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Adalyn Brown had long, dark-red hair, thick and curly, the kind most folks tried to achieve with hot rollers and curling irons. She and Jesska had been best friends since freshman year when they sat next to each other in biology. Adalyn laid her hands over her heart and groaned. “I’m so, so jealous.”
“Are you coming with us?” Seth asked.
“Not today.” She held up her keys. “I have Marilyn.”
Marilyn was Adalyn’s VW Rabbit that was held together with duct tape and a prayer.
Seth chuckled. “Nice.”
“We’ll see you over there,” Jesska said.
“Sounds good.” Adalyn climbed into her car and took off, the VW backfiring its way out of the parking lot.
“It’s getting worse,” Seth observed.
Jesska laughed. “I don’t get why she won’t just sell it and get something that isn’t destined to kill her one day.”
“Me neither.” Seth stepped back. “In you go.”
Jesska climbed into her seat and secured her seatbelt while Seth walked to the driver’s side. They took off toward the bowling alley on SE Morrison, which wasn’t far from their high school in downtown Portland.
The majority of Lincoln High School’s senior class squeezed into the large bowling alley, commandeering every lane available, although not everyone chose to bowl. Jesska gave Jason a wide berth, particularly because of the sidelong, creepy stares he managed to give her.
When Seth bowled another gutter ball, he shook his head good-naturedly and then frowned down at his phone.
“Everything okay?” Jesska asked.
“My sister’s locked herself out of the house,” he complained.
“Don’t your parents have that spare key... the one under the rock in the backyard?”
“Oh, they have three. All of which she still has in her car, which she has also managed to lock herself out of. Either I go help her or she has to call Triple A.” He shook his head. “I should make her call a tow truck.”
“You’re not far. Just go, babe.”
“It’s the principal of the thing.”
Jesska laughed. “I get it. Sailor’s a little absentminded. Just go. I’ll play your turns.”
Seth smiled, leaning down to kiss her. “This is why I love you.”
“Because I’m a better bowler than you?”
“Yes, exactly.” He kissed her one more time and then left to help his sister.
Jesska bowled a strike and a spare with Seth’s next turns and then nature called, so she turned to Adalyn. “Hey, Doc Brown. Play my turn if I’m not back in time, okay?”
Seth and Jesska had started calling Adalyn ‘Doc Brown’ partly because she was a genius and partly because of her hair that Jesska secretly hoped would turn white when she was old.
“You got it,” Adalyn said.
Jesska finished up in the bathroom and took some time to fix her makeup. Stepping outside, she found Jason lurking.
“Hey,” he said, and pushed away from the wall.
“Hi.” She glanced around, her stomach churning to find them alone in the hallway. “Did you need something?”
“Um, yeah.” Jason gave her a leering smile. “You.”
