Start a Revolution

"John?"

The boy smiles uneasily, jamming his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. Drew hopes off her car, looking up at him with what she assumed was an incredulous stare.

"What...what are you..." she trails off, at a loss for words as she looked him up and down, still not fully believing that he was the one who'd called her out of her house in the middle of the night. "You're the one who left me that note in my bedroom?"

He nods, staying mute.

"And..." she swallows, bringing her gaze to him. "And the flowers?"

She sees John hesitate, before he shakes his head slowly, back and forth. "I didn't get you the flowers. Just the note." He clears his throat, looking a tad uncomfortable. "The flowers must have been from Joey."

Drew didn't understand why, but a feeling of disappointment creeped into her chest upon hearing that. "Oh." She crosses her arms. "Why am I here?"

At this, John grins. "You and I are gonna have an adventure."

The girl couldn't help but smile and laugh a bit. "An adventure? You sound like were in the movie Up."

John laughs as well, feeling himself relax. "We're not gonna fly in a house mounted to a bunch of balloons. I tried, and it didn't work." He hears Drew laugh, which made his grin widen significantly. "We're going somewhere much cooler than Paradise Falls." Drew caught his enormous smile in the dark.

She raises her brows. "And where is that?"

He tsks her, shaking his head so his hair fell in front of his eyes, blocking her from the window into his mind. "Don't ruin the surprise, Hemingway. I want to add a sense of mystery to this trip."

Then he grabbed her hand before she could protest, pulling her along with him back to his car. She was laughing, but still urging to know where they were headed.

"Where are we going?" she asks once they were on the road.

John shrugs, playing dumb as he reaches over to flick on the radio. A random country song blared through the speakers. "I don't know," he replies as he makes a left-hand turn, only a few stray cars riding along beside them, judging by the fact that it was midnight. "Who knows."

"You have something planned," Drew rolls her eyes. "Just tell me."

He shakes his head. "You don't get the aspect of surprises, do you?"

Drew rolls her eyes, leaning back in her seat. John's car smelled of faint cologne and a hint of Febreze. At least he was hygienic. "Apparently not."

A small smile appears on his lips before he drops the conversation. She took this time to look out her window, noticing they were now passing rolling hills and empty farmland. They were the only car in sight, which slightly worried her. Where could John be taking her if there was no one else to accompany them? She scrunches her brows before glancing over at the other boy, his gaze straight ahead as he drove.

"Please tell me you aren't kidnapping me and taking me somewhere to get killed."

He laughs, snorting. "I don't hate you that much, Hemingway."

"Could've fooled me, O'Callaghan," she smirks, propping her feet up on the dashboard. She eases back, relaxing as he sneaks a peek over at her, his heart hammering.

"We weren't that bad, were we?" he asks as he makes a turn, more empty land greeting Drew's eyes as they continue, a sign off in the distance that she couldn't read just yet. "Yeah, we fought, but it's not like we tore each other's eyes out."

"Before the project, we might as well have."

"What does that mean?"

She shrugs, feeling a tad awkward with where the conversation had headed. "It means that you and I didn't get along in the slightest. Until the project that is."

John cocks his head to the side, grinning. "I'm glad we were assigned the project together."

Her brow shoots up, a funny expression that made John chuckle as he glanced over at her. "And why is that, Mr. O'Callaghan?" she asks him, turning her head so she was facing him.

Now it was his turn to shrug, trying to seem casual so she wouldn't notice the butterflies flapping around his stomach and chest wildly. "Because I like this. Us, not fighting. Just two normal friends out for a midnight drive to an unknown location." The grin on his face made her own smile appear.

"Nicely said, John," Drew returns, bowing her head in acknowledgement.

"This isn't The Lion King," he laughs at her movement. "You don't need to do that."

She laughs as well before noticing that they'd come upon the sign she'd spotted earlier. She presses her face against the window as they pass it. Since it was dark, it was hard to make out, bit it said something along the lines of festival...2 miles!

"Festival?" she voices, peering back over at her project partner.

He grins. "You read it correctly."

"You're taking me to a...festival?" She once again gazes back out to the dark street and empty farmlands, her expression puzzled. "A midnight festival?"

"Let's just say..." he trails off, turning his blinker on as he makes a right hand turn. "The festival is...timely." That just made Drew even more confused, but before she could ask what the hell that meant, John was leaning forward to look up through his windshield, the ghost of a smile creeping onto his lips.

"Are we here?" Drew asks, narrowing her eyes to see into the dark.

John nods, his smile widening. "Yeah. Let me just park."

She remains silent, an eager set bubbling in her stomach and making her heart pound louder. She watches as John finally pulls his truck into a spot before killing the engine. She was the first to step out, bouncing up and down in anticipation.

"Come on, slow poke!" she grins as he took a few moments to appear beside her. "Time's a-wastin'!"

He laughs. "You don't even know where you are, so calm down." She gives him a stink-eye, which he ignores. "Follow me, you excited boob."

Drew snorted a bit at his lame insult, but followed anyway, jogging after him because her legs were much smaller than his. She was 5'3" and he was at least 6 foot. She felt dirt underneath her shoes, which meant they were somewhere where civilization was not.

When they finally came upon a building-like structure, she peers up, squinting.

"The front doesn't say anything," she humphs, pouting like a little girl.

He laughs, nodding his head to their left. "That's because the sign to tell you where we are is over there, silly." He takes her chin in his hand and turns it himself, letting her gaze over.

Her eyes widen, her jaw dropping. "You've got to be kidding me."