"Ok. Echo, you have ketchup, right?"
She nodded her head. "All twelve pounds, bro."
I checked the ketchup off the list. "And Jas, you got the jalapeños?"
"Yup! Fresh from the grocery store!"
"Great." I checked jalapeños off the list. "Camille?"
Camille walked up with a doggy carrier. "Here ya go Peyton. I don't know what it is, but it did almost bite my finger off." She handed me the dog carrier.
"What IS in there?", Jet asked.
I smiled. "You'll see soon enough. I promise."
She took step back. "I don't know if I want to or not."
"You do", I said. "Ok, and Hailey, you got the water guns?", I asked.
She nodded. "One for each of us."
"Great. Jet?"
Jet pulled something out of her pocket and handed it to me. "This is all I could find."
I looked over the packet she had just handed me. "This'll do!", I say excitedly. "And Brenne, please tell me you found it?"
Brenne stepped forward. "They only had one left, but I got it." She handed me a mood ring.
"Excellent", I say. "This is perfect." I stuck the ring over my left hand ring finger.
"What's that for?", Echo asked.
I looked at her with a wide grin on my face. "Oh nothing. On a totally unrelated note, how would you feel about having date?"
Her face turned red. "No. Not gonna happen."
I walked over to her. "I'll tell you your target when we get there." I slipped the ring in her hand.
"Um, where are we going exactly?" Hailey ran I finger through her hair.
I chuckled. "You all remember Uncle Ricky, right?"
Everyone moaned.
Uncle Ricky wasn't really anyone's uncle. He was just a close family friend of ours. He wasn't mean, just very annoying. He always played stupid pranks on everyone, he never stops talking, and he likes to randomly sing out loud. Not mean, just annoying.
"What does he have to do with anything?!", Echo practically yells.
"Well", I start, "he just got a VoltsWagon hippy fan a few weeks ago. He's always complaining about how he hasn't gone a road trip with it yet."
Jasmine interrupted me. "How do you know this?"
"I'm friends with him on Facebook."
"Why?!", Echo asked.
"I had to get him something for his birthday", I explained.
"So for his birthday, you gave him a virtual friendship?", Jet asked.
"Exactly! Now, where was I?"
Brenne jumped in. "You were explaining how Uncle Ricky wanted to go on a road trip in his new VoltsWagon hippy fan."
"Ah yes!", I start. "As I was saying, he wants to go on a road trip. Soooo, why shouldn't he go to Owatonna with a group of kids?!"
Everyone thought it over.
"It's not a bad idea", Hailey says. "But why do we need all of these special ingredients?"
My eyes widened. "Knowing Uncle Ricky, he's not just gonna say yes."
"Sooooooo?", Brenne asked.
"Soooo", I say. "We're gonna have to give him a little surprise."
