Sweet Lantern

Chapter 2

Alice

I wake up with a jolt to the last bell ringing. Finally! I think to myself as I get up to head out to the front of the school to meet Darry. I wonder what he has up his sleeve. The weight of the last school year falls away as I step out of the doors and into the sunlight. I look around for Darry, expecting to see him already outside, but he's nowhere in sight, so I sit on the brick wall next to the steps and wait for him to show up.

I'm looking at the front doors, waiting for Darry to appear, when I hear him whistle. I snap my head around to look behind me and see Darry, half leaning, half sitting up against a beautiful, shiny black 1970 Dodge Charger, his arms crossed over his chest, with a big ole' Darry grin spread across his face.

"Whoa!! Where did you get that? When did you get it is a better question!?" I say to him, excited for him.

"I bought it a while back, I've been working on it here and there for a while. I didn't want to say anything until I was finished with it and had it running. So, what do you think? Do you like it?" he asks me, with hope in his voice.

"Like it? Darry, I love it!" I say as I run my hand down the shiny black hood, taking note of how well he has restored the car back to its original beauty.

He opens the passenger side door and gestures with his hand for me to climb in as he smiles and says, "Good. I really hoped you would." I sit down in the passenger seat. The interior is just as gorgeous and meticulously restored as the outside. The black leather bucket seats have a small patch of red leather that runs down the middle of each seat. The gear shift looks like it's made of a red resin with a white letter "D" in the center of it. In the back seat is Darry's bookbag, his Varsity jacket, a water bottle, and a small black box wrapped with a lacy purple ribbon, partially sticking out from under his jacket. I raise an eyebrow at the box but turn around as Darry's getting into the driver's seat. He's so thrilled with his surprise and my reaction to it, that he can't stop smiling.

"I was so happy to have it ready in time for tonight. I'm gonna pick you up for the bonfire, ok?" he says to me as he pulls out of the school driveway.

Darry's always excited about something, but his excitement in this moment is big, even for him. We talk the whole way to my house. We talk about the car and how he got it, how he restored it alone, how he wanted it to be a surprise and how he had made excuses to sneak away or not come over sometimes during the year while he worked on it. We talk about the bonfire and then about our plans for the summer. Neither of us really having anything special planned but knowing anything we do, it'll more than likely be together, as we tend to spend a lot of our time together, especially in the summer. We pull up to my house and he reminds me that he will be here to get me at sunset as I'm stepping out of the car.

He wants to know what color shirt I'll be wearing so he can dress accordingly. Something he's always done when we are going out together somewhere. I tell him green and he smiles. We say bye and he pulls away. I sit on the front steps and watch as he drives down my long dirt, and gravel driveway. I love his car. I'm so happy for him and kind of proud of him too. He fully restored that car all by himself and now he has a freedom that I very much envy. I can only imagine all of the places I could go if I had a car of my own. I stand up to go inside as he turns out of my driveway and onto the street.

Inside, I notice how quiet it is. My parents must still be down at the stables with Robby. So, taking advantage of the stillness of the house, I go upstairs to my room and open my closet. I have to find something to wear tonight. Something green because I told Darry I would. I think the matching-best-friends thing is silly and went out in middle school, but I go along with it because it makes him happy. And if there is anything in this world, I care about more than my own happiness, it's Darry's. I find a green button up blouse and then pull out a pair of old cut off blue jean shorts and toss it all on my bed. I have to take a bath before the bonfire and am thankful that today is the one day a year that I am not required to do after school chores. The 'Summer Nights' bonfire is kind of a big deal, so all of us teenagers, especially us that help maintain our family farms, get a free pass for this one night. I turn on my radio in my bathroom and grab my towels and start running water into the tub.