Background Character

Chapter 6

Olivia was less than pleased with her friend's behavior. That fact was worsened when she remembered Jake had yet to apologize to her. She wasn't asking for a lot, it had been a concession when he lawyer pressured her to sue. All she had wanted was an apology, an acknowledgment of what Jake had done to her.

And yet she never received even that.

I personally think she should have sued, I would have in her shoes.

"Laura, that was harsh. You shouldn't have yelled at Tomas, it's not his fault my leg was broken."

"That's completely untrue." Laura drove dangerously close to the minivan in front of us, as if taking her anger out on the poor mother just trying to get her children to soccer. The minivan blasted the horn in response, removing any and all sympathy I and Olivia had for her. "We can get to that later."

"What are we talking about now then?"

Laura swerved around the minivan, nearly knocking Olivia's head against the passenger side window. Her knuckles grew white as she held onto the seat for dear life. She continued to weave in and out of traffic, simply swerving around anyone going too slow for her liking.

Olivia didn't have much choice when it came to getting home. Laura was the only one of the two who had a license, and a car, so Olivia was at her mercy most days. She was the last stop on the bus and it always made a ten minute trip into an hour and a half fiasco. It was almost always late, usually because it had broken down or the bus driver got lost. He had been driving that same route for twenty years and still managed to get lost at least half the time.

Despite fearing for her life every time she got into the car with Laura, Olivia prefered it to the bus. At least she only had to endure eight minutes. Yes, you heard that right. Laura always managed to shave two minutes off the trip home.

The mood in the car turned serious, "What are you going to do without me next year?" It was something that had been plaguing Laura. As graduation grew nearer, she become more and more aware that she was abandoning her best friend for college.

"What do you..." Laura swerved into the next lane, cutting off Olivia, "...mean?"

"You really only hang out with me so we have to strategize. I can't stand the idea that you'll be alone. If I could stay...okay so I wouldn't stay but I promise if I could sneak you into the dorm and keep you as a pet I would."

"Please don't."

"I would." Laura couldn't help laughing at the absurdity of the situation. "I'd create a little habitat under my bed for you and feed you all my leftovers from the dining hall."

"You can't keep me as a pet Laura." They turned onto Olivia's street. "Even if you could, you'd probably kill me within three days. You'd be so busy with Comp. Sci that you'd forget to feed me or give me air. I don't want to die that way."

"You sure?" Laura swung the car into Olivia's driveway, the latter only narrowly missing injury because she was so used to her friend's driving. "They have a soft-serve machine so I promise I'd get you some everyday."

Olivia slid out of the car and slammed the door. It took a few tries for it to stay closed, but eventually she managed. "Another reason why if you kept me as a pet you'd kill me." She motioned for Laura to roll down the window and she complied, "That's not proper nutrition, you'd put me in a sugar coma!"

"Well at least you'd die happy!" Laura yelled back and then haphazardly pulled down the driveway, narrowly missing the Campbell's mailbox.

"I'd prefer not to die at all!" She yelled back, fully aware Laura couldn't hear her. "Clever Olivia, real clever."