Chapter Two
Red Lights
Sarah had fun that night at the Homecoming Dance with Mark. It was casual, just in their gym. Like Sarah had told Lydia, Mark had people constantly coming up to him that night and congratulating him on his winning touch down. The music thumped in the background and he was often on the verge of yelling during his conversations.
What she like about Mark was while he liked the attention he never took all the credit. He made sure to point out others that scored in that game and others that made great plays. What she didn't like was the looks she was getting from some of the female population coming up to him. Mark's hand was firmly entwined with hers and sometimes he would kiss the top of her head while he was talking. Sarah may not have been that popular, but Mark was certainly one of the most popular boys at school. Some of the girls felt that her status in the social food chain at school didn't allow her to be dating a boy of Mark's.
Toward the end of the dance, one of Mark's friends came up to them and asked if they wanted to go to the In-N-Out down the street. They both said yes and followed them to the car, a 2000 green sedan.
Mark and Sarah weren't paying attention to what was happening around them. Sarah had kindly refused to sit next to him in the back seat, which caused the football player to tickle his girlfriend mercilessly.
"Stop!" She screamed through the laughter, their friends in the front laughing. Through the happy tears in her eyes that Mark had produced she noticed something was wrong. "Mark, stop, seriously," she said, her tone firm. He did, a worried look on his face, as he thought he had done something wrong.
Sarah at first didn't notice the street they were on, but she looked more closely and gasped.
"What?" said the girl in the passenger seat as she turned to face them. The stench of alcohol reeked on her breath.
Mark smelt it too then. "Pull over, now!" he barked. But it was too late, the driver was on the wrong side of the road, a median diving them from the correct flow of traffic and they were running a red light.
She wasn't sure how it happened, really, how her and Mark got in the car with two drunk people and didn't even notice. Not sure how the car, who had the right away, crashed into them. Or why she felt pinching on her arms before everything went fast and blurry and seemed to fall away from her. She only knew it didn't hurt (besides the small pinches she felt on her arms), and for that she was glad.