Kidnapped

Dan's POV

"Daniel, do you know the answer?" Mrs. Brownick asks. Oh crap.

"I stink at math," I say, praying she'll buy it.

"Come and do the problem up on the white board," she says giving me her signature frown. I guess she doesn't like excuses...

"Yes 'mam," I say, walking slowly up to the board. Geez this is so easy! I mean, come on, I learned the quadratic formula years ago! Lucky for me, my mother used to care about my education and found me a few used math textbooks. When you're bored, even math can seem entertaining. I begin to write out the problem and finish it easily.

"Tell us what you did," Mrs. Brownick insists.

"Well we wanted to find the value of x. The system you gave me was five equals two x squared minus nine x. We subtract five from each side to get zero equals two x squared minus nine x minus five. Then we plug it into the quadratic formula to get nine plus or minus the square root of nine squared minus four times twi times five. All of that is divided by two. If I followed the problem correctly, x equals either seven point seven or one point three. I hope you don't mind but I rounded the answer to the nearest hundreth," I say. Everyone stares in disbelief.

Jade's POV

He's a friggin genius! I mean, I thought he said he'd never been to school.

"Um...that's correct. Very good," Mrs. Brownick says suprised. I'm glad Dan did well. She tests all of her new students to see how they are under pressure. My guess is that he handles pressure pretty well.

"What was that?" I whisper to him when he sits back down.

"It was simple really."

"But...I thought you'd never gone to school!"

"Well I taught myself some, and I guess I kept up," he says like it's no big deal. I KNEW he could catch up...although now it looks like I'm going to have to catch up to him!

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

After class is over, Mrs. Brownick asks to speak with me. I tell Dan to go wait by the car.

"So, you wanted to talk to me?"

"Yes, it's about your friend Daniel. He's keeping up excellently, and I'm sure you'll both do well this summer. I know that there's a lot to catch up on but you've always been one of my best students!" she says cheerfully. I know she seems like a stick in the mud, but since I was never really social with my age group I made friends with the teachers. IF you were wondering, I am a bit of a teacher's pet. School brings out a different side of me...the more quiet and studious side I suppose.

"Well thank you Mrs. Brownick! We'll both work hard!"

"Just keep up the good work," she says, signaling to me that I'm dismissed. I walk out to the car and see Dan talking with a girl from class named Darcy.

"So I'll see you tonight?" she asks giving him a flirtatious smile.

"Uh...I guess so," he says.

"Ok, bye then!" Darcy says, walking away with a pleased smile.

"So what was she talking about?" I ask, curious more than anything.

"Oh, that girl Darla wants me to help her study. I guess I proved I was smart or something."

"Oh, ok...I guess," I say feeling concerned. I mean, who wants their boyfriend hanging out with some other girl?

"It's not a date, she just wants study help. I made sure of it. Besides, why would I want her when I have you?" he says grinning. I can't help but smile.

"Alright, alright. You can go. And for the record her name is Darcy, not Darla."

"Are you sure her name's not Darla?"

"Uh...yeah."

"Oh...because she REALLY looks like a Darla to me," he says thoughtfully. I burst out laughing, and soon enough he's laughing too.

Dan's POV

I arrive at the address that Darl...Darcy lives. I park the car in the small driveway and walk to the door. Before I can even ring the doorbell, Darcy answers.

"I've been waiting for you! Come on in," she says, motioning me in. I hesitantly step inside. I don't know why but something doesn't seem right...

"So would you like anything to drink?" she asks.

"Um..."

"We have vodka!" she says, grabbing a bottle off the counter.

"I would, but I'm trying to cut back on breaking the law," I saw, partially sarcastic. She starts laughing like a hyena. Seriously, when I say hyena I mean HYENA! Wow...

"Um...we should start studying...," I suggest.

"Oh, right. Here, let's sit down," she says, pointing to a worn green leather couch. I take a seat and Darcy quickly takes a seat beside me with her bottle of vodka.

"Are you sure you don't want some?"

"Yeah...I'm sure. So anyway, back to studying. You said you have problems with math?"

"Yeah, nothing adds up right. I try, but I just don't get it."

"Ok, let's look over today's notes...," I say, starting to read them outloud and explain them in simple terms. She looks at me intently, but I can tell after a while she's not focusing.

"Darcy, are you in there?" I ask. She suddenly comes back to reality.

"Oh, yeah. You just have great hair. Where'd you get it done?" she asks. Um...ok then...

"Uh that's off topic. Let's get back to math," I say, finishing the notes.

"So do you have any questions now?" I ask her. She looks confused.

"Ok, why aren't you kissing me now?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Nobody's studied for more than sixty seconds before we make out and you've babbled on for about ten minutes!"

"I have a girlfriend."

"She doesn't have to know. And besides, you're too gorgeous to waste on that ugy excuse for a girl."

"She's not ugy!"

"Yeah, well she sure 'aint pretty."

"I think it's time for me to leave."

"No, it definitely isn't!" she says, grabbing my head and pulling me toward her. Before I react, she's kissing me hard on the lips. Of course as soon as I realize what's going on I push her away.

"Look, this is wrong on so many levels," I say.

"Yes it really is," someone says. I look to where the voice came from and I suddenly feel like I'm going to throw up.

"What are you doing here?" Darcy asks.

"I came to give Dan the Science notes he forgot. When nobody came to the door I let myself in...and it's a good thing I did!" Jade says giving me a cold stare.

"Jade, it really isn't how it looks," I plead.

"Oh really?" she says increasing the intensity of her stare.

"What he meant to say was that you weren't good enough for him so he came here to get some real fun. Get out of here so we can get back to business!" Darcy says with ferousity that would have scared off an angry bear.

"Darcy, you're such a slut! I know Dan would never do such a thing! I should have never trusted a desperate bitch like you!" Jade says practically snarling. I think that's them most swearing I've ever heard out of her mouth.

"Well he certainly wanted to," Darcy says, not daring to gie up the fight. I cut in.

"Jade, let's go home."

"Good idea," she says, grabbing my hand. After giving Darcy one last evil look, she and I walk out. I let go of her hand and get in her car while she gets in her mom's. I drive back to the house and it finally hits me. She didn't think I was cheating. As soon as we get inside I ask her about it.

"Why didn't you think I was cheating?"

"From the look in your eyes...I just knew," she says giving me a lopsided smile.

"We know eachother too well. I knew you were going to show up eventually..."

"I only came because you forgot your notes!"

"I had my notes. The ones you brought were yours."

"Oh...silly me!" she says chuckling. We both laugh.

"So...are you sure her name is really Darcy. I swear she must have changed it because she is SO a Darla!"

"Ok...that's getting old," Jade says.

"Yeah...agreed," I say.

"So...you want to make brownies and eat the mix raw?" she asks.

"Now THAT sounds like fun!" I say laughing. Jade always thinks up the most random things...it's one of the things I adore about her.