Coulda Woulda Shoulda

"Sounds good to me." I laugh.

"Me too." Jen agrees.

We stand up and head back into the house to get my bag. I get it from down in the basement and hurry back to Sarah and Jen. We're walking toward the front door when the sound of Chloe's voice stops us.

"Emily, where do you think you're going?"

I hear the challenge in her voice and turn. She's standing in the doorway to the living room, arms crossed, flanked by Marissa and some other dippy girl whose name I can't remember. I shift to stand on my right foot, my hip popping out.

"I'm going home." I say, putting my hand on my hip. "Well, actually, I'm going to taco Bell first, then I'm going home."

Chloe's expression is slightly disbelieving. It's funny. "Why?"

"I have to finish unpacking. You want me to buy all new clothes tomorrow anyway, so how do you expect me to do that if I still have to unpack all my old stuff?" I say, slightly sarcastic. "Bye, Chloe."

Sarah, Jen, and I walk out the door before Chloe can get another word out.

"That was pretty funny." Jen says. "She's going to squash you at school Monday , though."

I shrug. "So? I don't get why you care so much what Chloe thinks."

Jen sighs. "it's hard to explain. If she was anyone else, I wouldn't give a rat's ass about her. Hell, I don't as it is. But there's just something about it, oh, I don't know, maybe it's knowing that she can make just about everyone hate and reject you. Yeah, I think that's what makes me care."

"I don't care." Sarah grins.

Jen rolls her eyes. "That's because you have some magic power that makes people like you no matter what Chloe says."

Sarah's grin grows. "I know." She turns to me. "OK, so did you come in your own car, or…what?"

"Chloe gave me a ride." I say, making a face.

"Ew. Well, we can all go in my car." She says, leading the way down the driveway.

"Well, Paul and I cane together in his car, so…oh shit!" Jen says, her eyes going wide. "I forgot to tell Paul we're leaving!" she whips out her phone.

Sarah giggles. "Jen and Paul are so cute!" she glances at her friend, chattering away on the phone. "They've been together forever, since like fourth grade."

"Aww, that's so adorable!" I say.

Sarah stops a ways down the street from Jason's house. She holds her arms out like she's showing off the prize on a gameshow. "This…is Bug." We're standing in front of an old VW bus. It's painted bright lime green. "This is my baby."

I laugh. "This is just about the coolest thing ,i>ever."

Jen grins, snapping her phone shut. "I now, right? She's only had it for like two months."

"And you get shotgun." Sarah says, pointing to me. "Get in."

She walks around to the driver's side and unlocks the doors. I get in the passenger seat as Jen climbs into the back. I turn around to look at the rest of the bus. There are cushions strewn everywhere, and it looks like there's a guitar case strapped to one wall.

"Is that a guitar?" I ask, pointing to it.

"Yeah, that's my other baby." Sarah says, putting her key into the ignition and starting the engine. We The Kings spills out of the very updated stereo. "I'll have to show it to you when we get to your house, it's gorgeous."

I roll my window down as we drive towards town. "The air around here is so…fresh! And everything's so open!" I marvel.

Sarah looks over at me. "So?"

I laugh. "I grew up in a town in the middle of the Appalachian mountains. Everywhere you look, it's wooded mountains in every direction."

"Really?" Jen crawls up behind us.

I nod. "yeah. It's so different here!"

I bet." Sarah says. "So, tell us about your life back before you moved. Any gossip?"

I shrug. "Nothing too exciting. I went to this little Catholic highschool, we had to wear uniforms."

"Ew." Jen interrupts.

"Yeah." I continue. "I was friends with most people, and my best friend was Angelina Magal."

"IS there going to be a boyfriend in this story?" Sarah asks.

I shake my head. "Nah, I've been single all my life."

Jen gasps. "No" way!" I nod. 'Why? You're gorgeous!"

I laugh. "I'm not gorgeous, and I don't know. just, no guys."

"Well, we'll have to change that." Sarah says decidedly.

"Good luck." I say sarcastically.

"Did you meet anyone interesting tonight?" she asks.

I Shrug. "I don't know."

"Hey, weren't you talking to Jen's amazingly handsome brother Eliot before we left?"

"Yeah." I nod. "He asked me to dance."

"No way." Jen says at the same time Sarah says "Get out!"

Woah. I'm confused. "Yeah, he asked me to dance with him. So?"

"Eliot doesn't date." Jen says matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, like, he had a girlfriend for a while when we were freshmen, but other than that he's been single forever." Sarah says.

"You don't have to date someone to dance with them." I say.

"Yeah but like, he doesn't ask people to dance even. He'll dance and stuff, but he normally just lets his friends set him up, or he'll go with it when a girl starts dancing with him." Jen says. "This is big. I wonder if Chloe knows. I bet she'd be pissed."

"Why would she be pissed?" I ask.

"She's been trying to get Eliot to go out with Marissa." Sarah explains.

"Oh, yeah, it looked like she was trying to get Eliot to talk to Marissa tonight, but she didn't seem interested." I say, remembering.

Jen laughs. "Yeah, it's funny, really. Eliot says she's too shallow, that's supposedly why he won't go out with her."

"Emily, what do you want?" Sarah asks, pulling into the drive-through at Taco Bell.

"Um, a couple soft tacos, a burrito, and a large Pepsi." I say, digging around in my bag. Wait. Shit. "I don't have any money. I can pay you back when we gat to my house if you'll lend it to me though."

"Psh, don't worry. I'll cover it." Sarah says, waving at me dismissively.

"You sure?" I ask.

"Of course. What are friends for, if not to buy you Taco Bell when you don't have any money?" She says easily before sticking her head out the window and giving whoever is inside our order.

Hehe. Friends. That's pretty sweet.

Sarah pulls forward to the window, pays, and gets our food. She passes it to me and drives away. "So, Emily, where do you live?"

"Um. It's...let me think. Uh..Fayette street!" I say excitedly.

Jen giggles. "You couldn't remember what street you live on?"

"I just got here!" I say indignantly. "I don't remember everything yet!"

She and Sarah just laugh.

I tell them more about my old life on the way to my new house. They ooh and aah in all the right places when I tell stories, and we all crack up at stupid things my friends and I did back in Maryland.

"Here we are." I say as Sarah pulls up underneath my house. "Chez Bennett."