slowly drifting ★ circa waves

XI.

emma lounges on the passenger seat of the band van, her legs resting on the dashboard. they had carried eleanor into it, along with their rucksacks, and had driven out of town.

colin wouldn't leave eleanor alone, and now sat with her head rested on his legs. he patted her hair awkwardly.

sam and keiran were at the store buying food for them- it was now four in the afternoon and none of them had eaten anything. except for eleanor.

it turns out she went back into the kitchen to grab an apple from the fruit bowl that's left in every hotel room. at least, that's what they assumed had happened due to the apple she was clutching when she reached the ground.

joe was busy twirling a piece of paper between his fingers in the driver's seat. emma looked at it in confusion.

"hey, what is that?"

joe looks at the seat, embarrassed. "it's the receipt from the ice cream parlour."

emma scrunched her nose up, cringing. "you kept that?" she questions before snatching it out of his hands (secretly she thought it was kinda cute).

"give it back! i want it!"

emma shoves it back into the palm of his hand. "whatever," she mumbles before trying to get some sleep until sam and kieran return with the food.

joe takes a deep breath, tapping his hands against the window in a fidgety manner. emma scolds him for it, and then he gets a bit frustrated.

"i'm going outside," he states, then throwing open the door and hopping out. he takes a deep breath of fresh air and slams the car door shut. he starts walking, thankful to finally be out of that car. he didn't like being in cramped spaces, and could finally take a good deep breath of fresh oxygen.

-

with joe gone, emma resorts to turning on the radio and trying to find a station. she huffs when all the frequencies come up with static. she gives up, sighing, and tests out how far back the seat can go.

"what are you doing?" colin questions from the back. eleanor's still lying across his legs, dead-like as ever.

"i'm bored, okay? and hungry."

colin rolls his eyes in response. emma can't stand the quiet anymore. colin was too busy sulking to start conversation. of course, emma was worried about eleanor too. but she was probably going to wake up saying she just fell asleep or something.

emma opened up the compartment below the dashboard, which happened to be full of cd's. in awe, she picked up an album cover she would recognise anywhere.

"high school musical?" she asks in disbelief, turning around to colin who is too embarrassed to look up at her.

"kieran got it as a joke, alright? y'know kieran, always joking."

emma laughs loudly and digs through the rest of the music. and almost goes into another fit of laughter when she spots the 'high school musical two' soundtrack. shaking her head, emma pops open the case and slides the cd into the player.

she quickly presses the fast forward button until it reaches her favourite one.

"yes," she mutters under her breath when the first notes start.

"YOU ARE THE MUSIC IN, ARE THE MUSIC IN—"

sam shrieks the lyrics of the sharpay's fabulous version of the song. kieran is along side him, dancing as much as he can with the restriction of bags of takeaway pizza and crisps.

at the sight of them, emma hops out of the van and sprints towards them, also belting the words as sam and her start dancing in top notch quality.

"ME ME ME ME ME ME NA NA NA—"
"YOU ARE—"
"THE MUSIC IN, ARE THE MUSIC IN—"
"MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE."

(a/n: i'm probably messing this song up completely but i was awake like all night so i'm really not sorry. well i am sorry but dont complain bout it.)

all three take bows to the imaginary audience before heading to the van, slightly out of breath.

kieran throws open the doors to the back of the van, throwing the bags of food inside. "she awake yet?" he asks, nodding his head towards eleanor. colin shakes his head.

"i wonder what's wrong with her," sam thinks out loud, nudging her arm with his shoe. "this better not be a prank, eleanor. i know you're awake."

"dude, knock it off."

emma jumps into the back of the van with everyone else, eager to get her hands on those cool ranch doritos, colin closely following. sam and kieran share a packet of malteasers, throwing them into the air and eating them.

"hey, where's joe gone?"

emma sighs at the question. "he ditched. i don't know but he seemed frustrated."

sam rolls his eyes at joe's actions. "can't he suck it up for two seconds? whatever. kieran, you should probably go look for him."

kieran whines and scrunches his face up in disagreement. "not arsed. he'll be back in a bit—give it ten more minutes."

sam mumbles a 'fine' and reaches into the malteasers bag.

-

it was seven in the evening; all of the food had been eaten and eleanor still wasn't stirring. all of them were slouches somewhere in the van, and kieran was draped across the wheel in the front seat—fast asleep.

"she was talking about luck, so maybe it has something to do with her lucky necklace?" colin inquires. emma lets out a small chuckle. (a/n chuckle.)

"she didn't pass out because of some necklace. it can't be. because, y'know, science."

sam shrugs, "you never know. she could have some weird leprechaun powers. or she could be a mermaid and she needs to go back to the water. wait a second..." sam reaches for the can of sprite, clicking it open and pouring it on eleanor's face.

"what are you doing?" colin questions, slightly worried. emma watches, waiting for a tail to appear but alas, it doesn't.

emma sighs. "that could've explained why she loved the aquarium so much."

the three of them search for any other clues, but nothing new occurs to them.

"look, the lucky necklace is all we've got so we might as well give it a try."

colin and emma reluctantly nod their heads, exiting the van.

-

um even i dont know whats happening so if you can guess then a++++