Death City (Book 1)

Chapter 5: Still Away

Tuesday morning Dawn was up and dressed for school nearly two hours before her first class. She had gotten out of bed earlier than usual to get ready and had put some additional effort into her appearance, curling the ends of her hair and applying eye shadow. She wasn't sure how the day would play out with Rain, but if she did in fact get another chance to talk with him, she wanted to dazzle. 

In the kitchen, Dawn used her spare time to prepare breakfast for her father. It was a simple one consisting of pancakes, scrambled eggs, and bacon. She herself didn't each much of it. As she sat at the dinner table with her father, Dawn was more preoccupied with texting on her phone. Rick took notice as he looked up from his plate of food to see her grinning at the screen.

"You're more bubbly than usual," he said, lifting a piece of bacon up to his mouth.

Dawn set her phone aside, then placed both her hands on the table. "Huh? Why do you say that?" she asked. Rick raised his eyebrows and lowered his head.

"You meet a boy at school?" he asked, munching. Dawn put down the cup of orange juice she drank from and quickly gulped it down.

"N-no..." she said.

"Hmm," muttered Rick. He paused for a moment as he placed his fork down onto his now empty plate. "Okay. Well since you're up early I can drop you off on my way to work."

"Really? Thanks Dad!" she said smiling.

"Yeah, let's go ahead and leave right now." Rick stood up from his chair and wiped several crumbs off of his flannel. He pulled his car keys out of the back pocket of his jeans, then headed for the front door. Dawn grabbed a banana off the marble counter top and ran out the door after him. During the drive to school, Dawn was reminded about Death City as they rode up the hill and passed the forest. She had practically been mesmerized by Rain, so much so that it nearly became an afterthought. 

Upon remembering, however, Dawn thought about who she could speak to about it without raising suspicion or cause for concern. She looked at Rick, who seemed to already be in a great deal of stress, as indicated by his ever-graying hair. The last thing she wanted was for her father to have to worry even more about her. With the whole town on edge, she decided it was best to limit any talk about it to gossip among her friends and classmates. After all, the information she acquired up to this point was primarily from Josie.

Rick drove into the parking lot behind the school and stopped. Dawn got out of the truck and said goodbye to Rick. Once he drove off, Dawn began walking toward the back entrance. With thirty minutes until the start of classes, the lot was still fairly empty with only about twenty cars. One of which was an older pickup truck, located in the back of the parking lot away from the other cars. It had belonged to Trey, who immediately waved Dawn over. As she approached the parked vehicle, Dawn noticed Josie and Zach sitting in the back of it. Dawn walked up to Trey, who was leaning on the right door with a smile on his face.

"Hey girl," he said. "Hop on."

"Nice, I didn't know you had a truck Trey," said Dawn. She held her red skirt down from the back as she climbed onto the trunk. She sat down in front of Josie and Zach, who were snuggled up close to each other. Trey followed behind Dawn into the spacious truck and sat beside her.

"You two look cute," said Josie, giggling. "You guys should totally go to homecoming together."

"I mean, hey," started Trey. "I am free at the moment." He briefly looked away from Dawn, but quickly turned back to face her. Curiosity was brewing in his large brown eyes.