Two's Company

4. The happiest person on the planet

Andrew slammed his locker door shut. "So let me got this straight. You went to the school's most popular girl's house party who also happens to be your brother's ex-girlfriend and hates your guts. Then you dragged your half-conscious brother to th car only to for it to break down and then you got into a car with a complete stranger who not only happened to know your name but also your address?"

"Yup." I said.

"You are by far the smartest person I know and it never occured to you to not get into a car with a complete stranger in the middle of the night?"

"Hey I told you there was nothing else I could do."

"Whatever you say." he said skeptically. "Who's that?"

He pointed to the girl a few feet away. It was Dri. She wore a pink t-shirt and paint splattered jeans. I went up to her.

"Hey Dri." I said.

"Kara hey!" she beamed. "Who's this?"

I introduced them. Andrew asked her out and she snorted and said no. He looked confused and I grinned widely. I loved this girl.

"Kara, you left your phone in my room the other day." she pulled my phone out of her bag. "I tried to follow you but you already left. I didn't know where you lived so...."

"That's okay. Thanks." she smiled.

"So Luke Stratford is really your brother?"

"Uh huh." I said. "Why? Do you know him?"

"Well, kind of. I mean-"

The bell rang and I said goodbye to Dri. We took different classes so I headed off to English and she went to chemistry. I took my usual seat in the 3rd row and took out my books. Somewhere in the middle of the lesson, I looked behind me. Sure enough the guy who drove me home was sitting a few seats away with his head buried in the book. When the bell rang, I stopped him outside the classroom. 

"Hey wait."

He turned and shrugged. "What?"

"Don't your remember me?" I asked.

"Girl with the passed out guy on Saturday night." he said leaning against the wall. "Oh I remember you."

"How'd you know my name?"

He shrugged, "You told me."

"No I didn't."

"Well then maybe I heard it in class or something."

I doubted it. I rarely participated in class discussions. But I let it go. "Okay. Then how did you know where I lived?"

He tensed. "You told me."

"No I didn't tell you. I just directed you to the street I lived in. How did you know the house?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. You told me your address." he said. "Your house was also the only one on the street that had a car missing."

Not true. I had already looked around that night to see if there was another car missing on the street. He was clearly lying. "You're lying." I said as the bell rang. He merely glared.

_

I sat with Dri, Andrew and Joey at lunch. Dri told us about Vermont and her parents. She had a little sister Rachel in sophomore year who went to a boarding school in Upstate New York. Dri's parents were separated and currently working through it.  

Joey told us about his life in LA. His family parents wanted to move to the town they grew up in and then they simply sold their Beverly Hills home and moved to our town.