Access Denied (and other eighth grade error messages) (35 page)

I WAS HOME ALONE SO I made myself some hot chocolate before spreading my books out on the kitchen table to start my homework.

“Oh, great.” I looked at the papers in my hand. Somehow I’d gotten Mark’s history study sheet along with mine when his papers
flew everywhere after class today. As I tried to decide what to do, the doorbell rang. Holding Mark’s worksheet in my hand,
I hurried to the door and peered through the peephole.

“Reede?”

She stood on my front porch, grinning like she’d won the lottery. “You’re going to love me,” she said. “Guess who’s sitting
in that car, ready to take you for a ride?”

I looked around her. Jeff Massey was leaning across the front seat of a cool new sports car. Cloth top, too—a convertible.
He waved at me through the passenger window.

“Oh, my God!” I said. “Are you kidding me?”

“I never kid about hot guys,” Reede said.

“How did you know? I—him—you know.”

“I have my ways.” She glanced around me into the house. “Is your brother here?”

I shook my head. “He’s out somewhere with Bethany. Is that why

Jeff is here?”

“I saw him at a stoplight and told him we should give you guys a ride.”

“But now he won’t want to if it’s just me.”

“Sure he will,” Reede said. “You’re hot. Besides, guys can’t resist showing off new wheels. It’s in their genes.”

I smiled.

“Once we’re on our way, I’ll have Jeff drop me off at Tower Records,” Reede said.

“No!” I protested. “You have to come, too. Really. It’s fine with me.”

“Well, it shouldn’t be,” Reede said. “Buck up, Swift. Can’t you handle being alone in the car with an older guy you have the
hots for?”

My cheeks warmed. Did I have the “hots” for Jeff? That sounded so… unromantic.

“Of course I can handle it,” I said, turning back into the house. “I was just trying to be a good friend.” I folded up Mark’s
worksheet and slid it into my back pocket.

“Yeah, right,” Reede said. I wasn’t sure if she meant that as a
Yeah, right, no way are we friends
or
Yeah, right, no way is this about friends, it’s about you being too chicken to be alone with Jeff Massey.
“And Jeff’s
that
way.” She jerked her thumb over her shoulder.

“I need to call my mom and tell her where I’m going.”

Reede gave Jeff a just-a-minute finger and followed me inside.

I dialed my mom’s cell quickly. When she didn’t pick up, I left a message. I also left a note on the white board on the fridge.

“Very Brady Bunch,” Reede said, tapping the white board with her polished nail.

“Let’s go.” I didn’t want her to start in about how lame my life was compared to hers. I grabbed my jacket and followed her
out the door.

When I got to the car, I leaned down to look at Jeff through the passenger window. “Chris isn’t here.”

“He’s missing out,” Jeff said. “Hop in.” He raised his eyebrows above those amazing brown eyes.

“Reede can—”

“—sit in the back,” Jeff and Reede both said.

Omigod. Jeff wanted me in the front with him.

“Good,” I said, trying to sound confident, even though my body was shaking with nervous excitement. “I was about to call shotgun.”

Sliding into the front seat, I breathed in new car smell. Music blasted through the speakers, the car thumping in time. As
Jeff peeled away from the curb, I reached for my seatbelt, then stopped. He wasn’t putting his on. It felt weird not to have
the strap across my body but I didn’t want to look like a baby. I pretended I was admiring the seat and turned back to the
front.

“Check this out,” Jeff said, pointing to the GPS system. Then the stereo system, where his Zune was connected.

“It’s amazing,” I said as he rounded a corner.

We dropped Reede off in front of Tower Records. I thought it was extremely cool of her to do this and mouthed
thank you
to her.

“Have fun,” she called, giving me the thumbs up before waving good-bye.

Jeff laughed and so did I. I wasn’t sure what we were laughing at—how crazy it was to think he and I might have a good time
together? Or just because it was fun to be in an amazing car no matter who you were with?

Jeff turned to me. “So, where would you like to go?”

“Uh.” Where
did
I want to go with Jeff Massey in this incredible car? I shifted in my seat, suddenly remembering the worksheet in my back
pocket. “If you wouldn’t mind, I have some homework I needed to take to someone.”

“Lead on,” Jeff said, turning up the volume on the stereo.

*   *   *

Several minutes later we were idling at the curb in front of Mark’s. “I’ll be right back,” I said as I opened the door.

“And I’ll be right here.” Jeff drummed his hands on the steering wheel.

“Be home, be home,” I murmured as I strode up the walk.

He was.

“Erin,” Mark said when he opened the door. “What are you doing here?”

“I found your study sheet stuck to mine in my backpack. I thought you might need it.” I held out the paper.

“Oh, thanks.” He squinted, looking over my shoulder. “Who brought you?”

I turned around, just as the passenger side window rolled down and

Jeff leaned over, waving. I waved back.

“Just that
high school
guy.”

Mark stared at Jeff for a second, then turned back to me, his face dark with anger. “I can’t believe you’d come here with
him, knowing—” He stopped and pressed his lips together. His nostrils flared as he breathed hard through his nose. “Just don’t
come crying to me when you get hurt.”

“I’m not going to cry and I’m definitely not going to get hurt,” I said. “You’re just jealous.”

Mark bit his upper lip, then looked right into my eyes. “You’re right,” he said finally. “But that doesn’t mean I’m wrong.”
He stepped into the house and closed the door, leaving me alone on the porch.

Jeff honked from the curb and I turned and ran down the walk.

When I climbed into the car, I looked up at Mark’s house, checking to see if he might appear at one of the windows. But they
were all like blank eyes, staring back at me. “Whatever,” I mumbled. Then I took a deep breath and turned to Jeff. “Let’s
see what this thing can do, Mr. Massey.”

“Push that button,” Jeff said as we turned the corner at the end of Mark’s street. I leaned forward and pressed a black button
on the dashboard. The roof started to rise.

“Whoooeeee,” I shouted, throwing my arms in the air.

“Whoooeeee,” he said back, and we both laughed.

Soon we were speeding down the highway, the cold wind whipping my hair around my face. I stopped trying to push it away, just
let it go, ignoring the occasional sting as the tips pricked my cheeks. I felt wild and free, as if I could lift right out
of the car and fly away.

I laughed out loud and let out another whoop.

Jeff grinned. “Cold?” he shouted, blasting the heater vents at me.

“Perfect,” I said, holding out my cold palms to feel the hot air against them.

Once, Mark’s angry faced popped into my mind and I felt a little twinge. Maybe I had been a little mean bringing Jeff to his
house. But he was mean first. I pushed his face away and cleared my mind, enjoying the wind, the powerful feel of the car
roaring beneath us, loving Jeff just a foot or so away from me.

“You having fun?” Jeff shoved me playfully.

“Yeah!” I tried not to grin like an idiot. I could totally be alone in a car with a guy I had the hots for. Totally.

We sped along, bouncing to the music, shouting the occasional comment over the noise—

—until it all came suddenly to a halt. Literally.

“Crap,” Jeff muttered as red, white, and blue lights flashed behind us. He pulled over to the shoulder of the highway and
I cowered by the door, my heart pounding so fast, you would think I was on the most wanted list, afraid of being recognized.

But I calmed down as Jeff talked to the officer, who had this fabulous red hair she tied back in a ponytail. He was so polite
and respectful and I felt proud to be with him. He
yes, ma’am
ed and
no, ma’am
ed all over the place with his sexy southern accent and I was sure she would melt into the asphalt—even though it was only
about forty-five degrees out—because that’s what I felt like doing.

But she didn’t melt. She didn’t even drip. And even though she was very nice, she was rock solid. Not only did Jeff get a
ticket for speeding, which meant he’d lose points off his license, but he also got a second ticket because neither of us was
wearing a seatbelt. Colorado law on the highway. Jeff tried to tell the officer he was from North Carolina but she held tough.

“You’ve got a Colorado driver’s license and your car is registered here,” she said. “We expect you to know the laws of your
new state.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“I’ll help pay,” I said after we were on our way again. I was embarrassed that he’d gotten in trouble with me in the car,
but oddly exhilarated too.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “I’ll charm them out of it.” He flashed me a smile, then asked me to pick out a playlist
from his Zune. I was disappointed when we turned down my street and he pulled up in front of my house. I wanted to keep driving
with him forever.

“Thanks for the adventure, Erin Swift,” he said.

“It was a blast,” I said. “Sorry again about the tickets.”

“No worries,” he said, squeezing my knee. He left his hand there, sending electricity up my thigh. He held my eyes for a moment
and I saw—what?—something that made me shiver. I smiled.

“So, yeah,” he said, patting my knee once before returning his hand to the steering wheel. “Maybe we’ll do it again sometime.
Tell your bro I’ll catch him later.”

“Right,” I said, hardly able to contain myself. He totally wanted to kiss me. I could tell. I wasn’t sure what stopped him—my
age, the fact that he was friends with my brother, or something else—but, for that moment, he had
wanted
to.

That’s all I needed to know.