Drive through the street with your eyes closed
Trip on the stick where the wind blows
So out of reach but it looks close
Don't assume what you don't know

I walked out to the parking lot by myself and passed by Anthony on the way. We didn’t look at each other…or at least I didn’t look at him and I did not acknowledge his glance at me. I wanted to tell him off, but I didn’t want to explain to the police or my parents why there was blood all over my fender and what caused the human-like shape on the hood.
It was safer—for him—for me to keep on walking.
Frank stood next to my car, but he had a friend…or should I..girlfriend?
“Jo, can we give April a lift home?”
“Sure,” I replied as I unlocked the doors.

Frank and April got into the backseat and quickly sat too close for comfort. I would have ordered them too put on seatbelts, but one of them would remove them anyway.
I gave a soft sigh as I climbed into the front seat and placed my purse and backpack on the front pasenger seat.
“Where’s your house?” I asked as I turned the engine over.
“It’s up on Hwy 2, before the hill.”
“Deep Creek?”
“Yeah. It’s my grandpa’s.”

I nodded to her reflection in the mirror and gunned the engine. I refused to look at them if I could help it. I still didn’t trust April. Perhaps it was my inner bitch coming out to be seen since she had so much fun earlier with Tony and she wanted to continue with April.
“Wait,” I thought. “Her day may come later.”
I gritted my teeth every time I heard April laugh. It was that high-pitch, blondish, valley girl on vacation laugh that made guys lose a few brain cells. Frank told a few whoppers to her…like how he got into a fight with some guy and performed a foot sweep on him. However, that was done by the long since departed Joseph. Frank then mentioned about a time a gang of three guys taunted him into a fight and he held one in a head lock. It was a half-truth, as there were three of them, and Frank had thrown the first punch after the fattest guy of the trio pushed him. However, I was the one who had placed the supposed leader of the pack in a head lock and threatened to twist his head off.
“You were saving your friend?”
“Saving both of us,” Frank replied as he looked into the mirror at me.
My expression read: “we’re going to be talking about this”

We turned off the highway and onto a gravel road that was clear of snow and ice, like someone had deliberately treated it up to a point; and that point was at April’s grandparents. Frank got out, held the door open for her, and said goodbye to her with a short and awkward hug. He then circled around the car, moved my backpack and purse to the backseat, and then sat in the seat.
He waved to her as we backed out.
“So, when is the wedding?”
“You feel that too?” Frank asked as he buckled his seatbelt.
“No, I see it in your eyes. You’re making plans in your head that would make a great a young adult novel.”
Frank nodded.
“Speaking of works of fiction.”
“I know. I know," he replied and put his hands up to his face to block what could have been a heavy punch if I wasn’t driving.
“How many impossible feats of strength did you tell her about?”
“Not a lot, didn’t want to seem I was made up of just bravado.”
“You mean you don’t want to look like a conceited jerk?” I asked with mock surprise.
“I know it’s surprising, Jo, but I’m actually listening to you about this relationship.”
“There’s a first time for everything,”
“What about you?”
“Don’t care,” I replied as we turned back onto the main road and I gunned the engine up the hill.
“Let’s make a modest proposal,” Frank said with a rhythmic slap to his knees.
“To do what?”
“For you to go to Winterfest.”
“This sounds like a ‘heads you win, tails I lose’ kind of ‘proposal’, as you put it.”
“I do know of someone who wants to take you.”
“I think you’ve told enough fables today, Aesop.”

“I’m willing to say I can win a sparring match with you.”
“I definitely know I’ll be spending a relaxing night at home on that Saturday night.”
Fifteen minutes later we arrived at Frank’s house and immediately went down to the basement where there was a large room with wrestling mats on most of the floor. The other half was filled with weight-lifting equipment and an assortment of wooden swords. We were only allowed to use two of them as the reset were Mr. Russo’s. We took off our shoes and Frank handed over one of the swords.
“What are the rules?”
“A successful disarm,” he replied, “And I don’t just mean the sword.”
“What?” I asked as Frank swung at my face. I flashed my own up to block the strike and the wood vibrated my arms from the force of the hit.
Frank swung again to the chest and I blocked it again.
“What the Hell, Frank?”
“Looks who’s rusty?” He replied with a smirk.
“Keep talking!” I swung back wildly and my hair blinded my view.

Frank took a step to the side and swung again with the impact knocking the swords from our hands. I side-stepped and then tried to knock Frank down with a wrestling move I still remembered from years ago, but he countered and I fell to the mat. At that moment, I lost any form of sentience as I tried to grab onto him but failed as Frank circled around, wrapped his arms around my upper body, lifted me off the floor and then adjusted his arms to put me in a headlock. He turned his head to me and I could feel his breath on my face and it tickled my ear enough to shock me into submission. Frank threw me to the mat and pinned me down.
“You should wear green.”
“You cheated!”
“How? I said the rules were a successful disarm and not just the sword, remember?”
Frank hovered above me and released his grip on my arms but didn’t move.
“I’d say we redo.”
“We don’t do redos.”
“Then get off of me before I kick you.”
Frank sprung to his feet and held his hands out to help me up. “You should use that on Tony.”
“Sure, let’s bring him to your house, give him a sword and then do a sucker-punch of a move on him.” I used Frank’s arms to vault back up to my feet.
“That’s tempting, Jo. No one would hear him scream.”
“So illegal. I like it,” I replied.
“We’ll need to coordinate our story if the police ever ask.”
“What if we just kidnap him and take him into the forest?”
“You may be onto something. I remember this guy’s car was found off the road and his body wax never found…at least not in one piece.”
“Murdered?”
“Maybe, but the bears weren’t going to snitch on another.”
“Okay, as much as I absolutely hate him, murder and manslaughter are off the table.
“That leaves criminal negligence on the table.”
I kind of didn’t want to answer that.