Project cosmos: The Golden Ring

On the Road Again (Again)

That morning, we woke up to the smell of bacon and eggs. The must have been my dad. He loved cooking, especially when there were a lot of people around. I lead my friends back down into the kitchen and we all sat down at the table. My dad was standing by the stove with frying pan in his hand, humming to a song I didn't know.
"Good morning," my dad said as he set the pan down.
"Good morning," I said back.
My mind was starting to wonder. All I could think about was the smell of food.
"That smells good..." Latona said quietly. I could tell she was still tired.
Then my dad placed full plates in front of us.


AFTER 10 MINUTES OF INHALING FOOD...
"That was amazing," Latona yawned.
"Most definitely!" I said.
It had been too long since I had a breakfast like that. All we ever had at camp was cereal. And the type of cereal they had wasn't even that good.
"If you're going off to California and Arizona, you guys should probably get going..." my dad smiled, but I could tell he didn't want me to leave.
My friends and I walked back up stairs to grab our bags and slowly headed out the door.
As we walked, Mark came up to me.
"Your dad's nice," he said.   
"I liked the bacon," Bridgette said.
That was all she's really said to me this whole trip. Cole really did mean what he said when he told me that she didn't talk much.
"So, Isabelle, where are we going next again? I forgot..." Latona asked.
"California," Mark and Travis said in unison.
Mark had asked me if we could go back to their school to pick up a few things.
"To be more specific, we're going to their school, Floor 3, second hallway on the right. Room 476," Sandy said.
"Sandy, shut up," I said.
Then Sandy shot me a death glare. So I shot one right back. No backing down now.
"Isabelle, I'm going to hit you,"
"Sandy. I'll hit you back,"
"You guys need to stop arguing..." Adria sighed.
"Adria, go away," Sandy scowled.
"No, you need to go away, Sandy," I said.
Adria nodded, and I slowly walked away.
The tension in the air was thicker than ever. I stood next to Latona and Mark, who looked like they were worrying for their lives. And at this point, so was I. Sandy and Adria looked like they were going to kill each other. They were throwing insults back and forth. Most of us were used to this at this point, but our new little friend, Bridgette, was not. She looked like she was about to burst. That would make sense, given she had to live with Stevie, Tommy, and Cole for a few weeks. Then Bridgette left her spot and walked right between Sandy and Adria.
"You guys need to stop fighting. You're making my head hurt," she said.
Sandy stopped talking and focused her stare on Bridgette, but it was not a death glare like I explained. She looked... sympathetic. Adria on the other hand, only walked away. She pulled her hood over her head and walked to the back of the group.
"Let's just... keep walking..." Adria sighed.
Our goal was to get to the nearest airport. Mark had somehow convinced my dad to get us plane tickets.
The only airport I knew of the area was a long walk away.


A FEW HOURS LATER...
At this point in time, we were at the airport's entrance. We walked in and went to the front desk. We all showed our tickets and got on the plane.
This plane was much nicer than the other two I've been on. It was like first-class throughout the entire plane. Each row of three seats had a comfortable amount of space between them. I moved towards the window seat in the third row, but Mark got there before I could. So I just settled with having to sit by him. Then Adria sat down in the last seat in our row. Latona and Travis sat together in the row right in front of us. Sandy then sat behind us.
That left Bridgette. She could either sit with Latona and Travis, or with Sandy. Hard choice. Bridgette liked being around Travis because of how quiet he was, but that moment she had with Sandy, looked like they were bonding in their own special ways.
Instead of walking back a bit to sit with Latona and Travis like I had expected her to, she walked forward and sat right next to Sandy. To make it weirder, Sandy didn't even do anything about it. She just looked and Bridgette, then back out the window.
As we were talking, Mark turned his head to face Travis.
"Hey Travis, you wanna go skydiving this time?" he asked.
Travis's eyes widened.
"Nope!" he said quickly.
"Really?" Mark smiled.
"Mark, leave Travis alone. Go bother Isabelle," Latona smirked.
Mark turns his head to face me. Meanwhile, Latona and Travis are laughing behind us.
"Hey, Isabelle," he says.
"No," I said.
"Aww, come one! I didn't even say anything yet!"
"Fine, what do you want?" I sighed.
I saw Adria look at us like 'What are they doing?'
"You wanna go skydiving?"
"Not now. Maybe when we get back to camp,"
Mark's eyes sparkled.
"Really?" Mark said.
I nodded.
Then the pilot came on the speakers.
"Attention passengers, we are now beginning our descent. Please fasten your seatbelts," he said.
I saw Bridgette walk back to her seat. I never saw her get up, so this kinda surprised me. She sat down next to Sandy again, and buckled her seatbelt.
Before I knew it, we were in California again.