Road Trip by Caleb Baker (universal ebook reader .TXT) 📕

"Get in!" a voice called to me from a navy blue 4x4 truck.

I followed the orders, slinging a backpack over my shoulder. The passenger seat was very spacious giving me enough room for my long legs. My black Adidas sandal fell off my foot while I was trying to get into the vehicle.

"Oh, come on!" I cried, "this happens every time I get in this stupid truck!"

"Hey, com'n Sheila is not stupid." Chris Heatley said from the drivers seat.

"Yeah, Sheila is a fine truck!" John Barry said rubbing the leather seat behind me.

I looked at both of them shaking my head and chuckling a little.

"Chris, we have ten minutes until school starts. Can we go now?" I said making myself comfortable.

He hastily put the gear into drive and peeled out of my driveway. He nearly took out my mailbox and unearthed the street leading out of my cul-de-sac.

John made a sort of snorting noise from behind me and said:"Ha! School doesn't start for twenty minutes."

"You liar, Caleb!" Chris yelled at me, I chuckled again, taking out my phone.

"Who could you be texting this early in the morning?" John said peering over my shoulder.

"I'm not texting anyone, it's just Facebook." I replied touching the screen of my phone.

"Hey, should I make a stop at Dunk's?" Chris said to both John and I.

"Yeah, I brought my Dunkin Donuts gift card," John said.

"Could you spot me?" I said to John.

"And me too?" Chris said almost laughing.

"Yeah... I guess," John said, the unsureness sounding through his voice.

Chris's gaze returned to the red Honda Civic in front of us. The truck turned left, and soon a big yellow and pink sign sporting two D's came into view. Chris pulled into the drive-thru lane of the Dunkin Donuts, and turned to John and I and asked what we wanted.

"Ugh..." John answered first, "I'll have a regular with three sugars, and a chocolate chip muffin."

"I'll just have an Iced Tea with three splendas," I said still looking at my phone.

"Emily says to get to school now," I said looking at Chris.

"I would," he began, "if this guy would hurry up his order."

"I thought you weren't texting anyone." John said sarcastically.

"I wasn't, she just texted me."

Chris's prayers were answered as a speaker box rolled up beside the driver's window. He called out to the speaker and placed our order, while a monitor next to it copied it down. The speaker box called back 'Okay your order will be at the next window'.

"Finally," I breathed, "ten minutes."

"I'm going, I'm going," Chris said pulling up to the window.

John handed Chris the gift card bearing the Dunkin Donuts logo, and he handed it to the girl at the window. I noticed this girl was very pretty and apparently the rest of the car did too because everyone went eerily quiet. When the girl returned with the food John flipped his long brown hair, although all for not because he was in the backseat and could barely be seen. She handed Chris two Styrofoam cups and two brown paper bags. She smiled at me before saying have a nice day. We turned out of the drive-thru and and onto the road that would take us to the school.

"Dude, that's like the third number you've gotten from a drive-thru girl!" Chris said laughing and handing me my drink.

There was a sticky note attached to my cup that read; 'To the boy in the passenger seat, Veronica Mertz, call me.' A series of numbers followed after that.

"It's so unfair," John complained, "she was definitely looking at me."

Chris and I laughed, but not for long for Chris then said seriously;"What's Emily gonna say?"

"Emily is not going to know about this," I said scathingly.

Emily Matthews was the girl I had been fawning over since my sophomore year of high school. We dated for three months which wasn't a long time, but we managed to remain best friends. I never stopped liking her, but I've been in the friend zone for two years.

"So, you gonna make a move on her, or what?" John said touching my shoulder for attention.

"We already dated," I said not looking at him, "it's hard to pick something like that back up again."

"Says you, I did it..." said John trailing off.

"Yeah, but you were dating a hag, who else was she going to date?" said Chris, making me laugh so hard I almost choked on my Iced Tea.

"True," John replied, "but, you've got to admit, she had a nice rack."

Chris and I both made sounds of agreement and nods of our heads. We passed a McDonald's, and a pizza restaurant. The school was now coming into view, and John sighed sarcastically. We took a left into the school parking lot, and slowed down for the speed bumps. Chris pulled into his designated spot that the school gave him and put the car into park. We all stepped out of Chris's truck and into the last day of our high school careers.

The cloudless blue sky represented my mood, happy and warm. The last day of school would be full of hugs and nostalgia. People would be saying things that they would have never said on any other day. People would come out of their comfort zones only to realize they were acting foolish ten years later.     

"Can you believe we've been here for four years?" said a familiar voice from behind us. 

Three girls were getting out of a car behind us. These were my other best friends, and now at school, my group reached six. One of the girls was Emily, and she was looking as radiant as ever. Perhaps it was the weather. The other girls were Lauren Gooding and Alice Lancaster. They were both looking ravishing, but I had eyes only for Emily. 

"I know, it sounds like a long time, but it went by so fast!" Lauren said as the girls were walking towards us.

As soon as they reached us Chris put an arm around Lauren. They were dating, for three years as I thought about it. Emily, John, Alice and I were all convinced that they were going to get married. We all began our walk to the school, which I really hoped was air conditioned. John told a funny joke as I opened the double doors for everyone that involved Chris's mother and himself alone at night. We were all laughing (even Chris) as we walked through science hall together. We usually all hung out in the mornings in the math hallway but lately Chris and Lauren took to going somewhere else together, which was reasonable seeing as they were going to different colleges and wanted to spend more time together.

"Hey, we'll see you guys later," Chris said predictably. 

"Yeah, i'll see you in first period, we need to talk," I said, and he nodded and walked away hand in hand with Lauren. 

"What do you need to talk to him about?" Alice asked. 

"Oh, it's about our special plans this summer. I actually need to talk to you guys too," I replied. 

"Oh that, well what about?"

"All of your parents are fine with it?" I asked. 

They all looked at each other rolling their eyes. 

"How many times have we answered that question," John said first. 

"I just want to make sure." 

"Well, my parents," Emily started, "are going on a vacation all summer anyways, so i'm good with that."

"Same with mine!" said John smiling broadly, "they're in Costa Rica right now!"

"Mine said 'as long as we don't see you on the news or something'," Alice said contorting her face and trying to sound like her father. 

"And Chris and Lauren said their parents are fine with it too," I said aimlessly, "and John, you said you can get your uncle's RV, right?"

"I already got it," he said puffing his chest and bearing a grin. 

"Is everyone packed?" I asked seriously. 

"Yes..." they all said in a monotonous tone. 

"Good, good. So how does everyone feel with leaving today?"

"Today?" Emily said uncertainly. 

Everyone was silent, obviously thinking about my proposal. The chatter of more students coming down the hallway distracted us, and made us look up. 

"Oh, it's Jake!" Alice squealed. 

She then ran off to accompany her boyfriend Jake Reynolds. I didn't like him much.     

"And then there were three..." John said to break the silence, "this sucks! Everyone is in a relationship but me!"

"Umm... Emily and I aren't in a relationship, so that's not true." I said. 

"Hmm..." John said rolling his eyes.

I looked at Emily who quickly looked back at me. 

"Could you make sure to ask her if she can make it today?" I said, and she nodded her head. 

"I can do it today," John piped up. 

"Alright that sounds good, Chris can just drop all of us off at your place," I said while watching a group of juniors laughing. 

"Do you guys mind if Lauren and I come too?" Emily said, "she was going to sleep over my house anyways so she's all set to go today."

"But... You're both... Girls," John said quietly. 

"What? You like girls, right?" Emily said causing me to laugh, "besides, we're all going to be living in the same place soon enough anyways, so why not get an early start?"

"I guess it's alright..." John said.     

The bell rang and signaled all the students to go to their first period classes. Many students still laughed and joked as if nothing happened. 

"Hey i'll see you guys later," Emily said giving me a swift wink. 

She vanished within a quo of giggling students. John and I both began to walk to first period together where we would meet up with Chris. 

"This summer is going to be awesome!" John said from my left. 

"Yeah it is! I can't wait!" I said excitedly. 

"Hey maybe you and Emily will get back together," John said nudging my ribs. 

I laughed before saying, "Likely..."

"You gotta have faith..." John trailed off as we walked into Mrs. Nelson's classroom, "so, why did you and her break up anyways? You never told us."

I paused, and began to remember sophomore year all over again. The first two months with Emily were great, carefree. We went out all the time together, we went to parties, and the movies, and dinner. Then as the third month began to near, I was under a lot of stress. We had big tests coming up, and I also had basketball practice everyday. We had no time to see each other, so Emily suggested that we take a break, which I unfortunately obliged. She promised me that when all the stress died down, we would get back together, but we never did. 

"It's a lame story," I told him, "I don't want to bore you."

"Alright," John said shrugging his shoulders and taking a seat at the far corner of the room. 

I followed him, making sure that there was another seat open for Chris.     

The classroom was loud, the teacher was sitting at her desk and chucking papers and staplers into a cardboard box. The students were either sitting on top of their desks chatting and laughing or doing chores for the teacher. Mrs. Nelson had asked John, Chris