A High School Story

~Mollie’s POV~
“Keep your heels down!” I yelled over to Keyla and she stuck her tongue out at me as she cantered by on Quidam, “Don’t disrespect me like that young lady!”
“Stop sounding so much like your mother!” she yelled in response and I rolled my eyes before leaning on the fence.
“What are you guys doing here?” a voice asked from behind me and I screamed before turning around.
“Don’t do that Joseph!” I scolded him and he smiled while whipping some sweat off of his forehead, “If you must know, Keyla boards her horse here and we come out on the weekends whenever we have time. What are you doing here?”
“Talking a run,” he answered and looked over my shoulder at my best friend who had trotted over to the fence with her ‘boyfriend’, “I made Nick come this time so he’s holding me back.”
“I resent that,” Nick said as he appeared at Joe’s side gasping for breath, “You do this more than I do.”
“How’d you know we were here?” Keyla wondered aloud and Joe smiled up at her.
“We saw Mollie’s car,” he chuckled and I looked behind them and down the road to my silver Convertible that was gleaming in the sun, it looked extremely out of place.
“That would be a slight give away,” I said and looked up at Keyla to see her smiling flirty like at Joe, this girl had it bad.
“So who is this?” Joe asked and nodded toward Quidam as he began to push his nose into my hair.
“This is Quidam,” Keyla answered and pulled on the reins so that his nose lifted out of my hair.
“He’s fine,” I assured her while petting his long nose; “He just loves me.”
“Hey! He loves me more!” she protested and jumped down from his back.
“I never said he loved me more, I just said he loved me,” I giggled as Quidam rubbed the side of his head against my cheek.
“Good, cause he loves me more,” she stuck out her tongue at me and petted Quidam’s main lightly.
“You’re so stuck up,” I scoffed and she grabbed at her chest as she pretended to be offended.
“You know what Mollie, why don’t you just leave?!” she yelled and pointed down the road.
“Maybe I will, and then you can find another ride home,” I replied and her hand fell back to her side.
“How many times are you going to pull that one on me?” she asked tonelessly.
“Until you realize that I’ll always win the argument because I have that important fact to hold over your head,” I answered and smiled at her.
“Maybe I’ll get a ride from someone else!” she protested and glared lightly at me.
“From who? You’re boyfriend?” I teased her and her glare intensified.
“My boyfriend would be very glad to give me rides!” she yelled and I looked out of the corner of my eye to see that Joe’s face had fallen into a deep frown.
“Well why don’t you just go ask him and then give him a nice big kiss!” I retorted and she smirked before kissing Quidam on the nose.
“There, I did,” she laughed while handing the reins to his bridle over to the handler and then climbing over the fence.
“Wait, Quidam is your boyfriend?” Joe asked as he stared at her intently.
“Of course,” she answered and smiled at him, “He’s my baby.”
“I hate to break this up but I have to get going,” I spoke up before Joe could reply and Keyla looked at me, “It’s nearly noon my dear.”
“Well what time is your dad getting home?” she sighed as I put my iPhone back into my jeans pocket.
“He never told me,” I yawned, “Just said to be home whenever. I guess he wants to aim to surprise me or something.”
“At least he doesn’t expect you to hurry home every time he gets home like your mom,” she scoffed as the four of us started walking towards my car.
“So that’s why you hurried off the first time we met you?” Nick questioned and I nodded.
“She goes all over dramatic on me if I don’t show up to great her before she gets home. Acts like it’s an insult or something,” I scoffed the last part and Keyla rolled her eyes.
“So your mom and you don’t really have a very close relationship?” he probed and I looked up at him.
“What? Is this twenty questions?” I joked and he smiled down at me, “Do you guys need a ride home?”
“Need, no. Want, yes,” Joe answered and I rolled my eyes before unlocking the car and opening the driver’s door, “what are you doing?”
“Making it easier for you two morons to get in,” I laughed while starting the car and then retracting the roof, “You’re too tall to fit in the back and have it be comfortable.”
“Well aren’t you a smart one,” Keyla teased me while pulling back the seat on the passenger side so the guys could get into the back.
“Try not to get too much sweat on my seats okay?” I said and pulled the rest of my body into the car and then closed the driver’s door.
“Too late,” Joe sang and I rolled my eyes before buckling my seat belt and then starting to pull out of the small parking area and then driving down the dirt road which led to the main road that led back into town.
“You better hope that your sweat doesn’t stain because this car costs more than both of you combined,” I replied and I heard the guys laugh.
“She’s not joking,” Keyla whispered to them and I saw the two brothers exchange curious glances in my rearview mirror, “Mollie’s mom got the car for her as a sixteenth birthday present.”
“I guess a $100,000 car makes up for the fact that she was in Lima for my birthday,” I chuckled and Keyla sighed, “Oh stop it!”
“Mollie, when was the last time your parents were home for your birthday?”
“When was the last time yours didn’t fight on your birthday?”
I knew that my remark was pretty harsh but I couldn’t stand it when Keyla brought up my parental units in front of other people, this was the system we established to tell each other that we were going too far without the other people catching on. If we were about the cross the line we took a punch at the others parental s.
“That was uncalled for,” Joe scolded me harshly.
“Let it go,” Keyla chuckled and smiled apologetically at me. I returned it full heartedly before looking in the rear view mirror again.
“Spacing much?” I asked and Nick zoned back to earth before smiling at me in the mirror and then letting his eyes shift down to his hands.
“So what are you guys doing today?” Keyla questioned the guys and I felt my heart give a jolt at the very thought of spending a whole day with Nick.
“Nothing much,” Joe answered and smiled brightly at her, probably thinking about spending a whole day with her.
“Well we could all hang out-“
“My dad Keyl,” I protested before she even had a chance to finish what she was going to say.
“For all you know, he’s not going to be home until eleven,” she replied and I pursed my lips annoyed, “I thought so. So do you guys want to hang out? Mollie has an epic pool and-”
“Can we at least check and make sure my dad isn’t home yet before I bring over a couple of teenage guys?” I interrupted her and she blinked at me, “he’s almost as strict as mom on the whole no boyfriend thing sometimes.”
“You’re not allowed to date?” Nick blurted out and then turned bright red.
“Nope,” I popped my lips around the word and tried to hide the smile that was trying to penetrate my face as his face dropped disappointedly.
“Her parents want her graduate from Harvard before she gives any guys a chance to get in her pants,” Keyla whispered behind her hand.
“I heard that,” I laughed and she smiled at me innocently, “You’re a little brat sometimes, do you know that?”
“Why of course my dear,” she assured me before batting her eyelashes and then turning back to see that Joe had leaned forward so that his face was between the two front seats.
“Why don’t we drive by Mollie’s place and see if her dad is home yet and then we can make some plans, sound good?” he suggested and Keyla and I exchanged quick glances before nodding, “Good, because that’s the only idea I could come up with.”
“Why am I not surprised?” I teased him and he smiled before leaning into the back seat again, “So what do you guys want to do?”
“Is there a beach anywhere around here? Even at a lake or anything?” Nick asked and Joe nodded in agreement.
“You can go to Galveston and to the Gulf but that’s about five hours away,” Keyla answered as I turned down my street.
“It’s an all day thing,” I added while driving by our neighbors’ house slowly.
“Is he-“
Nick cut off his sentence as I slammed my foot on the break in the middle of the street and I spotted a familiar SUV in the driveway. Everyone watched as I clumsily unbuckled my seatbelt as my dad opened the car door and stared down the driveway at me while I nearly fell out of the car. Keyla smiled as I ran around the car as fast as my heels would take me and then into the arms of the dad I hadn’t seen in nearly a month as he met me halfway down the driveway.
“There’s my princess!” he yelled and I laughed happily as he twirled me around, “You my dear have perfect timing. I just pulled in.”
“I missed you,” I whispered into his shoulder and he sighed before giving me a large squeeze.
“I missed you too Mollie,” he said and spun me around again, “You just keep prettier every day, and I’m sure the two boys in the backseat of your car would agree with me.”
I pulled away to look at him and saw that he was in his teasing mode, he wasn’t upset.
“They’re just friends,” I assured him and he smiled before kissing my forehead.
“Just don’t let your mother find out,” he chuckled and I smiled before hugging him tightly again, “I’d like to meet them though.”
“Whatever you say dad,” I laughed before pulling back and grabbing hold of his hand.
“Hi Mr. Mansfield!” Keyla called and waved from where she was sitting.
“Nice to see you again Keyla,” he smiled genuinely at her and I was thankful that he was in a good mood, “And you two are?”
“Joe Jonas sir,” Joe answered and extended his hand to my dad.
“Nice to meet you son,” he replied and shook his hand a bit roughly.
“Nick Jonas,” Nick said sheepishly and shook my dad’s hand as well.
“Brothers?” dad guessed and the guys nodded, “Well it was very nice to meet you two. I’m sure you four were just about to head somewhere though so I think I’ll release my daughter back to-“
“I want to help you unpack dad,” I protested eagerly.
“Mollie-“
“I haven’t seen you in three weeks dad,” I whispered and despite my attempts, the guys heard me, “I want to spend my Saturday with you.”
“I’ve missed you very much Princess but I’m sure you and your friends were just making plans,” he said and I shook my head.
“Actually Mollie, the guys and I were just talking about maybe going to Galveston tomorrow for the day,” Keyla piped in and I looked at her.
“Well that’s sound like fun!” dad chimed and smiled at me, “You’re homework’s done isn’t it?”
“I was just going to take these three home and then I was going to do it,” I explained.
“Well I see no problem with tomorrows plans as long as you manage to finish your homework tonight,” he urged and I smiled, like I said before: he was more easy going than mom was, “And as long as you promise not to tell your mother I let you go to Galveston with a couple of teenage boys.”
“It’s a deal dad,” I laughed before shaking his hand, “I’ll be right back. These three are all too scared to even consider driving this car.”
“I recall you driving at ten miles per hour for the first month you had this car my dear,” dad reminded me and I smiled before sitting back down in the driver’s seat and closing the door behind me.
“See! It’s not just me!” Keyla yelled and I rolled my eyes as dad laughed again and I pulled away from the driveway.
“You’re dad seems nice,” Joe acknowledged and I smiled brightly.
“It depends on what mood he is in sometimes. When business is good he’s in a great mood like this but if business is bad then he’s on everyone’s case about everything,” I explained, “He’s easier going and a bad day than mom is on any day anyway.”
“I can’t believe he was actually okay with you going to Galveston,” Nick laughed.
“He at least likes her to have fun along with school work unlike some people,” Keyla mumbled and I pursed my lips again, “oh come on Mollie! Your mom is probably going to ground you for like a month when she finds out you have a B+ in AP Physics!”
“Let it go,” I sighed, “That’s my problem to worry about, not yours.”
“Your problems are my problems dearie,” she reminded me and I smiled.
“You’re a problem to yourself then,” I teased and she rolled her eyes before turning her attention to the back seat.
“So do you think you’re parents will let you go?” she asked excitedly and I just knew that the thought of a day long road trip with Joe sounded like heaven to her.
“We’ll have to see,” Joe answered with a smile.
“I can text Mollie later and tell her what they say. I just need your number Mollie-“
“Joe has Keyla’s,” I interrupted him as I still tried to remain on the good side of the polite barrier, “She can text me after Joe tells her.”
“Sounds good,” Joe said and waited until Keyla had gotten out of the car after I stopped in-between their two houses before pushing the seat forward and climbing out of the car.
“See you tomorrow,” Nick whispered to me before following out after his brother.
I waited until they had pushed the seat back into its normal position and then closed the door before I waved good-bye and headed off towards home again. Tomorrow morning would never come soon enough.