Natalie Peterson was a beautiful, intelligent and athletic teenager, but she hated high school for all of the right reasons. When she's bored, she smokes pot in the ghost area with her best friend Tamara Woods who's bullied by Gina, the hot popular...
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Tamara used to take me home, but she was angered by reasons that were unknown to me. Was she jealous of me because of Brad or something or did she think I picked on her today? It was so confusing. I didn't mean to hurt her. I was trying to look out for her and it bothered me that she didn't recognize my concern for her. I didn't want her to be picked on, which was why I was warning her to take it easy with the food that she was ingesting. I never told her that she couldn't eat it, I told her to be careful. Maybe it was the way I was saying it, or maybe she was too sensitive about the subject and I shouldn't have mentioned it at all, but how could I know? I wasn't a mind reader.
So I was going to have to walk home. It would take me an hour to reach my house and maybe even longer since I wasn't going to jog home. Most of the kids' cars were gone, including my best friend's, and I had missed the bus because I had come out late from school and since the driver didn't expect me to be there either, he took off early. I heard a bike roar at me and I tilted to see a guy in a black helmet and a leather jacket. He stopped near me and I pretended not to see him. There was no way I was hitching a ride with a stranger.
"Natalie!"
"Brad?" I said. I was so surprised. I didn't even know that he owned a red motorcycle. He took his helmet off and revealed his beautiful set of straight, blond hair.
"Want a ride?" He asked me.
"In that?" I pointed at his motorcycle.
"This right here is a vintage, Norton 1974. It used to be my dad's," he said.
"I don't have a helmet. I rather not," I replied.
"I'll give you mine," he said.
"Those things are dangerous," I remarked. Brad laughed.
"I'll drive slow. I swear. Scouts honor," he said. He turned off the bike and parked it. Then he reached out for me and placed his helmet on my head.
"There," he said.
"But now you don't have a helmet," I said.
"Would you just say thank you and tell me where you live?"
"I don't know if it's the right thing to do."
"Don't you? Really?" I rolled my eyes and pursed my lips, but he failed to see me through his helmet.
"Thanks," I said.
"You're very welcome," he replied. He was so annoying cute. I wanted to scream, but I didn't, of course.
"Now where to?" He asked me. I got on the bike and told him where I lived.
"Washington Street, house 1349," I said.
"Washington Street?"
"Just take two lefts and then go straight after the second light. Then you turn left again and see my house, it's the fifth one," I said.
"See, that wasn't so difficult. Now you need to hold me tight, you don't want to fall off my bike and get all scraped," he said. What? He wanted me to hold him tight?
"Am I going to fall off?"
"That's night tight enough," he said. I sat closer to him and held him tighter. I could feel his chiseled body under his clothes. I didn't know it could be so hot on a chilly day, but I was sweating. I felt the cool breeze on my arms, but I was still hot despite the weather. Maybe I was going to catch a fever.
We passed the small town with buildings made mostly out of brick. Many of the pedestrians stared at us. I guess it wasn't usual to see a couple in a motorcycle. These parts were mostly quiet. Brad made the second left and then went straight ahead on the first light. There was a pizza place nearby.
"Would you like to grab a bite to eat?" He asked me while the light was red.
"Not really."
"Oh, come on Natalie, let's grab a pizza. You and me, what do you say?"
"I have to go home, Brad. My mom's already going to ground me when I get there," I replied.
"What? Why?" He asked me.
"It's a long story and I really don't want to talk about it."
"I guess it's because it's a school day, huh?" He asked me.
"That's part of it," I replied. The light turned green and he hit the accelerator. Then we reached the next light and went left again. We were close to reaching the house. He stopped at the fifth one, my house.
"This is where you live?" He asked me. I took my helmet off.
"Yeah," I replied.
"Nice. Are your parents loaded?"
"More or less, I suppose." He grabbed his helmet and stared at me.
"What?" I asked.
"Can we go out some time? I don't know, maybe Saturday?" He asked me. He was asking me out on a date. I couldn't believe it.
"Um... I can't. I'm practicing on Saturday," I replied.
"Practicing for what?" He asked me.
"I'm going to be trying out for the basketball team," I said.
"But you're not going to be practicing the whole day, are you? Let's go watch a movie on Saturday night. What do you think?" He said. I shook my head.
"I have to go Brad. Thanks for the ride."
"Anytime," he replied.
"Okay, bye," I said and waved at him. He smiled at me.
"Bye," he replied and left on his bike. For the first time in a very long time, I felt like an idiot.
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