Bending Over Backwards
In The Old Trans Am
There was no glass between me and the wind as I cruised my beaten ’79 Trans Am down the old country road. I took the turns before entering town, sharp and speedy. Maybe this is why no one ever let’s me drive, I thought as a rear tire dropped back down. I watched the speedometer before groping into the glove compartment and coming back out with some CD’s and reading the titles. Dropping Dookie, Dude Ranch, Bleed American, and Nimrod to the floorboard, I grasped a few more. Finding Hello Nasty, No Bullshit, and Enema of the State I dropped the latter two to the floor, and slipped Enema of the State into the CD slot. The shiny silver stereo was the only new part of the car that wasn’t under the dented old hood.
The bobbing of my head fell in synch with the beginning beats of Dumpweed filled the car as I sped past the city limits of Lutherville, Maryland. Pulling into the Dulaney High parking lot, I turned into a swerve as smooth as the transition from Going Away to College to What’s My Age, Again? My tires drifted to a shuddering stop in front of several stopped cars. Soon the sound of cussing, steam and slamming car doors filled the air.
“Watch where you’re going, bitch!” an oddly pitched voice cried. Looking up I found some dweeb with randomly bleached hair who probably didn’t know New Found Glory from Blink-182. Although his awkwardly large nose and lanky body were appealing, his calling me a bitch, wasn’t.
“Is that all you have to say, jackass? If your van scratched my baby you will pay,” I huffed out an angry breath as I grasped the door handle, knuckles white, and opened the squeaky sheet of metal. Placing my Vans covered feet on the hot pavement. I lifted my butt out of the driver’s side seat and slammed my door so that I could assess the damage that Asshole had done to my car.
Bending over, and most likely showing ass, I saw only a dent that I could easily repair once I got home. I rose and dusted my hands off on my daisy dukes before placing them on my cocked hips. Glaring at the dick head across from me, I stated with Venom, “You got off lucky douche.”
“I did?” his jaw dropped and anger filled his eyes. “I’m the one with a scratch all the way across the front of the van!” he jabbed his thumb towards the large maroon streak the embellished the van’s front bumper.
Walking over I again bent over. Running my finger over the ‘scratch’ I watched as the maroon dust fell to the ground. “Idiot, it’s just rust, it’ll wipe right of.” Rising, I realized that a throng of teenagers had surrounded the running vehicles, mainly mine.
Out of the miniscule group standing near the van, another lanky boy, this time with coffee colored hair, stepped in between the two of us. Looking at the boy he inquired, “What the fucking hell is going on here?”
“This slut, here, ran into the van. That’s what happened,” he curled up his lips in disgust.
“Slut?” I gasped. “Oh, you asked for it!” I took slow steps toward the wide-eyed male. Popping my knuckles I saw a brunette head pop out of the van-crowd.
“Lizz!” she ran up to me. “What’s going on?”
I forced a laugh. “I finally found someone who drives worse than me.”
“Which means that you could only be talking about one person,” She whipped around. “Jack,” Than turning to the other boy, “Alex, you fucking idiot, why the hell did you let Jack have the keys? Rian is going to kill you, and then me!”
“Why would he kill you?” He replied.
“You know Rian, he’d probably say it was my fault that Lizz was here and therefore the fender bender was my fault.” She rolled her eyes before turning them back to me, “Los dos muchachos es muy tontos y rubios,” Steeph chattered off in Spanish.
“Listo?” I replied in the same language.
“Si!” she started for the driver’s side seat.
“Nuh-uh! You asked for a ride not a car loan chica,” I laughed.
“JACK!” an angry voice screeched. Steeph and I turned towards a guy with semi-long red-brown hair. “Jack, what the hell did you do to my van?”
“Rian chill, it’s just a rust mark,” The coffee haired guy, Alex, stated.
Turning towards Alex, and seeing Steeph, he rolled his eyes, “I should have known, Hello Steeph,” He continued to glare at my best friend with a look that conveyed pure fury and hatred. Although somewhere in his glare I saw a glimmer of something else, that left me puzzled.
“Rian,” Steeph turned towards the lanky boys, “Do you guys need a ride or what?”
“Yeah, since Rian’s being such an ass. Can we come over to your place?” The Alex guy questioned, reaching back and rubbing the nape of his neck.
“Not my place,” she dropped her bag into the front floor board. “I’m going over to Lizz’s. We’re watching Makiah until Garrett gets off work tonight.”
“Can we go to your place than? Our mom’s won’t let us stay home alone,” Alex turned towards me. I looked into his puppy dog eyes and then the caterpillars hovering over them, and chuckled.
“Get in,” Steeph pulled up her seat and let the boys climb into the back seat as I plopped behind the wheel. “Fair warning guys, I’m an awful driver.” I sped out of the parking lot like a demon. “Turn it up Steeph!”
Steeph tweaked the volume knob up, sending the car into rhythmic convulsions. In the rear view mirror, the two boys looked at each other as Adam’s Song came to a conclusion. I pulled into a grocery store and swiftly, and wordlessly, exchanged seats with Steeph, Leaving me in front of Alex and her in front of skunk boy, Jack.
Curving back onto the road, Steeph turned Dumpweed back down before speaking, “Lex, Jack, this is Lizz. Lizz this is Alex and Jack.”
“Hi guys, call me Sarah, call me Lizz, I answer to both. But please stick to one,” I twisted my lips into a smirk and turned back around into my seat.
“All the, small things, true cares, truth brings,” Steeph began singing along to the song playing. She proceeded to return the volume to its previous intensity, as I fingered and strummed the lead guitar chords in the passenger seat.
Next thing I know, I hear Alex singing along behind me and spy Jack strumming the same chords as me. Maybe Jack wasn’t that bad after all.
~!~
“I think someone’s phone is going off,” Alex called over the music.
Steeph pulled out her phone out and turned the stereo down. “Hey!” she laughed, “Yeah, she’s right here. What’s the magic word? Okay, here she is.” Steeph handed me the phone.
“Yellow, mellow fellow!” I jeered cheerfully.
A deep chuckle replied, “Hey Sarah, can I come over? I need some Algebra 2 help.”
“Sure,” I paused and tried to remember what our homework was. “I was going to ask you the same thing, hopefully between the five of us we can figure it out.”
“Five? I thought Garrett and Tori were busy with work or something,” Zack questioned from the end.
“They do, it’s just a couple Dulaney bastards,” I glanced into the back seat. “Well, one bastard, the other is just his friend.” I rolled my eyes and chuckled.
“Okay, well I guess I’ll see you when you get here. Oh, and can I go in?” I could just see Zack playing with his hair nervously.
“Did you forget your key again?” I stated voice stern.
“Yes,” his voice dropped to a tone that said he had been caught.
“Go on in, my mom should be on her way home soon anyways. Don’t eat my cookies!” laughing, I hung up the phone and handed it back to Steeph.
“What did he want?” she giggled placing the phone in her pocket.
“Algebra help,” I shrugged. “He’s gonna meet us at the house.”
The rest of the ride home consisted of Blink-182 and a lingering silence. Whenever I looked into the rearview mirror, one of the boys was looking at me.
“Take a picture; it’ll last longer,” I smirked, as Steeph tossed me the keys, parking in front of my house.
I smiled and ran to the small girl sitting on my porch swing, “Hey Makiah!”
“Sarah,” she cried jumping up and running down the porch steps. The small two year-old jumped into my arms and squeezed my neck.
“How are you little girl?”I laughed, tickling Makiah’s stomach.
“Save me!” she squealed. “Daddy’s gonna get me!” she tucked her small head into my neck and squealed some more as Garrett stomped out of the house with a bucket on his head and his arms out in front of him.
“I shall deflect the evil Daddy monster zombie thing with my rays of awesomeness!” I cried, sticking my hand out towards the bucket-headed boy.
“Alas, I am no match for your awesomeness!” Garrett wailed with a pained voice falling to the ground.
I put Makiah back on the ground and laughed as she ran to Garrett and plopped down on his stomach. “I win!” she stuck her tongue out at her dad.
“Hey Garrett,” I chuckled helping the teenage boy up.
“Hey Sarah,” he smiled and gave me a hug. “What took so long?”
“Oh, picking up Steeph, getting in a fender bender, bringing a couple teenage boys home, you know the usual.” I rolled my eyes. “Zack here yet?”
“Yeah, he’s inside. Hey I got to go though, my boss is already mad,” he reached down and picked up his daughter. “Bye baby girl, I’ve got to go to work now. Have fun with Sarah and Steeph. Thanks for watching her Sarah, it’s a huge help,” he leaned down and kissed my cheek. Handing me Makiah, he ran up to Steeph, “Thanks so much, later Steeph!”
He ran off to his car and blew a kiss at Makiah before driving in the direction of Baltimore. “Zack put the ketchup down!” I screeched walking into my house. “Oh, and Steeph let the boys out of the car.”
“Don’t worry,” Zack walked out to the porch holding an empty Heinz bottle. “You’re all out.”
“Dang it, maybe Jerry can get some on the way home.” I hugged the skinny boy. “I thought you were gonna cut your hair?” I ran my free hand through his long black hair.
"I trimmed it." Zack shrugged.
"Zack?" Alex and Jack screamed from behind me.
"Hey guys," Zack waved to the boys."So which one's the bastard?"
"Check the front of the car," He chuckled."Yeah, I've gotta fix that later. So how do you know them?"
"They're the guys me and Steeph were going to hide you and Tori from. Other wise known as my band mates," He grinned so wide you could see it from the moon.
"Ah Ha, well let's get some homework done." I sighed and lead everyone inside.
The bobbing of my head fell in synch with the beginning beats of Dumpweed filled the car as I sped past the city limits of Lutherville, Maryland. Pulling into the Dulaney High parking lot, I turned into a swerve as smooth as the transition from Going Away to College to What’s My Age, Again? My tires drifted to a shuddering stop in front of several stopped cars. Soon the sound of cussing, steam and slamming car doors filled the air.
“Watch where you’re going, bitch!” an oddly pitched voice cried. Looking up I found some dweeb with randomly bleached hair who probably didn’t know New Found Glory from Blink-182. Although his awkwardly large nose and lanky body were appealing, his calling me a bitch, wasn’t.
“Is that all you have to say, jackass? If your van scratched my baby you will pay,” I huffed out an angry breath as I grasped the door handle, knuckles white, and opened the squeaky sheet of metal. Placing my Vans covered feet on the hot pavement. I lifted my butt out of the driver’s side seat and slammed my door so that I could assess the damage that Asshole had done to my car.
Bending over, and most likely showing ass, I saw only a dent that I could easily repair once I got home. I rose and dusted my hands off on my daisy dukes before placing them on my cocked hips. Glaring at the dick head across from me, I stated with Venom, “You got off lucky douche.”
“I did?” his jaw dropped and anger filled his eyes. “I’m the one with a scratch all the way across the front of the van!” he jabbed his thumb towards the large maroon streak the embellished the van’s front bumper.
Walking over I again bent over. Running my finger over the ‘scratch’ I watched as the maroon dust fell to the ground. “Idiot, it’s just rust, it’ll wipe right of.” Rising, I realized that a throng of teenagers had surrounded the running vehicles, mainly mine.
Out of the miniscule group standing near the van, another lanky boy, this time with coffee colored hair, stepped in between the two of us. Looking at the boy he inquired, “What the fucking hell is going on here?”
“This slut, here, ran into the van. That’s what happened,” he curled up his lips in disgust.
“Slut?” I gasped. “Oh, you asked for it!” I took slow steps toward the wide-eyed male. Popping my knuckles I saw a brunette head pop out of the van-crowd.
“Lizz!” she ran up to me. “What’s going on?”
I forced a laugh. “I finally found someone who drives worse than me.”
“Which means that you could only be talking about one person,” She whipped around. “Jack,” Than turning to the other boy, “Alex, you fucking idiot, why the hell did you let Jack have the keys? Rian is going to kill you, and then me!”
“Why would he kill you?” He replied.
“You know Rian, he’d probably say it was my fault that Lizz was here and therefore the fender bender was my fault.” She rolled her eyes before turning them back to me, “Los dos muchachos es muy tontos y rubios,” Steeph chattered off in Spanish.
“Listo?” I replied in the same language.
“Si!” she started for the driver’s side seat.
“Nuh-uh! You asked for a ride not a car loan chica,” I laughed.
“JACK!” an angry voice screeched. Steeph and I turned towards a guy with semi-long red-brown hair. “Jack, what the hell did you do to my van?”
“Rian chill, it’s just a rust mark,” The coffee haired guy, Alex, stated.
Turning towards Alex, and seeing Steeph, he rolled his eyes, “I should have known, Hello Steeph,” He continued to glare at my best friend with a look that conveyed pure fury and hatred. Although somewhere in his glare I saw a glimmer of something else, that left me puzzled.
“Rian,” Steeph turned towards the lanky boys, “Do you guys need a ride or what?”
“Yeah, since Rian’s being such an ass. Can we come over to your place?” The Alex guy questioned, reaching back and rubbing the nape of his neck.
“Not my place,” she dropped her bag into the front floor board. “I’m going over to Lizz’s. We’re watching Makiah until Garrett gets off work tonight.”
“Can we go to your place than? Our mom’s won’t let us stay home alone,” Alex turned towards me. I looked into his puppy dog eyes and then the caterpillars hovering over them, and chuckled.
“Get in,” Steeph pulled up her seat and let the boys climb into the back seat as I plopped behind the wheel. “Fair warning guys, I’m an awful driver.” I sped out of the parking lot like a demon. “Turn it up Steeph!”
Steeph tweaked the volume knob up, sending the car into rhythmic convulsions. In the rear view mirror, the two boys looked at each other as Adam’s Song came to a conclusion. I pulled into a grocery store and swiftly, and wordlessly, exchanged seats with Steeph, Leaving me in front of Alex and her in front of skunk boy, Jack.
Curving back onto the road, Steeph turned Dumpweed back down before speaking, “Lex, Jack, this is Lizz. Lizz this is Alex and Jack.”
“Hi guys, call me Sarah, call me Lizz, I answer to both. But please stick to one,” I twisted my lips into a smirk and turned back around into my seat.
“All the, small things, true cares, truth brings,” Steeph began singing along to the song playing. She proceeded to return the volume to its previous intensity, as I fingered and strummed the lead guitar chords in the passenger seat.
Next thing I know, I hear Alex singing along behind me and spy Jack strumming the same chords as me. Maybe Jack wasn’t that bad after all.
~!~
“I think someone’s phone is going off,” Alex called over the music.
Steeph pulled out her phone out and turned the stereo down. “Hey!” she laughed, “Yeah, she’s right here. What’s the magic word? Okay, here she is.” Steeph handed me the phone.
“Yellow, mellow fellow!” I jeered cheerfully.
A deep chuckle replied, “Hey Sarah, can I come over? I need some Algebra 2 help.”
“Sure,” I paused and tried to remember what our homework was. “I was going to ask you the same thing, hopefully between the five of us we can figure it out.”
“Five? I thought Garrett and Tori were busy with work or something,” Zack questioned from the end.
“They do, it’s just a couple Dulaney bastards,” I glanced into the back seat. “Well, one bastard, the other is just his friend.” I rolled my eyes and chuckled.
“Okay, well I guess I’ll see you when you get here. Oh, and can I go in?” I could just see Zack playing with his hair nervously.
“Did you forget your key again?” I stated voice stern.
“Yes,” his voice dropped to a tone that said he had been caught.
“Go on in, my mom should be on her way home soon anyways. Don’t eat my cookies!” laughing, I hung up the phone and handed it back to Steeph.
“What did he want?” she giggled placing the phone in her pocket.
“Algebra help,” I shrugged. “He’s gonna meet us at the house.”
The rest of the ride home consisted of Blink-182 and a lingering silence. Whenever I looked into the rearview mirror, one of the boys was looking at me.
“Take a picture; it’ll last longer,” I smirked, as Steeph tossed me the keys, parking in front of my house.
I smiled and ran to the small girl sitting on my porch swing, “Hey Makiah!”
“Sarah,” she cried jumping up and running down the porch steps. The small two year-old jumped into my arms and squeezed my neck.
“How are you little girl?”I laughed, tickling Makiah’s stomach.
“Save me!” she squealed. “Daddy’s gonna get me!” she tucked her small head into my neck and squealed some more as Garrett stomped out of the house with a bucket on his head and his arms out in front of him.
“I shall deflect the evil Daddy monster zombie thing with my rays of awesomeness!” I cried, sticking my hand out towards the bucket-headed boy.
“Alas, I am no match for your awesomeness!” Garrett wailed with a pained voice falling to the ground.
I put Makiah back on the ground and laughed as she ran to Garrett and plopped down on his stomach. “I win!” she stuck her tongue out at her dad.
“Hey Garrett,” I chuckled helping the teenage boy up.
“Hey Sarah,” he smiled and gave me a hug. “What took so long?”
“Oh, picking up Steeph, getting in a fender bender, bringing a couple teenage boys home, you know the usual.” I rolled my eyes. “Zack here yet?”
“Yeah, he’s inside. Hey I got to go though, my boss is already mad,” he reached down and picked up his daughter. “Bye baby girl, I’ve got to go to work now. Have fun with Sarah and Steeph. Thanks for watching her Sarah, it’s a huge help,” he leaned down and kissed my cheek. Handing me Makiah, he ran up to Steeph, “Thanks so much, later Steeph!”
He ran off to his car and blew a kiss at Makiah before driving in the direction of Baltimore. “Zack put the ketchup down!” I screeched walking into my house. “Oh, and Steeph let the boys out of the car.”
“Don’t worry,” Zack walked out to the porch holding an empty Heinz bottle. “You’re all out.”
“Dang it, maybe Jerry can get some on the way home.” I hugged the skinny boy. “I thought you were gonna cut your hair?” I ran my free hand through his long black hair.
"I trimmed it." Zack shrugged.
"Zack?" Alex and Jack screamed from behind me.
"Hey guys," Zack waved to the boys."So which one's the bastard?"
"Check the front of the car," He chuckled."Yeah, I've gotta fix that later. So how do you know them?"
"They're the guys me and Steeph were going to hide you and Tori from. Other wise known as my band mates," He grinned so wide you could see it from the moon.
"Ah Ha, well let's get some homework done." I sighed and lead everyone inside.
Notes
[Spanish] Translations:Los dos muchachos es muy tontos y rubio. = The two boys are very stupid and blonde.
Listo? = Ready?
Si! = Yes!
