Chapter 66

Saturday, I passed my drivers test with ease. I got a ninety-nine, and I still say I checked my sideview mirror before I merged left. Mr. Gates, the guy from DMV, was nice and professional about the whole thing.

Mom let me celebrate by using her mini-van all day. I took Kelly to see Mrs. Fletcher, then later, I took her and her sister, Zoe, Tami, and Traci to a movie.

Sunday a pick-up showed up out front. It belonged to a friend of dad's, and he was letting me use it. It was older than Traci and pretty beat up, but I had wheels.

I took Zoe for a long drive. We found several secluded spots to test on dark nights. Her mom still wasn't thrilled about Zoe going out with a sixteen-year-old. She might be a freshman, but she'd skipped a grade and was only thirteen. But so far, her mom hadn't said I couldn't see her.

Monday, I drove to school for the first time. The cab was a little crowded with Traci, Zoe, and Tami. Robbie decided she'd rather take the bus.

That afternoon I tracked down Larry and Jimmy before gymnastics.

"Guys, I need a favor."

"Anything, for our second favorite sophomore," Larry said with a grin.

"Second favorite?"

"Robbie's cuter," Jimmy explained. "What do you need?"

"Who do you know who deals drugs?"

I knocked, and Zoe answered the door before the echo died. At least she wasn't the type to keep a guy waiting on general principle.

"Wow!" was all I could think of to say. She was wearing a long dress in the palest pink I'd ever seen. Her shoulders were bare, and her hair was done up in some kind of bun arrangement that left her neck naked. The whole effect made her seem too mature for me.

"You clean up nice yourself," she said. I was just wearing jeans and a dark blue sport shirt.

"All I can say is I'm glad Hershey and Hallmark invented this holiday."

Zoe giggled. "They didn't invent Valentine's."

"Are you sure?"

Mrs. Morganthal's face was a study in contrasts. Proud of her little girl and how beautiful she looked, nervous about her going to a dance, worried cause Zo had missed school today because she hadn't been feeling well, and apprehensive cause a handsome sixteen-year-old was taking her daughter out.

Being the considerate guy I am, I decided to put her mind at ease. "We'll be home by five. Six at the latest."

Zoe giggled. "He's kidding. We'll be home by midnight," she said quickly before her mom could explode.

I smiled and gave her mom a half-bow. "Actually, it's a short dance since it's a school night. We'll be back by eleven."

Mrs. Morganthal looked like she wasn't sure whether to be relieved or banish me for life, so I took Zoe's hand and we made a quick getaway.

Considering how classy Zoe looked, I thought about asking Dad for the keys to his Porsche. He'd made a comment yesterday about me owning more of it than he did, which wasn't true cause of the trade-in on his old car, but sounded good. But I decided the truck was mine, for a couple of months anyway.

We went into the house so that I could show off Zoe to Mom and Dad. They oohed and aahed appropriately. Traci's face was another study in contrasts. On the one hand, she thought Zoe looked beautiful, on the other, she was annoyed at me because it wasn't Tami, and on the third hand, she was mad at the world cause the middle school wasn't having a Valentine's dance since it was a school night.

In front of the house, I opened the truck door for Zoe, then kissed her. I helped her in, copping a quick feel of her butt, then kissed her. I closed the door, went around and got in behind the wheel, and kissed her.

"Maybe we should skip the dance and go test out some of those secluded spots we found," I suggested. I was leering suggestively, but in the dark truck, she couldn't see.

"If you think I got this dressed up to sit in the dark, you're nuts. I want everyone to see me."

I started the pickup. "And they shall."

The dance had a good turn-out. I thought being on a Monday night it might be dead. Robbie was there with Mike Rose. I liked Mike, but I had a feeling his days were numbered. Mikee was with a freshman boy I'd seen around but didn't know. Ted something, I think.

Allie surprised me. She was there with Jason Kent. Jason wasn't a jock, he was a nerd. Speech team, debate team, honor society, the works. He was a pretty nice guy, though a bit hung up on his IQ. He'd tested out at one thirty-seven. Three points below genius. I'd never bothered telling him that I tested higher.

Personally, I don't think kids should know their IQs. It causes problems. When I'd first learned mine, I found myself looking at my teachers and wondering about theirs and why I should listen if I was smarter than they were. I'd gotten over it. Mostly.