Sunset in Georgia

°• 1 •°

°• Isla •°

Maybe Georgia wouldn't be so bad.

The drive was only seven hours, from their small apartment in Bradenton, Florida. From Isla's little palm tree planting she uprooted and planted in her bedroom. From the friend. she'd known for so long, Carrie, and the tasty lobster her dad would fish for and bring it home to make a tasty dish.

She missed Florida. Surprisingly, she also missed her teachers and even her least favorite teachers, Mr. Will and Mrs. Pikeasam, or just Mrs. P. She'd miss them all, her best friend most of all.

Carrie Smith, the popular blond girl with pretty hazel eyes and the most perfect body of all girls in the seventh grade. Boys were in love with her. And out of all the girls that she could've chosen to be her friend, it was Isla. The redhead girl with the rare blue eyes that girls wished they had to be popular. Plus, they were like soulmates, the best of friends because she talked to Carrie as if she was normal, not popular. Just. Normal.

How she missed her. And her big brother, Gavin, wasn't making this any better. He kept complaining about his football team and how they were going to lose without him and his girlfriend, Ashley Brown, was going to cheat on him while he was in Georgia. Mom thought he was being hysterical, but he kept objecting to it.

And this car ride wasn't going well either. It was so long and Isla's butt was hurting so bad and she just wanted to get out. Plus, her phone was blowing up from Carrie's text asking if she was okay and spamming crying emojis. But she was trying so hard not to respond because Mom said to get off it and look outside. But there isn't anything out there except big trucks and different olored cars and trees and clouds and some random kid who kept staring at her from the car across from her. She frowned at him and he stuck out his tongue.

"Idiot," she muttered. The kid started goofing around until the car sped away in front of them. Isla hated it.

She turned from the window and to their van. Seven suitcases were stuffed into the trunk and her black book bag was positioned beside her. Gavin was on the other side, taking a nap with his phone on and his ear plugs plugged in. Mom was looking on Facebook to tell her girl friends about the trip. And Dad was grumbling colorful words as traffic started to build up. Isla sighed and closed her eyes. Maybe they'll be in Georgia by the time she wakes up.

°•°•

"Wake up!" Her dad called, and Isla woke up from a small nightmare, of her getting kidnapped and her kidnapper being some random pit bull. "We're only an hour from Grandma Ila's house!" Isla groaned.

She reluctantly opened her eyes to her full capacity, trying to adjust through the bright light. They'd driven all through the night to Georgia, but they were still on the highway.

"We're almost there," Dad announced. "Only 45 more minutes."

"Can we stop for food?" Asked Gavin, which surprised her since she thought he was asleep. "I'm starving and we haven't eaten anything since we left the house."

"We're almost there," Dad insisted. "You can't wait a couple more minutes?"

"You did say 45 minutes, Dad. That's so long plus the eight hours we've already been driving. You can just stop for three minutes?"

"Don't be a smart Aleck, Gavin," Mom warned. "And as your dad said, we're almost there anyway."

"That's a whole dang school day!" Isla argued. "I'm starving! Stop thinking about you for once and think about the kids who have!" Gavin looked at her with wide eyes and shook his head. "Just stop at some gas station and please buy us some food!"

"Isla!" Dad growled. "Shut up you bitch! For goodness sake, shut your fucking mouth!" He slammed his hand on the steering wheel and a honk noise came out. "You're so damn annoying."

Isla shut up immediately. Mom and Gavin we're both quiet. They knew better than to argue or start a conversation. Dad only cursed when he was angry or irritated, which was most of the time. Plus he was a drinker and he would get really abusive some times. She remembered when she was awake at one point when she was younger and crept into the kitchen to grab some milk. Mom was awake, too, and so was Dad, which was pretty normal since he would go out to go get drinks with his friends. Then he would get so abusive that she had to go back to her bedroom without any milk and leave her mother on the floor with Dad standing above her, arguing harshly.

"I'm sorry," she finally said, and Gavin frowned at her.

"Whatever," Dad muttered. He kept driving and soon pulled over on some road for gas. But he passed all the gas stations and kept driving.

Now, Isla was hooked. There were less trees and cars, but more establishments and buildings. She thought that Georgia would just be like Tennessee. Country and plain and boring. But it wasn't. Restaurants passed; Subway, Chick-Fa-La, Starbucks, KFC. But there were also other stuff, like Chase and Bank of America and the Dollar Store and Dollar General.

As they zoomed past, Isla smiled. Maybe she would like Georgia just like the way she liked Florida. Maybe this place would grow on her.

Maybe this state wouldn't be so bad after all.