It literally took me almost three weeks for me to take the car keys that Michael had given back to me and actually use them.
I don't know why I was so scared to use them. It wasn't because of my parents finding out, I knew that, because at this point I was done caring about what they thought about me. It was rare that my parents were even home when I was home anyway, so it's not like they were going to find out that I'm using my car or not.
I just didn't want to drive myself to school. I kept going back to the bus stop, because for some reason I thought that if I kept trying things would change and everything would go back to normal for Ashton and Michael and I. Nothing ever changed though, and I guess that it's partly my fault for not trying very hard to actually make things change.
So finally after 14 school days of Michael and Ashton ignoring me in the mornings and then awkward conversations with Ashton in the afternoons, I decided that I should just give up and drive my own car to school. Something told me that they weren't going to notice that I was gone anyway.
Honestly, though, driving to school was not as fun as I thought it was going to be. It was boring, actually, because I was all by myself and I would have preferred having Ashton there next to me, talking like we used to when we took the bus together. It felt normal to sit by Ashton on the bus and listen to him go on and on about his favorite bands and then I'd get annoyed with his rambling and he'd kiss me to try and make it up to me.
That was what felt normal to me, not driving to school alone with the radio off because every single song seemed to remind me of him.
"How was the bus?" I was stirred from my thoughts by a familiar I voice behind me, and I didn't even need to turn around to see who it was.
"I drove to school." I sighed, and then Luke stepped in front of me so we could talk face to face.
"You drove?" Luke asked, looking more surprised than he probably intended to be.
"I got my keys back." I said, shrugging. I wasn't sure if I wanted to explain to Luke exactly how I got the keys back, because I was pretty sure that he wouldn't understand it like I did.
"Your parents cracked?" He questioned. He leaned against the side of my locker again, waiting for me to finish grabbing my books before we could go to his locker. This had become a pretty regular thing for us, now that Brooke wasn't here to keep Luke company and Calum had a new girlfriend and I wasn't always with Ashton. It was one thing in my life that actually did feel normal.
"No." I shook my head. "Michael gave them to me."
"Michael? How'd he manage to do that?" Luke scoffed, running his fingers through his hair.
"He kind of, like, snuck in when no one was home and looked for them." I said slowly, because I knew that Luke was going to think that this whole thing was absolutely crazy.
"He snuck in? And he looked through your parents stuff? Did you tell someone about it?" Luke continue to interrogate me as I finished putting some books into my bag, slamming my locker shut behind me.
"No, why would I tell anyone? That's just how Michael is." I laughed, following Luke down the hall to his locker.
"Creepy?" Luke suggested, glancing at me over his shoulder.
"It was a nice gesture!" I yelled, giving Luke's arm a slap. I'll admit that Michael's habits can be a little creepy sometimes, but I don't really like hearing that from other people. I don't know, maybe I'm just protective over him or something.
"Oh yeah, such a nice gesture. 'Here Dani, let me climb through your window and snoop through your parents things to show how much I love you'." Luke laughed. We reached his locker and he turned away from me to put in his combination, still listening to what I said while he did so.
