Fast Cars Can Only Take You So Far, a hey arnold fanfic

A/N: Songfic! Yay! Well, pretty much based on the song "Fast Cars" by Tracy Chapman. Although, I did listen to Boyce Avenue's cover to write this fic. Anyway, some notes. If something is italicized, then it is most likely a flashback, unless I put "she thought" or "he thought" in which case, it is internal dialogue. If something is italicized and bold, then that word is being emphasized. And if something is underlined and center aligned, it is song lyrics. The complete song lyrics will be put at the end of this one shot. Enjoy!

PS An AWESOME friend of mine actually DOODLED part of this fic :D. The link will be posted at the end of this fic. And that doodle is now the cover of this fic, since FF is now letting people add cover pics to their stories! So thanks AJSky7 for giving me permission to use your doodle!

If you guys want to check out her doodle to this fic on DA, as well as her other AWESOME Hey Arnold artwork, a link will be posted at the end of this fic.

Once again, thanks AJSky7 for your awesome pic! ^_^

BTW neither "Hey Arnold" nor the song "Fast Cars" are mine. This idea of combining them was though! ^_^

Fast Cars Can Only Take You So Far

~By darkangel1326

"Helga?"

She sighed inaudibly and did not attempt to answer.

"Helga? What's wrong?" he asked, more persistent and worriedly this time

She smiled. Arnold always cared so much about her. Sometimes, she never really understood why. She knew why she loved him. He was, after all, perfect in his imperfections. Never in his life had he done something evil without feeling guilty about it later, or stayed mad at someone for no good reason. She admired him for it. She loved him for it, even.

"I'm fine, Arnold," she finally said

She heard him sigh and give her a reassuring smile. She smiled back, although hers was weaker.

I should ask him, she thought. I have to try…

A green Packard pulled up in front of a familiar blue house and honked an old style horn. In the driver's seat, Arnold was sitting, beaming. It was the happiest day of his life. He finally got his license. And grandpa gave him the Packard. Arnold, wanted to share this excitement with the person he loved most. He wanted to share it with Helga.

She came out of her house, wearing her usually beanie, jean shorts and band shirt. No matter how much she denied it, Arnold always thought she was beautiful. He smiled at her as she saw the packard's only occupant.

"Where's your grandpa?" she asked as she scanned the Packard for Phil.

"Why do you ask?" Arnold said, teasing her

"He never lets you drive the Packard alone without a lic-" she stopped and slowly, she grew a smile. "You passed! You have a license!" she yelled happily.

Arnold beamed, and took his new license from his wallet to show it to her. She took it and chuckled.

"How you can always manage to look good in snapshots will forever elude me," she teased as she stepped into the car. She buckled her seatbelt after Arnold insisted she did and then looked out the window. Arnold started the car. "But why ARE you driving the Packard? I thought Phil protected his car more then his watch…unless he has 100 of these cars that you don't know about," she said

Arnold chuckled, remembering the day with the Sewer King too well. "It's easier to hide watches then cars, don't you think Helga?"

"Keep telling yourself that, football head," she grinned.

Arnold chuckled a bit more and they drove off.

"He gave it to me," Arnold finally said

"What?" Helga asked, distracted

"Grandpa gave me the Packard," Arnold said slowly

Helga brightened. "That's great. But why?"

Arnold shrugged. "I'm not too sure, he just gave me the keys."

Helga, smiling and feeling the warmth from Arnold's presence radiate to her, opened her window and stuck her head out. She closed her eyes and felt the wind guide her long, loose hair behind her shoulders.

Arnold smiled. He knew about her life. He knew times were rough and that she was like a piece of shattered glass; fragile, but had the tendency of scratching people before they get too close. He knew from experience she was independent and fiery. But seeing her like how she was, her eyes closed and her mouth curving into a pretty smile; if he hadn't known her before, he would've thought she was a completely different person. He grabbed the steering wheel with one hand and moved his other hand on her shoulders.

She sighed happily. Despite her past, she knew her future belonged to Arnold.

Nothing else matters, she thought at that moment.

"Good. I was worried about you," Arnold said.

She shook her head, facing the opposite direction. She didn't want him to worry about her. It made it seem like she was being pitied.

And I don't need Arnold's pity, she thought.

But she still needed Arnold and she knew that.

I should just ask him, she thought. I mean, the worse that could happen is that he rejects the idea.

But she didn't want to leave without him. She wouldn't.

He makes me feel like somebody.

She went over to her drawers and took the bottom one out, revealing a space under it. She had hidden money there for the past two years. And today, she wanted to use it.

She wanted to run away.

She took hold of the money and stuffed it in her jean pockets. She then placed her bottom drawer back in place and went back to her bed.

"Helga, is there something you want to ask me?"

She didn't answer. She just looked out of her bedroom window and thought about what happened when she was 16.

She slept soundly that morning and woke up to her parents fighting, as usual. Helga shrugged it off and proceeded to dress herself for the day. When she walked out of her room and looked over the stair's rail, she froze in place.

Her mother, Miriam, was clutching two overpacked mallets and looked angrily at her husband, Big Bob.

"I can't do this anymore B!" she yelled. "I can't keep living, no, not living. I can't keep surviving in this household. You are driving me insane!"

Miriam was shaking and Bob pointed a finger in her direction.

"Hey hey hey! I provide for you and the girl! You do NOTHING! Do you hear me? You don't do a DAMN thing! Except drink, that is! You have no right to tell me that I'M preventing your development cause you NEVER commit to anything, not life, and DEFINITELY not this marriage!"

Miriam froze but did not falter. She did not let tears escape her.

"At least I wanna change and stop ignoring my problems!"

"But you DO ignore your problems Miriam! You're always passed out from your SMOOTHIES! How in the HELL can you try to preach to me? I'm the reason we have a house! Don't you DARE blame me!" Bob said. He was turning red.

Miriam froze and bit her lip. Then she looked at her husband in anger.

"You're right." She said and Bob just smirked. "If I hadn't been so BLIND and so STUPID back then…I made a mistake running away with you B. I wish I could've seen that," Miriam looked at Bob and pointed at him. "YOU DID THIS TO ME! YOU IMPREGNATED ME BECAUSE YOU THOUGHT I COULDN'T GET PREGNANT! AND YOU DIDN'T STOP WITH OLGA, YOU HAD TO DO IT AGAIN WITH HELGA! YOU NEVER CARED ABOUT ME OR OUR GIRLS, ALL YOU WANTED WAS TO STICK ME!" Miriam yelled.

Helga gasped softly. Her life was a mistake? Did her mom just say she was a mistake?

"So you think you've figured out your life now, is that it? Well guess what Miriam, it's a cold, hard life out there. No one is going to give you what I've given you. You'll never survive out there in the world, so just throw your tantrum! You'll come to your senses in a few hours." Bob said these words to his wife, with the intention to hurt her.

He left after that, turning on the television and watching his usual soap. Meanwhile, Miriam put on her coat.

Helga tiptoed down the stairs but her mother heard her.

"Miriam! What's going on?" Helga whispered pointedly.

Miriam looked at her daughter sadly.

"I'm tired of this house, of Bob, of the responsibility. I don't want it anymore," Miriam eventually replied.

"This is about me, isn't it?" Helga couldn't stop these words from leaving her mouth.

"Not completely," Miriam replied, looking away from her daughter's piercing blue gaze. Helga closed her eyes and bit her tongue. Her mother said she didn't want her. Not just once, but twice.

"Don't you love me?" Helga asked, again without thinking twice.

Miriam turned to face the door, her face tilting downward. "Not enough to stay."

She then opened the door, dragged her suitcases out got into a cab, leaving the Pataki household without a backwards glance. Helga watched her go from the doorframe and heard Bob raise the volume on his soap.

Helga shook her head and tried to not dwell too much on that day. That was 2 years ago. But today was a new day. Today, she would do what she knew she would have to do. She would run away. She would leave the house that gave her anguish instead of comfort, and the father that scarred her instead of healed her.

Despite these thoughts, she smiled. She thought about driving in Arnold's car, smiling by her optimist and leaving the bad memories behind her…

"Helga? Earth to Helga, did you hear what I just said?"

She sighed and blushed slightly. She was caught daydreaming by the ultimate daydreamer. The irony failed to escape her.

"Sorry, love. What did you say?" Helga asked, still sounding whimsical.

Arnold chuckled. "I said, 'Is there a particular reason you wanted to talk? Or did you just want to hear my voice?'"

Now was her chance.

It was 10:30AM, Sunday Morning when her alarm clock buzzed. Helga woke up and went over to her calendar to mark off another day with her pen. It was a month since Miriam left. Helga hadn't heard from her mother since. She dressed in jeans and her pink tee. She pushed her beanie roughly on her head and walked silently downstairs.

Her father was downstairs in the trophy room, looking like all hell had broken loose. He was in his wrinkled, stained, and unwashed pajamas with a battered bathrobe loosely holding everything together. His slippers, mismatched and torn, were barely hanging on to his feet. The television in front of him was on in the otherwise dark room.

Helga sighed and walked closer. This was a regular sight since Miriam left. Bob spent most of his time depressed and drunk.

As she stepped forward, she felt a glass bottle under her foot. She lifted her foot away and saw an empty Jack Daniels bottle facing her. She grabbed it and set it aside. She went over to her father's recliner and looked at him. His face was even worse then his clothing, if that was possible. He hadn't shaved since the day Miriam left and quickly grew a beard. One he refused to shave off. His eyes, although currently closed, were puffy with deep dark circles underneath them. His forehead was full of worry lines, even in his slumber, and his mouth was formed into a depressed, downward curve. Helga, wasting no time, began shaking her father to awake him.

"Dad! Daddddd! Wake up!" she gently yelled

Eventually, his bloodshot eyes popped open and his gaze met on Helga's. But unlike most days, he did not push her away or yell at her for interrupting him. He just looked into her eyes.

"I've sold the Beeper Emporium," he said

Helga froze and hoped he was still groggy from the dream he was having.

"You're kidding, right?" she said, lightheartedly

"No." Bob replied, quickly

Helga panicked. "Bob! You can't do that! As much as I hate to admit it, we need the emporium! We need your job to keep the house. Yesturday, I saw the letter. The mortgage is past due! And I'm going to college in a few years! We need your job, Bob! You can't just give up!" Helga said, trying to be gentle, but failing.

Bob sighed. "Cell phones have been replacing Beepers for years, the company is going to crash and burn in a matter of months anyway. And what's the point of trying to fight for it? By the time I do get my company to its former glory, something else will come along to destroy it all over again. I've lost enough. First Olga, then Miriam. I've got nothing left."

Helga bit back her pain at the lack of acknowledgement her father gave her but tried not to let it get to her. Helga hated when he did this. His depression increased with the passing seconds and the constant visits with Jack weren't helping. "Dad! Stop feeling sorry for yourself. I know Miriam left you! Criminy! She left me too, but I haven't been moping about it. I've been trying to do something about it. The thing you always hated about her was her inability to face her problems and delve her life into alcohol when you aren't better right now! You've gotta try doing something Bob! I mean, look at you! You haven't shaved since she left, have barely showered and are just all around horrible looking! You're too young to look like this!" Helga yelled, trying to get Bob to respond to her in a non-melancholy way.

"I'm too old to even work or live, for that matter," he replied meekly.

Helga shook her head. She was getting angry. She was shaking. She was not going to let him pity himself. He was self-destructing and she'd be DAMNED if she was going to lose another parent.

It was in that moment she realized what needed to be done. She looked at the shell of a man that was sitting in her father's recliner, sobbing quietly into his old, tattered hands. She saw how he would lead them to bankruptcy if she let him wallow in his abyss of sorrow, but knew she wouldn't be able to bring him to the light anytime soon. She sighed deeply, headed to the coathanger and got a coat. She looked over at the broken man that was once Big Bob, Beeper King and left him sobbing in the darkness as she went to accomplish her mission of survival.

Arnold strolled to the familiar blue house, whistling his favorite jazz tune and walked up the stoop. Just as he was about to open the door, he collides with an unknown force. But he soon recognizes Helga's voice.

"Helga! You're ok!" he said

"Yeah football head, I'm alive" she replied sarcastically, bitterly

"I was getting kinda worried about you. You haven't called me in a while and missed the entire last week of school. So I wasn't sure what happened. Anyway," he rummages through his backpack and pulls out a few pieces of papers, "I got you the assignments you missed last week. So you don't fall behind. You didn't miss much, we just got assigned a book report from this list," he gestured at another paper, "a science project and a 500 word freewrite. All are due on Friday, so you have plenty of time to catch up." He looked at her and handed her the papers. She had her head down, not focused on the papers but on the ground. She tossed the papers to the floor and began to sob.

"Helga!" he said, worried about his girlfriend. "I'm sorry if you wanted your assignments earlier, but I was trying to make copies of all of the notes you missed, even the classes I didn't have with you, and brought them too. I also had to go to your club meetings and tell them you were gone for who knows how long. This weekend I helped grandpa with a few repairs. Please stop crying! I was only trying to help…"Arnold looked at Helga uneasily and she began sobbing on his shoulders for who know how long. As her cries became more hushed, she murmured something Arnold didn't hear the first time.

"Helga, I'm sorry I couldn't hear you. Can you say it again?" he asked, gently as if he were handling a piece of glass.

"I'm not going back to school," she said, after slightly pulling away from him to look him in the eye.

"WHAT!" was all Arnold could say.

"I have to work now," she said, gesturing at her outfit. Arnold followed her gesture and saw her dressed in a long, dull yellow dress with a nametag.

"BUT WHAT ABOUT BOB?" he asked, a bit of anger seeping through his calm demeanor

Helga shushed him and closed the door behind her. She looked at her boyfriend's green jellybean eyes and cried a bit. "He sold his company. It was almost bankrupt. He's lost the will to live ever since Miriam left. She hasn't called or anything. We don't know where she is. Meanwhile, Bob is best friends with Jack Daniels these days and is losing the battle of alcholism," she replied

"What about Olga? Can't she help you financially?" Arnold asked

Helga sighed. "She isn't going to help me."

"WHY IN THE HELL NOT?" Arnold said, frustrated. It wasn't fair for Helga to work for financial stability while Olga does nothing.

"She died" Helga replied

Arnold nearly fell when she said that. She never told him that.

"But…how…she was…and then…?" was all he said

Helga, who was helping him from not falling, just sighed.

"She died a few days before Miriam left," Helga said robotically. "Olga was in her limo, being driven to her Broadway show when the driver stopped abruptly and swerved harshly. She fumbled but was fine. But then, as she opened her limo window to look at her surroundings, a gun was pushed into her face and then shot directly in her brain. Her tissue was slowly dying while she was in a coma. She never became responsive in time for them to try to remove the bullet. The shooter claimed that God told him to kill her, so he did."

Arnold looked at Helga as fresh tears slid down her cheeks. He hugged her and kissed her forehead to comfort her. She had lost everything now. Her family was shattered. She was broken. Her father was broken. Her mother was broken. And Olga was dead. He gave her a small smile and offered to drive her to work. She accepted. As they drove, she stuck her head out of the passenger window, closed her eyes and tried to smile. But she couldn't.

She had to tell him. Now. She had to tell him she wanted to run away. She wanted to leave Hillwood in the dust, and start anew with Arnold. She didn't want to live in Hillwood, because everyday she was there, she felt her past nibble away her livelihood. She tried to face the past, and when that didn't work, she tried to look ahead at a future.

But it was useless by this point. Arnold would be graduating and going to college soon. And where did that leave her? She had the education of a sophomore, and worked as a checkout girl for two years now. She wasn't going anywhere at this point.

She didn't think he'd reject her plan. He knew what was going on with her father. He wasn't going to live much longer if he kept drinking at the pace he did. He rarely ate, and was usually hung over from the liquor he bought with her money. She was sick of it. Her father was killing himself voluntarily. And as much as she tried, she couldn't stop him…

"Arnold. I want to run away! I want to go with you to college, even if you wanna dorm your first year. I don't care! I wanna be near you! I need you,"

"Helga, what about your dad? What's gonna happen to him?" Arnold asked

"Arnold, he's KILLING himself. He hasn't been much of a living person since Miriam left. He's a ticking time bomb!" Helga said

Arnold sighed. He knew she was right. Living with her father? Bob was unsafe. He was drinking, and from what Helga told him, he was an angry drunk too. He shook his head. He didn't like to think of an angry Big Bob and Helga in the same house when he was drunk. Which, was all the time, at this point.

"Helga, are you sure?" He asked

She stopped. Had he said 'yes'? Or at least, not 'no'?

"I'm sure Arnold," Helga said. "He doesn't even know I'm working to maintain him. He thinks the government's repaying him for something. He DOES know that I dropped out, and he NEVER lets me forget THAT," She finished. Her voice cracked at the latter part of her statement. She wasn't going to lie, Bob's lack of care towards Helga hurt, and it was an injury she inflicted to herself, at this point. It was her fault to expect her father to care for her. She should know better by now.

"I'm supposed to be at my dorm in a couple of months. So, if you want, you can come to the boarding house over the summer. I'll start looking for a job to help you pay for an apartment over there. I hope you can get a transfer for your job, so you can work over there too. Then, the next summer, we'll move in together and hopefully find a nice place."

Helga was stunned. He said…'yes'.

"Really Arnold?" she squeaked out

"Really, I'll tell grandpa to save a room for when you come. If you have any money right now, for a down payment, it might make it easier to convince him," Arnold said, his voice unreadable.

They married a month or two after Arnold finished college, with a graduate degree. Helga was proud of him, as was everyone who knew him.

But Arnold wasn't too optimistic. He knew he had student debt. A lot of it. And he wasn't sure how he was going to pay it off. He and Helga were having trouble making ends meet as it is, if it weren't for Arnold's friend, who paid for the ceremony, they never would have married now. But they knew weddings were expensive, and if everything was going to paid, and since they loved each other, still, after all the debt, they finally agreed to it.

But now, things were going downhill. Bob didn't go to the wedding. Actually, no one had heard from Big Bob Pataki for a few days. This worried Helga. She still loved her father, even if he didn't love her. She went to her house a week after her wedding and opened the door. The house was dark. Not even the TV was on…

"Oh NO!" Helga screamed as she ran to the trophy room. She flipped the switch and found Bob, on his chair, unmoving.

She walked over to him and looked at his unblinking eyes. He was dead.

She looked for the cause and was horrified when she found pills, alcohol, and a knife at his side. Under the knife, there was a note.

"My daughter was killed. My wife left me. And my other daughter dropped out of high school. I have no one else. So why bother? I'm tired of life.

Who needs this stinkin' place anyway? Not me. Not anymore. And to whoever finds this, tell Olga I'm proud of her.

-Bob Pataki"

Helga's hands were shaking. The paper in her hands was being shred to nothingness. But she didn't have the refuge of fury at her side. She didn't know what to feel. Her father died. He though he was alone in the world. And he still didn't know the name of the girl who paid the bills when he was depressed. She was nothing to him. And he died, with the mindset that Helga was a failure.

She didn't know what came over her. She couldn't control her actions. It was as if she was a third person idly watching herself proceeding. She turned on all the lights of her house and found it. A full bottle of Jack Daniels. She chugged most of it and put the rest in her purse.

Years later, Arnold and Helga welcomed two children in the world. One a boy they named Phil, the girl they named Hilda.

But their names didn't matter. Because Helga wasn't always there. Ever since she saw the note, Helga went on a downward spiral of depression. Arnold always tried to cheer her up and succeeded, most of the time. But when Helga gave birth to Hilda, everything changed.

She went crazy, in a sense. She had Phil, an adorable copy of Arnold, and she just had a girl. The youngest. The one that might get overshadowed by her brother's success. The girl who would put all her love into one boy because no one loved her enough. Helga was scared. But her fear turned to anger quickly. Bob was the reason her life sucked. He was the reason she was thinking these absurd thoughts. She wouldn't sink to the level of favoritism. Would she? She wasn't sure anymore. She was flickering between fear and anger too quickly. And then, she drank again.

It didn't stop there. She drank every day, spending her time in bars. And the worst part was that she fulfilled the prophecy she didn't want to follow: she became a horrible parent. If not for Arnold, her children may have become bitter towards life. But now, they were bitter towards her.

Arnold tried being there for her. He tried telling his kids that Helga was having a rough time, and that she'd get better soon. But after a while, he, himself, lost faith in these words.

Arnold remains loyal to his wife, but his faith in her falls with the passing days. He, at one time, gives up on her. The last thing Helga sees before her life goes black is the suitcases of her husband, alongside the things of her children, by the front door…

No! She almost blurted out. Helga quickly muffled her voice and hoped Arnold wouldn't notice.

I…but it wouldn't…but what if…? she couldn't think coherently

"Helga?"

She looked at the receiver in her hands. How long had she been in this nightmare of a daydream? Minutes? Hours?

"Helga, you've been quiet for 20 minutes. What's going on? What were you wondering?" Arnold asked, his voice getting more and more worried

"Arnold, can you…" she paused. Her nightmare flashed back through her eyes. The events that would leave them apart in the end. Everything getting worse, instead of better…

"Arnold," she restated, a bit more firm this time around. "Can you drive me around in the Packard?" she asked

She heard a slight shifting noise on the receiver and the jingle of keys.

"Where to?" Arnold asked anxiously

"Anywhere," Helga replied

Today, a familiar scene was unfolding in Hillwood. Arnold Shortman was spotted driving the Packard his grandfather gave him. On the passenger side, Helga Pataki held her head slightly outside the window, her eyes closed, her wind flowing through her hair. She was at peace. They both were.

They never ran away together. Helga never told him her plan...

Arnold left for college, meanwhile, Helga worked towards her GED and eventually, her college degree.

The years separated them after their last car ride.

But the thing is, love is patient. Love is true. Love is all wonderful things, when it is not feeling blue.

They reunited years later and couldn't deny the truth. They still loved each other. And that was a constant that would never change.

They were married and lived in Hillwood.

But today? Today they were driving along their familiar hometown. Arnold focused on the road, his arm around his wife's shoulder meanwhile, Helga was at peace with life. In the backseat, their two kids sang along with the radio.

'Cause I remember we were driving

Driving in your car

The speed so fast, I felt like I was drunk

The city lights lay out before us

And you arm felt nice round my shoulder

And I, I, had a feeling that I belonged…

The kids were going to visit their grandpa today, and they were excited to do so. They loved their grandfather. And he loved them too.

Bob, after encouragement from Helga, eventually stopped drinking and went to AA meetings. He wasn't completely sober, but drank only on extremely special occasions. In Helga's eyes, that was good enough.

As Arnold pulled up in front of the house from her childhood, Helga opened her eyes and looked lovingly at the scene.

There was Arnold, polite and sweet as usual, having a few chuckles with Big Bob, who, although still a bit intimidating, showed his loving side to his family. In front of Arnold and Bob stood her children, Phil and Hilda, who were loved equally and treated with respect. Helga looked at the scene and hoped to heavens she wasn't daydreaming again.

And I, I, had a feeling I could be someone

"C'mon mom," Phil, who looked almost exactly like Arnold, said as he tugged her sleeve, in a childish, yet firm manner. "Let's go inside."

Helga smiled at this and exited the car. She walked alongside her son, into the house she could enter without the pain from the past. Phil walked past his daydreaming mother, into the living room and played checkers with his grandpa and sister. Meanwhile, Helga leaned on the side of the archway. This sight was something she never thought she'd see. Her whole family. Together. United.

Could be someone

She felt warm fingers slip into hers and saw Arnold, the most loving and perfect husband, smile at her lightly. He didn't say anything. He just looked at their family. Together. United.

Could be someone…

A/N: Well, there you go. My songfic ^_^. Anyway, as promised, here are the complete lyrics! Oh and in case you got confused, here's what happened. Olga did die. Miriam does leave. That was a flashback and Helga could not change those events, because those weren't daydreams. Those things actually happened. But Big Bob committing suicide and writing such a horrible letter. It wasn't too close to his character, but I wasn't trying to make it like that. Whenever a person has a nightmare, their minds twist things into their deepest, darkest fear. So, Bob dying thinking Helga is a failure and he has nothing to live for is Helga's fear. Ok? Cool!

Now PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE *on my hands and knees* PLEASEEEEEEEE! REVIEW THIS ONESHOT! TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK!

BTW, the link I mentioned is here: ajanae79. deviantart art /Driving-in-a-Fast-Car-278777234 (just take out the spaces!)

FAST CAR

You got a fast car
And I want a ticket to go anywhere
Maybe we make a deal
Maybe together we can get somewhere
Anyplace is better
Starting from zero got nothing to lose
Maybe we'll make something
But me myself I got nothing to prove

You got a fast car
And I got a plan to get us out of here
I been working at the convenience store
Managed to save just a little bit of money
We won't have to drive too far
Just 'cross the border and into the city
You and I can both get jobs
And finally see what it means to be living

You see my old man's got a problem
He live with the bottle that's the way it is
He says his body's too old for working
I say his body's too young to look like his
My mama went off and left him
She wanted more from life than he could give
I said somebody's got to take care of him
So I quit school and that's what I did

You got a fast car
But is it fast enough so we can fly away
We gotta make a decision
We leave tonight or live and die this way

I remember we were driving driving in your car
The speed so fast I felt like I was drunk
City lights lay out before us
And your arm felt nice wrapped 'round my shoulder
And I had a feeling that I belonged
And I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone

You got a fast car
And we go cruising to entertain ourselves
You still ain't got a job
And I work in a market as a checkout girl
I know things will get better
You'll find work and I'll get promoted
We'll move out of the shelter
Buy a big house and live in the suburbs

You got a fast car
And I got a job that pays all our bills
You stay out drinking late at the bar
See more of your friends than you do of your kids
I'd always hoped for better
Thought maybe together you and me would find it
I got no plans I ain't going nowhere
So take your fast car and keep on driving

You got a fast car
But is it fast enough so you can fly away
You gotta make a decision
You leave tonight or live and die this way