If I closed my eyes, I could almost pretend like Kelsey wasn't talking at all. Thanks to my superb skills at only hearing what I wanted to-and I definitely did not want to hear anything she had to say after she'd been talking for two straight hours-so long as I couldn't see her lips moving, she might as well be staring intently on the road in front of her. Hell, with my eyes closed, I could also almost imagine that we weren't going forty miles over the speed limit.
This was the slight problem with school getting out almost three hours early-it forced me to hang out with people I couldn't take for more than thirty minutes at a time. Don't get me wrong, I loved Kelsey to death, but she really was the type of person that you could only take so much of. The combination of seemingly endless lungs and the illusion of thinking she knew everything was a deadly one.
I peeked one eye open to see Katey giving me an annoyed smile of her own. A part of me felt bad for her, as she was the one stuck up front where she couldn't blatantly ignore the brunette but that was her own choice. She just had to have the seat warmer, even though it wasn't even fall, yet.
"And did you hear that Jeremy Anderson turned down another girl?" some of Kelsey's commentary broke through my carefully created wall. With a silent groan, I opened my eyes with the horrible decision that I would probably have to listen to her for the rest of the drive. At least it would probably only last thirty seconds.
"Really?" I offered with a surprisingly enthusiastic voice, considering just how much I didn't care.
Jeremy Anderson was the most popular guy at our school, with perfect black hair, and clear blue eyes. It seemed ninety percent of the female population-and probably 30 percent of the guy population-at there school was in love with him at some point. Even I had been at the beginning of Freshman year, but that had quickly ended, though for reasons I couldn't quite remember. So the fact that another girl had confessed, and been rejected was absolutely nothing new.
I watched as Kelsey's head bobbed up and down in a nod. "It was horrible, too.  The girl was bawling her eyes out and he just walked away without a word."
"Not surprising." Katey shrugged, clearly as unimpressed as I felt. "That boy probably thinks he's too good for any of us, just because he's made multiple straight men turn gay."
"That was a shock when Carson confessed to him." I laughed, putting a hand to my mouth in an attempt to stifle some of the sound. "Especially since he was still dating Lizzie at the time."
"Ah, the joys of having someone you hate be utterly humiliated."  Kelsey sighed happily.
"It's a good thing you never confessed to him, Gabie." Katey turned around in her seat to face me. "I'm afraid I would have to kill him if he embarrassed you the way he does to every other girl."
I rolled my eyes. "Like you would be able to. You can't even kick my ass."
"Only because your grandfather was chief of police, and your uncle and all your male cousins have black belts in karate." Katey shot back. "You've been a fighting Goddess since before most normal kids could crawl."
"Not quite." I laughed, but allowed her that argument, considering it was true. Besides, it was rare that someone would bring up my family without including the scandal in the conversation.
Katey brushed her dark, crazy curly hair out of her eyes with a sigh. "Jesus, Kelsey, can't you go any faster? The movie starts in five minutes. The boys are going to beat us there."
Kelsey shrugged as I hit Katey over the back of her head for encouraging the brown haired girl to go any faster than she already was. "So It's not like they can get in without us. Not if they don't want to pay for their tickets."
"Yeah, because three dollars per person is a ton of money." Katey snorted.
As if on cue, my phone started to ring. I grabbed my huge purple and green bag, before digging it out and checking to see just who was calling.  Jason.
"Well, speak of the devil." I held the phone to my ear, quickly pressing the answer button as I did so. "Gabrielle speaking."
"Where the hell are you guys?" Jason's voice came echoing through the receiver. "You do realize the movie is going to be starting soon, right?"
I rolled my eyes. "I love you too, Jace. We're on our way. Why don't you boys go buy the snacks while you wait for us?"
"Yeah, because we know what you want."
I sighed, and shook my head. He really shouldn't have said that-if we wanted something that they didn't get, we could've just ordered it ourselves, but now that he had issued the challenge, it had to be met.
"They want to know what we want."
Katey and Kelsey snorted and rolled their eyes, before we all started counting off what we needed.
"Popcorn."
"Mt. Dew."
"Dr. Pepper."
"Bubbly water."
"NACHOS!"
"Buncha Crunch."
"Cookie Dough Bi-"
"Alright, alright! I get it!" Jason cut us off half way through the list. "We'll get stuff for us and then wait for you."
I laughed, as Kelsey began to pull into the parking lot. "Don't worry, we're here anyway. Just... try not to let anyone realize you know us."
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There were three missed calls and seven text messages from my mother when the movie got out. I wasn't in any hurry to check them out though-unlike most, my mother was cool enough to understand that I couldn't always get to my phone while I was out. So long as I got back to her before dark, everything would be alright.
So, I stopped and chatted with the ushers for a bit, picked up my paycheck, and played for a half hour at the arcade with the others, before giving it a second thought. Though when I did get a look at what she'd had to say, a part of me kinda wished I had waited even longer.
Hey Elle, I need you to run by Thomas Anderson's house, real quick. Dad forgot something there.
I felt my shoulders droop at the words. Thomas Anderson was Jeremy Anderson's father-not to mention my parents' best friend. For the most part, I was able to avoid having to see them, as my parents knew my feeling on Jer, but this apparently was something I couldn't get out of.
And the worst part was that I had left my car at home which meant that I would have to talk Kelsey and Katey into taking me. Which wouldn't be too hard if it weren't for the fact that they'd be all too excited to go.
Which was how I found myself standing outside the house of one of my sworn enemies.
If I had known what was in store for me inside that building, I never would've come.