Sophomore Year

The car jerked to a stop right in front of Kayla's house. Chris was still getting the hang of parking, but he had passed his driver's test first try. That was music to his ears, seeing as how he had barely studied before. Guess all of the Bitlife he had been playing paid off.

Today, Chris was finally surprising his friends with his new car. It had taken all of his willpower not to tell them about it when he first got it, but he was glad he didn't; if he had, he wouldn't have been able to see the look on Kayla's face as she stepped out of her house. Chris laughed when he saw her jaw drop, and he heard her dad shout something in Japanese. She called back, and her dad came running out to see the car. If Chris had thought Kayla's reaction was funny, her dad's was priceless. His eyes bugged out and he ran out next to Kayla to take pictures. They squabbled for a bit about something in Japanese before Kayla climbed in the passenger seat.

"Chris!! What is this? How come you didn't tell me?"

Chris put the car in drive and pulled out of the driveway.

"I wanted to surprise you! Come on, you have to admit that look on your face was adorable."

She laughed and pulled her hair behind her ear. She was wearing a pair of earrings that Chris had gotten her for her birthday last year; the earrings were cute little orange slices, and Kayla had been obsessed with them when she first got them. It was nice to see that she still wore them. She was so beautiful, Chris couldn't help himself. He leaned over to kiss her, but before he could, a car on the other lane flew past, a little too close for comfort.

"Whoa there, eyes on the road bud. I'll have to make that kiss up to you later" Kayla laughed.

Chris chuckled. "What were you and your dad arguing about back there?"

"Oh, that" she grinned "I was trying to show him that I needed a new car. I can only save up so much money, and my car isn't doing too great. It takes like 10 minutes just for it to start"

Chris felt a little guilty because he knew how hard Kayla worked, and while Chris didn't even have a job, he had gotten his dream car.

"But" Kayla offered "Now I practically have my own chauffeur, and I must say, he does have a pretty awesome car."

Chris smiled and added "You know, Mike and Charlie don't know yet. It's gonna be their first time seeing it when we pick them up today."

"Get out! You didn't tell them either?"

"I know. It took a lot of willpower."

"They're gonna freak! I can't wait to see their faces."

Kayla was definitely right about that. Charlie didn't believe it was actually Chris's car and kept insisting that it was a rental. Mike, on the other hand, was thrilled about it until they started driving. Due to the fact that he had just gotten his hair done in braids, he didn't appreciate how windy it was; the wind kept blowing the braids in his face, and he had to borrow a hair tie from Kayla. Unfortunately for him, the only hair ties she had were scrunchies.

"This is wack, man," Mike said, as he pulled his hair back. "I look like Mrs. Whitaker"

They all laughed because it was true. Mrs. Whitaker, his math teacher, always had her hair back in tight ponytails. All Mike needed was a scarf and some glasses and he was good to go.

Chris pulled into the school parking lot and did his best at parking, which he was not used to. Much to his dismay, no one told him how hard parallel parking was going to be. As soon as he had stepped out of the car, he was surrounded by other friends and kids from the swim team all asking him questions.

"Man, this is sick!! Where'd you get it?"

"Well I-" Chris was cut off by more and more questions, but luckily he was saved by the bell. Most of his friends ran off but a couple of them stayed to walk to class with him. Jesse and Kristi were their names, but Chris didn't really think of them as friends, and more as annoying, rude parasites that he couldn't shake. They were always trying to hang out with him, and as bad as this may sound, Chris really didn't enjoy spending time with them. They were always laughing at other kids for no reason, tripping people in the hallways, and causing drama just for fun; you get the type.

"So, how was your weekend?" asked Kristi "You know, I was expecting you to invite us to your birthday, but I guess you just don't like us."

Chris wished that he could tell her yes, that is exactly why, but he didn't want to be mean.

"Ahaha, no, no, I was just having a small get together"

"Is that so?" asked Kristi. "Well, you might as well have invited me... can't you feel it?"

Another thing about Kristi, she was always flirting with him. Chris had told her countless times that he had a girlfriend, Kayla, but it never seemed to work. She just wouldn't lay off.

"Um, feel what exactly?" he asked.

"Well the chemistry, of course!" She giggled. "Come on Chris, you really were leading me on last week"

"Leading you on? Kristi, what could I have done to have led you on?"

"So you don't remember... just as I thought." She frowned and said "Well, no one cares about me, I guess not even you"

"Kristi, that's not-"

"Don't bother. I know everyone hates me" and with that, she stormed off into her English class. Jesse, who had been completely silent throughout this, just shrugged and followed after her. Chris didn't worry too much, as Kristi was always like this. By tomorrow she'd probably be back, good as new. Kayla was a saint for understanding, and honestly, at times Chris didn't know how Kayla put up with it. He knew that if some guy was hitting on Kayla, he couldn't deal with it.

Chris pulled his backpack up and continued on to the geometry class that he knew he'd be late for. Hopefully, Mrs. Whitaker would have mercy on him and not give him a tardy, due to the fact that he was already skating on thin ice. Two more tardies and he would have to go to detention.

When he walked in, Mrs. Whitaker didn't say anything, which he took as a good sign. Chris took his seat behind Mike and listened to Mrs. Whitaker drone on about the degrees of a polygon.

When it was time for lunch, Chris went to his locker with two other friends named Baz and D'Shawn. Well, Chris didn't really think of them as friends, more like they thought of him as a friend. Of course, Chris was glad that he was popular and fit in so well, but sometimes it led to hanging around annoying people like Kristi and Baz. D'Shawn was alright, just pretty quiet. Currently, D'Shawn and Baz were arguing about what the best kind of cookie was.

"No, man, haven't you had those sugar cookies from the store, the ones with the frosting?" Baz ranted. "Those are way better than chocolate chips, D'Shawn, you've gotta admit-"

"No way, bro" D'Shawn cut in. "Clearly, you haven't had my chocolate chip cookies, they are waayyy better than anything store-bought"

They continued to argue as Chris opened his locker, looking for his lunch money, but he found something else. A folded piece of notebook paper was stuck in the slits of his locker, but before he could take it out, Baz had snatched it away.

"Oooh, looks like Chris got a letter!" Baz teased.

"C'mon, give it back, it's probably just Kristi or something" he interjected

"You'll have to make me!" spat Baz. "Let's see who it's from!" and with that, Baz unfolded the paper, and a smirk slowly spread across his face. "D'Shawn, come here, look at this!"

"No way man, that's great" D'Shawn responded. "Let's go find him, show him we found his lil note"

"Great minds think alike!" said Baz, and he tossed the letter in the trash, then proceeded to run down the hall with D'Shawn, and stop right in front of a short, scrawny boy. Latino, probably, but heck, this kid couldn't have been more than 5''2.

Baz made a grab for the kid's backpack, but the boy dodged it. Unfortunately for the kid, it backfired. He stepped right into D'Shawn, who grabbed his bag and threw it down the hall. Papers went flying, and Chris couldn't help but smirk.

"Haha, funny, isn't it Chris? We've been teaching this one ever since he showed D'Shawn up in math class, made him look stupid in front of Vanessa." Baz told him

"That's right!" D'Shawn responded. "We gotta straighten him out somehow, he thinks he's all that"

The kid looked up, and Chris made a "what you lookin at face" back. The kid just glared and continued picking up his things. What a weirdo. He reminded Chris of this one girl who had once been his partner in Physics in freshman year. She kept acting like she was better than him, so, obviously, Chris had made her social life miserable. She deserved it.

"Come on guys, let's go to the cafeteria," said Chris. "I heard it's taco Tuesday"

And with that, Baz, D'Shawn, and Chris walked off, leaving the kid sitting in the hall, struggling to stuff his papers back into his backpack.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Once the school day was over, Chris drove Kayla and Mike back home. Charlie was, in his words, "getting it on with the new girl" tonight, and told Chris that he didn't want to ride in his rental anyways. Chris would have to find some way to prove to him that the Jeep was in fact his own.

"Hey, have you guys heard of the new cafe down the street? Muddy Cup, I think it's called" Kayla asked

"Yeah, actually," Mike said "Y'all wanna go? I'm pretty much free the rest of the day"

"I wish" Chris groaned. "I'm stuck babysitting my sister and her friends"

"Hold on, isn't your sister like 13 years old?" asked Kayla

"Well, yes, but she acts like a 7-year-old, and she's grounded, so I'm stuck watching her."

"Aw man, what'd she do?" asked Mike

"She was caught trying to sneak out the other night, actually" Chris chuckled. "Probably trying to see her boyfriend, Bradley."

"Ooooh, Lilly has a boyfriend?" asked Kayla. "That's so cute!"

"Cute until it's all she talks about," Chris said. "I swear, she has a one-track mind when it comes to him. Bradley this, Bradley that."

"Haha, that was me when I had my first girlfriend" Mike replied. "Her name was Vanessa-"

"Hold on, you don't mean Vanessa Cooper, do you?" Chris inquired

"Yep, that's the one"

"No way! D'Shawn has a huge crush on her now"

"You're kidding, really? D'Shawn? I didn't think he was into dating, to be honest, he's kinda weird. Dunno why you hang out with him, Chris."

"Oh, Baz and D'Shawn are just, well, an acquired taste" Chris laughed. "They're pretty chill. Well, at least D'Shawn is."

"They're definitely 'an acquired taste'," Kayla grumbled. "They thought it would be funny to pour iced tea down Marcy's back"

"What? I didn't think they were that bad-" Chris told her.

"Man, you need to stop seeing the best in people" Mike teased. "One day, you're gonna be mugged by someone who told you they was a CEO with that attitude"

They all laughed, and Chris dropped Mike off at his house.

"I'm telling you, man, it ain't gonna get you nowhere!" Mike shouted after him.

Chris grinned and waved goodbye to Mike, and continued to drive a few blocks down until he reached Kayla's house.

"Well, see you tomorrow," he told her.

"Chris... you know, I never made it up to you"

"Um, what exactly do you-" but before he could finish, Kayla had cut him off with a kiss, and not a little peck either. She eventually pulled away and smiled at him.

"See you at school, Chris"

"Yeah, see you" he grinned, and watched Kayla walk into her house.

Chris pulled into his driveway, and although he was very much aware he was about to babysit his sister, he couldn't stop smiling.