Chapter 14

Jacqui waited until Ike's snores and Tay's drool were sure signs that they were sleeping. She grinned evilly to herself and flipped up the blanket in the backseat. Becca stirred, but relaxed and shifted her position to sleeping again. Jacqui smirked again and carefully positioned herself for her next move. She got behind Tay's seat and peeked her head in next to him on his right side. She struggled hard to suppress her giggles. Tay was drooling, and a small puddle appeared to be forming on his left shoulder. She looked on him to see if there was anything she could snatch... not to steal, but to preserve the memory. Then, she saw it. His rat-tail. She scolded herself mentally, but then decided 'what-the-heck!' and pulled out some nail-clippers from her purse. She slowly began cutting. Once she got it all the way off, she snickered a little-too-loudly, and pocketed the tail. She felt very very guilty for what she had done, and ducked back down under the blanket, feeling a lot of remorse, and wishing she had just taken a picture. "Oh NO!" she said aloud, waking Becca. "Mhm... wha...?" Becca said, still half-asleep. "Chica!!" Jacqui said in a harsh whisper. The convertible! It's outside that one chick's house... with the top down!"

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Vega took the letter from her heart and put it into her dresser along with her depressing poetry. "Maybe I'll look at this when I'm feeling down," she said aloud. She smiled and closed the drawer. Suddenly she stopped, hearing a noise from downstairs. The front door opened. Vega went ashen, thinking the guy from Sceam was out to get her. "Hello? Vega? Honey, I'm home!" the familiar kind-hearted voice came from downstairs. "MOM!" Vega screamed and ran (fell) down the stairs, landing in her mother's arms. "Aww Ma I missed you so much!" she cried, grasping her mother tightly. "Well Vega I didn't think you'd be this happy to see me!" her mother said, not responding to the death hug. Vega pulled away and looked down. "It was just lonely without you around," she said quietly. Her mother nodded and walked towards the kitchen. Vega followed. "So... how'd the 'mission' go?" she asked her mother, not remembering exactly what her mother had been away doing. "Well, it went well, everything was GO and no one was hurt," her mother said simply, making Vega realize exactly how task-oriented her mother really was. The silence followed and Vega was sure she saw a tumbleweed roll past their kitchen table. She felt something cold on her back and she shivered. Her mother didn't notice, and went on to eating some chocolate pudding from the fridge. Vega got up and walked towards her front window, trying not to cry. She looked outside, and in the rain she saw a gorgous sea-foam green convertible being drenched. That was her dream car. She yelled a quick, "Be back in a few," to her mum, and walked out the door.

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Isaac was the first to wake up. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked over at Taylor who was drooling, as usual. And that one chick's shirt said "No one likes IKE"? he thought, rolling his eyes. "Taaaaaaayyyyyylor, oh Taaaayyyyyyyyyyllllloorrrrrrrrrr, wake up!" Ike said in a sing-songy voice, doing his best to annoy his wet-shouldered younger brother. Tay groaned and sat up. The rain had stopped and they were ready to head back to the hotel. Ike put the car into gear and they began driving on the highway again. After about 30 minutes, Ike pulled over again. "Dang it!" he yelled. "what's the problem?" Taylor asked, not caring all that much. "I'm lost, okay? There I said it, I'm lost! Does it make you feel any better?" Ike asked hostilly, getting in Tay's face. "Sheez Ike, you are always stupid and you always do stupid stuff but I can't believe you got us lost in the most boring state in the universe: Michigan!" Tay yelled. Just then Becca peaked her head up and said, "I know where we are!".