Breakfast was strange as I dodged question after question about my sleuthing. My family had never shown this much interest in any one of my cases. Even when I helped Erwin figure out who’d been trashing his friend’s car. I ate my food super fast and practically ran to the door. I was going to wait in the car.
My mother stopped me just as I stepped out of the house.
“Erin, your father and I have been thinking”.
I froze. This never meant anything good. She was going to tell me that I could no longer investigate or maybe I was going to be grounded or they’d found out about-
“You need a car”.
I felt my mouth open in shock.
“You already have your licence and we can’t drive you everywhere. So we thought you’d like to use my old car”.
I squealed and hugged my mother in excitement. She squeezed back and smiled down at me. I stepped back and she patted my cheek affectionately.
“You will get extra money for fuel. It has a full tank though”.
I nodded only half listening.
“You can go. I can tell you can’t wait”.
I ran outside. On the driveway was my mom’s car, a red SUV, but all my attention was on the powder blue Volkswagen Beetle in front of it.
I touched the curved lines gently and went round the car until I was at the driver’s side. My older brother, Eric, had used this car before he left home and he’d done some modifications to it. I’d helped with some of it but I’d never gotten to take a closer look at it.
Erwin walked slowly towards me twirling the car keys on his finger.
“Here”, he threw the car keys to me over the covered top, “Mom said you’ll be taking us to school now”.
I caught them and nodded still smiling. I was a little ecstatic. I opened the car and sat inside. The car had been cleaned well and it smelt like lemons. After buckling in I turned the key and smiled as the car came to life. This was amazing. I drove off fast.
I pulled into the school’s student parking lot happily.
“That was amazing. Never driving with mom again”. Erwin said.
I grinned as I got my stuff. “You’re only saying that because mom drives at a snail’s pace. Besides I’m not giving you the car”.
“Come on, E, please. Eric totally upgraded this car and…and how about I drive it every other day?”
“No”. I closed my door and waited for Erwin to close his door. I locked it.
“How about Mondays and Fridays?”
“No”.
“Erin!”
It was Luke He was stepping out of his car. He hoisted his black backpack onto his back and walked across the car park to where I was. Erwin had slinked off with some girl and he waved cheekily at me.
“I like your car”.
I turned back to Luke and smiled. “Thank you. My mom just gave it to me as a gift. I think she just didn’t want me to get a ride from Marco”. I considered, “Or you. Or any boy really”, I said with a chuckle.
“But your mom and Mrs. Rosacci were friends. She knows that you and Marco were quite close”.
“I’m not really sure what her deal is”, I said as we began to walk towards class.
“Well mothers are often very protective of their daughters when boys are involved. So I have been told”.
“By who? Your mom has five boys, I’m sure she can’t wait for you to fly the nest”.
Luke chuckled, “I guess so”.
On arriving at my class, Luke opened the door for me before he headed for his own classroom.
I had a mathematics test, which was rough, but I had done pretty well. At least I hoped I had. I had physics then I had to power walk to Marco’s class before he left for lunchtime so I could talk to him. Arriving just in time, I grabbed his arm as he was leaving class and pulled him aside. Charlie stopped walking too.
“I just need to talk to Marco”. I said to Charlie.
“Marco doesn’t mind if I stay”. Charlie said.
I sighed. “Fine, whatever”.
I let go of Marco’s arm.
“Marco, I tried calling you yesterday about”, I glanced at Charlie.
“-your investigation into his mother, yes we are all aware. You’re the least subtle detective I know”. Charlie said with an eye-roll.
I chose to dismiss that comment. “Marco we really do need to talk. About us, about your mom, about what happened. Yesterday you just left”. My voice cracked and I took a deep breath.
“We need to talk about it. I’m just trying to help, you know that right? What happened to your mom, what happened to you was awful and don’t you want answers? Don’t you want to know, for sure, so that you get closure. That might even help with the nightmares”.
Marco didn’t say anything.
“Marco”, I grabbed his hand. “Seriously”.
I was uncomfortably aware of Charlie standing there watching as Marco gave me the silent treatment. I blinked back tears.
He continued to not say anything.
“So you’re not even going to say anything to me. Seriously, Marco. The silent treatment? Marco I don’t know what’s going on with you but whatever it is it’s seriously not cool. You need to tell me what’s going on right now”.
He still didn’t say anything. Instead he removed my hand gently from his.
“Stay out of it, Erin”.
He walked away.
I blinked away tears. I looked up when I felt a warm hand through my shirt. “What do you want, Charlie?”
“Nothing”. She squeezed my shoulder gently, let go and I heard her walk away.
I went downstairs for lunch feeling like I was going to break down. A feeling that intensified when I realised Marco wasn’t at our table. I sat down next to Luke and greeted my friends.
“You okay, E?” Luke asked.
I shook my head and explained what had happened.
“He’s a jerk, E”. Ana declared.
I huffed out a laugh. I sniffled,
“He’s not a jerk. There’s something else going on I think”.
“Ana’s right he’s being a jerk and childish”, Luke said.
“Aren’t you guys friends?”, I asked Luke.
Luke shrugged, “If you’re a jerk, you’re a jerk”.
“I agree”, Ana said shrugging when I looked at her.
I frowned, “Okay guys I agree he’s being a major jerk but I really think there’s something else at play right now”.
“And if there’s nothing else?” Ana asked.
I sighed, “I don’t know, Ana. I don’t know”. I looked glumly at my doughnut.
