When Drake made it home from school later that day, he said nothing to anyone. He simply walked up the stairs, entered his room and fell on the couch. It had been a trying day, to say the least, because everywhere he had gone, all that anyone could talk about was 'Drake and Traci', as if they had nothing better to do. Between the waves of judgement rolling from Josh, and the sardonic barbs Mindy had been hurling in his direction, all Drake wanted to do was curl up in a ball and lie in bed for a few days. Too bad it was only Wednesday.
Drake was in no way interested to go back to the Premiere after what had happened only a night ago, but Josh had kicked him out of the house for the night, because he was hosting a study group, and Drake felt like he would rather go back to the scene of the crime than the jail sentence.
He was sitting at a table by himself, absent-mindedly stabbing a French-fry with his fork, and ignoring the losers who kept snickering at him from the other tables. The length of his boredom knew no bounds, which became evident to him when he started throwing fries into the air, trying to catch them with his mouth. God, let something interesting happen to me tonight…
"Well, well, if it isn't 'Grown Up' Parker," the voice of Mindy Crenshaw said to him, as he closed his eyes and sighed heavily, "Fancy seeing you here tonight. Bit of a bold move, coming straight back to where it all happened after only one night, don't you think? Even more interesting, I don't see any vapid airhead sitting with you. I commend you for your courage," she jabbed, mock-clapping with the last line. Drake was about to tell her to beat it when he decided to make a move even bolder than any that Mindy had described.
"Mindy, sit down," he said, pushing out the chair next to him and motioning for her to join him. She found herself at a loss for words, but sat in the chair. Drake surveyed her for a moment, when something clicked to him. "Why aren't you at Josh's latest gathering of the nerd committee?"
Mindy rolled her eyes in exasperation. "I'd only ever go if I needed to, which is why I'm here and not there tonight," she said, annoyed, "What do you want?"
Drake couldn't believe he was doing this. "I need help. I was thinking about what everyone's been saying to me lately, you included. I feel like at some point recently, the doors have been starting to close on me. I'm getting nowhere in anywhere at the moment, and I'm feeling stuck. I can't talk to my parents, because they don't take me seriously. I can't talk to Josh, because he's useless with that sort of thing. But I know that you're…brutally honest, so maybe that can help me out." Did I really just say all that?
Again, Mindy found herself at a loss for words, but kept her cool. "Um, okay then," she chuckled nervously, "Shoot."