Long Way From Home

{II}

Before anyone knew it it was time. Time to enjoy a week away from the parents and some much needed solitude. The six friends were piled into AJ's dad's old red VW Van that AJ had personalized when it was given to her for her 16th birthday. The inside was completley redone. Some of the seats were removed to make more room. The very back seat was made into a lounge chair with throw blankets and pillows. There was string lights throughout the Van that lit up with multicolors. A small table, a small portable record player that was built into the wall of the van with a compartment for all of AJ's vinyls. The ceiling was redone with posters of all kinds of bands and movies. And a small loft on top of the lounge chair.

AJ had spent a lot of time with Salem and her dad to redo the whole interior and make it comfy and roomy and also very much her style. Using items from the junk yard her dad worked at and the antique store her mother worked at she was able to make the VW Van's interior both nostalgic and furusitic.

"I just love the inside of your van so much. It's so roomy and so trippy" Max smiled as she browsed through vinyls with Isaac and Elliot.

Parker was listening to music on his phone with headphones in and his curly dark brown hair a mess as he snoozed on the back in the loft. If AJ made one wrong turn he would crash land on the floor from his position and Elliot was praying he did.

"Thank you, Max. I too love the way it is inside here. Spent a hell of a lot of time on it right Salem?"

Salem nodded as he relaxed in the passenger seat about to fall asleep himself. It was pretty early in the morning when the six teenagers began take off to there desired destination. Not all of them could handle the early morning rising.

"Want to get some sleep?" Isaac asked Max as he yawned in the middle of his question. Max nodded laughing and the two found a cozy place to curl up and lay together leaving Elliot alone.

Pulling out on of her favorite reads, Weekend by Christopher Pike, a must have for the vacation, Elliot settled in next to one of the windows and flipped to her spot beginning to read.

Rain clouds had begun to form in the sky making the morning start turn dreary. AJ watched the clouds as they rotated in the sky and before long rain had started to pelt down hitting the windshield with force.

Thunder slowly crackled in the distance while lightning began to light up the sky. It was going to be one of those days. Starting out normal and sunny and then raining the rest of the day. AJ hoped that wasn't going to be the case but by the looks of the clouds outside, it might be.

"Looks like it's going to rain on our parade sort of speak" AJ spoke from the drivers seat as Elliot crawled up towards the front.

She postioned herself between the passenger and the driver seat and looked out at the sky.

"Shit, I hope that's not the case. I wanted to go to the lake and swim when we got to the cabins. I sure as hell hope it dosn't rain all week. "

AJ sighed as she made a turn.

"I'm sorry, Elle."

Elliot shook her head with a small smile.

"It's not your fault, you can't control the weather. There's things to do in doors and when the rain lets up every now and then. It will be okay. I just really don't want to be stuck with Parker more than I have too"

AJ nodded understanding but she couldn't help but put her two cents worth in.

"You know Parker isn't actually that bad of a guy, Elliot."

"Really? Cause he's been tormenting me since 7th grade when he laced my smoothie with Ex-Lax"

"Maybe he was just trying to get your attention. They say that the way to a girl's heart is through her stomach. Or is that the wrong gender"

Elliot laughed bitterly.

"It's the way to a guy's heart. And I don't think the way to a girl's heart is through her bowels, AJ"

AJ rolled her eyes while laughing to herself.

"Yes, I am aware of that fact. Maybe he just wanted to clean you out? You know be a good friend?"

"Yeah sure. If you remember correctly I spent the whole day in the bathroom at school and got a detention and then spent the whole detention in the bathroom resulting in two more detentions. To sum it up for you, Parker is a evil and is out to get me and is defiantly not a friend. "

AJ shook her head and sighed.

"Maybe he is out to get you then. Maybe I was wrong, maybe there is no good bone in that kids body"

"About time you see that!"

"Hey, I said maybe, I didn't say I agreed. I said maybe!"

Elliot rolled her eyes at her friend and slid back with her book towards a comfortable position in the van. This was going to be a long week that was going to drag on.

Maybe if I try to make friends with....

Elliot shook her head. There was no way that was possible. Parker had been out to get her since the beginning. She cringed remembering the incident and cursed at herself for never trying to get him back. She'd done this to herself.

Elliot then remembered what she'd packed and that she had changed her mind. She wasn't just going to let Parker walk all over her and prank her on this trip. She wasn't going to let Parker ruin this vacation for her. She was going to ruin it for him. She was going to get revenge.

Elliot just prayed that her plan would work and nothing would go out of order.

X