Sun Chasers

26- Pot o' gold

Today is the day we start the drive down the other side of the coast. The West Coast is more farmland and beach, instead of forest and beach. I spent a lot of summers on the west coast growing up. So I'm excited to show my friends the amazing places that I have grown to love. The past few days we've been going to places the Zaidan, Fleur, Adley and Darius used to visit as kids. Now it's mine and Trystan's turn. In five days we'll be home and we'll return to our daily lives. Adley and I will be sucked back into dance practices. Darius will return to finish his last two terms of the academy. Life will still be exciting but we need to make the most of our last few days.

We spent last night chilling by the campfire. The boys cooked chicken drumsticks on the barbeque and we girls made a yummy salad. It was a perfect meal to make the most of the camping experience. Then we played Drunk, Stoned or Stupid and drank Citrus beer until noise curfew- 10 pm and we all went to our respective tents to sleep off the beerish haze.

Most of our day will be driving because we've made our way inland to the lake. There's only really a few small towns till we get to the west coast. But the great mystery of Darius' gifts will be revealed and I am super excited. Today we are driving with Adley and Zaidan. For the first time ever, Zaidan hasn't let Adley take over the music. He has plugged Darius' phone into the AUX and the sweet sound of 'Sticky Fingers' is filling the car.

"Dude you have no S Club 7 saved, yet you sing it all the time," Zaidan interrogates Darius.

"It is saved. Just in a secret place. Everyone gives me shit for liking S Club 7, so I hide it," Darius explains as we drive around a tight corner.

"Careful Zai, don't distract the driver," I reach in front of me to stop Darius from reaching for his phone, so that he can show Zaidan his secret folder.

"Who teases you?" I ask Darius when we get to a straight stretch.

"Mostly Penelope and her best friend Luke. It's all light-hearted but ya know. I don't want my masculinity questioned. My brothers respect my love for S Club 7- it was me and Bryn's thing. We used to create weird dances to show Mum and Dad since I was a keen dancer and Bryn was all for making people laugh. It just stuck as he grew up. I didn't want that love to die. So I guess I really got into it when he died. I didn't want to lose those memories. So whenever I'm happy I sing S Club 7. I know Bryn is probably looking down on me making a fool of myself, in memory of him. But I reckon it makes him laugh."

"I love that you own it. Because you have an important reasoning behind it. People can call you crazy. But I think that is so cool," I ruffle my boyfriend's hair.

"Penelope just thinks it is funny. She knows that it's about Bryn though. Luke is just the banter king," Darius defends his friends.

"Oh Trystan has pulled into a service station. We better stop too," Zaidan points to a small petrol station, a hundred metres ahead of us. We've just entered a small farm town. It'll be nice to stretch our legs for a bit. We've been driving for forty five minutes and we have forty more minutes left.

"I'm getting a cold drink. Because I am thirsty, thirsty, thirsty," Adley declares as we pull up behind our friends.

"Me too," I unbuckle my seat belt and climbing out of the car.

"Hey babe, what snacks would you like?" Darius comes up behind me while I open the chiller door to get a chilled Fanta.

"I'm actually not too hungry. Chocolate Ice Cream?" I beam up at him.

"You pick what you want and I'll get it for you," Darius laughs.

"Thank you," I giggle as I skip to the Ice Cream chiller. I meet Darius at the counter and pass him my drink and ice cream.