o. this time is different

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prologue; THIS TIME IS DIFFERENT

Rolling the car to a stop, Alison kept her foot pressed to the brake pedal and twisted to face her brother, who was bouncing in his seat, a beaming smile on his little face as he bopped his head along to the music

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Rolling the car to a stop, Alison kept her foot pressed to the brake pedal and twisted to face her brother, who was bouncing in his seat, a beaming smile on his little face as he bopped his head along to the music.

"Are you sure you're okay riding your bike home tonight?" She asked in concern once she twisted the dial to lower the volume.

"I do it all the time, Ali!" He exclaimed, "I can do it."

"Alright." She stressed the word dramatically, and Will laughed at her antics, "Make sure you eat something that Mrs Wheeler makes, not just pizza and candy, and be home early. It's a school night."

"Yes, Mom." Will teased, grinning, when she rolled her eyes, "Have fun at your party. I'll be expecting the payment for my silence to be waiting on my bed for me."

"Get out of my car, you little shit." Alison scoffed, laughing at him. He stuck his tongue out at her before opening the door and jumping out onto the curb, "And it's just a study group."

"Sure." She faintly heard him laugh, and she shook her head.

She waited patiently for Will to get his bike from the truck bed. He wheeled it around the vehicle and stopped at her window, which she'd rolled down, "Thanks for driving me."

She smiled at him, "Call me when you get home. Do you have Winn's number?"

"Yeah." He nodded twice.

"Alright, J should be back by the time you get home but call me if he's not because Mom's working late again and have fun with your campaign." She exclaimed.

"It's gonna be awesome." Will beamed.

"Go on." Alison smiled and gestured to the house where her brother's friends had assembled. Will quickly made his way over to the house as fast as he could while wheeling his bike beside him.

"Bye, Ali." Will called over his shoulder, "Love you."

"Love you!" She yelled back, waving once at her brother's friends, who were greeting their friend excitedly, voices overlapping as they discussed how totally awesome the campaign they'd been working on was going to be.

"Hi, Alison!" Dustin called, and the girl smiled at her brother's sweetest friend,

"Have a good game, boys!" She smiled at them before she turned the volume of her music back up. Moving her foot from the brake to the accelerator, Alison slowly peeled out of the cul-de-sac, eyes flickering to the rearview mirror to see the boys leaving their bikes in the driveway and rushing inside.

She'd dropped Will off at Mike's hundreds of times, so why did this time feel so different?

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me? writing a simple, straightforward prologue? sounds fake.

thanks for reading!

~r

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