Vertigo

Chapter 1

-🎸Bennett🎸-
I ran my hand through my uncombed hair and started the car, immediately being comforted by the humming of the old engine. I turned the radio on and tried tuning it to my favorite Country station, but remembering that Portland would probably have none of the same stations as Chicago; I turned off the radio and picked up my phone to check if I had gotten any new notifications. I then remembered that Portland wouldn't have the same people as Chicago, and my so called "friends" would have probably long forgotten about me.

Jeez, what's taking Val so long? I thought to myself, looking over my shoulder towards the back of the garage looking for any sign of Valerie. It was already 2:30 pm and the list mom handed me seemed to be never-ending. I was able to see Val standing by the door as if she was in a trance, peering down at a tiny screen illuminating her face. Of course she was on her phone. I honked making her jump and causing me to slightly giggle.

"Took you long enough, slow-poke!" I teased as Val opened the door to the truck. Looking up at me, obviously annoyed, she slammed the door behind her plastering a smug grin of satisfaction on her face.

I stared at her as she looked down at her phone. Val was going to fit right in. Her Boho look and taste in music was just right for Portland, but I still wondered if she would stick to her ridiculous "no ties" plan. Having no friends meant no parties, no drinking, and no risky teenage business which would suck but then again, "fun" wasn't in Valerie's vocabulary. "Studying" and "observing" definitely were, but God forbid that she ever had any fun. She had gotten the highest scores ever recorded by our new school on her placement tests and had gotten a 31 on her ACT as a freshman. I don't know how she did it, but. . .

"Drive!" Valerie barked, looking up at me with obvious annoyance. I snapped my head forward and put the car into Drive.

"You know you don't need to be so rude right?" I questioned, forcing her to let out a sarcastic scoff as I pulled out of the driveway. Val connected her phone to the Bluetooth stereo system, pushed a few buttons, and a "Smells Like Teen Spirit" cover started to blast through the speakers. I tried to subtly lower the volume, but Valerie just instinctively turned it up every time. Every once in a while, I would look over at her just to see her knees pulled up to her chest and her face buried in her phone.

"Hypothetically speaking," I hesitantly began, "if we were to get into an accident right now you would never be able to have kids. Hell, you might not even be able to walk again," I looked over a few seconds later and pried, "uhm, hello?"

"Okay, yeah so what," Valerie mumbled.

"Whatever, never mind," I sighed. It was one thing to be in a bad mood here and there, but with Val, it was never-ending. I mean sometimes her I don't care attitude was refreshing but most of the time it was just down-right annoying. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Val slowly lower her legs down and fix her posture in the leather seat. She shot me a quick glance and even put her phone down for a split second. As she flattened out the hem of her skirt, and we pulled into the strip mall parking lot, I tried to hide the cheeky grin making its way onto my face.

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Song: Smells Like Teen Spirit (cover)-Daniella Andrade