Don't Let Jack Drive!

Chapter Five

JACK'S P.O.V:

As I'm walking into school, I see Alex and Beth arriving in Alex's pickup. I walk over to them, standing at Beth's door and grinning at her already. When she turns around and sees me, she lights up instantly. She jumps out of the truck and slams the door shut, smiling at me and waiting for Alex to walk around. He's wearing sunglasses, which is weird - since it's not a particularly sunny day.

"Hey, man," I say to him. I thought since last night, we would at least be on speaking terms, but no. He just ignores me and walks straight into school.

"What's up with Alex?" I ask Beth, but she shrugs.

"He came home like this last night. He said it was because he was kicked out of his old band, but I don't know," she tells me.

"He's in a band?" I ask, slightly surprised.

"Well, he was,"

"I saw him last night. He was waiting around for somebody, so I took him to work with me so he could wait inside," I tell her. She pulls her bag over her shoulder and bites her lip.

"Who was he waiting for?" she asks me. I look at her and frown, trying to remember if I heard the guy's name.

"I don't know," I answer as we walk into the school.

"Oh,"

"He seemed mad last night, when he left,"

"He was pretty upset when he came home. But I couldn't get him to talk about it,"

"The guy asked me to look after him,"

"What?"

"Alex, I mean," I clarify.

"That's weird. I just wish I could get him to talk to me, you know? I mean, he's my brother. I've only got one of those left," she says quietly, looking at the ground.

"Are you okay?" I ask.

"Yeah. It's just some old stuff..." she says. Is this what Alex meant yesterday? When he said they were arguing over an old issue? I don't ask, because I don't want to upset her. I like being the guy who can make her laugh and smile.

"Are you excited for Friday?" I ask, changing the subject. "I know I am," I finish and her grin quickly returns.

"Yup! Can I ask where we're going?"

"Nope!" I say, laughing a little. In reality, I didn't have much of a plan, but I was hoping on Marc getting back to me today to let me know if things would work out. I just hoped he'd tell me before lunch. Because I'm not very good at keeping secrets and I didn't want to tell her and get her hopes up if it wasn't going to work out. We were walking down the hallway towards our lockers when I saw Marc at the other end. I caught his eye and gave him what I thought was a subtle look. He just nodded back enthusiastically. It was all I could do not to literally jump for joy.

"Who's that?" Beth asked.

"Who?"

"That guy you're grinning at, while he nods repeatedly," she replies. Damn, she was good.

"Nobody," I say. I'm a very bad liar. I don't like to lie. She gives me a sceptical look, before turning to her locker and turning the dial. While she's not looking, I give Marc the thumbs up, but I'm distracted by the sound of Beth hitting her locker as hard as she possibly could. I jump and whirl round to look at her. "What the hell?!"

"Stupid fucking locker!" she says, punching it again in between every word. I look at her as if she's gone nuts and so does everyone else in the hallway, who are all slowing down to stare at her.