Upon nothing

Ch 1

"Come on.  Do I really have to go?"  I asked my father with annoyance in my tone. 

"Sorry Patrick, but I'm not the one forcing you to go.  You're gonna need to discuss that with your mother."  He replied. 

I sighed as I held a fairly light backpack in my hands and brought it to the car.  I opened the side door and placed it down near where I would be sitting once we left.  Of course, if I was lucky, I would be able to take it back out and stay home, but I knew that was unlikely to happen which meant I had to go along for the trip. 

My brother, who was a college junior, was taking part in a science convention far away from here.  It was basically a place where people would show off their inventions or ideas and try to win first place.  My mother planned a weekend where we would go up and meet him to show our support.  I had no problem with her and dad going, but I didn't see the reason for why I had to come as well. 

I had an extended break from school, and I had come up with a good schedule for what I would do during it.  From playing video games to going to places at certain times, I created it so I would make use of every minute that I had.  However, that was before I ever heard that I was going along with them without being given a choice.  Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against my brother and we did get along pretty well, but the fact that all my plans went down the drain wasn't something I could just get over easily.

I entered the vehicle and waited for the rest of them to do the same.  The car was already packed yesterday to make today easier since we needed to leave early.  It was 5:00 am, and if we were to leave now, it would likely be sometime close to 4:00 pm when we arrived at the hotel, and that was dependent on how much traffic we encountered through the trip.

I pulled out my 3ds and started up a game to kill some time.  The gaming system was left plugged into an outlet in my room to prepare it for today where I would use it until it ran out of battery power.  Some books were in my bag as well as a few snacks and money (I'm certain there's a GameStop nearby the area we're going to).

Not long after I opened my system my parents entered the front seats of the car.  My father sat in the driver seat while my mother sat beside him.  He held a map which marked the path we would be taking to go to the event.  As he checked it, my mother looked back at me, taking my attention away from the screen.

"Do you have everything you need before we go?"  She asked me.

"Yes, I have everything except for my extended break which has been taken away."  I replied to her as she rolled her eyes.

"I'm sorry, but this is a big thing for your brother, and I believe that we should all go to support him.  Besides, what else were you going to do if we let you stay here besides playing video games?"  She asked me.

"Easy.  I could've gone to the park to read, I could've made some progress on cleaning my room, I also could've-." 

"Okay, so you did have other things to do, but what your brother is doing doesn't happen every day.  I'm certain that you can do those things anytime after we get back."  She said as she turned back to the front. 

I was still annoyed by it, but I knew it was just something I couldn't get out of.  By tomorrow, I would probably be over this and forget about it like many other things.  Maybe this could be better than staying home, and I could maybe have some fun as well.  The thoughts of what could happen at the event disappeared as my father turned the car on. 

"Alright, let's get going."  My dad said as he drove out of the driveway and onto the main road, starting our very long drive.  I looked back and watched as my view of our house was slowly covered by the trees surrounding it.  Once it was out of view, I turned forward and resumed the game I was playing.