~Easier To Run~
. . .
AN: Well here I am again. For those wondering who Teilen
is, her story is up but not quite finished. If you want to read it, it's called
High Voltage, at least for now anyway. It's worth it, I promise...I think.
Anyway, I'll put up some info later in this story about her as well in case you
don't want to bother reading more than you have to. So anyway, thanks for the
reviews you guys, at least I know someone likes my stuff.
. . .
Chapter Two: The Driver's Ed Lesson from
Hell
. . .
Mare had walked into school the
second day with confidence that she could get through this. She had practiced
walking on two legs all afternoon and evening the previous day, deciding that
running could wait. She also had homework, although that was not a problem for
her; she did it all in under a half hour.
Mare's second day of school was
going quite smoothly. She'd only had one clumsy moment (falling sideways out
the third period classroom door. Even she couldn't understand how it had
happened) and now it was already time for sixth period class. With a sinking
feeling in the pit of her stomach, Mare realized that it was Driver's Ed. She
had known right away that Driver's Ed was going to be a nightmare.
She took a deep breath and
opened the classroom door.
"How nice of you to join
us, Makino," the teacher, Mr. Broderick, looked up at her from where he
was at the board writing something down. "You're five minutes late, but
don't worry--I'm sure that Shuuichi doesn't mind
having his driving lesson shortened." He didn't give her a chance to
respond. "Well, let's go. The Driver's Ed car is in the parking lot. Bring
your permits."
Mare was so thankful that she
had thought to get a permit. She had never driven a car before, though, since
the permit test was a multiple choice written test. She watched the teacher
exit the room and waited for Kurama.
"I'm sorry I kept you
waiting," she apologized. "I didn't realize I was late."
"That's quite
alright," he answered. "To be quite honest, I'm not exactly looking
forward to this lesson."
"Oh, I know. Me
neither," she sighed. "Well anyhow, I certainly hope the driving goes
all right. I can promise that I won't drive us off a cliff in flames, but
nothing more."
Kurama
smiled politely. "Shall we go?"
Mare took a deep breath.
"Alright, I'm ready. I can do this," she muttered to herself.
"Hopefully I'll get out of this alive..."
. . .
"You need to go faster,
Miss Makino. The speed limit is 25 miles per hour, not 5," Mr. Broderick
told her.
Mare was clutching the steering
wheel so tightly that her knuckles were turning white. Her arms were stiff in
front of her, and her back was pressed into the seat. It was hard enough to
concentrate on the driving without all his criticism. Mare didn't know what his
problem was. She was driving so slow because he kept
telling her to look this way and look that way... If she went any faster, she
feared she'd crash into another car while looking at the stupid pedestrian a
mile away.
"Miss Makino, a little
faster please?"
She turned her head to look at
him. "Hey, at least I'm not hitting anything. Isn't that the point?"
"The point is to be able
to keep up with the rest of the traffic," he replied. "Just look at
all the cars behind you!"
Mare turned around to look out
the back window. Kurama was sitting in the backseat,
awaiting his turn to drive. He looked very calm--in fact, he always seemed to
have a calm demeanor. There was something about him, though...something that
gave Mare reason to believe he wasn't exactly human...
"Miss Makino!"
"Huh?" Mare snapped
out of her thoughts and turned back around. "WHOA!" She swerved hard
to the left to keep from going off the road. "OH NO!" That had been a
bad idea, because now she was about to hit another car. Mare swerved to the
right again and, not knowing what else to do, stomped on the gas. The car went
from 5 to 75 miles per hour in about 30 seconds.
"What are you DOING?"
Mr. Broderick shouted. "SLOW DOWN!"
"Okay, okay!" Mare nervously
felt around for the brake pedal, but accidently
pushed the gas down again. As the car continued to accelerate, Mare had to take
a few hard turns to narrowly miss creaming the other cars on the road.
"What do I do, what do I do?!" She shouted over the teacher's
screaming. In the back seat, Kurama had pulled his
seat belt as tight as it would go. He was watching the blurs of the scenery
outside as they flew past it.
"THE BRAKE, MAKINO! THE BRAKE!" Mr. Broderick shrieked.
"STOP YELLING AT ME! WHERE
IS THE DAMN BRAKE?!" She yelled back as they almost crashed into a
telephone pole, and then another, and then another.
"OH GOD!" Mr.
Broderick screamed in terror. "IT'S RIGHT BESIDE THE GAS PEDAL! YOU CAN'T
MISS IT!"
Mare looked down quickly, and
was able to find the pedal. She moved her foot off the gas and slammed on the
brakes. The car came to a screeching halt, throwing the passengers forward, right in front of a very large building.
Mare stared directly ahead at
the building they were about six inches away from and breathed deeply.
"Okay. Nobody told me death had four-wheel-drive." A single second
after she had said that, the airbags burst forth.
"M-miss--mmph!--Makino!" Mr. Broderick cried out as he
struggled against the airbag. "You'll be getting an "F" for
today!"
. . .
Mare walked stiffly out the
school doors, arms crossed loosely and looking downward, her long, thick
maroon-colored hair hiding most of her face as she followed Kayko.
She still wasn't feeling so great about the driving episode. Kayko had tried to cheer her up, but to no avail. Mare had
declared that never again would she ever set foot in "one of those death
machines," saying that it was healthier to walk anyway. Kayko had assured her that things would get better soon,
but Mare was severely doubting it.
Kayko
turned back and put a hand on Mare's shoulder. "Don't look so down, Mare.
Everybody has a bad day."
"I know," Mare
sighed. "I just feel so bad about almost killing my teacher and Kurama. I've appologized hundreds
of times. I feel so awful."
Kayko,
saddened by this, gave Mare a hug. "It'll get better. Trust me," she
said again, letting go of her new friend.
"Thank you," Mare
said, managing a small smile. "I needed that. Listen, I can't hang out
today. I've got to get home and do some things."
"Alright."
Kayko shrugged. "But if you want, some of us are
going to get together at the park later. You can come if you aren't busy
then."
"Okay, maybe I will. See ya," Mare smiled at her as they went their separate
ways. Mare was heading back to the Makino's. She absolutely HAD to run. There
was no getting around it. The stress was building up so fast inside her that if
she didn't find a way to relieve it she felt that she would burst, and running
was her stress reliever. She walked briskly down the sidewalk, not making eye
contact with anybody; not wanting anyone to get in the way of her plans for
that afternoon. Mare's thoughts went back to the driving lesson, and how she
had nearly got everyone killed. She couldn't stop thinking about that. She felt
absolutely terrible. Kayko had been shocked when she
first heard about the incident, but had told Mare that it could happen to
anyone. Still, it didn't make things any better.
The fact of the matter was, Mare had almost killed...again.
. . .
AN: okay, that was the second chapter. See, it wasn't as long that time.
Anyway, be sure to tell me what you think of my story so far. Does it suck, or
is it good?]
