Chapter 5: Peter

It's a ten mile walk home. Alex has not said a word since we started.

I call my mom when my alarm goes off to let her know we'll be late. My Dad drives by about half an hour later.

"I am presuming that there is a damn good reason fo' this." he asks after we're in the car. He's pretty pissed.

"It's at Trina's."

"That is a location, not a reason. A reason is explanation that makes sense of an event an' I am still waitin' for a good one." He using his 'court room voice' - very slow, very formal mostly to control his tone and his accent. He's pretty damn pissed.

"Ran out of gas."

He stops the car. Now I'm in for it. "You have no god damned idea how much trouble you - you both - are in, do ya' boy? I'va good mind to whip ya' both 'cept I promised yo' mamma I'd let it keep 'til I got ya' home." He looks at me and I can see he's madder than I ever seen before. "Where is your god damned car?"

I glanced at Alex and can't hide my shock. Dad follows my eyes and does a double take.

"Are you - are you smoking? Since when do you -?" he reaches back and snatches the cigarette out of Alex's mouth. After he flicks it out the window, he reaches back again. When Alex does not respond, Dad all but climbs into the back seat, rifles through Alex's pockets and takes the pack from him. He looks at me again, "Now, boy!"

He is going to make my life a living hell if I don't tell him something. I sigh, "I gave the car to Trina so she could take Lisa home."

"And you couldn't do that because... ?"

"Alex an' Lisa broke up."

"So you gave Trina your car?" Dad's close to really losing it. "Somehow this makes sense?"

I glance back at Alex; he's staring out the window. "Yeah, Trina an' Lisa take the car an' Alex an' I walk."

I'm surprised I can't see steam rising from Dad's ears. He glares at Alex then at me again, "You are so grounded. You gonna have gray hair 'fore you see the light uh day again." He starts the car again and drives to Alex's. When I try to get out of the car, he barks, "Sit!" and all but drags Alex to the front door. I can't hear the conversation but even from this distance it's pretty clear that Uncle George isn't any happier than Dad. At least I won't be the only one grounded this week.

When Dad finally gets in the car again, we only get about five minutes down the road before he asks again, "You wanna tell me the truth now?"

"That was the truth. Alex an' Lisa had a big fight an' broke up. Or maybe they broke up first. I don't know but it was really bad an' I didn't think it was a good idea to have 'em both in the car at the same time."

"I guess dropping off the girls an' coming back for Alex was out of the question."

I thought about Alex's temper and shook my head, "That ... no, that wouldn't uh been good."

"He got dumped?" I don't answer that one. Dad can find out whatever Alex tells Uncle George. "Huh." He glances at me, not quite as mad, "You're still grounded."

The rest of the trip is silent. Mom purses her lips but doesn't say a word. I go to my room - a place I'm gonna spend a lot more time in the near future.

The next day, Dad drives me to school which means I miss my morning swim. My car's in the parking lot and Dad actually stops and checks it for damage. When he's satisfied that Trina didn't wreck in overnight, he says, "If she needs a ride home, fine, but I expect to see you by 4:30."

"Yes sir." It's not like I could say anything else at this point.

My first period teacher hands me an envelope with my keys. I spend most of the morning trying to catch Trina and missing her. When I finally do catch up with her at lunch, I'm a little hurt because my seat next to her is taken.

"Hey, Chocolate!" I try to sound casual, "What up?"

"Keep steppin', Peter." She says without looking up.

I look at the two-girl barrier around her, "Look, can we talk?" One of them goes back to her lunch, the other picks up the conversation like I'm not there. "Ok, fine. Where's Lisa. I haven't seen her all day either."