Second First Chance

6. License to Drive

"It makes a big difference in your life when you stay positive."

-Ellen DeGeneres

No one noticed when David returned to school after getting his license, but many noticed the next day when he parked in spot 37. He didn't know who previously had this spot, but the school issued it to him yesterday. Several seniors gave a quick look, but it was mainly the juniors in his class who had already gotten their licenses who were surprised. He heard several comments while getting out of his car. He tried to contain the smile they invoked, but it wasn't working well.

"Hey, Clifton! Welcome to the big leagues."

"Finally got off the giant Twinkie, huh?"

"I like that ride, though. Vintage!"

He hung around to talk, but after a few minutes, the conversations faded out. He said bye to the "big leagues," and went inside to class. He couldn't help but to swing his key chain with the car keys on his index finger. It wasn't like the car or the license changed who he was, but it made him feel good to be a driver. Walking in to Honors Geometry, David Clifton actually had a smile on his face.

"What's got you in such a good mood?" David barely recognized the fact that Stella was talking to him.

"W-what? Me? I'm not in a particularly good mood." Even now, as he was trying to build confidence and be a new man, Stella Rogers was still his kryptonite.

"You seem to be smiling more lately, and today you came in smiling like you were just elected President. What's with you these past couple of weeks?" The worlds "couple of" came as cuppla from Stella's drawl.

"I don't know. I just decided enough was enough with the funky attitude. I can't believe you noticed." It's weird that he was talking to her this easily right now. He was trying to understand why he was so freaked out about it this whole time.

"Who hasn't noticed? You were pretty dark there for a hot minute. I'll be honest, you looked like you could be the next school shooter there for a while." She said this and immediate regret came across her face.

Taking it in stride to help ease the awkwardness, David replied, "Wow, Stella, tell me what you really think of me." The smile on his face let her know he was only kidding. And just like that, the steel curtain that had separated David from talking to Stella Rogers was lifted.

"So are you still struggling in here? I haven't heard anything from you since Taylor moved."

"I think I am getting the hang of it. It helps when he actually explains the stuff better...it also helped that I got a tutor to help me."

"I wish I had known. I am no genius, but I can understand it pretty well. You could have saved some money." David, still amazed they were talking as easily as they were, watched her reactions to everything he was saying.

"I knew you were going through some stuff, so I left you alone. Is everything getting better since your grandfather and Taylor?"

"It is still tough every once in a while, but I have made it a point to keep a good attitude about everything. I can't control what happens in life, but I can control how I react to it." David didn't want to come across as a motivational speaker, but he was passionate about this.

"How can you be sure you are going to keep that same viewpoint going forward?" Stella's questions seemed like she actually wanted to learn.

"I remembered something a teacher told me once when I was in middle school. He always wanted us to seek the positive in everything so he told us about buzzards and hummingbirds."

"What? What does that have to do with positive thinking?" Stella was nearly laughing.

"So, the buzzard is a big ugly bird that looks for what?"

"Roadkill, duh."

"Right. It looks for nasty dead animals. What does a hummingbird look for?" David was starting to feel like a teacher at this point.

"Flowers, for the nectar."

"Again, you're right. It looks for sweet beautiful flowers. They both are looking for completely different things, but they both get what they are looking for. So, which do you want to be? A buzzard or a hummingbird?"

"Wow. That's some way to look at it. And you've decided this just all of a sudden?" David listened as she was questioning him, not sure of how to respond. He couldn't let her know the real reason he had made such a change, but he also know she would be able to pick up on a made up story.

"Yeah, I just made a choice right around my birthday to start looking for the good in life instead of the bad. I've seen enough "bad," so I figured it was time to find some good. Wha—"

As he was starting to get into deeper matters, Mr. Stevenson gave his obligatory, "Ok, let's get to it!"

At lunch, David was prepared to go to his typical spot and eat, but on his way, he heard someone say his name. He turned around and it was Sofi.

"Hey David, do you want to sit here? I noticed you had been eating alone and I figured you might want to have someone to talk to. I mean, you don't have to, I was just trying to be nice." Sofi started out so confidently, but somewhere along the way, she started to trail off.

"Of course I would love to sit here. Thank you for asking me," David replied as he sat at the table across from her. "So how is your day going?"

"So far so good. How is yours going? Did I see you walking in from the student parking lot this morning?" She didn't mean to come across as excited, but it came out sounding like she was talking to an old girlfriend about the latest gossip.

"Yeah, I got my license yesterday and the car used to belong to my grandfather. He left it to me."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that." She felt awkward and didn't know how to continue, but she lightened the mood and said, "well, he had good taste in cars."

Desperate to change the subject, David started talking about Chemistry. The rest of lunch shifted from actual classes to memories from classes so far.

As soon as lunch was over, they threw away their trash and headed out of the cafeteria. Since Chemistry was their next class, they walked together. To anyone looking, it might have seemed like they were together, but both David and Sofi knew this was not the case. David wasn't particularly looking to date anyone and Sofi was too afraid to tell David how she felt.