fixing a broken smile

chapter 7

Maddie was on her way to leave school after a long day of boring classes and hiding away from people who seemed to see the bruises that she couldn't cover up completely on her face. Stiles had texted her a few minutes ago, telling her that he wouldn't be able to drive her home today for some reason that he couldn't tell her. So, that left her walking home alone today. Not that she minded, it gave her some more time before she had to be home, but she would have liked a little bit more of a heads up from him besides the two minutes that he had given her.

As she was passing by one of the bike racks around the parking lot, she noticed Isaac unchaining his own bike from it. She paused just long enough him to notice her. His eyes scrunched up in confusion. Stiles usually drove her home, but he had just seen the big pile up Stiles had made a few minutes ago before leaving. "You-you're walking?" he asked out to her, almost hesitantly, as if he was even surprised that he had spoke up to her. She stopped and looked back at him, giving him a nervous shake of her head. He lowered his head upon getting his answer. For a moment, she had thought that it meant that he was done talking to her, but just as she went to continue on walking, he spoke up to her again. "Do you, um, do you want a ride home? Fr-from me, I mean." he asked out to her nervously.

He might as well have been walking on egg shells now. He still didn't know who that guy was that had dropped her off at her house the other night. It wasn't like he could ask her either, it would make him seem as if he was stalking her house. Which, he kind of was, but only because he was really worried about her when he saw her dad come home without her with him. He looked up at her, waiting for her answer. She looked nervous, almost flustered actually, at his question. She looked around, as if debating on if it would be better to walk or not. It wasn't like he would be going out of his way, they live right across the street from the other after all. It would be faster then walking too. She looked back at him a second later, having now made up her mind. "Um, okay. If you don't mind, I mean." she told him nervously as she wrapped her arms around herself.

A weak smile appeared on his lips in surprise, not having expected her to say 'yes' to his offer to ride her home. He knew that he didn't have any fancy kind of car like Jackson did, but she didn't seem to care. If the last time he had drove her around on his bike was any clue, she seemed to have liked riding the bike more. He hurried to finish unchaining his bike and pulled it out from the rack. He slipped his leg over it as he got on. "Hop on the back if you want, or the front. It, um, it doesn't matter." he told her, his voice picking up speed as he got more nervous.

She just shook her head at him as she adjusted her bag straps before going over to him. She climbed up onto the back pedals like she had the last time and held on tightly as he started off toward the school's parking lot's entrance. She didn't really relax until he was away from all the bumps on the road. He would glance back at her occasionally to make sure that she was alright, but she seemed to be doing fine now. As they pulled onto their street, they both noticed right away that something was off. There were two cop cars around Isaac's side of the street, and they were in front of his house. They searched the front lawn and saw their dads talking to each other about something. Isaac was the only one to notice the car pulled over in the spot the mail box was suppose to be in, and then he got it. His dad had driven drunk again and road over the mail box. "Do you want to go somewhere else?" he asked back to her.

She knew as well as he did that now probably wasn't the best time for either of them to be at their homes. He looked back at her for her answer and she nodded her head slowly, only to nod faster when she was more sure of her answer. "Yes, just-just go before they see us." she told him when she knew it was only a matter of time before one of their dads caught sight of the two of them. He got ready to ride off, telling her to hold on as he pushed off. She gripped onto his shoulders a bit tighter as they took off, but he didn't seem to mind. They turned around and headed off toward the grave yard. He figured that it would be the safest place for them to both go to right now.