Chapter Four: Give Your Immortality To Me
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Drake & Josh or anything, just the made up characters.
"Really? Is
this really necessary right now? Thursday morning?
While packing
Megan's lunch at her kitchen counter, Audrey was attached to the
phone and arguing intently.
Dressed in his work suit provided by the station, Walter's smile was brighter than the electric stars at the planetarium. His ratings were inclining, his financial situation was smoothing over, and there was a fresh scent of toast lathered in peanut butter coming from his kitchen. Nothing was going to bother him this morning.
"You're not fooling me, Bennett." Audrey spoke truthfully, trying to concentrate on zipping up the pink lunch bag with one hand. It was a more difficult task than talking to her ex-husband, that was just like talking to a kindergarten kid about global warming: pointless. "It's been seven years."
Walter's face shook off its grin and went straight into staring his wife down. They'd talked about Drake and Megan's father countless times, especially with Joy's appearance in their home the week before, but he hadn't called. He stopped visiting the kids once Drake was ten. He couldn't balance the two families and he made his choice, selfish as it was.
"Get off the phone! Get off the phone!" Like a cartoon, Walter began to wave his hands above his head and yell in a whisper.
Audrey watched Walter shake in front of her frantically, but Bennett Parker's voice, so distinguished and yet so naïve, was playing like a catchy chord into her ear.
"Fine, I will talk to them about it, but I am making zero promises." She put her hand up in the air in an attempt to silence Walter. He shrugged his shoulders and sighed, realizing he was a fighting a losing battle. "Okay!" Audrey's voice was exhausted from conversation and clearly irritated. "I will talk to him about it. Goodbye." Deeply, she pushed her thumb against the button that had a hieroglyphic of hanging up and left the phone on the counter. She grabbed the edge of it and took in a deep breath while staring at her panty hosed feet.
"What was that all about?" Walter asked, not sure if he actually wanted to know.
"Drake." Audrey admitted.
"Morning!" As if on cue, Drake strolled into the kitchen, still relaxed in his pajamas. He found the pile of peanut butter covered toast on the table and pulled out a chair for himself. After his angry session with the hated Joy Catto in his bedroom, things had turned around. She transferred out of his first period English class, she moved lockers to a different hallway and for his sake, and she was avoiding him at all costs. He thought he saw her once at a pep rally on Tuesday, but as soon as he blinked, she was gone. His life was back to normal and he didn't give a rat's ass about anything regarding her anymore.
"Good morning." Weakly Audrey smiled at her son. "I'm going to take Megan to school now." She swiped the lunch bag off the counter top and stopped to kiss Drake on the cheek on her way out of the kitchen. "Get dressed; you're going to be late." She advised him before exiting.
Walter didn't say a word. What could he say? He wasn't even clear about what was going on exactly. He just grabbed a slice of toast and followed Audrey out, leaving Drake to eat alone in peace.
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She brushed stray hairs that had managed to slip out of her pony tail. Her back curved as she hunched over the lunch table where she sat content and quietly. She had an up tempo song playing happily out of her Ipod headphones, she couldn't even hear the cars in the parking lot or girls giggling around her. She lifted her hand too delicately, careful to not rip the paper, flipping to the next page in the newest issue of Spin magazine.
At her old high school, which was just a stone's throw away and a block from Belleview, Joy had no problem meeting people. She had never been that alluring girl with perfectly massacred eyelashes, who could flutter from group to group without a breath in-between, but she had a core handful of friends, three to be exact, and it was all about quality, not quantity for her.
However, thanks to Drake, she had the hardest time approaching anyone. She didn't know if anybody had a clue about the story behind her and Drake, but she also had no plans to find out.
She wished she was back in the cafeteria of Archibald Leach, not sitting alone outside at a rain stained and chewing gum decorated picnic table.
"Alright, I'll see you guys later." Josh put the last of his books in his book bag at the table; he and a few of his friends were sitting. He'd noticed Joy off in the distance and he could feel her loneliness from all the way over. He knew Drake would be too busy being an exhibitionist somewhere in the parking lot with his mosh pit of friends to notice him just to check on her.
Josh couldn't help it, being nice just looked good on him.
He walked with soft steps, saying "excuse me" when walking through people or stepping in front of their path. Very consciously, he scanned over his view of the parking lot before laying his hand on Joy's shoulder boldly.
"Hey." Quiet and with his shyness prominent, he said.
"Holy shit!" Joy screamed and darted her head around in one big motion. As soon as she noticed Josh, who she had frightened with her reaction, she grabbed her chest with both her hands and let her eyes close for a second. "You scared me." She admitted, turning off her Ipod since the headphones had fallen out when she jumped.
"Really?" Josh sarcastically snarled. "Sorry, I didn't mean to." He sunk back into his quiet shell and sat next to her, glancing over the magazine she was reading through. He couldn't help but smile lightly, sometimes it seemed unreal how much Joy and Drake had in common, but couldn't ever look past what they could've put behind them a long time ago. "I just thought you could use some company."
Secretly, Joy had wished Josh was one of her old friends. Wild Becca, who wore dark crimson colored lips and abused cigarettes and boys with them. She'd smack them together between words and quote songs like something she'd just come up with. Or distant Whit, that girl who listens to you, but never tells you anything sustains about herself in return. Joy would've been happy to have been scared out of her skin by either one of those girls, but most of all, she wished it had been her best friend of all Danny. He was a simple, dirty redhead, who would never admit it, but would do anything to see a naked girl off of a computer screen or magazine page. In many ways, Drake was a lot like Danny, just more experienced when it came to girls. Danny was a music fiend and he was clever, even though he was just an average student.
Joy wasn't losing touch with any of her Archibald Leach friends, she just couldn't see them everyday between the hours of eight am and three thirty pm, and that was a big adjustment.
"I could, actually." Joy brought herself back to reality and admitted to Josh. "Belleview is not the friendliest school." Her bored eyes lurked behind Josh and took notice to the stereotypical high school tableus playing out around the grounds.
"I haven't seen you in English." Josh changed the subject and brought her stare back to him.
"I'm in Baker's, third period."
"That explains why you're not in the back row in Math."
"Yeah, sorry, it's nothing personal." Joy enjoyed Josh's company; he was someone who was very easy to be around. She never felt inferior to him even though he was a brainiac and she never felt better than him, either. Had it not been for Drake, she was positive they could be buddies. "I liked hanging out with you."
"I understand its okay." Josh shook his head slightly. "But, I hope you don't change everything just because of Drake. He can't always get what he wants." Josh spoke to Joy like a husband would to an overprotective wife. "This is your high school, too."
"Whatever." Joy started to pack her bag after catching a glimpse of the time on her wrist watch. "I don't really care, it's just high school." She sat up from the lunch table, sliding the bag over both her shoulders.
"Yeah, but you've got two years left here, make the best of it."
"I am." Joy lied. "Look, I got to go or I'll be late, but it was nice talking to you again." Joy scurried away before Josh could think about what to say next. She was lost in a sea of Belleview students. She knew socializing with Drake's brother would probably be highly frowned upon by Drake and because of that, she didn't want to.
XXXX
With each hand occupied on the back of a girl, Drake strolled through the parking lot of Belleview with a large bunch of his friends. He had a wet know-it-all grin on his face as well as a new pair of colorful sunglasses.
The whole group was in a fit of laughter while Trevor was finishing a story about what he had done over the weekend.
Interrupting their good time, a dirty old Neon honked behind them, trying to get through the cluster of teenagers. Almost every one of them looked behind to give the unshaved man behind the wheel the furry eye.
Only a few of the girls moved to the side to make room for the car, so the man honked again. This time, Trevor walked right towards the front of the Neon and lifted one leg up to climb on top of the hood, just because he was a smartass and could. Drake watched, still holding both the girls.
He couldn't believe he didn't realize it at first. The man behind the wheel looked like a modernized version of the man in all his photos.
Behind the wheel of his car, he lowered his hazel eyes and smirked in Drake's direction only.
It hurt when Drake swallowed around the lump in his throat; he could feel his bones crushing underneath his worry and his heart jump a little. After seven years, what the hell was Bennett Parker doing at Belleview High School?
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A lengthy review would make one very happy camper.
Part two will be posted soon, I promise.