"Um, Arnold, your car is here. Where are you guys going?"
I question when Arnold passes his car.
"You didn't tell her yet?"
Arnold glares at his twin.
"Oh, it slipped my mind!"
Laura says, blinking her big brown eyes innocently but it's very clear from her expression that it didn't slip her mind at all.
"What is it?"
I ask, not liking the feeling growing in the pit of my stomach m
"Well, you see, Laura, Arden and you, drive to school in my car. That just left Aslan, so the boys and I decided to carpool and take turns driving to school. You know save fuel, save the earth and all that."
He says, sheepishly then sobers up and continues,
"Laura and Arden are in. When I asked her about you she said you'll join too.
My car needs some work to be done so we will be driving in Aslan's Jeep today."
He adds, hesitantly.
And I feel cold water drain over my head because there's no way in hell I am driving in Aslan's car.
I turn to Laura who quickly states,
"I was going to tell you at breakfast but
It slipped from my mind, I swear!"
Laura takes after her father and is on the taller side at five foot seven, but has her mother's dark brown hair that reaches her back in waves. Surprisingly, she also has cocoa-brown eyes that remind me of the chocolate that she is so obsessed with. Her grandmother on her father's side had brown eyes.
As beautiful as her eyes are, they always give her away. Whenever she tells an untruth she blinks her eyes rapidly.
Just like she is doing right now. Laura has always been a bad liar.
"When was this decided?"
"Back when the holidays began, I guess?"
Says Arnold, unsure, squinting his eyebrows trying to think.
"And you decided to tell me today at breakfast?"
I ask Laura, disappointedly.
"I am sorry, Amira. I forgot, for real!"
She expresses, and tries to stop blinking her eyes but fails miserably.
Since I don't ride with Susan to school.
Arnold always drove me and Laura to school and Arden lives next door so he always hopped in with us instead of driving himself, so he could catch some sleep in the car.
"You are right. There is no way I would ever get in his car and you know that yet you thought I'd agree with it had you told me at breakfast? Impossible. "
I state.
Turning towards Arnold I continue,
"You guys go ahead. I will walk myself to school."
Laura blocks my way and confesses,
"I lied. I knew you wouldn't have agreed to it had I told you any sooner and I wanted us to go to school together like we always do."
I open my mouth to say something but the
Arnold beats me to it pleading his case,
"Amira, there are twenty minutes left to reach school and it would take at least forty-five minutes to walk there. Let's just go in his car, please?"
"I will figure it out. Don't worry."
I assure them although I have no idea how I will reach school on time.
Just as I am about to walk toward the gate Aslan appears in front of me, out of the blue and says,
"You can't get a cab immediately from this area. You know that, and if you are late to school it will get your points deducted. You don't want your rank to go down further, do you? So don't be stubborn and get in the car already."
"Pretty Please, please please,"
Coaxes Arden, all doe-y-eyed while holding my hands in both of his calloused ones.
Indeed, I can't hail a cab from here.
Nor do I have enough cash on me to afford it since stupid me forgot to carry some extra cash from my savings.
Furthermore, Susan "urgently" needed to buy some "books" and couldn't find her card so she borrowed mine and hasn't returned it yet.
The last bus must have already left.
I can't lose my points. Not this year when I am going to need it the most to get into my dream college. So I throw my pride down the gutter and say,
"Okay. Just this once."
Everyone breathes in relief and scurries into the car.
Arnold sits in the shotgun and Arden is behind him in the backseat, Laura sits in the middle of the back seat, engaging herself in a conversation with the two of them, avoiding eye contact with me.
That little traitor!
I reluctantly move toward Aslan's pathetically lifted car and make my way towards the only vacant seat, which is behind the driver's seat.
I am trying to figure out how everyone sat in this ridiculously lifted car so easily but then it's no surprise considering their heights.
On the other hand, my five feet two frame has no idea what to do since there is no place where I can put my feet and hoist myself onto the seat.
So I face outward and place my palms on the seat so I can hoist myself up and slide back into my seat.
I try once but fail.
Twice, still no luck.
Why is this pathetic excuse of a jeep so lifted? It's ridiculous!
"Need help, Princess?"
Aslan smirks as he stands in front of me looking all smug.
"Please. I would rather die than ask for help from you."
I scoff and try to hoist myself up a third time but unsurprisingly, fail yet again.
I gasp when suddenly two warm hands lock around my waist and I am lifted off the ground and deposited onto my seat.
I come across a smug Aslan bending his back, his face close to me, in his deep and rich voice that seems to have become deeper in the past two months, he whispers in my ear,
"Don't have a whole day while you keep trying to hoist yourself up and in my car and fail miserably, Tinkerbell. I have hot to be at school on time. Don't want to get a late remark and risk the perfect grades that I worked so hard for."
And then he's out and in the driver's seat, in a blink.
His implication that I don't work hard to get perfect grades hurts but I will never show it on my face.
Just like that, I am starting my school year going to school in my academic rival's ridiculous jeep.
This is so not how I planned my senior year to begin.