Jewel

20

"So what are we going to do now?" Julie asks after they finish with the paper work and all the checking out is done.

"Well, we could go home and you could get more sleep, we could go to the cliffs here and have a picnic or-"

There's a high pitched squeal that draws the attention of both Julie and Aaron.  When they look over Julie sees her friends. They run to each other and hug each other.

"Jules, who's the hottie you are here with?" Judy asks Julie slyly. Judy is more than a little boy crazy.

"My boyfriend, Aaron Demarco," Julie tells them.

"Boyfriend!" Both girls yell making Julie wince and rub her ears to try to stop the ringing.

Julie sighs, they won't let this go until she explains herself. "I met his brother at the party you made me go to. I met Adam again Saturday and he brought Aaron here with him. Then the following day my parents kicked me out and the Demarcos offered me a home. In exchange I get to be their girlfriend."

The two girls stand there too stunned to speak. "You're girlfriend to the six richest and hottest men around?" Judy finally manages to speak.

Aaron finally joins them. He bends down and gives her a little kiss. "Yes, she is." He reads her friends and doesn't like the feeling he gets from the one.

"Aaron, this is my friend Michelle and my friend Judy. They are the ones that dragged me to that frat party where Adam found me."

"Ahh, so we have you two to blame, do we?" Aaron teases her a bit.

The girls aren't quite sure what to do or say, but Julie elbows him, "Be nice."

Normally an elbow to his gut by a human wouldn't bother him but she has some power behind it and Aaron rubs it a bit. "I'm just kidding. It's a pleasure to meet you both. Has Julie told you yet?"

Michelle is the one to answer, Judy is too lost in her fantasy's about Aaron, "Tell us what?"

"She's done with school. We just finished checking her out." Aaron tells them and keeps an eye on Julie to keep her from hurting him again.

"Julie, I thought you were going to be valedictorian?" Michelle is confused.

"I thought you were going for perfect grades for a scholarship?" Judy adds, a bit more snidely.

Aaron decides to step in. "She will still be at graduation, she just won't be here the last two months of school. Her final grades will be what they are right now, which I understand are straight A's. She needed the scholarship because of her shitty parents, but since she no longer lives with those bastards, we are paying for her education."

"Aaron, it's okay," Julie says trying to calm him down. He is angry at Judy and how she is acting towards Julie.

'Judy is not your friend, she's jealous as hell of you and is going to cause you problems.' Aaron warns her silently.

'It's nothing I didn't suspect before. What about Michelle?' Julie was never sure if either of them really liked her.

'Michelle is genuinely happy and excited for you.' Aaron is pleased to tell Julie.

Julie can't help but smile warmly at Michelle.

"What do you mean?" Judy demands.

Aaron narrows his eyes at her attitude she's giving him. "Her parents have been ab-" That's as far as he got before Julie covered his mouth with her hand. Heeding the silent message he stops talking.

"I have a phone now, let me give you my number?" The girls hurry and exchange numbers, none of them caring that they are quite late for class. After they exchange numbers the girls race off to class leaving the other two behind.

"Why did you stop me?"

"I have never told her about my parents, because I never trusted her enough. You have just verified that I can't trust her. I don't need her knowing the truth."

"Forgive me, Julie. What about Michelle?"

"She knows. She came by the house one day when I didn't go to school, just to check on me. She found me passed out on the floor, my back a bloody mess and my torso all bruised. Her mother is a nurse so she helped to get me patched up. Only Margo knows besides her."

Aaron doesn't know what to say to that. So the two stand there awkwardly in the hall.

Julie shakes herself out of her memories and pulls him towards the door. "Come on Demarco, let's get out of this joint."

Aaron gives her a smile and takes her hand as they leave the high school behind.

"Very well, where are we off to now?" Aaron asks as they enter his car.

"Well, I do remember you promising me driving lessons." Julie says hopefully biting her lower lip and looking at him with wide eyes.

Aaron sighs, "Yeah, I did didn't I. Very well, let's find a large parking lot where you can practice without worrying about other cars."

Julie helps him get to the old church that was abandoned. The parking lot was weed infested and has broken bottles, but there are no other cars there.

Aaron isn't overly excited about the location.

"Oh, crosses don't have any effect on you, but does holy ground?"

"No, it's not the location, it's the state of being. I'm not too worried about the glass, but the nails might put a hole in one of my tires."

"Suck it up, buttercup." Julie has little sympathy for him.

Reluctantly Aaron gets out of the drivers seat and switches with Julie. "Okay, you are familiar with the gas and brake pedals, correct?" Julie nods.

"Good, that won't change with a stick shift. What does change is the need to use your left foot for the clutch when changing gears.

"First, put the clutch in with your left foot and turn the car on." Aaron instructs and Julie does as he tells her. "Then put the car into first gear."

"How do I know where first gear is?" Julie asks already wondering if this was a good idea.

"It's on the gear shift. Right now it's not in gear at all so move the shifter all the way towards you then up towards the dash. You should feel it slide into place."

"Okay, it's there."

"Very good. Now comes the tricky part, you need to ease up on the clutch as you push on the gas. If you let the clutch go to fast it will make the car jerk and stall, if you do too much gas you'll race forward."

Julie eases off the clutch trying to match up force with the gas. "Very good, Julie, now try going just a bit faster and listen to the engine. When you hear a difference it's time to shift to the next gear. You'll need to press the clutch in as you let up on the gas, then move the gear down to second."

That's where the problems came in.

For several hours Julie and Aaron worked on her getting the car moving and keeping it moving during shifting. Finally after what felt like forever and a day Julie mastered it. Somewhat. Aaron, however, couldn't handle the next lesson.

"That's a good start. Why don't we let Alex or even Adam work with you on the next lesson? Right now, it's past time for lunch." Aaron prays that she will accept that.

Right then Julie's stomach growls. "Yeah, I am a bit stressed and I can feel how stressed you are. I did warn you yesterday."

Aaron just shrugs, "Yes, you did, but the nice thing about living with us? There are six of us that can take turns teaching you. Now, where do you want to eat? We can take a picnic out to the cliffs or go to a restaurant."