Free Falling for Hadie by Komal Kant Page A

dad’s law firm, and the animal shelter that Estella volunteered at. For the most part, we both remained quiet. The silence wasn’t awkward though. It felt right; like we didn’t need to say unnecessary things or make pointless small-talk.
    The only sound was coming from the radio. Hadie must’ve put it on for the sake of having some background noise because it wasn’t loud enough to really catch what was being said.
    My ears perked up as a familiar song came on and I glanced over to see if Hadie had noticed.
    Nope. She was still staring straight ahead, a twisted expression on her face that I couldn’t figure out.
    It was her car and all and I should probably ask before touching the radio, but since she seemed distracted it didn’t seem like a big deal.
    I reached over and turned up the volume, and Lovefool by The Cardigans filled the car. Leaning back in the seat again, I began humming along to the words.
    Hadie shot me a quick look of surprise before focusing on the road again. “You did not just turn that up.”
    The smile wouldn’t stop itself from spreading across my face. “Why? I can turn it up if I want.”
    “I bet you don’t even know the words,” she said with a frown.
    “Mama tells me she wants a brother. That I should just stick to eating Spam…” I trailed off, the words escaping me.
    The corner of Hadie’s mouth quirked up as if to say, “See, I knew you didn’t know the words.”
    Not wanting to prove her right, I reached over again and turned up the volume full blast as the chorus came on.
    Hadie flinched in her seat and shot me a withering look. “ARE YOU KIDDING ME?”
    “CAN’T HEAR YOU. I’M BUSY.” I gestured at my ear and then closed my eyes as I began singing. “Want me, want me. I know you want me.” I opened up my eyes again to find that Hadie had pulled over on the side of the road. “Drool on me, drool on me. Just go on and drool on me.”
    “You’re crazy,” Hadie mouthed at me.
    With a shrug, I leaned in closer to her and saw her take a sharp intake of breath. “So I die, and I whine for you to want me, want me. Say that you want me.”
    Hadie shook her head in disbelief, but there was a small smile growing on her face as I started dancing around in my seat, rolling my shoulders in time to the music. I knew I looked ridiculous and barely knew a single word to the song, but I didn’t care. That glowing smile on Hadie’s face was worth it.
    “COME ON. SING!” I yelled, “AND KEEP DRIVING.”
    She shook her head again as though she couldn’t believe she was taking orders from a dancing, singing, crazy person like me. She pulled out from the curb and continued through the town.
    As she drove, I noticed that she was bopping along to the song. There was a fun Hadie hidden underneath the reserved one; someone just had to dig it out of her.
    “Want me, want me. Say that you popped me…” I trailed off, looking at her expectantly.
    “Hold me, hold me. Go on and scold me,” Hadie continued, and then burst out laughing. Her laughter sent thrills through me, and I couldn’t stop looking at her.
    I mean, I didn’t want to stare at her like a weirdo, but seeing that broad grin on her face had knocked the wind right out of me. She’d been so serious and sad since I’d met her, but now she was being herself. And that made me happier than she would ever know.
    We sang at the top of our lungs, our voices completely out of tune and our words not even slightly resembling the actual words of the song, but neither of us cared. Our version of the song was silly and ridiculous, but we sang right until the end, and when it finally ended we both leaned back against our seats with goofy smiles on our faces.
    “Is this something you do with everyone?” Hadie asked, turning down the radio as some rap song came on.
    “No,” I said sincerely, “just with you.”
    She didn’t respond, but when I looked over at her there was confusion etched into her face. To be honest, I was