The Girl Behind the Light

Chapter Three: The Big Trip (Part One)

October 16, 20-

Finally, the day has come! The first day of our big weekend band trip to Steven's Point. As it's a 4-hour drive from Fountain Valley, we'll have plenty of Free Time on the Bus Ride to do whatever we want. I'm excited because I get to sit behind Mr. Filipe, and he's always fun to talk to. Plus, I have my girlfriend right next to me, along with Carol to the left of us, along with Nate and Dillon behind us. With our whole squad of friends, it should be a trip of great memories.

With today being a minimum day at school, we got going at around 1:00. Carol had a new friend with her, who pretty much decided to join us because she had nowhere else to sit after everyone else chose their seats. Her name was Carrie, who was a senior Colorguard girl, and also the same chick I bumped into before I noticed Ariana for the first time. She told us she was excited because her whole family was gonna drive out to Steven's Point and watch her perform tomorrow. She's a soloist in our show, yet her talents are probably still hidden behind the shadow of Tori. She was a nice person though, and it was fun to have her around.

Dillon had gotten some hilarious phone game for us. It was called, "Eyes Up". One player would have the phone above their eyes, and the phone will display a series of words we must act out or explain within a minute. The person with the most words guessed correctly is the winner, and funny enough Carol did the best. Nate fell a point behind, and he ended up butchering a curse word and creating a joke we can all tease him with now. "Flub" became the greatest inside joke ever.

That all happened in the just the first hour alone. I ended up spending my second hour on Stream. Tori fell asleep on my shoulder, and I sat there peacefully, with headphones on, watching a well-known streamer named Tiny Guy. Timmy "Tiny" Thompson, also called Triple T for short, is primarily a gamer who has massed a huge following from a game called "Cards Against Society". It's one of those fill-in-the-blank kinds of games that allow some really funny jokes to be made. As I was watching one of the vids, one of the jokes referenced the idea of cheating, and it was a topic that made Tiny Guy mad. He explicitly stated, "Okay guys, if you ever feel like you're falling for someone else other than the person you're with, just dump them." I don't know if he meant to dump the person you're with or to dump the person who you're falling for, but regardless it reminded me of the Ariana situation. I know I don't like her or anything, but I feel like she likes me. Do I dare ever leave Tori for her? Is this how Freddy saw it? AM I GOING TO BECOME FREDDY?! The thought of it freaked me out. I looked over to Tori, still resting, and seeing her helped remind me why I love her. I don't need Ariana, plus, she's a Freshman, and it would be weird. Maybe I'm just coming up with excuses at this point. Regardless, I could never leave Tori, am I right?

We're into the third hour, and I finished writing all this down. Tori is awake and talking away to Nate and Dillon behind us. The scene reminded me that I didn't talk to Filipe throughout the whole trip. Might as well start now.

"How you doin' Filipe?"

"Good!" He exclaimed. "You making out with your girlfriend back there?" That made me laugh.

"Of course not, I'm a good boy," I say while still laughing.

"That's what they all say. Anyway, I found a shopping center nearby the Hotel we can go get some grub from. Look how nice it looks." He showed pictures of it on his smartphone. It looked super fancy compared to what we had at Fountain Valley.

"Wow, I like it. Where are you going eat at?"

"There's a Royal Palace there, and they serve the best friggin' sliders you've ever had." I've seen the microwave version of them, but never the real ones. I was tempted to try it, but I saw a Chinese Express in the photos and that's my favorite place to eat.