Secrets To Be Told...: Part 3

“Today, the traffic seems to be piling up on 51^st –“ I switched the station.  Some dramatic classical music came on, and I switched the station again.  A song about a blue pickup and some beer came on. ‘Goddamnit.  Where’s the tolerable music?’ I changed the station one more time.

“I wanna rock and roll all night, and party every day. I wanna rock and rol-“ I left the station on. ‘Finally, something decent.’  I backed out of our carport and headed to school. I lived fairly close, so my drive to school every day was only, at most, 15 minutes.  I turned up the radio, because my favorite song was on. I sang along with Brad Delp:

“Smokin', Smokin'
            We're cookin' tonight, just keep on tokin'
            Smokin', Smokin'
           I feel alright, mamma I'm not jokin', yeah.
Get your feet to the floor-“

I stopped singing.  Flashbacks came crashing into my head and I felt like vomiting. “GET ON YOUR FEET! NOW!”  I shuddered and took a sip of my orange juice to keep the bile from coming up my throat. ‘Don’t think about him, Laurie.  Just focus on the road; you’re almost at school. You can do it, Laurie, Just FOCUS.’ I gripped the steering wheel higher and went about 55mph on the road. The turn I needed came sooner than expected, and I took a sharp left and slowed just a bit. ‘Finally, there. See? Not a biggie, Laurie. Don’t be such a drama queen.’ I parked in the parking lot, and turned off the engine. I stayed in the car, however, for the next 5 minutes. ‘Get a grip. He’s not out there watching you anymore. Get him out of your system.’ I took a deep breath, and I opened the car door.  It was about 7 o’clock and school didn’t start til 8, so no one was really at school.  The only cars in the parking lot were mine, 2 seniors, and the faculty. The school buses didn’t come til 7:30am. ‘Thank God they don’t, because that gives me time to avoid him.’ I walked into the hallways and just put my stuff near my lockers. I walked back outside and sat on a bench, waiting for my friend, Alisson, to come. Like me, she usually came to school earlier than most, mainly because of her parents’ job (unlike me, who came to school early because my mom was too hung-over to even drive me or even be around me in the morning).