A surprise.

When we got to the main gate we also saw Isabelle there. She was looking down at her phone, but turned to us when she noticed we were approaching.

“Did mom call you, too?” she asked me.

“No, actually. She called Alice for some reason.” I frowned and turned to the ex-president. “What’s going on?”

“Yeah, why do you know something we don’t?” Mila asked her, poking her in the ribs. “Spill it!”

Alice laughed, Mila’s poking tickling more than hurting apparently. “You’ll find out soon enough. Ms. Brooks just… asked me a little favor and I was happy to help.”

We went through the main gate and walked out of the school. It was a bit of a funny sight there. No few of our schoolmates and fellow graduates were receiving gifts from their families. Shiny SUVs, exotic sports cars, motorcycles… It was a school full of wealthy families, after all. Wouldn’t be surprised if some were simply trying to outdo the others.

The girls had gotten things from their families, too, actually. Mila got a new phone from her parents, Grace got a silver wristband from her dad, Noelle got a pendant with a thin golden chain and a small ruby encrusted in it, Alice got a long pearl necklace and Sarah’s parents were keeping her gift a secret for the moment, apparently.

Isabelle and I weren’t expecting anything. That mom was putting us through university was more than enough, and I really didn’t want for anything. So we were still waiting for mom to arrive, not paying attention to the cars that passed by… until we saw mom in a silver sedan and Alex, Alice’s brother, in an old van.

“W-Wait, huh?” Isabelle muttered. “That’s… not mom’s car.”

The sedan was an older model but still fairly standard. It looked new. The van, however, looked out of place among the luxury cars. It was a gray van, and an old model from the looks of it. Despite that, it was spotless and without a single kink. Actually, in a way it did fit with the other cars. It was like an antique in mint condition.

Mom and Alex parked on the side of the road and came out. We immediately went to them.

“Um… M-Mom? W-What’s going on?” Isabelle asked, cautiously containing her excitement.

Mom smiled at her and kissed her on top of her head. “Learn to drive and this is yours. If not, I’m keeping it.”

“Oh my God!” Isabelle jumped and gave mom a big, thigh hug. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”

“Don’t get your hopes up too much. It’s used, you know?” Mom warned.

“I don’t care! Thank you! Thank you!” Isabelle let go of mom and made a 180° turn to rush to Alice, giving her a hug just as powerful. “Alice! Help! Pleeeease!”

Alice giggled and nodded. “I’ll teach you. And don’t worry, that’s an automatic, so it’ll be easy.”

Meanwhile, Alex came up to me, stopping some steps away and tossed me a key without a word. I got a little startled but managed to catch it in the air.

“And this one’s yours,” he told me with a grin, pointing with his thumb at the van behind him. “I was planning to give you the bike we’ve been working on, but when your mother came to my shop to ask for my help and I mentioned my idea to her… Well, she didn’t like it,” he said, laughing nervously.

“It’s not that I’m against bikes. I used to have one, okay?” mom said. “But a bike won’t be of any use to you now, will it?”

My eyes were wide open and my jaw was hanging. I looked past Alex at the van. I had just thought of it as an antique in mint condition, and they were telling me it was mine!?

“B-But… You didn’t have to…” I muttered, swallowing. “T-Two cars, mom? You should’ve just given one to Isabelle.”

Mom shook her head. “I knew you’d be like that. I really did go too overboard teaching you to be frugal. Don’t worry about it, Oliver. I’ve been saving for years for this and Alice and Alex were kind enough to help me find these for cheap.”

“Ooooh,” Mila and Noelle exclaimed. “So that’s why you knew,” Noelle said.

“And she never let the slightest hint slip…” Sarah grumbled. “She’s too good at keeping secrets.”

“We have connections,” Alice said. “We know plenty of people with all kinds of vehicles. And if not them, they know others. We found these two gems and fixed them right up. They’re probably worth at least three times more than the original price.” Alice giggled giddily.

Mom sighed. “Not only that, but they did the repairs for dirt cheap. I still feel guilty about it.”

“Again, don’t worry about that, ma’am. It’s the least I can do,” Alex said. He walked up to me and gave me a soft punch on the shoulder. “I owe Oliver a lot for taking good care of my sister. Besides, he’ll be the one stuck with her from now on. This is how I show my condolences.”

Alice blushed. “Alex, shut up.”

We laughed.

Isabelle and Noelle followed Alice as she showed them my sister’s new car, explaining easy to understand features at first but soon going into technical stuff.

“V4? 1.6?” Isabelle asked, tilting her head in confusion.

“...I’ll teach you the basics of engines, too,” Alice told her.

Alex, in contrast, was more excited to show me the inside of the van than talking about engines. He slid open the door and went, “Tah-dah! Amazing, isn’t it?”

“Woah!” Sarah exclaimed. Mila, Grace and I were just as shocked. It wasn’t at all what we expected.

It had three rows of seats, yeah, but the first one was behind the driver and facing towards the back, leaving a fair bit of space between the first and second row. Taking advantage of that space was a long table supported by two metal legs at both ends that got thinner the higher up they went.

“You guys are a big group and you’ll be having to commute a lot, right? We figured something like this would help you use that time. Or you can just use it to go camping or something,” Alex explained with an excited smile. “And if it’s getting in the way…” He went into the van, flipped a switch in the table’s legs and it sank to floor level, the sections of the metal legs storing themselves inside the wider, lower sections. “I asked Alice and she thought it was a good idea, but since we had to keep this a secret she couldn’t consult you. If you don’t like it we can make it standard again.”

“No!” That wasn’t me. Those were Mila, Grace and Sarah.

“That’s really cool! Oliver, let’s leave it as it is!” Mila insisted.

“I mean, it’s your van at the end of the day, but… I can see this being really useful,” Grace said.

I chuckled. “Relax. I think it’s amazing this way.” I turned to Alex and we shook hands. “Thank you, truly. You really didn’t have to.”

“Like I said, it’s the least I can do. Besides, Alice and I had a lot of fun working on these. I think I’m more confident now about building an RV. Now, it’s not as fancy as the sports cars around, but why don’t you take this for a spin?”

Before I could answer, Mila, Grace and Sarah were already on board and calling Alice and Noelle.

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