Chapter 5: Home

By dismissal, I'm more than eager to get home and spend another weekend not thinking about him. It worked last time. Very well. It'll work again, and I'm sure he'll bring a friend to his classes on Monday. So he'll stop looking at me.

I walk as fast as I can without looking (too) conspicuous. It doesn't matter.

vrrRRRRR-VRR-VRR-VRRRRRRRRR-

My legs are starting to get a bit sore already. I tell myself to keep it up until I get out of view of the school, and then I can let up a little.

A flash of bright yellow in my peripheral, and then a moment later he's driven up in front of me. He does a U-turn (it's a school zone. It's illegal) and parks the car beside the curb only a few metres in front of me. I swallow and keep walking without looking at him. A moment later, there's a car door blocking my path. As in, his car door opened at an angle. Like, up. It pivoted up to open. What the heck- who even has a car like that? That's so unnecessary!

I look at him. He's pushed his racing sunglasses up onto his forehead, and he's grinning at me, teeth bared. I walk around the car door, fully intending to keep walking.

"Hop in."

I stop and turn, giving him an incredulous look. "Excuse me?"

He pats the passenger seat. "You're excused. Now get in."

"What- I- you- I- no!"

He cocks his head at me, still smirking, but with his lips closed now. Like he thinks my answer is amusing. "Why not?"

"I- I don't even know you! You tried to cheat off me! Why would I ever- I can't even- just no!"

He waves his hand dismissively. "You're over-complicating it. Just get in."

"Why would I ever do that?"

"Because I'm asking you to. And because riding in this car is automatically ten times better than walking."

I narrow my eyes at him. "Where do you want to take me?"

"Home. Where else?"

"I don't know. I don't know anything about you, other than you cheated off me and tried to convince me not to tell, and you just made an illegal U-turn."

He grins. "Neither of those things are exclusive to me. Even together. But fine, consider this a personal apology for trying to pollute your clear conscience with my immoral ways."

And now he's confusing me. Now I don't know whether it would be better to keep my distance from him at all times and just run away right now, or try and find out what he wants from me. Get some sort of reasoning for why he kept looking at me like that, why he didn't care that I saw when he attempts to be discreet with his other people.

He's grinning again. Probably figured that he's gotten me to consider it. I shake my head. This is such a bad idea. I should not, not if I want to keep my life the way I like it- simple and easy. So I do the smart thing: turn and walk away.

He reverses. Half onto the sidewalk. I shout and jump back.

"You lunatic! Are you trying to kill me?!"

"Of course not. You were just walking in the wrong direction." He gives me a cheeky smile. I huff.

"You're just going to drive me home."

"Yes."

"Promise?"

"Cross my heart. You have my word."

I don't take his word to mean very much. But maybe he just wants to talk? Maybe he just wants to try and convince me to let him cheat off me or something. Maybe knowing more about him will help me decide that he's boring and become apathetic to him. And I also don't want to try and walk away again, because he might actually run me over this time. And while it would be his fault, I'd still be the injured one.

"Fine," I grumble as I slide into the passenger seat. He grins again and presses a button on the dash, and the side door closes. Is that the only way to open the door? Am I trapped in here?

No- it's a convertible. I can just hop over the side. Not while he's driving, but I wouldn't try to open the door and get out that way while he was driving, either.

Before the door's even closed, he slams his foot down on the gas pedal with a manic gleam in his eye, lurching the car forwards, the engine roaring.

"You're speeding in a school zone!" I yell at him, because he's not going to hear me over the engine any other way.

He grins widely and puts his racing sunglasses back down over his eyes, reaching into the console and grabbing out a second pair, tossing them into my lap. I wonder if this is the same pair that girl was wearing, earlier this week. No- he's rich, he would be able to buy another. But he also probably doesn't care.

He looks at me and gestures to the pair of sunglasses I'm still holding. "You know those things work? They go on your face!"

"Keep your eyes on the road!"

He grins even more, but does as I ask. "Put the glasses on, the wind gets brutal!"

"Not if you obey the speed limits and drive slower!"

He doesn't bother responding to that, just speeds up a little more. I squeak a little- he is breaking so many laws right now. I wonder what would happen if we got pulled over? Would the cops put this on my record? I have a learner's license, but I'm not the one driving- would they put it down somewhere else? Could I get arrested for this? Accessory to about a hundred broken driving laws might be significant when added together...

Luckily, we don't seem to be on a highway. Wait- we're not- we're-

"Where are you going?!" I yell at him. We're on the road out of town.

"Home!"

"This is not the way to my house!"

"Whoever said we were going to your house? I have a home too, you know!" He's smirking gleefully, and I'm not sure whether I feel more angry or panicked.

"I don't even know you!"

"Jake Fitzgerald, it's a pleasure!" He offers me his hand, which I slap away.

"Keep your hands on the wheel! And that does not count!"

"It's Todd, right?"

"Turn around! Take me back to the school!"

"We just came from the school!"

I want to kill him (I'm exaggerating greatly, but I am extremely mad at him right now). "I have to go home!"

"I know! That's where we're going!"

"Can you slow down?!"

Finally, he does. To a speed where we can at least talk at a normal-ish volume, and I don't feel like I might fly out of the car any second.

"I need to go home- to my home. I have homework- we both do, actually. And I have to study. My parents will be home at 9:00, and I need to be done by then," I try to reason with him, also forcing myself to be calm.

"9:00? That's plenty of time."

"I am supposed to be home by now, finishing my homework and reviewing today's lessons," I say through gritted teeth.

"Sounds boring. Do you do that all the time?"

"Yes! It's called getting good grades so I can have a future! Not everyone is born with enough money to buy a new car every two weeks!"

"What if I pay you?"

"What?"

"What if I pay you to come- well, you're already coming, so just to stop worrying."

"You can't just pay people when you don't like how they're acting. You can't buy everything."

"It's not impossible. How about a hundred?"

"What?"

"One hundred dollars per hour."

One hundred dollars per hour? I'd make at least- well, I'm not exactly sure, but definitely a lot more than my parents do in an hour. "What? For what?"

He slows down a bit, then basically stops all at once, throwing both of us forwards. He hasn't even pulled over, just straight up stopped in the middle of the road (we're out of town, now. There are mustard fields on both sides of the road we're on). "A hundred per hour, for you to enjoy yourself."

My jaw kind of drops for a second, before I manage to stutter out, "W-what would we be... doing?" Because 'enjoying myself' sounds like something he'd say to get me to do something I wouldn't normally enjoy. Like partying. Or clubbing. Or drinking, drugs- the list goes on.

He considers my question for a moment. "Well, I was going to go look at cars today. And my stylist might be coming around at some point. So, shopping for cars, test-driving, and possibly having a conversation about what I'm going to wear on whatever talk show I'll be on this weekend."

I blink. "Really? That's it?"

He leans over, resting his chin in his hand and leaving his elbow on the console. "Maybe some homework, if I get really bored. But from the sounds of it, you wouldn't be too upset with that. So, how about it? A hundred dollars per hour to enjoy yourself, and I'll have you home by 9:00."

It's hard to think when his eyes are on me so intently, not searching but imploring. I take a breath, then nod.

Dedicated to @Fluffplz for all of the comments and votes! Thank you so much for your support :)

What did you think of the millionaire driving Todd 'home' (and then taking him to his house instead)? And paying him a hundred dollars an hour to enjoy himself? Any predictions for what's going to happen from here? Let me know in the comments!

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