Behind These Bars

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

Waking up the next morning, I followed my everyday routine. I got up and took a hot shower, dried my hair, and put on my required uniform. After that I packed up all my school stuff into my backpack and headed downstairs.
Walking into the kitchen, I immediately zeroed in on my mom's absence. Her and Robert hadn't come home from wherever they had been last night until one-thirty this morning. Grabbing a bowl and my beloved box of Frosted Flakes, I proceeded to pour myself a hefty portion of the sugary flakes. Walking over to the dining room table I took the seat across from Robert.
"Let me guess, she has a massive hangover?" Robert just lowered the newspaper he was reading until he could look at my face. He just smiled at me and responded with a "Yep." I just shook my head and scoffed. The saying old habits die-hard sprang to my mind. Now don't get me wrong, mother wasn't a hardcore alcoholic by any means; but she did drink way more than she should. The only difference now was instead of her getting trashed on cheap supermarket beers it was fancy wines and champagnes.
"So where were ya'll at exactly?" Robert just sipped some of his coffee and said, "I had tickets to a new art gallery that just opened downtown." "I didn't even think it was possible to get drunk at an art gallery," I responded. Richard chuckled, "Yes, well your mother just keeps continuing to amaze me." Yeah she'll really amaze you in a couple of months when you finally realize how much money she's swindled from you, I thought.
Getting up, I placed my now empty cereal bowl into the dishwasher and grabbed my bag from beside the dining table. "Alright Robert, I'm heading out for school." He set the paper down and looked at me and asked, "Do you need me to give you a ride?" "No thanks. I think I'd just rather walk today." "Okay then if you're sure," Robert replied. I just nodded my head in confirmation that I was sure. Opening the front door I screamed out one last goodbye before closing it and beginning my short trek towards school.
I had only walked a block when I felt this weird sensation. It was almost as if someone was following me. Slyly glancing over my shoulder, I could just make out a car behind me as I continued to walk but nothing else. Assuming I was simply paranoid, I continued walking. It had only been a few feet until I heard the car speed up. At this point in time I realized that I wasn't paranoid and that some creep in a car was following me. So you can imagine my utter terror when some creep screamed out my name. "Evangeline!" Oh my gosh this is it; I'm going to...wait a minute. "Jason? Oh my gosh you scared me to death! I thought you were some creep who was here to abduct me!" He just sheepishly laughed and said, "Well, I thought it was you walking but I couldn't tell until I got closer. Then when I realized it was you I didn't want to blow the horn and scare you." I raised my eyebrow at that comment. Jason just rubbed the back of his neck and said, "It seemed like a good plan at the time, okay?" Laughing I responded, "So what did you want?" He looked at me as a smile formed on his face. "To offer you a ride of course!" I bit my bottom lip and said, "It's okay. I can walk." "Nonsense. You know you want to," he said with an innocent smile that was so compelling. I sighed, "Okay, fine if you insist."
Jason unlocked the door and I climbed into the passenger seat. "Glad to see you didn't hesitate this time," he said. I just rolled my eyes at him. "Oh ha-ha, let's just make fun of Evangeline." Jason just chuckled as he pulled away from the curb.
The drive to school with Jason wasn't that bad. In fact, if I'm completely honest with myself, it was actually fun. During the short ride I found out some interesting things about my math tutor and fellow classmate. For example, Jason and I surprisingly have the same taste in music. While we both enjoyed most all genres in music, our favorite singers resided in the indie/alternative genre. People such as Angus and Julia Stone, Birdy, Ed Sheeran, Lorde, and Imagine Dragons were some of our favorites. Something else I learned about Jason was that he was a terrible singer. In fact, he was so bad he sounded like a dying cat. It was bad, so after a solid five minutes of torture I finally pleaded, "Jason, for all things holy on this Earth, please stop singing!" He just turned to look at me with one hand on the wheel and the other over his heart. "Evangeline, are you trying to suggest that you don't enjoy my melodious singing voice?" I just had to laugh at his disbelieving expression. "I hate to break it to you Jason, but you're as bad at singing as I am at math." He just glanced at me and said, "You're not bad at math, just a little behind." I just blushed and turned up the music. We spend the rest of the ride singing each song hopelessly off key.
After Jason parked the car in his usual spot, he turned off the engine. I reached for the door handle about to get out of the car when I felt a firm grip on my wrist. Turning around I glanced at Jason with a questioning gaze. "Let me pick you up in the morning." Well that was certainly the last thing I expected him to say. "Um that's alright, I can walk." I replied. He just shook his head and said, "Just let me pick you up. It's on my way anyway and it was nice to have a bit of human interaction this early in the morning." I bit my bottom lip, "I don't know." He just stared at me and said, "Please?" I sighed, "Okay fine, but I'm going to help pay for gas." Jason just got out of the car and said, "We'll see about that." I got out of my side of the car about to protest when he just winked at me and called out, "I'll see you at lunch, Evangeline!" I just stood there dumbfounded. What was this boy doing to me and what have I gotten myself into?