Free Offside by Shay Savage

eyes narrowed again, and then her lips twitched before she busted out laughing.
    “Manifold destiny?” she squealed. “Thomas Malone! Do you know anything about cars at all?”
    “Well…no…” I admitted, “but this is a Hyundai!”
    “Do you know anything about Hyundais?”
    I couldn't keep it in anymore, and I started laughing too.
    “I don't know shit about any of this,” I confessed.
    “You brat!” she yelled as she slapped me on the shoulder.
    “Sorry,” I shrugged, though I wasn't. Not at all.
    “We've been standing out here for fifteen minutes!” she exclaimed. “I'm going to be late for school.”
    “Most definitely.” I tried to hold my laughter down, but it wasn't really working.
    “You are such an ass,” she said, but she was still smiling a bit.
    “Want a ride?” I asked her. I refrained from adding on my cock .
    “I don't think I have much choice,” she said. “Let me get my book bag.”
    I had to stop myself from bouncing in my seat as she made her way from her car to mine and got in. I was definitely going to stay under the speed limit for this ride. I wanted to spend as much time with her as possible, and the more time I could spend with her alone, the better. If I could just keep this up, eventually she'd fall for me. She'd have no choice against the Malone charm.
    “So what’s your favorite number?” I asked as I pulled excruciatingly slowly out of her driveway. I crawled along at twenty-four miles per hour.
    “Um…seriously?” She glanced over to me with a puzzled expression.
    “Yeah.”
    “Why?”
    “I figured it was a get-to-know-you kind of thing,” I replied.
    “Shouldn’t you ask my favorite color then?” she finally said.
    “Nah,” I said with a shrug. “I prefer numbers.”
    “Eight,” she said.
    “Eight?” I repeated. “That’s a weird favorite number.”
    “It is not,” she retorted. “It’s very symmetrical.”
    I couldn’t really argue with that, but still—eight?
    “What kind of music do you like?”
    “Lots of different things,” she said. “I like some of the trendy stuff, but I also like jazz and classic rock. Mostly I listen to heavy metal.”
    Interesting.
    I continued to pepper her with questions all the way to school, trying to figure her out. I didn’t really make a whole lot of progress until I asked about her favorite flower just as I was pulling into the school parking lot.
    She turned full on to look at me, her expression both curious and accusatory.
    “Mums,” she said bluntly.
    I pushed my lips together, trying to hide the smile.
    “Really?” I asked. “Why is that?”
    “Well, they are very magical flowers,” she said, the look on her face not changing as I parked and turned off the car.
    “Magical?”
    “Yes,” she said with a nod. “They just appear out of nowhere.”
    “Do they?”
    “They do.”
    “Interesting.”
    “I think so.”
    “We’re late for first bell,” I told her. I jumped out of the car and grabbed my book bag from the back seat. I was pretty sure she said something else, under her breath a bit, but I only caught the word deflect . “What’s your first class?”
    “History,” Nicole replied.
    “Well, you missed about half of it,” I said with a smile.
    “What class are you missing?”
    “Trig,” I replied.
    “Are you going to be able to get caught up?” she asked.
    “Not a problem.” I laughed through my nose.
    She looked at me with a strange expression before she looked away again.
    “Well, I hope I didn’t miss too much,” she said, and she started walking faster. “See you in biology!”
    “Oh yeah!” I called out as I quickened my pace to catch up with her. “What the fuck was with the blow off last Friday? Are we doing this project or not?”
    She slowed and looked at me sideways.
    “Don’t feel as if you have to put yourself out,” she said. “If you want, we can meet in the library after school.”
    “I have weightlifting.”
    “How long is