I Bought A Hippie Van!

Chapter 3

Elliot
I stay sitting like that for a while, with my elbows on my knees and my head in my hands. I doze off a few times but my hand slips and my head falls and it scares me to death so I lean my head against the window and just watch as we move along this road in the dark. I think back to when I first got in the van and Brooklyn and Piper had that weird greeting. I was confused. You see, Brooklyn and Grayson have been best friends since they were really little. It kind of forced me and Piper into being friends, although I didn't mind at all. I've always thought she was really pretty and I may have even had a little crush on her, but these last few years she's changed. I mean she always was a little rebel and she didn't care what many people thought. She used to do crazy little things that never really mattered. But now she's got herself in all kinds of trouble. She goes to all kinds of parties, she doesn't really try in school and I've heard that she sleeps around, but I don't know, maybe that's false.
I just wish I could get her back on track.
Maybe I can.
I fall asleep to that thought.
It's early morning when I wake up. I pull my phone out of my pocket to see that it's almost 8.
I really should be studying right now.
I look up at the driver's seat to see Penelope driving and Grayson slouched over against the window in the passengers seat. I look to the side to see that Brooklyn is still asleep. Then I look behind me to see the younger girl and boy sleeping also. Piper is sprawled across the back seat with her head in the lap of a girl, (I believe her name is Ebony.) This brings me back to my thoughts from last night. I put my back to the window and bring my feet up in the seat, hugging my knees to my chest.
Maybe he's selling drugs to her.
That's the only logical explanation. If someone had told me in sixth grade that my brother, Brooklyn was selling drugs to one of my friends, Piper, I would have said you were insane. Now it's barely surprising.
Really the thing is, they both need help.
The next thing I know Piper is awake and sitting up, calling to Penelope. "I gotta pee." She says loudly, waking everyone else up. "Yeah, I'm getting pretty hungry babe." Grayson says to Penelope yawning. "Alright well I think there's a Biscuitville a couple miles down the road." She replies. Piper lays her head back down on her friends lap and in a few minutes we're there. We all get out of the van and go inside. We order and get our drinks and go to find a table while we wait for our food. We pull a few tables together and finally all of us sit down. Piper came back from the bathroom and sat next to Brooklyn, really close. I was seated across from Brooklyn and the younger girl was beside me. We sat in silence for a few minutes before Ebony breaks it. "We can't just sit in awkward silence this whole trip. Let's all go around and introduce ourselves." Everyone looks around to each other before Grayson starts.
"I'm Grayson. Uhm. I'm eighteen."
"Penelope, I'm eighteen too."
"I'm Ebony, just turned seventeen."
"Piper. Sixteen, almost 17."
"I'm Hayden, and I'm 15."
"Also 15, I'm Harley."
"Ryder. Eighteen, almost nineteen."
Everyone turned to look at me.
"Uhm, I'm Elliot and I'm almost 17." Me and Piper's birthdays were really close. I think our parents even threw us a joint party one year when we were little, but that was probably just because my parents didn't want to deal with throwing their kid his own birthday party. But anyway I'm three days older than Piper and we're in the same grade as Ebony. Some of them continued with semi-awkward conversations while we finished our breakfast, although I stayed silent. So then we all left Biscuitville, got back settled in the van and Grayson started driving.