and Anne threw more of her energy to him as his engine roared louder, causing Elle to close her eyes and Missy to holler.
They stopped at the next red light which was two miles away and the jocks pulled up next to them.
“You cheated, you little bitch! You have nitrous in that thing!”
The passenger in the front got up and mooned them out the open window as the other two laughed hysterically.
“Oh my…!” Elle screeched in the back.
“Wow, that is one ugly ass!” Missy laughed.
Anne’s lips curved and she threw her energy towards the neighboring car and asked it to floor it hard to the left. It instantly responded and caused the passenger to be taken by surprise and fall on his bare ass as the car drove away with his friends and his shorts which were caught in the seat belt holder.
Stunned, the guy stood up and screamed at the runaway car. “Adam, you asshole! What the fuck!?”
He ran after the car, which was already blocks away. Missy and Elle laughed hysterically as Anne drove beside the half-naked jock as he ran and tried to cover his jewels at the same time.
“You know, I would love to offer you a ride but you and your friends told me that my car doesn’t have enough balls for you so I guess you will just have to show the world what real balls look like!” Anne smiled as she floored Hawk and drove away.
She squeezed Missy’s hand again and swore that if she got out of this, she would do everything she could to make some more time to spend with her.
Exhaustion started to take over her as her eyes began to close. Her father went to their home to pick up a spare change of clothes for himself and her mother and was due back any minute. When he left, Anne felt some of the tension leave her body. She didn’t know how she was going to repair the rift between them and she wasn’t sure if she ever would. It hurt like hell that he blamed her for Missy’s accident.
Her mother held Missy’s limp hand and kissed it every few minutes as if to try and help her wake up from her unconscious state. Every time Anne wanted to apologize for missing the holidays, a lump would form in her throat and the words just couldn’t come out.
Dean sat in a chair on the other side of the room and pretended to watch the TV as his eyes darted back towards the door. Jerilind went back to her home and promised to return in the morning with real food and refreshments for all of them.
The exhaustion on Anne’s face was hard to miss. Helen placed her hand on her shoulder. "Go home, honey. Your father and I will be here and we'll call you if anything changes."
Normally, she would have refused but all the stress of the day wore on her body that she couldn’t even see straight.
"I'll be back first thing in the morning," she promised as she kissed her cheek, hoping to ease her mother’s worry.
Dean looked at her when she stood up. "I'm going home."
"I'll take you."
"No, you don't have to. I'll be fine."
"I wasn’t giving you an option."
Anne huffed, "Look, I told you that I don't need a babysitter."
"Anne." Her mother stopped her. "Please have him take you home. All those people from the news media are making me nervous. I already have one daughter that I'm worried about I don't need two."
The worry on her mother's face just crushed her heart and she let her argument drop.
"Alright."
Gently maneuvering around all the tubes and wires, she leaned over to Missy and kissed her forehead. “Love you, Missy.”
As she turned back she kissed her mother’s cheek again and hugged her. “If you need anything…”
“We know--you are a phone call away.”
Dean quickly walked over to Helen and she stood up and grabbed him in a bear hug.
"Stay with her," she whispered to him. "I'll feel better knowing that you're with her."
"I will."
"I put some extra-large men's clothes in the guest bedroom downstairs at her house."
Dean couldn't help but smile. "Thanks. I’ll make sure she stays safe."
"Thank you.”
With that,
Ted Bell
Mark Desires
Margaret McHeyzer
Anabelle Bryant
Matthew Green
Alexandra Ivy
Avi
Sean Bodmer
John Kessel
Dave Hugelschaffer