I had a decently good idea on who was sitting in the front seat of that Jeep, but it confused me. Wasn’t he mad at me?
I couldn’t answer that question, but I grabbed my bag, turned off the lights, and walked outside to the vehicle in my driveway. Although, I didn’t jump in the passenger seat like most infatuated girls would have done.
The roof of the Jeep was off, so I stopped about five feet away from the passenger door, and I watched as his gorgeous brown eyes watched me.
Then his musical voice said, “Good morning, Ella.”
Instead of being in a grouchy mood, I instantly woke up. Every nerve in my body was tingling just because he had said my voice. I hated him for this. Why was he doing this to me?
“Hello Landon,” I told him.
“Oh come on,” he whined, “get in the Jeep and stop being so difficult. Yesterday wasn’t exactly a perfect ending, but I promise today will be better. Look, I brought you coffee!” he flashed that one million dollar smile and I couldn’t resist.
However, just to mess with a little bit, I grabbed the coffee before climbing into his Jeep. I smelled it in a teasing way that made him chuckle, and finally took a sip.
It was exactly the way I liked it – light and sweet.
I climbed into the Jeep, and asked him, “How did you know?”
I should have known right there that he would have come up with some cheesy line, because he answered, “Because it is light and sweet, just like you.”
“Oh, be quiet! Get me to school!” I demanded, and off he went, driving out of my driveway.
“Why did the chicken cross the road?” he asked me with a big, mischievous grin on his face.
I looked at him like he was the most immature kid I had ever met, and then just decided to play along with his game, “I don’t know, why?”
“KNOCK! KNOCK!” he continued to yell. He was bursting with excitement, and I saw right then and there how much of a little kid he truly was.
Astonished, I asked, “Who’s there?”
He began to crack up and blurted out, “The chicken!”
I giggled a little bit and then I studied Landon. Why was he being so silly when yesterday he had become so frustrated with me?
“Landon?” I said.
“Yeah?”
“I don’t know how to say this without sounding harsh, but, what’s the deal? Last night you were all mad at me and now you’re picking me up?”
Wait, how had he known where I lived?
“I couldn’t tell you if I tried, Ella, because I don’t even know what is going on,” he answered me. I could tell his answer was completely true and decided not to press on with that issue.
Then I asked, “How did you know where I lived?”
“Well,” he began to explain, “we all know that Axel and Marie have a thing for each other. So, he called me up last night and he asked that if he picked up Marie, if I would pick you up.”
“And why was it so important that I be picked up?”
“Because dorky,” he replied, “we aren’t going to school!”
“What?!!” I snapped.
It was only my second day of school, and this boy was already making me skip school. It wasn’t like I was going to try to stop him or anything though.
I hate guys, especially cute guys.
I grew curious, “Where are you taking me?”
He beamed with excitement, and through all of the talking that had been going on, I hadn’t been paying attention to where we were going, but we definitely weren’t headed to the school.
It was then that I noticed we were on a back road, and Landon was turning onto a gravel pathway.
It seemed like forever driving down this gravel path. The trees all looked intimidating. They were all so tall and had lichens growing all up the sides. It was as though no one had been down here in ages. The sky was also turning gray and it just made it that much more creepy.
We finally came to a clearing. Well, I guess you could call it a clearing, even though it was disgusting, old grass that needed to be cut, and lots and lots of mud, but the trees separated a lot, producing probably about a few acres of mud and long grass.
In the clearing were two other cars and four other people : Marie, Axel, Charlie, and Raina.
Uh-oh.
“Landon, what’s going on?” I asked, panic creeping into my voice.
“We are going mudding!”