Ashes

The drive home.

We end up playing truth or dare. It happens every time we don't know what to do and now is one of them times. After the never ending greetings, handshakes and hugs, everyone fell silent. You could feel the awkward in the air. Weirdly, it was Jess that suggested the game and she hates truth or dare. Though she did eye Jet playfully when she said it.
"I'm not going first!" I cry too quickly and I was the first person to.
"Neither am I" Josh says, sitting on the edge of the slide. Matt repeats the same and so does Kat, which leaves Jet and Jess. Jet is resting comfortably against the swing, his head leaning back casually. Jess is just smirking. I kick her lightly on her shoe, urging her to say what she always does. She sighs and gives in.
"Oh fine, me neither" she complains pouting. Jet smiles at all of us.
"Dare." How did I know it? How did I know that a boy who appears and disappears wouldn't just say Truth like everyone else, but Dare? Matt nudges Josh and they huddle together. The girls decide to make him choose the prettiest, which isn't really a dare and the boys say that he should prank call Matt's ex.
"Well ladies, as much as I'd like to get involved with your idea" he kids, "I'm gonna have to prank call Matt's ex." Kat crosses her arms and Jess continues pulling a puppy dog face. What is up with them? Within minutes an unsuspecting Amy picks up the phone.
"Hello, who's this?" she asks sweetly. I feel sort of bad.
"This is Principal Jackson." You can hear the intake of breath over the line.
"Sir, is everything alright?" she stammers. It's also quite funny that she thinks the Principal would actually ring her mobile.
"No, not quite, it has come to my attention that your attendance is lacking considerably" Jet tries not to snigger as he continues faking a deep voice.
"My attendance? But Sir, I'm always in school" she defends herself.
"Oh I know, I just used that as an excuse to call you." I try not to giggle.
"Okay, is this a joke?" she questions.
"I love you" Jet whispers and hangs up. He bursts out laughing along with the rest of us. You can always rely on gullible Amy for a joke.
"Okay, me next!" Jess offers. The game turns out to be fun. Jess ended up running through the forest quite close to the park naked. Kat was forced to kiss Josh. I had to tell a stranger who came on the park that I thought his eyes were beautiful. He left shortly after. The day is one of laughter, which is good. It takes my mind of my Dad.
"Okay, Kat and I are going in" Matt announces. We all moan at them to stay, but they insist, walking off down the path together. The four of us stay out for another half an hour, then because Wales is such a bad place to live it starts to rain...again. I pull the strings of my hoodie tight around my face. Jess and Josh live on the same street, so they'll walk off together. I hug Jess tightly and whisper in her ear.
"Don't.Leave.Me" She giggles quietly.
"Sorry, but I've got to go." I try to pull her back, but she tugs and gets away running to meet Josh while casting me an apologetic look. I turn to face Jet, who is grinning at me.
"Soooo...."
"Why were you at my Dad's funeral?" I blurt. He raises an eyebrow.
"What? Sorry, what are you on about?" I let out a bark of laughter.
"Oh come on, I know you saw me, you were in the tree." He shakes his head, a smile still plastered to his face.
"I don't know what you're saying" he says. I run a hand through my hair, dark blonde from the rain.
"I give up, see you whenever Jet, I'm going home" I mumble and start to walk down the path, the opposite way from Jess, Kat, Josh and Matt.
"Wait!" he calls out. I stop in my tracks. "You need a ride, it's pouring." I look at him, examining his face for any sign of a joke. Nothing.
"I only live down the road" I explain and I walk again. He grabs my wrist. He was standing at least a metre away before and within a millisecond I'm staring at his his grip.
"I don't care, come on." He lets go of my arm and walks away. I look around then jog after him. His car is old. It's a green Ford and the rust along the side makes it clear that he's had this car for a while.
"Get in." Rude. I hop into the passenger side and rub my soaking arms to warm myself. Jet is silent as he climbs in and pulls his seatbelt on. He tries to start the engine two to three times with fail and for a second I think I might actually have to walk home.
"There we go..." he murmurs as the engine comes to life. I almost moan out load. I tell him my address quietly and he drives me home, humming to the radio on the way.