a lesson in crash tests. 2007.
Okay, okay, okay, okay! She was fine. Totally fine. There was nothing to be worried about. The fact that Teddy Graham was fifteen years old and totally not supposed to be driving right now and was driving right now was nothing that she couldn’t handle.
Just like she could totally absolutely handle the fact that, like…
She was stuck. Let’s just face it. The car she had no business driving had gotten a flat tire. And now she was here. Stuck. And trying not to freak out.
WHY HAD SHE LET OLIVE CONVINCE HER THAT SHE COULD DO THIS?
Her enV2 was open next to her, a string of texts rolling in from Olive practically mocking her from the cupholder of her dad’s Volvo that he was surely going to banish her from ever being able to take a step near ever again.
OLIVE: HOW DID TEDDY GRAHAM OF ALL PEOPLE GET A FLAT TIRE???????
Teddy glowered at her phone, pushing a stray curl out of her face and grabbing her phone, angrily tapping out a response and smashing the SEND key.
TEDDY: TEDDY GRAHAM ISN’T SUPPOSED TO BE DRIVING A CAR IN THE FIRST PLACE, YOU KNOW >_<
Okay. You know? She just had to bite the bullet. She had to call her mom and ‘fess up to her big, stupid, terrible truth. She had (ILLEGALLY) taken her dad’s car out of the garage and (ILLEGALLY) driven all the way down Main Street before she’d realized she had a flat tire, now parked in front of Kingdom Cone — the greatest (and only) ice cream shop in Shallow Creek and trying not to have a mental breakdown.
You know, trying to convince the coolest girl in the senior class that Teddy could be the coolest girl in the sophomore class? Yeah. Really not that worth it. And really not working out all that great. She hadn’t thought this through at all! What was she going to do? Cruise past her and be like, “Yeah, I’m so cool. Look at me driving my dad’s Volvo without a license. Let me sit with you and your pretentious friends at lunch like my mom didn’t totally bust y’all’s barn rager last Friday.” Yeah. Fat chance.
Mid-breakdown, she heard a tap on her window, nearly leaping out of her own skin until she turned her head and saw a familiar face looking back at her, nearly doubling over in relief. “Ohmygodhi. I... don’t really know how to explain this. Just... don’t tell my mom. Or my dad. But... definitely not my mom.”