Aubrey Garcia's Journey home.

Chapter Twenty Eight.

Aubrey laughed as Leon stumbled out of the tent, looking like he had slept badly. His hair was messy, his eyes had bags, and he looked plain exhausted. "You good?" She asked him, trying to keep from laughing at him again.

"No."

Aubrey laughed, making Leon scowl at her. "You try sleeping in the same tent as Carter and see how you like it." Aubrey laughed as Carter looked up suddenly from what he was doing. "What?" He asked with a look of pure confusion on his face.
"News flash, you talk in your sleep." Leon snarled at him. Carter just frowned, ignoring how angry Leon was.
"What did I say?"

"What did you say? What didn't you say!?"
"What?" Carter said insistently, a slight frown forming on his face.

"Some of the following properties of water are as follows, Water is polar, Water is an excellent solvent, Water has high heat capacity, Water has high heat of vaporization... need I go on?" Aubrey laughed, her shoulders shaking in the process.

"Yes." She said, causing him to glower at her and Carter.

"You were like a walking textbook!" Leon shouted, either unaware or uncaring that everyone else was still asleep.

"At least you'll get good grades now." Aubrey said, doubling over with laughter. Leon shot her a look that could have scorched her to a crisp. 

"What's going on?" Eliana said, popping out of the tent to her right. Eliana's usually curly hair had gotten more curly overnight, now insanely frizzy. 

Leon glared at Aubrey and said, "She's making fun of me." Aubrey snorted, and rolled her pale blue eyes. Eliana pushed her hair out of her own eyes, the early morning sun shining on her dark brown skin. "Riiiiiight. I'm sure it was all her fault."

"It was!" Leon exploded, making them laugh. James and Lexi both immersed from their separate tents, both looking totally perfect compared to the rest of them.

"Your hair looks cute." Lexi said to Eliana, making her grin crookedly.

"And yours is perfect?" 

"Oh I know it is." Lexi said with a wink.

"When was the last time you looked at a mirror?"

"Two years ago."

"That explains it." Eliana said with a small smirk. They both joked and argued with each other some more, but Aubrey was busy gawking at the exquisite beauty of the rising sun. James saw her looking at it, and walked over.

"You like watching the sun?" He asked, a smile creeping up his face.

 Aubrey nodded. 

It was an explosion of color, golds, reds, oranges, and pinks alike, all blazing across the sky. Beautiful. Somehow James' hand found hers, and they stood together like that for a long time. Their hands intertwined. She didn't ever want to let go.

----

The drive back was long, and uneventful. Well, mostly uneventful.
"The milk goes before the cereal!" Eliana argued, a frustrated expression growing on her face.

"No it doesn't! Who the hell does that?!" James said angrily.

"Yes it does!" Aubrey cried, throwing her hands in the air. "The cereal gets soggy if you put milk last!"

"It gets soggy either way!" Lexi shouted.

"No! Putting the milk first keeps the milk fresher for longer! You can slowly add in the cereal!" Eliana said angrily.

"That's not how this works!"

"Yes it is!"
"No it's not!!"

They all babbled over each other, 'enjoying' the 'lighthearted' debate. Honestly, Aubrey agreed that cereal goes first, but she wanted to instigate. She wanted to fight. She wanted DRAMA! And she wanted to see James yelling. It was really funny. Don't judge.

After an hour of hilarious antics, they arrived at Lexi's house. It was clean, painted a light peach color, and pretty much the perfect subherban household. Lexi waved at them, as her parents walked out of the house.

Her Mom had a long, hooked nose and a strange, sickly sweet smile, like she had a pepper in her mouth and she was trying to cover it up. She had the same brown hair as her daughter but with glinting dark brown eyes that looked almost black. Her father wasn't even bothering to smile, his emerald green eyes flashing with annoyance. Aubrey wasn't too sure what to think of Lexi's parents, after all neither of them looked exactly nice.

Lexi's Mom scanned their car and the passengers, her smile wavering when she saw them.

"Thank you for being friends with my daughter. We thought she would never get over this 'phase' of hers. Whatever it was." Aubrey, not once in the two months she had known Lexi, had seen her truly angry. But now Lexi looked completely enraged, her eyes flashing dangerously. For a second Aubrey wondered if Lexi was going to smack her mother. But as quickly as her rage had come, it was gone. Quick to forgive, but easy to ignite.
Lexi waved, and walked inside her clean, crisp house with her parents. As the car cruised along the road, Aubrey wondered what that was about. The car engine started up, and after ten or so minutes they were right outside of Aubrey's house.
"See you!" She said to James and Eliana with a smile. Eliana and James echoed the statement, and then left in a trail of dust. Aubrey sighed and opened the door to her house, immediately met with a very excited, very heavy, and very large dog.

"Aurther!" She cried happily, throwing her arms around the huge german shepherd. When she walked in, Aubrey set down her bags and smiled for a moment. Aubrey sat down on a chair and muttered a curse when she remembered that she had a trigonometry test three days from now. And she hadn't studied. Crap.

She groaned and picked up a small folder with a lot of work she needed to get done. How does anyone do anything fun with school always looming over them? She shook her head, grabbing a snack, some water, and sitting at her desk. She sighed to herself and muttered quietly, "It's going to be a long night."