It was what we both needed at the time.
As Jo went around the house tidying up and erasing any signs of our existence, readying us for the shift, which could come at any moment, I hesitantly poked and prodded myself, realizing my injuries hadn’t miraculously healed over night. In fact, I only felt worse. With the big game only days away, I was in trouble.
Jo leaned against the doorway, refusing to sit on the bed again, when she began to plan how to explain my injuries. We had originally shifted towards the end of the last block of school. And, thank God, we didn’t have practice on Mondays. So as luck would have it, not that I considered myself real lucky as of late considering I’d been force into some epic battle I didn’t sign up for, I’d only have to wait in the bathroom till the halls cleared. Jo would meet me in there once she thought it was safe. Then came the fun part.
We were going to wreck my car.
Jo was going to run it into a light pole while I waited in the ditch. Well, she wasn’t going to be in the car either. She was going to try one of these cool things you see in movies where someone uses something to brace against the gas pedal. Not that watching my car die was cool.
She had even predetermined where the accident would occur. Chesapeake, the next city over from Virginia Beach, was filled with a bunch of back, country roads. Often, my friends and I would drive on these long stretches of road, park, and drink or get high. At least before Jenna demanded I gave up pot, promising me colleges would test for it.
We would blame the accident on a deer when we called for help. And the rest, along with my car, was history.
Before all this, my car ranked fourth on my list of all-time important things.
Jenna
Football
Sex
Car
Porn
School
Oh, how things have changed.
Between watching my car slam into the pole, finally understanding what my teacher meant when he talked about the death of the American Dream, and the injuries that still plagued me, I didn’t think it could get any worse.
I, of course, as always, was wrong.
“Looks like you two got into some trouble. Do I want to know what happened?” Bentham asked, stepping out of his car. He drove a broke down-looking Volvo. But at least he had a car.
Jo began to blush the moment he opened his mouth. She pulled her hood over her head. I might have been paranoid, but it felt like she was avoiding looking at me as well. “Thanks for coming. I just don’t think it would be good for Logan if I’m here when the police and tow truck come.”
“I don’t mind you being here,” I replied, still wondering why she called Bentham in the first place.
Jo turned her body towards me but still kept her eyes hidden. “I don’t think Jenna would understand. I know she’s cool with us being friends and all, but a girl can only handle so much.”
I didn’t quite know what she meant, but I imagined Jo being there would only lead to more questions. From everyone. And I was already so damn tired.
“Don’t worry, Einstein, I’ll make sure she gets back to her car safely,” Bentham said with a nod towards Jo.
“I don’t think she really needs you to keep her safe. Kinda good at taking care of herself. But I appreciate you giving her a ride,” I snarked back.
It felt weird seeing him there. I didn’t like it, and it was more than my general dislike of the guy. Seeing him there, standing so casually against his car, meant he was real. The whole thing was. We really were time travelers. We really were connected. In the future. In the past. In the present.
Chapter 24
“Looks like maybe you aren’t so important after all, Middleton,” Alec yelled a little too loudly as he passed from the living room into the kitchen where the keg was stored.
“Looks like it,” I replied, forcing a smile onto my face. I’d been hearing hours of similar banter from my teammates. Teammates. Right. When I showed up at school, stitches on the side of my head and my ribs taped up, I got called a lot of names. I got ignored. I got spitballs thrown at the back of my head in class. My locker got egged. A few of my teachers started asking for homework. Coach assured me the team would miss its chance to go to state because I wasn’t willing to kill some darn deer.
This continued until the football team won without me. Sophomore Brent Bradley threw three touchdown passes, and Logan Middleton was only a memory. No one wanted to talk about how the team they beat was one of the worst in the district, and how they’d be praying for my return next week when they would have to face the much tougher Wolverines. Right now, they just wanted to party.
For the most part, I let the boys get their jokes in. At least they didn’t hate me anymore. Now, they were simply belittling me. Much better. It could be worse. I could be poor Brent Bradley who was on his fourth cup of moonshine and getting dangerously close to hooking up with Shelly, a stage five clinger.