Chapter 4

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The Beginning of a Long Trip

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“Nothing but smooth sailing huh?” Jasmine mocked, flailing her arms about in an angry frenzy. “It’s not as smooth when your crappy car breaks down!”

Josie looked up from behind the hood and sent dark looks at Jasmine. “I can’t help that Betsy is a few years old!” she snapped. She disappeared behind the hood. “It must be the heat that’s causing this.”

“What else could it be?” Jasmine went on angrily. “We’re in the middle of a desolated desert!”

She gestured to the landscape around her. The heat beat down on the five girls as they remained stranded in the middle of the desert. Only sand was visible as far as the eye could see. Way in the distance mountains were visible. Cacti were popping up out of the yellow sand in random places, giving shelter to the desert animals like birds and lizards. The sky was blue and clear, not a single cloud visible. Josie had pulled Betsy over on the side of the road when the car started smoking. She didn’t think it was necessary though. The road they had taken was completely empty. They couldn’t see a car coming this way or that way at all.

“Let me help,” Dylan said, still leaning against the car. She stood up and studied the car. The four other girls watched as the tomboy eyed Betsy. Dylan stuffed her hands in the pockets of her jeans and lightly kicked the car tire. She looked back up at Josie and shrugged. “Well, I did all I could.”

Josie huffed and disappeared once again behind the car. Lily, being the optimistic one, tried cheering her friends up as she stuck her head out of the window.

“Well, not everything goes as smoothly as one expects right?” she laughed nervously. This earned herself irritated looks from all four of her friends. With another anxious laugh, Lily pulled her head back into the car.

Josie studied the engine of Betsy. She didn’t know anything about cars, so there wasn’t much she could do if she continued staring at the inside of the car. She sighed and got back up. She walked to the other side of the car and looked at her friends. Dylan had gone back to leaning against the car with her hands in her pockets. Jasmine’s arms were crossed, her face red from the heat and frustration. Serenity was sitting on the back of the car, sighing heavily and scribbling in a journal. Lily was lying down in the backseat, looking like she was trying to take a nap.

“I don’t know what’s wrong,” Josie admitted. Jasmine’s jaw dropped. “And I don’t know how to fix it.” Jasmine’s eye twitched. “I think we’re stranded.” Jasmine looked like she was ready to explode.

“Maybe they can help,” Dylan spoke up as she gestured down the road.

All the girls directed their attention to the car speeding down the abandoned desert road. It was a red Jeep Wrangler, filled with five figures. The jeep slowed down and came to a complete stop next to Josie’s car. Five boys looked out the car and greeted the girls with smiles.

“You girls look like you could use some help,” the raven-haired one sitting in the passenger’s seat laughed.

The five girls sent each other relieved looks. The boys pulled their car over and got out. The girls gawked at the handsome creatures before them. One was blonde, one had black hair, two had dark brown hair, and one had light brown hair. All five of the boys looked to be close to the girls’ age, maybe a year or two older. They were well built and tall, emanating pheromones as they approached the girls. Lily stared at the raven-haired boy. He winked at her. She sighed and fell back in the back seat of Betsy.

“Did your car break down?” the light brown haired boy asked, peering at the engine Josie was studying a few minutes ago.

“It sure did,” Dylan answered. “And we have no idea how to fix it.”

“We can!” the two dark brown haired boys exclaimed. After looking over the two boys again, Josie saw the boys with dark brown hair were twins. They hurried back over to their jeep.

The blonde looked at Josie. “Jack and Zack are going to look for the necessary tools they need,” the blonde chuckled.

Josie smiled as realization struck her. “Their names rhyme,” she laughed. “How original.” The blonde nodded in agreement. Josie glanced back at Serenity. She was quickly jotting down something in her journal.

“What brings you to this part of the desert?” Dylan asked.

The light brown haired boy poked his head from behind Betsy’s hood. “We’re on a road trip,” he answered.

“You know, before we head off to college,” the raven-haired boy intervened.

Lily stuck her head out of the window again and glanced up at the raven-haired boy. “College?”

“Yep,” the blonde said.

“We’re all nineteen,” one of the twins spoke up as the two of them returned with a toolbox.

The other twin added, “We’ll be starting our first year of college this year!”

Josie looked at the twins closer. They had one slight difference one wouldn’t notice if they didn’t look at the twins close enough. One had blue eyes while the other twin had brown eyes. Josie pointed back and forth between the twins.

“Which one’s Jack and which one’s Zack?”

The boy with brown eyes pointed to himself. “Zack.”

The other twin with blue eyes smiled and nodded. “I would be Jack.”

The boy with light brown hair popped back up from behind the hood. He looked at the twins annoyingly. “Come on you two!” he snapped. “The tools?”

“Hold on Tyler!” the twins whined in unison. They turned to the boy checking out the engine, Tyler, and also disappeared behind the hood.

Josie tried not to smile to herself. The boy named Tyler slightly reminded her of Serenity. She quickly glanced back at Serenity. She had now decided to pull the US map out and scan it.

“I find this coincidence an amazing stroke of luck,” Serenity called from her spot on the car, rearranging her glasses on her face without peeling her blue orbs from the map.

The blonde laughed and ran his fingers through his hair. “Everyone takes a road trip this time of year,” he said. “They always take this road.”

“Really?” Jasmine asked sarcastically. “Because your car is the first one we’ve seen.”

“It’s still early,” the raven-haired boy spoke up. Lily smiled at him suddenly, her cheeks turning pink. “They’ll start arriving later.”

“Matt! Aaron!” Tyler called from behind the hood with the twins. “We could use your help here. The twins are too incompetent to help me out with this ancient engine.”

“Hey!” one of the twins whined. “Use words we can understand.”

Josie frowned slightly. Betsy’s engine wasn’t that old. The blonde boy, Matt, sighed and headed over to where the three other boys were. Aaron smiled down at Lily and trailed after his leader. Josie leaned against the car with Dylan.

“This is extremely lucky of us,” Dylan laughed lightly. “If it weren’t for those five we’d be stuck here for who knows how long.”

Josie nodded silently. She gave Dylan a side-glance. “Is it just me,” she said, “or do those five remind you of someone?”

Dylan simply shrugged her shoulders. Josie knew exactly who the boys reminded her of though. She certainly knew Tyler was like Serenity, taking everything he came into contact with seriously. The twins Jack and Zack were like two halves of Dylan. Matt surprisingly reminded Josie of herself. And as for Aaron, he was like Lily. He struck Josie as the optimistic type. None of the boys reminded her of Jasmine. Though, Tyler was slightly like Jasmine, acting like he was in a bad mood. Jasmine was certainly not hiding the fact that she wasn’t in a good mood. The Mexican girl had opened up the door and rested behind the wheel. She tried fanning herself with her hand, the heat getting to her. After a few minutes, Tyler slammed the hood shut. He looked at Jasmine through the windshield.

“Start her up and see how it goes,” he told her.

Jasmine turned the keys in the ignition and prayed that Betsy would start up. There was a loud explosion as the hood shot open. The engine was suddenly engulfed in flames. The girls screamed and the boys jumped back to avoid being incinerated by the engine fire. Matt ran over to the jeep. He pulled out a miniature fire extinguisher and hurried back over to the blazing engine of the Toyota. He aimed and fired. Five seconds later, the fire died down and Betsy’s engine was covered in white foam. The boys sent the girls forced smiles.

“I can fix that,” Tyler laughed quickly. He grabbed some more tools and began working away at the engine.

Josie groaned. She had no idea how Tyler was going to be able to fix an engine that had just caught on fire, but decided not to question him. Serenity was now scribbling in her journal again, possibly recording the incident that had just happened. Josie knew her car was old, but she didn’t think it was that bad.

“Do you think Betsy can last the rest of the way?” Josie asked as she appeared by Matt’s side. She watched Tyler work away at the engine.

Matt looked at her strangely. “Betsy?”

Josie nodded.

“Not sure,” he said. “Depends on where you’re going.”

“New York.”

Matt looked back at her like she was nuts. “New York?” he echoed. “There’s no way a piece of crap like this will make it! You’ll be lucky if you even make it to Las Vegas!”

“Thanks for those words of encouragement,” Josie sighed, rubbing her temples.

“Are you serious?” Jasmine yelled. “We can’t even make it to Las Vegas in this car?”

“You’ll be able to once I finish fixing the engine,” Tyler bragged, the pride obvious in his voice.

“Yeah, because you did an excellent job the first time,” Jasmine sassed.

“Hey,” Tyler defended. “That was one time. And that was because this engine is in bad shape. But I’ll be able to fix it.”

“Hurry up,” Jasmine huffed as she slumped in the seat. “It’s getting hotter by the second.”

Aaron was now talking to Lily about some random topic. Dylan began chewing loudly on a piece of gum she had. Serenity was double-checking her map. Josie watched anxiously as Tyler, Matt, Jack and Zack worked away on Betsy’s engine. After going through a series of wrenches, screwdrivers, and bolts, the four boys shut the hood again. Tyler wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. He grinned at Jasmine through the windshield.

“Okay,” he called. “Give her a whirl.”

Jasmine turned the key in the ignition after rolling her eyes. Betsy sputtered for a moment. The sputtering turned into the regular purring of an engine. The boys cheered triumphantly and high-fived each other. A thankful Josie returned behind the wheel. Serenity jumped into the passenger’s seat next to her. Matt poked his head through the window and sent Josie a grin.

“That’s Tyler for you,” he laughed. “That kid can fix anything. I’m pretty sure your car can hold up from here on out.”

“Is there any way we can thank you guys?” Josie asked.

Matt shook his head. “Nah, don’t mention it. It was a favor from the goodness of our hearts.”

Josie laughed. “Okay then,” she said. “You guys take care. And have fun on your road trip.”

“You too!” Matt fare welled as he headed over to his jeep.

Aaron appeared next to Lily’s window. He smiled down at her and winked. “I hope I’ll see you again Lily,” he said with a wave over his shoulder.

Lily blushed and waved back at him. Dylan cooed her as she elbowed Lily in the side. “Someone has a college admirer!”

“You dummy,” Lily snapped. “He’s not in college yet.”

The girls watched as the boys’ jeep drove off down the road, leaving nothing more than dust behind. Josie listened to the sound of Betsy’s engine. It sounded pretty good for an engine that burst into flames. She pulled the car out into the road and went on driving at forty-five miles an hour.

“All right then,” Josie began cheerily.

Jasmine interrupted from the back seat, “Don’t even say it!”

“It’s nothing but smooth sailing from here!” Josie said anyway.

“Way to go,” Jasmine snapped as she crossed her arms. “You jinxed us. Again.”