Lydia and Damian

The family reunion was coming up in 2 weeks; I was so excited I could barely contain my excitement anymore. Not only would I get to see and party with all my family for like a week but also I would get to take a road trip with my best friend and my cousin! It would be the best vacation of the year. My family would fly to west Virginia while I fly to Coeur D’ Alene to meet my cousin and his friends. I knew the friends he was bringing; they had been his best friends for a couple years now and had come to many family events, including my birthday. In addition, since he gets to bring them I get to bring my best friend who is pretty much like family she’s around so much. She knows everyone, even my new aunts, uncles and cousins because she came to my grandma and grandpa’s wedding a couple months ago.

I was sitting around doing homework ahead so I wouldn’t have any homework over winter break when I got a text from my cousin.

Tanner: hey
Me: hey! What’s up?
Tanner: Nothan, just thinking about the trip. U?
Me: Haha same! So who is all coming on the trip? You, Me, Lela, Noah and Mason?
Tanner: yeah and I was thinking of inviting Brittany too!
Me: No way in hell am I spending over a week with your prissy ass girlfriend!
Tanner: Oh My! Why do you have to be so mean? What did she ever do to you?
Me: she never did anything to me it’s just how she acts. I don’t like her, got a problem with it? Don’t invite her, then we wont have any problems! :)
Tanner: fine! Ill find someone else to come with us!
The next week and a half flew by in a blur, nothing major was happening in school so nothing was difficult. Thursday night Lela came over, we talked about the trip, and she helped me pack. We packed sweat pants, jeans, long sleeve shirts, sweatshirts, pajamas, essentials and all my snow gear. We had to fit it all in one big suite case and one little one since we were flying to Coeur d’ alene before driving to west Virginia. I would have to pack the rest of my stuff tomorrow after school.

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Friday was even more of a blur then the whole week had been. Lela and I had drove by her house to drop off her school stuff, grab her suite cases and say goodbye to her family. When we got to my house our other friend, Brooklyn, was waiting to take us to the airport. Since my parents had left earlier in the day, I had to way to get to the airport so I asked Lyliana to take us. I finished packing everything I needed, double-checked and then headed down stairs. We loaded Lyliana’s car with our stuff and we were off. When we got there we said our goodbyes and checked in. we only had a little while to wait till we could board. Coeur d’ alene was only like a 30-minute flight to Spokane. My Uncle Jared was picking us up from the airport and would drive us to Tanners the next morning. Even though we had been talking about the trip all week, that’s all we did the entire flight.  When we got off, we followed the line out to the waiting area to find Uncle Jay. He greeted us with big hugs and of course tried embarrassing the crap out of us. When we found our luggage, he led us out to the car and asked us how our trip was and what our plans were for the road trip. When we got to his house, the kids came running out, super excited to see us. My other grandparents were there and they almost had dinner ready for us, my favorite too, Hamburgers and fries! They drilled us on all the details of the trip and the reunion. By eight, everyone was exhausted and my grandparents left. Lela and I slept on the couch and was woke up around 7 to go to Tanners, he wanted to get a head start.

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When we got to the house, Mason’s truck was outside but no one was around. We went inside and found the three boys goofing off; they hadn’t done anything Tanner said they would have done by the time we got there. So I gave them each a job and we all got to work getting ready to leave. A half hour later we all had just come inside to regroup and get our plan together when he walked in, the one person in the whole state who I did not want to see. The tall, dark brown haired, emerald green-eyed jerk—Damian.
That’s when I blew up” What the Hell is he doing here?” I asked Tanner.
He looked a little scared to answer at first, “I invited him and he’s coming, no complaining.” I knew his mind was set and there was no way I was going to win, no matter how much arguing I did. So instead I told everyone to get the rest of his or her stuff and get in the truck, it was time to go. Mason was driving and Tanner called shotgun so four of us were stuck in the back seat. Why we couldn’t take something else, I have no idea. I was the last one out of the house and everyone was in the truck but Damian. When I went to go get in, Lela and Noah squished against one door. When I told them I would sit over there they said no which left me next to Damian, fun! It was very cramped and uncomfortable being in the back seat with three other people, especially when you are trying to sit as far away as possible from one of them who is 2 centimeters away.
Everyone was anxious for a while until it really hit that it would be a couple days before we actually got there. For a while we all just talked, then slowly everyone started to do their own stuff. I was the first to leave the conversation, I grabbed a book and stuck my headphones in. My book was a good one, it got my mind of everything that was going on in the truck. It also helped that my favorite band, Short Stack, was playing on my iPod and it was my favorite song, werewolves!