Disclaimer: See part 1.
“Okay, just to clarify… we are going to New Orleans, right? I mean, all
that stuff we told the guys about just going wherever the wind happened to
take us was bullshit, wasn’t it?” Maria jabbered excitedly, and Isabel
rolled her eyes.
“Yes, Maria, we are most definitely going to New Orleans,” the blonde reassured her, all the while scowling at the accumulating clouds in the sky. The news said that it was supposed to rain lightly that day, but some of these clouds looked rather nasty. Isabel felt Liz’s eyes on her and turned her head slightly to look in her direction. Liz raised her eyebrows at the overcast sky, and Isabel smiled, shrugging as Tess started talking rapidly about the sights to be seen in New Orleans.
“Oh, I read all sorts of things about the city, and there are a few things that we absolutely must do,” she gushed. “We should definitely try to catch a steamboat ride on the Mississippi River, and do a swamp tour, and they have great walking tours of the French Quarter and the Garden District…”
“Hey, let’s stop a minute, I’m hungry,” Maria complained, shifting uncomfortably in her seat.
“What?!”
“Maria, we just got on the road forty-five minutes ago,” Liz tried to reason.
“I know,” Maria huffed, “but I’m hungry! I didn’t eat breakfast. Please can we stop?” she whined plaintively.
“Why don’t you eat a NutriGrain bar?” Isabel proposed, levitating one over to Maria, who plucked it out of the air thoughtfully before tossing it back up in front.
“Nah. I’m more in the mood for hamburgers…” she specified distractedly, also looking up at the sky. Tess cackled, apparently finding that incredibly funny. Isabel sighed and exchanged a look with Liz.
“Well, there’s a truck stop up ahead a ways… I think I forgot my toothbrush anyway,” she lied. She knew exactly what she had packed, and where in her bags it was located. She smiled wanly at the frankly grateful look Liz gave her, a bit unsettled by her own need to make things go smoothly on this trip. I mean, what the heck did she care if Maria wanted a hamburger? Just a few months ago, she wouldn’t have cared if Maria starved to death in the middle of the desert. She relegated that thought to the “think about it later” part of her brain and pulled off of the interstate and parking the car in the lot nestled between the multi-store complex and the gas station.
“Yay!” Maria squeaked, hopping out of the car and blinking in surprise as a raindrop hit her on the nose.
“Well, might as well put this break to good use,” Tess conceded, stretching her legs languidly and breaking into a light jog after the others, who were already headed into the Wendy’s and glancing worriedly at the sky again.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Michael, it’s Max.”
“Hey, what’s up?”
“Ummm… well, to tell you the truth, I’m kinda bored,” Max explained rather sheepishly over the phone, looking around his room. It was unusually spotless. Normally, the gang would have been doing low-key fun stuff on a day like today… at least two or three of them might have gotten together to watch a movie indoors or something. However, the girls seemed to have been some sort of catalyst for getting people together. Michael and Max weren’t on the best of terms lately, but Isabel could always wrangle Michael into doing something with them. So, in the absence of more socially-inclined females, Max had spent the morning cleaning his room.
“Uh-oh.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Um… nothing?”
“Whatever. I thought maybe we could meet at the Crashdown for lunch or something.” Michael sighed into the receiver. He supposed that eating lunch with Max couldn’t be too terrible. Especially since he had been trying without much success to fix the television that he blew up a while back.
“Okay, sounds like a plan. How long?”
“Fifteen minutes okay?” Max asked hopefully.
“Fine by me, Maxwell. See you there.”
“Oh my god!! They have magic tattoos!” Maria shrieked, dashing over to a
wall full of kiddie prize vending machines.
“Magic tattoos?” Isabel queried, peering at a machine full of Britney Spears stickers.
“Yeah, look. They’re just plastic bracelets, necklaces, armbands, whatever… but they actually look kinda cool.” Maria modeled her recently acquired bracelets for the trio of girls. “We should all get one!”
“You know, they aren’t too bad looking at that…” Tess conceded, feeding a few quarters into the machine and brandishing her plastic egg for all to see. Liz and Isabel stepped closer to the machine to inspect the wares.
“Oh, hey! I like this necklace thing, with the beads on it,” Liz mused, pulling her wallet out of her purse to search for change. Isabel giggled.
“Yeah, I want one too. Maybe we can get matching ones!” And with that, a frenzy of quarter spending ensued, each girl trying to buck the odds and get the one thing out of the whole machine that she wanted without spending all of her money.
Michael shook his head like a dog might once he stepped into the Crashdown,
spraying water at some customers, who shot him dirty looks.
“Man, Max, I hope the girls can drive okay in this rain,” Michael commented as he and Max looked morosely out the windows at the sheets of rain coming down.
“I heard there might even be a tornado,” a new voice chimed in, and the two aliens turned around to see Kyle Valenti walk over to the table and grab a nearby chair to sit in. Michael laughed humorlessly.
“Yeah, right. A tornado? Here?” he challenged.
“Well, maybe not a big tornado, but the weather is really crappy out there,” Kyle replied with a shrug.
“At least they’ll be safe and dry in the jeep,” Max offered.
“Dammit, Isabel, fix it!!”
“Maria, will you shut up? I’m trying to see!” Isabel admonished as she peered out into the rain.
“Fine, Tess? Help a wet girl out, would ya?”
“What?” Tess’ muffled voice came from under the seat.
“Tess, do you see it? I need that map!” Liz called back distractedly, wiping off strategic places on the windshield with her sleeve so that she and Isabel could see out the glass.
“Does anybody care that I’m being rained on?!” Maria squealed as she tried unsuccessfully to cover a gaping rip in the roof of the jeep with her hand, rain pelting in at her.
“Not really, no.” Isabel mumbled, and Maria made a noise of indignation, snatching the cover off of the small cooler and holding it over her head.
“I can’t find it, Liz,” Tess informed the brunette breathlessly as she tried to fix her tousled hair. Isabel growled angrily and pulled off of the interstate at the next exit, thoroughly disgusted with the turn of meteorological events. She parked at a tiny gas station that was just down the road from a bar, with no other buildings in sight. The four girls quickly ran into the little food mart, brushing water off their clothes as best they could.
“Hi,” Liz wearily greeted the teenage girl behind the counter. The girl, who was talking to someone named Greg on the telephone, first glared at them and then gave them an incredulous once-over, not bothering to hang up the phone.
“Maybe we should take off some of these magic tattoos,” Tess whispered to Isabel, glancing at the dozens of plastic rings each girl was wearing their wrists, arms, and necks. Liz started to giggle. She really couldn’t help it; she’d never seen and never expected to see Isabel Evans looking so ridiculous. The tall blonde’s eyes widened as she took in her state of accessorizing, and she hurriedly removed the cheap jewelry, her wet hair clinging to her face and neck.
“What’s so funny?” she hissed at Liz, a split second before really looking at the rest of them, who were in much the same state. A slow smile spread across her face, and Maria shook her head, laughing.
“I’m going to the bathroom,” she announced. “If you get any answers out of princess there,” she tossed her head at the peeved counter girl, “just come and get me.” As if on cue, the girl hung up the phone and turned to the remaining crew.
“What do you want?” she snapped, and Isabel grew quiet. That was it, she’d really had enough.
“One pack of cigarettes, please,” she requested tersely, and the girl raised an eyebrow.
“What kind?”
“I… don’t… care,” Isabel ground out, tossing a few bills on the counter. The ill-mannered girl shrugged, took the money, and handed a pack of Marlboros to Isabel, who stalked outside with them. Liz turned a shocked expression on Tess.
“Isabel smokes?” she squeaked out. Tess just shrugged.
“Hey, it’s news to me. I’ll go out there and get the 411 and you stay here. See if she’s got any info on the weather.” Liz sighed and resigned herself to the conversation ahead.
“So… you smoke, huh?” Tess offered conversationally as Isabel took a drag.
“Not much anymore, since Max and Michael forbade me to ever do it again,” Isabel said bitterly.
“Look… if you’re not feeling up to this, we can still go back,” Tess said quietly, and Isabel looked startled. The thought of turning around and going back home had never entered her mind. Sure, she was ticked about the weather, but there was nothing any of them could really do about that.
“Go back? Why?” Isabel’s brow furrowed in confusion.
“Well… I know that you’re…comfortable, you know, not having real girl friends.” Isabel looked at the ground. “I mean… that’s not to imply that you don’t have a lot of friends, because you do…”
“No, Tess, you’re totally right there,” Isabel conceded. “I don’t have any girl friends. The people I hang around with at school are just people I use. I use them to appear normal. They don’t really care about me, and I certainly don’t care about any of them. And… I don’t want to go home to that. I wanted to do this because the three of you are gonna be the closest friends I have. Yeah, I’ve got Max and Michael, but they’re…” Isabel frowned suddenly, unsure of what she wanted to say about them. “They’re different,” she finished lamely, feeling as always a strange twinge in her chest when she tried to define the two most important people in her life.
“So, you… think of me as a friend?” Tess asked hopefully, glancing sideways at Isabel. The taller girl impulsively took the smaller girl’s hand in one of hers.
“Of course,” she stated simply, smiling impishly. “How could you not be? You’re the only other person like me in the universe. And possibly the next one, too,” she joked, and Tess laughed. Just then, an unfamiliar voice addressed the two of them.
“Hey… are you girls from around here?”
end part 2