A High School Story

I pushed my sunglasses back up my nose as I pulled into Keyla’s driveway and honked my horn impatiently. I was not going to be a happy camper if I had to start the day with seeing Nick. If felt good to have everything out in the open with him but I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was going to let something slip to the wrong person.
“I’ll be out in a minute!” Keyla called from her front door and left it open before ducking back inside.
I sighed and tapped my fingers against the steering wheel. I’m not sure whether it was the sudden slamming of a door next door or the sudden feeling that someone was sending me a death glare that made me wish I had yelled at Keyla to get her butt out here and into my car while I had the chance. I knew it wasn’t Nick at least though because he had no real reason to be mad at me but I knew that it had to be one of the Jonas’.
“What the hell happened last night?” Joe demanded as he stopped beside of my car and gripped the door roughly.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I whispered without moving an inch.
“Well then let me refresh your memory,” he dropped his voice and leaned him closer, “My brother came home last night looking like he just about ready to fall apart. When I confronted him all he could manage to tell me was your name. Now I want to know what the hell you did.”
“I didn’t do anything,” I replied while still staring straight ahead and trying to keep calm, “Your brother is the one who screwed everything up.”
“The least you could do is take your share of the blame in whatever this is,” he hissed and I scoffed, “So you’re saying that you have no blame in this at all?”
“I’d never say that,” I answered and let my eyes flicker to Keyla’s front door as she appeared in it again, “There’s always fault on both ends. I’m just saying he’s the one who screwed it all up.”
“Then what’s your fault in this?”
“I let it go on too long.”
“What’s going on?” Keyla asked as she walked down the driveway to the car and threw her bags into the backseat.
“I’ll tell you while we ride,” I answered before Joe could open his mouth, “Just get in the car.”
“Mollie-“
“Just get in the car Keyla,” I interrupted her hotly and she blinked at me in surprise.
“Don’t talk to her like that,” Joe’s grip on my door tightened and I saw his knuckles turn white.
“Joe,” Keyla warned him lightly and gave him a pleading look.
“Joe, you can come along and I promise to explain, just please get in the damn car,” I sighed as Nick walked out of the Jonas house and caught sight of the three of us.
Keyla nodded to Joe and he rushed around to the other side of the car before opening the door and climbing into the back seat before Keyla plopped down in the passenger seat and closed the door again.
“Where are you going?” Nick asked as he started making his way across the lawn.
I shifted the car into reserve before turning in my seat and backing out of the driveway before he could try to invite himself or someone else did.
“We’re going riding. We’ll be back soon,” Keyla answered and waved to him before I shifted back into drive and took off down the street.
“You could have at least invited him,” Joe mumbled from the back seat and I tightened my grip on the steering wheel.
“Now, what happened last night?” Keyla asked as she disregarded her boyfriend’s comment and buckled her seatbelt.
“He almost followed through on his deal with Mike,” I mumbled and she stared at me blankly as I tried to concentrate on the road in front of me, “And I let him.”
“Mollie!” Keyla shouted as Joe looked at us with a clueless look on his face, “That’s what your brilliant plan was? To let Nick get in your pants?”
“Let Nick do what?” Joe piped in as his eyes nearly bugged out of his head.
“Nick made a deal with Mike at your last gig,” Keyla explained, “If he could get in Mollie’s pants then Mike would back off of her and let Nick have at it. Apparently Mollie wasn’t as torn about it as she led on.”
“It was the only way I could think of to finally get him to realize he didn’t want to be like Mike alright!” I yelled hotly, “And it almost worked.”
“Almost?” Joe probed as he scooted up so his head was stationed between the driver and passenger seat.
“I thought that I had finally convinced him that Mike was a horrible influence and person but then he made it clear that he didn’t believe me when I told him about what happened between Mike and I,” I went on and Keyla’s eyes widened in surprise, “Yes Keyl, I told him everything.”
“You mean to tell me that you told him that Mike tried to rape you?!”
“He tried to do what?” Joe’s temper rose yet again and he looked at me for an answer.
“It’s a long story Joseph,” I sighed, “The jest of it is that I dated Mike freshman year, he got mad cause I wouldn’t give it to him voluntarily and tried to take it from me. Keyla walked into the room at just the right time.”
“When I get my hands on those two I swear that I’m going to…”
His threat trailed off and I glanced at Keyla as she eyed him worriedly.
“That still doesn’t explain why he was so upset though,” Keyla proceeded on but kept her eyes glued to Joe’s face.
“Mike got drunk at his party last night and told Nick himself,” I whispered, “He showed up when I was having dinner with my parents in hopes of getting me to forgive me.”
“He showed up at dinner?” Keyla repeated tonelessly, “Where your mother could interrogate him and tear him to pieces.”
“Oh no, mom loved him once he fed her some BS about wanting a career in politics,” I scoffed, “She even referred to him as my boyfriend.”
“What makes you think that he just said he wanted a career in politics to impress your mom?” Joe asked and looked at me.
“Just the timing of it is enough to make me know,” I replied and I saw him half smile out of the corner of my eye, “What?”
“He wasn’t making that up,” Joe laughed.
“That isn’t important right now!” Keyla said and waved her hands around wildly before letting them fall back into her lap, “What happened after your mom accepted him?”
“I left,” I stated and she laughed for a minute before seeing that I was being serious, “I went home and…and he followed me back.”
“And?” Keyla motioned for me to go on as I turned down the dirt road that led to the barn and I sighed.
“And I let everything else lose on him.”
“Meaning?”
“I told him why my parents put so much pressure on my grades and why I can’t handle the added pressure he puts on me,” I mumbled and her mouth fell open, “Yeah, then he left.”
“I’m lost here,” Joe looked between the two of us with a confused look on his face and Keyla shushed him.
“So he knows everything?” Keylas asked and I nodded as I pulled into my usual spot and then turned the engine off, “Like…everything?”
“Yes Keyla,” I sighed and started to get out of the car, “Now let’s go ride.”
Neither of them objected but simply got out of the car and followed after me.

“Hurry up!” Keyla laughed over her shoulder at the two of us as she galloped farther up the trail ahead of us.
“Why don’t you slow it down babe!” Joe yelled after her and then sighed after realizing it was no use.
“She’d rather leave you in the dust then slow down,” I chuckled and he nodded silently as he stared after her with a loving expression on his face, “You really care about her don’t you?”
“I do,” he answered and smiled at me, “And I know that I’ve known her less than a month but there’s something different about her. She’s not like any of the other girls I’ve met before.”
“You’re right, she’s not,” I replied, “She’s a lot crazier.”
“You know what I mean,” he smiled at me as we lead our horses down the trail that Keyla had previously galloped off on and I nodded, “Can I ask you something, Mollie?”
“Shoot.”
“Does she ever talk about me?”
“Nonstop,” I assured him with a chuckle and he smiled again, “She really does care about you too, Joseph.”
“You still haven’t fully forgiven me for that night have you?” he guessed after my full name reference and I bit my lip.
“It’s not that I haven’t forgiven you for it. If I didn’t then I never would have helped you get her to forgive you. It’s just that…well…I don’t want her to trust you too much,” I tried to explain but knew that I wasn’t making much sense.
“Trust me too much?” he questioned and raised an eyebrow at me.
“Yeah, that doesn’t make sense, I know,” I sighed, “It doesn’t matter though. She cares about you and she gave you a second chance. That’s all that counts.”
“Are you sure you’re okay Mollie?” he probed and I nodded, “I know that you didn’t want to talk about my brother anymore and just wanted this to be a day where we all have a good time but I feel like you’re faking your good time.”
“Is it that obvious?” I whispered and he nodded, “I’m sorry, Joe, I really am. I just…I trusted him and that was a mistake. A mistake that I want to take back.”
“I’m sure he wants to take his mistakes back too.”
“Sometimes that just isn’t good enough, you know?”
“Yeah, I know.”
“I’m sorry, I know he’s your little brother and that you want him to be happy but I don’t think I can bring myself to forgive him.”
“You forgave me.”
“You did what you did because you were scared of losing Keyla to someone else. He did what he did because he was scared of losing his new found popularity. Big difference,” I laughed out the last part and he sighed.
“I see what you mean.”
“Are you two coming or what?” Keyla appeared at the hill we will currently going up and I forced a smile.
“Or what!” I yelled and she stuck her tongue out at me.
“Go on, I’ll catch up,” I instructed Joe and he smiled reassuringly at me before kicking his horse lightly on the side.
“We’ll meet you back at the barn!” Keyla yelled over her shoulder as they raced off and I nodded to myself.