THE PRODIGIES

Chapter VII

"We'll wait for Chance to come before we leave, okay?"

Bree and Mila are now leaning against Ole' Reliable talking to me.

I mumble my response.

I'm so drained. I haven't been able to think. As soon as I stepped out of the gas station, I could feel Bree's eyes on me. Her concerned eyes burning the side of my face. It's overbearing and unnerving.

Ten minutes feels like ten hours, and I think God when I see Chance's black 2000 Mustang GT. He pulls up right beside my sisters and hops out. I walk towards the car and meet him at the passenger side as he opens the door for me. He gives a single wave to my sisters before he climbs back into the driver's side.

I inwardly thank him for not questioning me in front of them because that would've just been awkward.

"Where to?"

I look at him, and I realize I don't have an answer.

I let out a sigh.

"Can you just drive me around for an hour or two? I can cash app you gas money. Uh, I just need to clear my head. If you're not busy."

"Well, my dad's family is throwing a little cookout at my uncle's house. I'll just go later though." Chance says while putting the car in reverse.

"No, you can just take me to the library then."

I turn my head towards the window to look out. My sisters pull onto the open road first, and we're now behind them.

"Maybe you can come with me. It'll be fun. It'll just be my big ass family plus you and me. This is my black family." He chuckles.

I turn my head to look at him, and he smiles.

"I don't feel like being around people at the moment. And I don't discriminate."

"You won't really have to be around them. We'll go in, say hi to everyone, find our own space, and then we can talk about what's wrong with you. And why you didn't wanna ride with your sisters. The grown ups won't even bother us unless they're trying to make us eat. It's my little cousins you'll have to worry about."

I don't answer him. It seems like a harmless way for him to try to spend time with me. I'm too exhausted to even argue. All I want to do right now is think. But maybe that's not the best thing for me to be doing right now. I'll only make myself worry even more. What I need is to calm down so that when it is time for me to think, I won't be so impulsive.

"I don't have anything to wear." I say without looking at him.

"Yeah, I see y'all had fun." He says while noticing that I still have my clothes on from last night.

"Do you want me to stop by your apartment? It's coming up." He makes a right turn without waiting for my response.

I turn my head back towards the road and see that my sisters are still going straight. Maybe Mila is about to drop Bree off somewhere. The plan is to split up for now. Where she's going though? When do we meet back up? And we don't have our phones to get in touch with each other. We didn't think this through.

"Which building?" Chance stops me before I can even start over analyzing.

"Building two."

Chance proceeds to park close to the front of the apartments but as soon as I see the building, I start thinking about what happened earlier. The lady. That man. I don't want to go in there even though I haven't showered since yesterday. That's the only thing that breaks me out of the daze I'm in. I can't go around Chance's family dirty and sweaty.