“Well, I’m at my car safe and sound, thank you,” she says opening her door.
“No problem.”
She looks around me and I look over my shoulder to see Jermaine and Rodrigo hanging a few cars back.
“Are you going to be safe?”
“There you go worrying about me again.” I smirk.
“I’m thinking of Clare with Tariq. What will happen to her if you all end up in a fight?”
“Tar wouldn’t let anything happen to her,” I assure her knowing it’s the truth.
Her hair falls out from behind her ear, and I burn to reach over and tuck it back into place. But I keep my hands to myself and say, “Drive safely.”
I step back as she climbs into her car and slams the door shut. My conscience won’t be hit tonight knowing she’ll go home and be safe behind her gates.
She drives away with ease and Jermaine is at my side before I can turn around.
“You know yourself how much we could make if her ride went missing one night.”
Turning to my friend, I warn, “You touch her car, and I’ll cut your fingers clean off.”
His laughter echoes in the night. “No, you won’t, but I’ll keep my hands off.”
No one is to touch her or her car, or they’ll have me to deal with.
7
Amelia
Tariq picked me up. I’ll check in tonight.
I don’t bother responding to Clare’s text. She won’t check in and I’m left feeling like I’m losing my best friend. I understand she’s going to want to spend time with her boyfriend, if that’s what Tariq is to her now, but it can’t be healthy to spend every minute with him.
Shoving the door open, I step out of school and hike my bag strap farther up my shoulder. I wonder why Mr. Burley hasn’t stepped in yet, he’s the reason she started seeing someone like Tariq in the first place, to get his attention. He ripped into Clare for having Dogs in his house, forbid her to see him again and that was that. The second he left the house, she went back to Tariq.
Making my way to the parking lot, Darius is leaning against my car like a GQ model with tattoos and a cigarette hanging from his mouth.
Students stare as they pass him, and I look around to see if there are any teachers around. Someone like Darius would definitely generate attention and my father would receive a call from the principal.
Ashlee, one of the popular girls in my grade, openly checks him out and discreetly pulls her top down to show more cleavage. He isn’t paying her any attention, though, his eyes are on me and my entire body tingles as I approach him. I haven’t seen him since the fiasco at the fair, but he’s been on my mind.
“What are you doing here?”
“I need a ride home.”
“You do remember there are those yellow cars that pick you up for money?” I throw at him. He said the same thing to me the night I first met him. He smirks and pulls away from my car.
“I forgot to bring any cash out with me today.”
It’s clearly a lie but I ignore it.
“Surely Tariq could’ve taken you home. I mean, weren’t you with him when he picked up Clare?”
“I was, yeah, but I’d rather not bear witness to the two of them together today. There’s only so much I can take.”
I get it. They can be nauseating.
