I slipped out of Lauren’s room and down the stairs. I let myself out the door without saying good-bye to Mrs. Wood. I didn’t owe her anything.
I heard a honk and looked up. Christopher’s car was parked across the street. He and Brenda got out. I felt a smile break out across my face.
“How did it go?” Brenda asked.
“I don’t think she and I are going to be best friends, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Of course not, I’m your best friend. The position is already taken,” Brenda said.
“What are you guys doing here?”
“If you can believe it, she just admitted she’s never seen an Audrey Hepburn movie,” Christopher said, motioning to Brenda.
“What? I told you to watch those weeks ago,” I said.
“Things got a bit busy.”
“We’ve rented the whole series: Sabrina, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and of course, My Fair Lady.” Christopher counted them off on his fingers. “We’re going over to her place to order pizza.”
“And you came to get me?”
“How can I get to know you unless we spend time together?” Christopher leaned over and kissed the corner of my mouth. “Besides, Brenda tells me you’ve got only one night before you’re doomed to be grounded. I thought I better see you while I still had the chance.”
“Good point. Lockdown begins tomorrow. If Lauren gets my parents involved there may even be forced community service hours.”
“Don’t worry. In addition to heist movies, I’ve seen a lot of prison break movies. There’s hope for you yet.”
I was almost afraid to ask, but I had to know.
“So what was the response to my ad?”
“I think you should look at transferring schools,” Brenda said. My mouth fell open and she burst out laughing. “I’m joking.”
“Most people I heard talking about it thought the whole thing was sort of cool,” Christopher said. “Who knows, maybe it will make you even more popular.”
“I don’t care about being popular anymore. Well, except with the present company.”
We piled into Christopher’s car. While Brenda and Christopher debated the merits of different pizza toppings, I flipped through the DVD movie cases they had picked up.
Old movies are black-and-white; they’ve got good guys and bad guys. The thing was, I didn’t want to live in the past anymore. It was time for my life to go full color.