Twisted Vacation

Chapter One: Packing

What to pack? What to pack?

I had only 20 minutes left to pack before my family and I left for the airport, which was an hour drive away. Once we got there we'd wait until our flight to Orlando left at noon. Then we would drive to our home in the suburbs there.

I'd been packing my suitcase for half an hour and couldn't decide on hardly anything to bring with. I looked over to my closet and sighed, running my hands through my chocolate-brown hair that curled down to my lower back.

"Mallory, we have to be out the door in 15 minutes!" my mom yelled up the stairs to me.

"Ok Mom!" I yelled back.

Once more I walked over to my closet and looked through everything. I grabbed some tank tops and cute shirts and packed them in my suitcase. Then I walked over to my dresser and grabbed all the shorts I have that match what I just packed. After packing a few pairs of flip flops and grabbing my makeup bag and setting it on the top of all of the packed clothes, I zip the suitcase up and call out into the hallway for my brother came come and take it downstairs.

My 18 year old brother, Zach, knocked on my door frame and said, "Hey Mals, ready to go?" "Mals" was my nickname for everybody in my family and for a few of my closest friends.

"Yeah, let's go downstairs before Mom yells again." He grabbed my suitcase and I carried my backpack I would have with me on the plane.

Just as I was closing the door to my room my phone went off in my shorts pocket. I set my bag down and fished the ringing phone out of my pocket. I already knew who it was without having to look at the screen.

"OMG! ARE YOU READY FOR THE VACATION OF A LIFE TIME?!" a high pitched teenage girl's voice screamed into the phone.

Ah, my lovely best friend Grace. She was going on the trip with us while her parents went on a three week cruise in the Bahamas. Apparently she would rather miss that and go to our Orlando house for the entire summer.

I laughed at her and said, "Hello to you too, I'm just getting ready to get in the car." I slid on my flip flops and put my sunglasses resting on my head over my eyes, to ensure I would have them after getting off the plane.

"Sorry, I'm just super-duper excited!" she said toning it down a notch. "Maybe this year will be different, at least act excited."

I shivered as I remembered last year's vacation. We went to Hawaii and being the athletic girl I am, I thought I'd try surfing. I met this cute surfing instructor and basically we dated for the summer until he dumped me the day before we left, leaving me heartbroken on the plane home.

The second we got home I grabbed my keys and drove to the nearest Walmart where I bought the biggest jar of Nutella I could find and two containers of cookie dough ice cream. I grabbed a spoon and hid in my room for three days. Luckily I had my own bathroom connected to my room and I kept a mini fridge in my room that had a tiny freezer in it for my ice cream.

I walked outside into the warm California air and sighed, "I know, it's just hard to be excited if the same thing could happen again."

"Mallory! Get in the car before your father decides to leave you home this year!" my mom yelled to me from the passenger seat. I looked to see everything already packed and my four family members waiting in the car patiently.

"I gotta go Grace. Pick you up in ten!" I said and hung up, running to the car and sitting in the middle next to Zach, while my 13 year old sister, Elizabeth, who now insisted that everyone called her Linzy, sat in the back with her headphones playing music from her iPhone.

"Alright, does everyone have everything they need before I pull out of the driveway?" my dad asked us all. I did a quick mental check for the things I would need for the next 24 hours.

Cellphone? Check.

Headphones? Check.

Phone charger? Check.

Money? Check.

Sunglasses? Check.

"I've got everything I need," I said and my siblings nodded as they agreed with me.

"Ok. Let's head to Grace's and then we'll get this show on the road," he said. We all cheered and started the five minute drive to my best friend's house. Grace and I had been friends since pre-school and we clicked right away. We weren't best friends right away since I wasn't the most social type in my early years but after second grade I could fully trust her and we've had sleepovers at each others' houses ever since.

Before I knew it we turned onto her street and saw her at the end of her driveway, a grin covering her face cheek to cheek. We came to a stop and she hopped in next to me, "Thank you so much Mr. and Mrs. Carter for letting me come with you! I've never been to Orlando and I'm really excited! I promise I won't be a nuisance, and I don't eat very much-"

My mom laughed and said "Grace, how many times have we told you to call us Mom and Dad? You're practically family, staying at our house every other weekend!"

She nervously laughed back and said, "Sorry, I just had a ten minute lecture from my parents telling me to tell you how grateful I was to be able to come with you. I'm still a little dazed from it."

We all laughed and my dad got onto the highway, driving towards the airport.

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Author's Note:

Heyyyy. So this is the first book I've wrote so there's probably gonna be some mistakes. If it turns out well I might write a sequel or something. I'll update soon. Bye!