Cruise Control

Prologue

I look in front of me. To them. We're all here, sitting around in a circle formation in the middle of our local soccer field, watching the sunset. The small club consists of six teenagers. To my right sits Genevieve, her long brown hair tickling my shoulder. Her brown glasses reflect such a glare that it blinds you at just the right angle. Her Converse shoes knock together occasionally, creating a soft melodic beat, resembling a clock ticking. Her tan hands rubbed up and down her fabric-covered thighs. She laughs loudly at Nova's attempts at catching a small toad.

Nova. Nova runs around frantically in the circular space the group is surrounding. Her short strawberry-blonde hair fell messily out of the pigtails she tried so desperately to contain. Her ankle-length skirt flowed behind her, giving to her peculiar sense of fashion. She turns to Niko and Avery, batting her cakey, mascara-covered eyelashes. She then advanced in their direction before plopping down next to the young couple.

Across the circle from Genevieve and me, sits Avery; Genevieve's twin. Her perfectly groomed eyebrows furrow as she flashes her, endearing, child-like smile. Her ocean-blue irises are framed by a border of thick black lashes, fluttering occasionally. Her lap is occupied by Niko's head, being used as a pillow of sorts. Niko twirls Avery's fingers around his own as he reads a poem off his cellphone, which he holds above his face aloud for the group.

"When you're dying there's a moment when you blast into the sun.

You become a supernova, a bullet leaving from a gun..."

His curly, black mop of curls tangled in Avery's lap, making Niko let out a frustrated huff every time he tried to run his slim fingers through the thick locks, to rid them from his sight. His olive skin reflected the light from the dying sun. His right leg extended straight outwards, and his left bent and moved ever so slightly back and forth.

We all turn our heads at the sound of rattling car keys, we see Gemma Harper running across the short span of the field to join us. Her jaw-length, brunette shag jumps with her exaggerated footsteps, bangs splitting from the middle of her forehead due to the breeze she picked up whilst trotting towards us. Her freckles covering her button nose look darker than usual, thanks to the sun. She sits between Genevieve and I. Gemma Harper is to be always called Gemma Harper, never just Gemma.

Growing up I felt as though the world didn't want me, especially in this town. In elementary school, I was always the peculiar one. I never really got along with any of the other students in my grade. I spent my weekends tucked away in my room and my lunch breaks in the bathroom stalls. The stone wall to the left was smooth and untouched, the stall wall to my right was filled with doodles and etches of hearts and initials. I would make up a story for each culprit of the vandalism that littered the bathroom walls. I was never seen without my nose in a book, without writing pointless words in my notebook, or with my headphones on blasting musical poetry. This only adds to my atypical reputation. These pastimes were supposed to be serving as a distraction to avoid trouble, the bathroom stall was supposed to be my home of easement. But it all only introduced turbulence to my uneasy self and life. And with this came more hatred towards my hometown as the days, and years went on. The tranquillity I had found and was trying to grasp a hold of fading away faster than expected for a ten-year-old girl.

However, with my friends, I feel a part of a family. The day we all clicked, April 13th I felt as though everything clicked and I finally felt like I belonged and was appreciated. Thinking about April 13th it feels like it was so long ago and that the day itself lasted so little time. But when I look back and think about all the things that happened that day it feels like it lasted a lifetime. It may seem silly that I am grasping into the date so sentimentally, however I believe it is more than reasonable. It changed my life, and I will always remember that date for that reason. I don't think I have ever felt as happy as I did that day. My friends and I just clicked, like we created a bond a group would create in years in a day. After all, we did live several whole different lives that day, just the six of us, the most important aspects of each other's lives.

As for me, I've never been the prettiest, especially next to my friends. I have freckles covering my pale face, a face that never really looks good without makeup. I have jet-black, long, shaggy hair, that never seems to stay just right. I have a pear-shaped body with long legs, that never seems to look good in tight clothing.

"AHA! I caught it!" Nova exclaims, jolting me out of my daydream, and causing everyone to avert their eyes her way.

"Nova put it down, you're going to catch rabies or something," Niko says, pausing his poetry reading to scold Nova, clicking his cell phone off, and setting it next to his head.

"You don't catch rabies from toads, that's raccoons." Nova retaliates, in a pragmatic tone.

"I'm sure you could catch something gnarly from that thing," I speak up causing Nova to turn to me. She then runs towards me with the slimy toad in her hands.

"Get that fucking thing away from me!" I shriek, jumping up and away from her. The rest of the group chuckles.

"You guys are such party poopers," she says, releasing the poor toad, letting it hop away from our circle. Nova then walks over to plop down next to Gemma Harper and Avery. Niko's poem is long forgotten due to Nova's attempts to shove a toad in my face. I stroll back over to Gemma Harper and Genevieve and plop down next to them, falling backwards to lay on the grass.

"Niko, you going to finish that poem?" Avery looks down at him, I lift my head slightly to look at them.

"No, it's okay it was basically finished anyway." Niko tucks his cell phone into his back pocket. He abruptly jumps up to his feet.

"God! I'm over this!" He throws his head back, slowly spinning in a circle whilst admiring the blues and purples taking over the sky, as the last final shards of sunlight leak from over the horizon. After a few moments of us watching Niko in anticipation, he throws his head forward again, hoisting his arms up, above his head to stretch. Shutting his eyes tightly in tension.

"Let's go do something." He says, opening his eyes and dropping his arms to hang next to him. "Let's go explore! I leave in 6 months; I want to make the most of it." He yells with excitement.

"Shut up! I don't want to get a noise complaint!" Nova scolds Niko with a dominant tone in her voice. Suddenly a set of car keys hit Niko in the center of the chest. Acting fast, Niko throws his hands to his chest to catch them. We all turn to look at Gemma Harper, questioning her actions.

"Let's go on a road trip."

I launch myself up and at Gemma Harper, wrapping my arms around her.

"God, I love you! You have the best ideas, Gemma Harper." I say with a dream-like voice. I turn to lay with my back against her lap, throwing the back of my hand against my forehead for dramatic effect.

"Oh, you're so cute love, you know I always have the best ideas." Gemma Harper chuckles and pushes me forward. I crawl away from her and back to my original spot beside Genevieve.

"But in all seriousness, I think it's a great idea, I'm down if you guys are," I speak up, earning an eager nod from Niko and a smirk from Gemma Harper.

"Where would we go?" Avery asked the group. We all remained silent for a moment after that question.

"Anywhere and everywhere," Niko answered Avery. We all look at him with admiration for his ambitious attitude. I smile. I smile because I know this is going to change our lives forever. I smile because I know this is going to be one hell of a road trip. I smile because I know this is going to be a story to tell, a coming-of-age for all of us.

So yes, this is our cheesy coming-of-age story. And I am willing to tell it exactly how it is, how it was. No side plots, no filler words, or extra non-existent characters. Just us and the road.

And here we are sitting together, basking in our last moments of being a teenager.