traded my life [TWD]

『15』

Nope.

"I'd rather be on house arrest."

Shane looks over from the driver's seat. "Oh, yeah? Well, I can turn right around and we can keep doin' that."

I huff and cross my arms.

"The choice is up to you," he offers.

I rest my head on the seat. "Fine."

"'Fine', what?" 

"I'll.." I mumble under my breath.

"What was that?"

"I'll go on the.."

"Come again?"

I throw my hands in the air. "I'll go on the field trip and be Carl's chaperone."

"There we go. Was that so hard?"

"It killed me."

"I'll be sure and give a good speech at the funeral."

I collapse dramatically against the seat and hang my tongue out. Shane hums something that sounds like the Star Spangled Banner.

"God, could you be more white?" I complain.

"Ye wan' me tuh talk like this?" he asks, a southern accent miles deeper than his own.

"Oh my God!" I cry. "Fuckin' Larry the Cable Guy jackass."

For the first time since the fallout, Shane and I laugh together. It almost made me cry in happiness.

--

"It's so cool that you're going with me! We're gonna have so much fun! We can play tic-tac-toe on the bus!" Carl begins rambling as soon as Shane and I step out of the car.

I was so close to never hearing this little shit and his one sided conversations.

I'd never been so happy to hear him spew bullshit.

"Where's Lori?" I ask Rick.

"She's visiting family. I have to be at work. You're doing us a big favor here, Hyejin."

"Lori has no idea that I'm chaperoning, huh?" 

"She does not. And I'd appreciate if we could keep that between the four of us."

I couldn't help but smile. I rest my hands on Carl's shoulders from behind. I was so close to losing this. I almost fucked this up.

"Yeah, don't take it as a compliment. This is still your punishment," Shane reminds.

"Yes, sir," I acknowledge.

"All right. Get on inside. You're leaving in about an hour."

"Let's go, buddy," I urge Carl.

"No trouble!" Shane shouts.

I throw a thumbs up over my shoulder.

--

A museum.

A fucking museum.

Carl was upset and afraid he would miss a boring ass trip to a museum.

It's fine. This is fine.

I stay by Carl's side as we walk through the museum. This was a job. A test. I fucked up and this is how I make it up to Shane. Just don't fuck this up. 

The guide continues talking about how white crackers 'found' the US. Sure. Like anyone actually believes that.

"Is that how they found Canada, too?" a little girl asks.