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I slid into the backseat of the Volvo, while Jack proceeded to the front. I put on my seatbelt even though I didn’t know where we were going or when we were going. Because Justin had turned the car off right when I got in. Maybe he was going to drop me off that side of the road thirty miles from town, or maybe he was going to take us to the woods and then accidentally trap me in a bear cave. I shuddered at the thought; bears weren’t exactly my favorite animal to begin with.
“Everyone’s buckled in, right?” Justin asked this with a slight edge in his voice, I could hear his hands curbing against the steering wheel and making a squeaking sound on the leather. I gulped hesitantly, knowing that he probably wasn’t in the best mood. Actually, I wouldn’t know anymore, would I?
“Key!”
“Huh?”
“Are you ready to go?” Justin said this with a small hint of a growl vibrating in his throat. I gulped again, “Yeah. Sorry.” I leaned back in my seat, this was going to be a long day…
Justin sighed and let the car purr to life, he turned to Jack and Jack nodded at him, I didn’t know what they were talking about, but I had a pretty good guess.
“So… Are you all hungry?” Justin asked with a loose feel to his voice, he seemed calmer while he was driving. One hand on the wheel, and I didn’t feel any bumps or anything.
Jack nodded, “I’m starving.” Jack turned and popped his head over the seat’s shoulder to look at me, “What about you, Key? Hungry?”
I glanced up again; Jack had his always friendly smile handy. I felt a bit lighter in mood at that, I made an ######## nod as my fingers self-consciously laced together in my lap. Jack just smiled wider in response as he turned back forward in his seat, “Yeah, I guess we’re both hungry. I don’t really care where we go.”
Justin just nodded tersely; he didn’t even ask me this time. He just pressed the gas and drove out of his driveway and down the street. About ten minutes later, I finally looked out the window, we were crossing a road that I hadn’t noticed before, it was a path, and the sides were covered in dense green trees. I didn’t know this town to have any shrubbery or… Just about anything green in our little suburban town. I couldn’t help but gawk, but then Justin broke the silence as we raced down the dirt road in his expensive and shiny set of wheels, “We’re going a bit out of town. About twenty minutes out… So you can stop looking like we’re driving out of the country.”
I looked up at him and he glanced at me through the rearview mirror, he finished his sentence, “You look a bit disoriented looking out the window. I don’t think you need people staring at you for that.”
My eyes widened a bit; I could feel the red on my face coming up to my hairline as my blood started to boil in embarrassment.
“How would you know that she was looking out like that? Were you gawking at her or something?” Jack asked this as more of a joke, but Justin didn’t take it all that lightly. With his free hand, he punched Jack in the arm, I barely saw his fist go out and back again as he made contact from his knuckles to Jack’s forearm. Jack flinched back and rubbed his bruised arm, “Ow…” He murmured, practically whimpering like a small kicked puppy. Even when he’s hurt, he can’t help but act like a moron, can he?
It was about twenty minutes out before Justin turned into a Chili’s parking lot. He turned off his car and started to get out, but Jack interrupted as he asked stupidly, “Um… Who’s paying for the meal? I’m broke.”
Justin groaned dramatically in aggravation as he got out of the car and slammed his door. Jack got out next, and I could hear Justin outside say, “Alright Jack… I’ll be playing your mother for a while. I’ll buy the food. And maybe we should go clothes shopping later today, honey. You’re looking pretty tattered. I thought I raised you better.”
Jack laughed mockingly, “Don’t turn it into a joke, man… Or you’ll be the one getting punched in a minute.”
I opened the car door and slipped out, I was extremely surprised to find that Justin’s face brightened into a small smile as he looked at Jack with a humored glower, probably thinking, “Please. I’d kill you five times before you hit the ground.”
It kinda gave me a chill when I realized that I thought he might be right about that.
I closed my door behind me and walked around the car to come beside the two tall boys. I felt so out of place, but Jack still acknowledged me as he smiled down to me, “Ready to go in?”
“Yeah.” I muttered, I made sure to look up at only Jack because I knew Justin was looking down on me as well. Justin turned and walked to the doors and Jack and I followed quickly behind him. We were in for a fifteen minute wait, so we sat down on the bench. Sadly, I was wedged right between Jack and Justin on the bench as we waited. Jack seemed at ease, but Justin was conservatively leaning away from me just enough to where I might’ve thought he was just trying to get some space if I hadn’t known he probably despised me. My mind trailed away from that when my pocket started to vibrate. I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket then and flipped it open to a text inside that didn’t really make me feel any better about my life.

Where are you, young lady!? You can’t just leave the house without permission, your father and were scared stiff!

At least I knew she was worried about me.
I sighed and tried to text in that I was just with some friends, but Jack leaned over to peek at my message. He grinned, “Hey. Can I see your phone for a second?”
“No.” I said with a feel of privacy taking authority, “Jack… No…” I warned as he leaned in with a tan hand. He was too fast for me as his hand flashed out and snatched my phone away. He texted something in extremely fast and handed the message back to me in a sent preview after he submitted it to my mom so that I couldn’t stop him.

Hey Carol! It’s Jack! You know, from elementary school? Too bad for Key though. Can’t believe she hasn’t grown XD

My face completely flushed as I slowly glared over at Jack, “Jack, I’m so gonna murder you…”
The red head was just giggling like mad as he looked down at me with a pleased expression for ticking me off, “I always do my best for first impressions, Key. I’m surprised that you’re so naïve that you didn’t know that. I mean come on… You’re my kindergarten buddy, aren’t you?” He leaned down and smiled warmly to me. I didn’t know how I could resist that face, but somehow, I found a way. I reached a hand and pinched his nose hard, “Yeah. You still act like it too.”
“Stop it, you two...” Justin murmured from the side lines, looking off to the side at the posters and pictures on the walls.
Jack looked up at Justin and grinned, talking in a deflated voice since my fingers were closing his nostrils, “Too bad… Justin’s moods haven’t risen since Kindergarten either.”
Justin’s hand shot out again, ripped my hand away and put his fingers to Jack’s nose, but when he held it, Jack winced, “Shut it, Clown boy.”
My ringer went off and I sighed in aggravation, flipping my phone opened again. I ducked my head under Justin’s arms and looked at the screen.

Jack! Omg, how long has it been? You’re with Key right? Oh… She’s grown some. And let’s not be rash. People are now mistaking her for ten instead of nine.

I growled low under my breath, my gosh – Can’t someone be on my side at least once in my life!?
Justin was the eavesdropper now as he looked at the screen. He blinked, but then muttered, “You look more like a six year old if you ask me. Much more childish face.”
I couldn’t help myself as I reached up and pinched his arm in front of me, pinching my nails together like tweezers. He jerked his arm back to his side protectively as he glared at me, disgusted, “What was that for?”
“You look more like you’re in your thirties, to be perfectly honest. Make sure to find a girl in your age group, you could be mistaken for a ***** or something if you’re not careful.”
Justin just glared down at me in response for a moment. From the other side of me, Jack basically slapped his head as if to signify “Oh no…”
“Who says that I don’t have a girlfriend, Kiera?” He gave me the demeaning look of authority as he slowly lowered his hands back to his side, “I’m not all as anti-social as you think I am.”
I couldn’t help myself as I slowly looked up with a sheer glint of curiosity, “What?” My curiosity grew as I leaned in hungrily for more information, “Who is she? She’s older, right? She’s pretty I’m sure. Right? Right?”
Justin sat there speechless, leaning as far away from me as possible as if my touch was a deadly approach, “Yes. She’s very pretty. You don’t know her; she’s about two years older than you I think. Her names Alyssa Palmer.” He looked straight at me for a response, slight satisfaction glazed over his already shining eyes. Was he trying to make me angry?
I swallowed hard, but for some reason, it felt harder to do so than normal. As if there was a dry pill lodged in my throat that I couldn’t water down. As if I was being choked in a throttling hold, as if… Just as if I couldn’t breathe. But I didn’t understand why.
“Oh…” I finally wheezed out, “Well, good for you.” I wanted to say more, but I honestly didn’t know what to say. Key, snap out of it. I thought in my mind, It’s no big deal…
“Excuse me!” The seating hostess said to break my concentration, “You’re ready to be seated.”
I looked up and nodded as I stood from my seat, making sure to get up ahead of Justin. Justin tagged behind, but Jack led in front of me as he followed the hostess to a small booth. He smiled in acknowledgement as he sat down in a seat. Justin squeezed past me and sat on the opposite end.
Oh crap. What side do I sit on? I wasn’t sure why, but for some reason… It actually mattered. Justin seemed to show it was perfectly clear that he didn’t want to be around me, but I still wanted to be by him… The reasons were unknown to me, but… I didn’t want to be selfish. He obviously didn’t want me by him, so I slid into my seat next to Jack who was already thumbing through the menus. I could hear him muttering to himself about what looked good and what didn’t. For such a simple mind, his commentary on food was a bit surprising. A lot of the things he said, I didn’t quite understand. Most were about spices and everything else, but I didn’t understand that much either…
“So Jack, are you a prodigy for cooking or what?” I turned to look at him, seeing he was very concentrated on his menu. But it seems I broke his train of thought as he turned to look at me with his large eyes. He nodded gleefully and smiled, “Yea. I want to be a chef when I’m old enough. I’m okay now, but if I can get better, I wanna own my own restraint.”
This kind of surprised me a bit, I didn’t know he had such complexity when it came to his future. But then again, Jack did have that kind of go lucky attitude like the cooks on TV. In fact, I think he would be perfect for the job. I smiled back and nodded, “That’s cool.”
Jack nodded in thanks before turning back and looking at Justin, “And what about you? What’re you going to do?”
Justin looked up from his coaster for the first time since he sat down; he too seemed to have been in a hard train of thought, “Hn… Not sure yet.” He admitted. Before I could respond, the waitress came up from behind and smiled brightly as she greeted us, her name was Tasha, “And I’ll be your waitress this evening!” She looked really loosely bolted, like she would spring up and down with joy if she weren’t at her job. She had a very wide and bright smile; it was kind of creepy when she looked down at you with it. I could almost see the sides just curl with a menace; I’m sure you can already tell, I don’t like her at all.
All three of us ordered cokes, and she walked off once again with that hop in her step. I watched her turn the corner into the kitchen, and then I turned back, “She has a really big smile…” I muttered mostly to myself, but Jack heard and she shrugged at my comment, “Actually, I think she’s kinda cute.” He smiled brightly before pushing his fingers through his red hair bashfully, he looked back down at the menu, but a tray clattered on the table as all of our drinks were passed to us. Tasha pulled back up straight and smiled that mile-long smile once again, “Okay! Is everyone ready to order?”
I hadn’t even looked at the menu… I sighed and started to search, this was going to be a long night…

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