Chapter 3

                                                             Chapter 3

The Present 

"Hey, wake up," someone pokes my shoulder.

I stir when I hear a clicking sound. I open my eyes to find the mystery girl snapping her fingers in my face. It only then registers that I'm in the passenger seat and that she's currently driving my car.

My eyes widen in shock when she accidentally skips a red light. "What the hell is going on?" I ask in a panic, glancing down at the seat belt and then at her in bewilderment.

"Um...I'm driving," she states blandly. "Are you blind?"

"Are you kidnapping me?" I ask, frantic. I don't know if I should be afraid or happy about it. I mean, she's hot.

"Don't flatter yourself," she rolls her eyes at me, a grin playing at the corners of her lips. "I'm taking you to Max."

If we're talking about the same Max, he's another one of my good friends that Aqueela introduced me to.

I furrow my eyebrows in confusion. "How do you know who Max is?"

"Oh," she laughs lightly, waving the matter off, "we go way back, Max and I."

"Really?" I question, now interested in hearing the back story. What a small world we live in.

"Yeah, spoke to him for the first time about an hour ago." She holds up my phone to my face. "Duh," she says as if it should have occurred to me that she went through my cell phone contacts after first stealing my phone.

"Give me that!" I snatch it back from her. "Do you even know how to drive?" I ask when she swerves into another lane without using her indicators.

She shrugs calmly. "Sorta."

I get it now. She's insane.

"Oh my word," I drop my head in my hands, too scared to look, "I'm going to die."

How does she even get by?

"Maybe some music will help with your obvious hangover," she suggests casually as if this kind of thing is the norm for her, as if helping out a drunk stranger happens to her on a daily basis.

I watch her in astonishment when she reaches over and turns up the radio, nodding her head to the beat of the awful song playing.

I cover my ears, the sound sending me into another ear-splitting frenzy. "What crap is this? I'm dying!" This definitely isn't helping my hangover.

"Uh," she glances over to look at me as if I should know, "only the best band in the whole, entire world! How have you not heard of them before?"

I stop to listen to the terrible yet vaguely familiar lyrics. The guy rapping is the worst of the lot.

'Yo, taking up residence in the tree house of my best friend,

O-Dawg and I, the mega-tight end.

They ain't never seen a pro gangster with his posse,

you're my home, doggy.

We be looking so fine,

Jammie has them girls waiting in line.

My girl, FeeBee, a catch,

none to match.

White Boy and B-Dawg wish,

too bad they'll be washing my dish.

Them other suckers be trippin',

yet on royalty we be sippin'.′

I cringe as it dawns on me:

The Dung Beatles!!!

When I said Aqueela was special, I totally meant it. She befriended a bunch of hobos and they formed a band. Speaking of these bunch of hobos, they also detest me for no apparent reason.

"I'm literally listening to my enemy singing on the radio about me," I mutter to myself, just loud enough for the girl to hear. "What has become of my life?"

Then, unfortunately, the lead hobo, named Oog, starts the chorus at the top of his high-pitched, annoying voice:

'Oooh Jaqueela, you're breaking my heart, you're shaking Oog's confidence, baby!'

I raise my eyebrows after listening for a few more moments. "Of course, they'd steal another song's lyrics and miraculously get away with it."

Only them!

The unnamed girl, driving me to who-knows-where, frowns as if offended. "It's an original, a true classic. Watch what you say about my favorite band."

I slap my forehead in despair. "Of all the people I could've met, I just had to meet another crazy one."

She honestly reminds me of Aqueela. That shouldn't be a good thing but I somehow can't stop smiling when in her presence. There's just something invigorating about her genuine, jovial aura.

"Who are you?" I eventually ask, my intrigue spiked.

"Just another girl trying to get out of this life alive," she answers without thinking.

As if that's possible.

I scoff in disbelief. I always attract the stupid ones.

"You know," I pause flatly, "I think you'd get along really well with this girl I once knew."

Yeah, Aqueela would've loved her.

*~*~**~*~*

I sigh in dismay when we pull up to the Bensten's house. Bells, Aqueela's best friend, or, at least, used to be, is there, on the front porch, waiting for me. She has her hands on her hips and her heeled foot is tapping away in impatience.

I can already tell that I'm in trouble. I'm going to get another one of her infamous lectures about taking care of myself. She and Greg work together on that one.

"AJ!" Max greets as soon as we step out of the car. He embraces her tightly as if truly close to her. "Nice to see you for the first time since ever!"

She giggles in joy. "Yeah, and you!"

I glance between the two in speculation. "Didn't you just meet over the phone like a couple of minutes ago?"

Max nods, a nostalgic expression on his face. "Yeah, good times."

"It feels like forever ago," AJ admits, matching his carefree smile.

I shake my head and glance at Bell, the more sensible one between her and her boyfriend, for help. "Please tell me that you find this insane too. I can't be the only one."

Thud!

"Ouch, Bell!" I wince, touching the back of my head where she just hit me. "What was that for?"

I already know.

"Drinking again, Ben?!" she shouts in disapproval. "C'mon! You're better than this!"

I'm really, really not.

"You're worse than my mother," I grumble in pain, refusing to meet her angered gaze. "Speaking of which, I need you to pretend to be my girlfriend tomorrow night," I add before I forget about it again.

I flinch beforehand, expecting another hit or punch to the face. Thankfully, she's just sending me her usual, warped glare of fury.

"Oooh, me! Me! Pick me! Pick me!" AJ suddenly says upon eavesdropping on my conversation. "Me! Me!" she insists, waving her hands back and forth in front of my face, wanting my full attention.

"You want to be my girlfriend?" I ask her just as Bell asks the same thing.

AJ nods absentmindedly at us.

Bell scrunches up her face in repulse. "But...why?"

It's my turn to glare at her. What is that supposed to imply?

"'Cause we're dating now," AJ answers Bell, catching me off guard with her bizarre explanation.

"Congratz, I knew you two lovebirds would get together," Max replies, not seeing the crazy in any of this. He's become so accustomed to it all. He's immune. Or maybe it's because he and Aqueela were the crazy all along.

Bella looks to me for an explanation.

All I can do is shrug at her, just as lost as her.

"I honestly don't know what the hell is happening right now," I confess truthfully to Bell before glancing back at AJ, "but sure, yeah, whatever, you can be her," I easily agree, in desperate need of someone to fool my family. I don't need my mother on my back again.

"Trust me, AJ, relationships suck!" Bell tells her before glaring at Max for the third time since we've arrived.

I guess they're still having problems then...

"You suck!" Max responds jokingly, not taking her seriously, hence 90% of their issues.

"But Ben and I just click, you know?" AJ tells them, running her fingers through her long, dark hair. "We're going to be together for a long time. I know it."

When did I start leading such an absurd life?

I roll my eyes and shake my head at Bells when she looks to me for answers -- I wish I had them myself!