BANGERZ (2014)

7. Rollies

Jason offers to take me home again. I'm so eager to accept that I forget Danny's picking me up until he pulls into the parking lot.

"Oh," I say, my chest sinking with disappointment. I'm so attached to this boy it's ridiculous. "My brother's here."

Jason leans against his car with his arms crossed. "Tell him you have a ride from now on."

"I do?"

"Yeah. We have to work on our project and do tutoring, remember?"

Sly happiness creeps into my subconscious. "Okay. Thank you."

He shrugs and smirks. "I'll pick you up at seven?"

I'm shocked for only a second before remembering he invited me to go roller skating. Of course! My first week at a new school and I have plans on a Friday night? Not bad, Tessa.

"Sure," I agree, shouldering my bag. "Um, do you need my address?" He only dropped me off once, and I was his GPS.

"Just give me your number and I'll text you."

I blink. Was that a pick-up line or...? It just kind of sounds like one. A really sneaky, really good one.

I hold my hand out, suppressing a smile, and he slides an iPhone into it. At first I save my number as "Tessa", but I erase that and type "TK" instead.

"See ya later," I say as I walk away, waving.

"Later, baby girl," Jason replies as he puts on his sunglasses. He's so cool and unfazed and worried about absolutely nothing. It makes me wonder what he actually does care about.

Danny watches me as I get into the car like he did on my first day. It's amazing how much different I feel since then, but I don't realize how obvious it is until he says something.

"Someone had a good day," he notes, not looking at me. I can see his smile, though.

"Um, yeah, I guess. I made some friends."

"More?"

I roll my eyes. "Yes, Danny. I told you, I'm not a loner. In fact, I'm going out with them tonight."

His eyebrows raise even higher. I realize he's not so much shocked at my socializing as pleased. I'm no longer giving him a reason to worry about me - more than he already does, anyway. He's my older brother and he knows what I saw, so of course he's going to be concerned. But I just don't want to stress him. Or give him any hints.

"Well, I'm glad, Tessa," he says sincerely. "I'm glad you're getting used to North Shore. I was thinking of getting a new car so I could give you this one. Having your brother chauffeur you around is kind of lame, isn't it?"

I laugh. "No, not really. I don't care. But you don't have to leave work anymore to pick me up. My friend offered to give me a ride after school from now on."

"Oh yeah? What friend?"

I pause for only a moment as my mind wanders over Jason's profile. How he looks, how he talks, how he looks at and talks to me. I can't help it - every time I think about him, the thrill ignites.

"Jason," I reply, grinning to myself.

The tone Danny answers with makes me blush down to my feet. "Jason? That's why you're smiling."

I groan inwardly. I'd rather him badger me about my sleeping patterns than talk to me about boys - especially the one I'm dealing with.

"Danny, just shut up," I insist. "He's tutoring me for Stat and we're working on a project together."