my school life (what life?) a living hell, I still don't want to go to school. Maybe I should have unpacked my clothes last night, but that thought never occurred to me and now I have to search through the boxes that litter my new bedroom floor for something suitable to wear. Eventually, I find a pair of skinny jeans, a Nirvana tank top and a flannel shirt I stole from Alex. I walk down the hall, not entirely sure where the bathroom is. My (fully dressed) brother walks out of his room, sees me behind him and takes off down the hallway, opening the door to the bathroom and quickly closing it behind him. It locks and I try rattling the doorknob, before resorting to banging on the door.

"C'mon, Alex! I need to get dressed!" I yell, but I get no reply. Jimmy plods out of my room to see what all the fuss is about. I ruffle the fur on the top of his head and blow my fringe out of my eyes, frustrated already. I stomp back down the hallway to my bedroom to get dressed in there.

When I get downstairs, I see that my Dad has already left, but that there are a set of car keys on the kitchen counter. I pick them up, realising that they're not my Dad's car keys. I haven't seen them before. A note is stuck to the counter; I pick it up and see that it's addressed to Alex.

"Alex. I'm sorry for having to uproot you again. I hope this makes up for it. Love Mum and Dad". They bought Alex a car?! What the hell?! When we moved from Essex in England when I was six years old, we got our first dog - Spot. Now Alex was getting a car? I knew that they felt worse about making Alex move, since he had actual friends to leave behind. Since our move was my fault...

"What's that?" Alex asks, standing behind me.

"Mom and Dad bought you a car," I say, unable to hide the bitter tones in my voice. Alex's mouth drops open in shock, before he starts to laugh. I'm going to kill him.

"They bought me a car?!" he asks and I nod. Clearly.

"Yup," I reply, popping the p.

"That is awesome!" he says, still laughing. He takes the keys from me and practically skips to the door. When we get outside, there's a beaten up, black pickup truck waiting for him. Unlocking it, he jumps inside and puts his hands on the wheel. "This is awesome!" he declares. I just glare at him. "Aren't you getting in?"

"I'll be back in a minute," I say, walking back inside to grab my schoolbag and say goodbye to Jimmy.

Getting out of the car at school, I allow myself a glimpse at the rest of the kids in the parking lot. I'd been nervous - at my old school, most of the kids had been the same and I just hadn't fit in. I was too sarcastic, too honest and too weird for them. As I looked around, I had slightly more hope than I'd had to begin with. Looking around, it wasn't like an army of clones. There were kids in jeans! Jeans! At my old school, I doubted any of the students there so much as owned a pair of jeans. Here, in my outfit for today, I wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb.

It was a week into the semester and after Alex and I talked with the Principle and filled in some forms, we were sent on our way. Alex abandoned me two seconds after we walked out of the office and I found myself drowning in a sea of high school students as the bell rung. I found my way to the wall and waited it out. Eventually, there were only a few kids left in the hallway. I let out a sigh of relief and instinctively took a right at the end of the corridor. Only to run right into Jack Barakat with enough force to knock me and our books to the ground.

"Shit," I say, looking up at him. "Dude, we have got to stop meeting like this," I joke, grinning up at him.

"Are you okay?" he asks me, crouching down to help gather our things.