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“Hey, Naomi!”

I looked up quickly at the mention of my name and smiled at seeing Alisa waving to me, a big smile on her face. Dallas was, of course, standing beside her, Alisa’s arm wrapped around his. I smiled solemnly and waved back a little, Mr. Hicks’ words still repeating over and over in my head. I had never seen him like that. He never used that tone of voice in class. Like I said, it really scared me. Me. Naomi Harris. The girl who lives by herself in a rickety apartment building with a broken lock where anyone could come in at any time.

“What took you so long?” Dallas asked. Alisa and I looked at him in surprise, but he gave it no mind and only looked back down to us. Why is it that I only know guys who are at least inches too tall? The only boys I know, I have to look up to see them and it’s starting to get on my nerves just a little. But I shook my shook and held my hands up.

“It was nothing,” I said, stuffing my hands in my coat pockets, “I’ll tell you about it later, okay?”

Alisa turned her head from side to side and said, “Well, okay. Let’s go to Starbucks and get a coffee or something. I’m freezing.” I smiled and whooped a little, for one I didn’t have to work that day, and two I loved, loved, loved Starbucks. They had the best cappuccinos.

“Come on, Dally, let’s go in your truck,” I said, skipping ahead and stealing his keys from his pocket. “I call the bed!” Alisa laughed and Dallas made a low sound in the bottom of his throat that I interpreted as a laugh. I knew that they would want to sit together, but would still ask if I wanted to sit up front. Alisa would usually say, “It’s okay, really. I can sit in the bed.” But I’d wear her down at some point and would end up back there myself. It was such a small town we lived in that no one would stop you for having a girl in the back of your truck.

I tossed Dally his keys and jumped into the bed of his truck, sitting behind everything and right under the back window. I heard the doors on either side open and slam almost instantly. Alisa tap-ped on the glass and waved at me through it. She wrinkled her nose and smiled before turning in her seat, kissing Dallas, and buckling just as we both felt the first full tug of his truck.

The rain had stopped a bit before I met up with Dallas and Alisa, but the bed was still wet and I was afraid my butt was about to freeze off. I’m sure we were a sight to see. A fifteen year old girl in the bed of a truck freezing and a couple up front, one talking to her through the window. I’m sure we looked like some weird hillbilly something. That, or a kidnapping/murder-in-action. Pick your poison.

I tried my best to explain to Alisa what had happened, but it was hard. For some reason, even though it had happened barely a half hour before, it was just a strange blur. I repeated what Mr. Hicks said perfectly, though. From the look on her face, I think it scared even her, and Alisa was one of these girls who never got scared. I watched The Ring and Pet Sematary in a row once, and she barely batted an eyelash.

“Wow…” Alisa wasn’t sure where to look but directly at me. “What do you think it means?”

I shrugged and shook my head, sighing. “I don’t know,” I confessed. “But I have a feeling I’m

going to figure it out sooner or later. That, or it’s going to bug me and eat away at me until it finally kills me.”

Alisa giggled and wrinkled her nose again. “I think I like the latter,” she said, resting her head on her arms. She had rolled down the back window a bit before so that I wouldn’t have to scream my head off just to talk to her. Alisa sighed but quickly shrugged and shook Dallas a little. He kind of glanced over to her to show her he was listening.

“We almost there, bumpkin?” She said, grinning at him. Dallas made a disgusted face and shook his head, shuddering. Alisa and I had heard some lady call her beau ‘bumpkin’ in the mall once, and ever since she called Dallas ‘bumpkin’ whenever she could. As a result, he would smack her lightly on the butt. He couldn’t this time, though, because he had a thing about keeping his hands on the steering wheel.

“We’re almost there. Now sit down and buckle up before a cop stops me,” he said, keeping his eyes directly on the road.

I laughed and tapped him on the head a little, “That’s strange. So they would stop you for not having a girl buckled up, but not for one sitting in the bed with no protection whatsoever. That is positively fascinating!” I could see him smile through the rear-view mirror and he mouthed, “Sit down” like Mr. Hicks. I smiled back and sat back down below the window just as Alisa rolled it up.

I pulled my hat down just above my eyes and looked up. It had just begun to snow when we pulled into the Starbucks parking lot. We rushed inside, I twisted my ankle uncomfortably when I literally jumped out of the truck and got a mouthful of parking lot snow. Yummy. Thank God there was almost no one there besides the teenagers behind the counter. I sometimes felt sorry for them, but then I remembered what my job was and though, “Hey, I’m worse off.” But I used to wonder what kind of caffeine crazed maniacs they got. Band people, mainly, I’m sure.

I quickly sat down with a chocolate cappuccino, two shots of espresso. Naomi’s gonna be living the high life tonight! Emphasis on high. Alisa and Dallas followed, Alisa with the same as me and Dally-boy with a full-out espresso. I raised my eyebrows, smiled at him, and clicked my tongue.

“Full night tonight, bumpkin?” I said, raising my cup to him. He and Alisa smiled back, and she leaned against him, sighing contentedly. They had always been like that, ever since the start of high school. They were that one couple that always showed up in the year book on the steps or being voted “Cutest Couple” or something like that.

I didn’t realize it until later that I had started to cry.