The Royal Crush

5

Friday came and the six of us could hardly sit still, we were so excited. At Chemistry, Caleb noticed my excitement.

"Is this about the road trip?" Caleb asked, smiling.

"Yea, it's been ages since we all went out like this," I said.

"Where are you going?"

"Wherever the road takes us," I said, grinning. We should probably make that our motto or something. Adrian was sitting in front of Caleb and he'd been tense ever since I stepped into the class. In front of me, Shannon was trying to talk to him, but he wasn't listening. I felt smug. But then the optimist in me wondered why I was hurting him like that. Because he'd hurt me? Didn't that mean I was stooping to his level?

"Hey Adrian," I said. His head snapped up and turned so fast he got a whiplash.

"Chloe?" he croaked, rubbing his neck, wincing. Must be painful. Next to me Caleb rolled his eyes. The teacher started class so he turned back to the front but he wasn't so tensed anymore.

After class I was on my way to my locker when both Caleb and Adrian ran up to me. I looked at them in confusion. They glared at each other.

"You go first," Caleb said.

"I need to talk to her alone," Adrian said curtly.

"So do I," Caleb snapped. They both glared at each other again. Finally Caleb rolled his eyes and walked away.

"Hey," Adrian said.

"Hey, what did you want to tell me?"

"I'm sor-"

I sighed. "It's fine, Adrian. Let's just be friends, okay?"

He nodded. "Yes, okay. Yes."

"If you don't mind, I gotta get to class," I said and walked to my next class.

After school, I walked to my locker. Vivi let out a squeal when she saw me. I laughed.

"I know!"

We hugged. "See you at George and Alexa's in an hour!" she said. I nodded and walked to Cedric's car. We'd come together because he didn't have practice today. We went home, took a shower and packed our stuff. Then we hauled all the stuff to Cedric's car and drove to the twins' home. Dylan was already there, loading the jeep with his stuff. He waved when he saw us. I hopped out before Cedric could park the car and hugged him.

"Hey! Where's George and Alexa?" I asked.

"They've already put their stuff in the jeep. Alexa said George might be a bit late to step out, something about a prank..."

I rolled my eyes. "Those two..."

Alexa waltzed out of the open front door, grinning ear to ear, as Cedric and I put our stuff into the back of the jeep. There was hardly any space now.

"Friends, romans, countrymen!" she proclaimed while we booed at her. Vivi's red SUV pulled up and I cheered. She parked in the spacious garage, took her stuff and walked to the jeep. As usual she looked like a model, wearing a sleeveless maroon jumpsuit with lacework at the neck. Her sunglasses rested on top of her shoulder length platinum blond curls. She was wearing maroon Vans and no make up except lip gloss.

Cedric hadn't taken his eyes off her so I nudged him.

"Stop staring," I  smirked. He glared at me and helped her cram her stuff into the little space that remained in the jeep. I wondered if she had the same effect on Dylan, but he didn't seem fazed.