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her boyfriend (ex or otherwise). Did she go around assaulting everyone who spoke to him or was that just for my benefit?
    Something felt off about it.
    And now he was driving me home, which probably wasn’t going to go over very well with the ice queen. I could only imagine the various shades of horror on Nikki’s face if she got wind of this. He was taking a major risk by giving me a ride. I couldn’t help but wonder—
    “Why are you doing this?”
    “Doing what?” he asked without looking.
    “After everything that happened tonight, why did you follow me out and offer to drive me home?”
    He hesitated to answer as though he were asking himself the same exact question. “I’m not going to just let you walk home by yourself,” he said finally, almost annoyed by it. “You don’t even know where you are.”
    Fair enough . “But what’s it to you?”
    “It’s nothing to me,” he said icily, his eyes flicking to me as he shifted gears. “I just like having a clear conscience.”
    “And driving me home accomplishes that for you?”
    “Yeah. Something like that.”
    “Because…?” I said, pushing for him to elaborate.
    He sighed loudly as though I were grating on his patience. “Because you’d get home in one piece and after what happened tonight, I figure it’s the least I could do, okay?”
    Oh, swell . He felt guilty for what happened at the bar with Nikki so this was his redemption ride (or pity ride), though I refused to entertain the latter thought.
    I turned back to the window. “Whatever helps you sleep.”
    After a few minutes of silence, he turned to me with a strange look in his eyes and said, “You really should try to stay away from all that.”
    “All of what? All Saints?”
    “All Saints, Nikki and them. All of it.”
    Ugh. Not this again . “What is it with you? First you tell me to stay away from that guy and then refuse to give me a reason, and now I’m supposed to stay away from the entire bar and everyone in it? Why don’t you just write me a freaking list and tell me exactly who I can be friends with? I’m sure it’ll be much easier to keep up with.”
    He scoffed. “Believe me, I would have already done it if I thought for one second you’d actually follow it,” he said and then glanced over at me, looking me up and down. “But something tells me you don’t follow orders very well.”
    I felt the heated prickle of anger lick my skin, though I refused to give him the satisfaction of responding.
    On second thought, “Get bent.”
     
    I went to bed aggravated that night, and didn’t wake up any better the next morning.
    The sun was working overtime trying to break through the morning clouds, giving every indication that today would be a buoyant day, only I didn’t feel that way inside. Inside I felt tired and achy, like my bones had been grating themselves against the rigid concrete all night as I slept unsuspectingly.
    My uncle was already seated in his usual spot at the kitchen table, busying himself with the week-end paper by the time I strolled downstairs. He looked up to examine me as I plopped down into the chair across from him.
    “You look terrible,” he noted, pulling off his reading glasses. His dark hair glossed back in the dull morning light.
    “Thanks,” I said and buried my head deep into the crux of my arm. Alas, my ego was still safe from over-inflation. “I think I’m fighting off a bug or something.”
    “Oh?” he asked thoughtfully. “What sort of bug?”
    “I don’t know, just regular flu stuff, I guess. Tired and achy. It sort of comes and goes.”
    “Interesting.”
    I lifted my eyes to meet his. “I guess?”
    “So, what do you have planned today?” He picked up the newspaper from the table and smoothed it out.
    “Nothing really.”
    He blinked disapprovingly.
    “I don’t know anyone around here,” I defended.
    “What about your school friends from last night?”
    I groaned and buried my head again. “I don’t want to talk