Star Bright

Fifteen: Hope

   When Dani walked out of the house on Monday morning, bag slung on one shoulder, and entered the red Mustang Ford, Jeremy leaned over and kissed her on the lips.

  "How was your night?" He asked when he pulled away back to his seat.

  "Perfect. Hey, Gabe."

  Gabe who had been seating in the passenger seat typing on his phone was now staring in disbelief. "Wha—how—when did that happen? Did that just happen? I feel like that just happened."

  "Oh shut up you dork." Jeremy smirked and started the car.

  Gabe turned to Dani who had a silly smile on her face. "What happened? Did you guys..." He let the sentence finish itself in their minds.

Dani only looked down, blushing madly.
 
  Gabe narrowed his eyes at her. "I hope you know what you're getting yourself into." He whispered fiercely. "I'm telling you this is a train wreck. A hard one."

  Jeremy pushed him away, eyes on the road. "I'm right here, you bastard."

  "That's kind of the point. Now, listen Jeremy..."

  "Is this the part where you tell me you're gonna kill me and smash my gravestone if I hurt your best friend? Huh, I've already gotten a couple of those but I guess one more can't hurt."

  Gabe took his glare from Jeremy to Dani. "See what I mean? Are you sure about this, Dani? Him?"

  "Hey, leave her alone." Jeremy said and pushed Gabe.

  "You leave her alone." Gabe pushed at Jeremy's shoulder.

  The car swerved dangerously to the left but Jeremy got it back to its former route. Several passing cars honked.

  "What the hell is wrong with you?" He glanced at the rearview mirror. "Dani, are you okay?"

  She stared at him, eyes wide. "Yeah." Then to Gabe, "what the heck, Gabe? You could have killed us."

   Gabe didn't say anything, just kept a frown on his face till Jeremy pulled into the school's parking lot. He got out first, slamming the door aggressively, and joined the mass of students going in.

  "Gabe!" Dani called. "Gabe, wait for me."

  But he had disappeared into the colors of the crowd.

  "He'll get over it," Jeremy said. "I know him." When he saw Dani frowning, he grabbed his bag from the car, walked to her, and kissed her. "Hey hey hey, don't frown that beautiful face." He brushed a strand of hair aside. "It's going to be okay. I promise."

  "You slut!"

  Dani jumped away from Jeremy to see Sandy standing not too far away from them. She looked horrible: her hair stood out in many places, she had dark circles around her eyes and also bags under, her make-up had been put on in a hurry and even her bare-shoulder knee-high purple dress looked rumbled.

  "You're the cause of this, aren't you? Tell me the truth, Chamberman." She thrust her phone into Dani's hand.

  Dani was looking down at Sandy's messages. Beside her, Jeremy sighed and switched weight on his feet. The message had been sent in the early hours of Saturday morning;

  Jer Baby: What do u want? My mom said you came looking 4 me after the party.

Sandy: Baby! (Hearts emojis) I've missed u (cucumber emoji). I was thinking we could have some fun but u weren't around. Where were u?