Chapter 2

A lonely road

A strange sort of feeling overcame Sophie when Joey drove the car out of the city and towards an unknown destination. Their ultimate goal was to reach Edinburgh, but they weren’t sure if they were going to get there eventually. The group of youngsters hadn’t anything planned, and just drove in the direction of Scotland, waiting to see where fate would take them.

Little did they know…fate had huge plans installed for them.

Somehow, Sophie felt this too. Although she couldn’t quite put it into words yet, she knew something was going to happen during this vacation that would change their lives, opinions and ideas forever.

“Hey! Daydreamer!”

A bag of potato chips hit Sophie in the head and made her come back to the real world.

Blinking, Sophie looked down at her lap where the bag of chips where resting, asking herself what the heck had happened.
”Earth to Sophie?”

Sophie looked up blankly and stared right into the face of Hannah who had turned around in her chair with her knees leaning on the seat and her head resting on the head support of the chair.

”We haven’t even been on the road for an hour yet, and already you fell asleep?” Hannah had one eyebrow cocked and looked at Sophie with her head tilted to a side.

Sophie’s eyes darted quickly from Hannah to Joey who was watched the whole seen through the rear-view mirror. What Sophie found strange was that when her eyes met his for a brief moment he hastily averted them back to the road.
Sophie frowned mentally, wondering what that was all about.

Hannah didn’t gave her much time to wonder though, and flicked Sophie on the forehead. “Hey, I asked you a question you dummy!” she gave her a slight pout as she rested her head back on the chair.

“Maybe sitting behind Hannah hadn’t been such a good idea after all.” Sophie thought.
She let out a short sheepish laugh as she scratched the back of her head in awkwardness. “Oh, sorry ‘bout that. I guess I just spaced out a little.”

“Well don’t you space out again, you hear!” Hannah pointed an accusing finger towards her best friend. “I need my best friend’s full attention during this holiday!”

“Han, Leave Sophie to her daydreams, will ya.” the voice of another young man resounded through the car.
Hannah raised her eyebrows and looked at the short haired blonde who was sitting behind Joey.
The man turned his icy light blue eyes away from the scenery to turn them towards Hannah. “If she wants to daydream about me, then let her. I can’t help it that I’m irresistible.” he stated with a cocky grin and a playful glint in his eyes.

Hannah rolled her eyes en let out a long and irritated sigh. “God Danny, you’re so full of it.” she spat out and flopped back around in her seat, staring out the front window with her arms crossed over her chest.
Sophie snorted lightly locking eyes with Crystal, who was sitting next to Sophie, who gave her a knowing look.

Daniel, or Danny (for friends), always tried to push Hannah’s buttons as much as possible. He loved to make her angry or flustered, and even though Hannah made believe that she hated it…it was quite the opposite.
Both Sophie and Crystal were fully aware of Hannah’s secret crush on her brother’s best friend Danny. That’s why she hadn’t ‘really’ protested when Joey had told them that Danny was tagging along.

Sure Hannah had shouted at her brother and called him names, but that’s what she always does. The trick was to see through that whole act of hers, and that’s when you’d find out that Hannah actually seriously liked Daniel.

Joey, who had been silent this whole time, sighed and threw a quick look over his shoulder towards the backseat. “Music, anyone?” he asked, being in desperate need of some musical entertainment. Staring at the road for hours can become quite boring, you know.

“Sure!” we all chimed, much to Joey’s relief who already had his hand on the power button of the radio.

Seeing as everyone fell silent after the music filled the small space of the car, Sophie opened her backpack and grabbed her book. They were going to be on the road for a while, so it was best for her to find a way to occupy herself during those long hours. That way, she hoped, time would go a little faster.

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Slowly the car reduced speed as it neared a gas station. The sun had already begun to set, turning the blue sky into a spectacle of colours.

It would become dark soon.

As the car came to a halt and Joey stepped out to fill the nearly empty tank, Hannah and the other two girls bolted for the public restroom at the right side of the building.

“Oh my god! I am so going to kill Joey for inviting Daniel to this trip!” Hannah exclaimed as soon as the door of the restroom slammed shut and they were certain that the boys weren’t able to hear them.

Crystal chuckled and shook her head. “Oh come on Hannah, we know you like him.” the girl said with a smirk as she turned to the mirror to check her make-up.
Sophie laughed and leaned with her back against the dirty coloured tiles that decorated the walls. “Yeah Hannah, it’s pretty obvious.”

Hannah clasped both hands on her mouth, her eyes large with shock and her cheeks red with embarrassment. “I do not…” she protested in a hoarse voice, averting her eyes to hide the fact that she was lying.

Crystal giggled while applying some lip-gloss to her lips. She was just about to comment on Hannah’s discomfort, when Sophie chimed in.
”Didn’t you have to go to the toilet, Han?” she asked with a hand placed on her best friends shoulder. She held her head tilted to a side as she looked at Hannah with raised eyebrows.

Hannah blinked and thought for a moment. “Oh…yeah that’s right.” she mumbled, and headed for a booth.
Sophie chuckled and came to stand next to Crystal, checking her own reflection in the mirror.

”What did you do that for? We had her cornered.” Crystal whispered hoarsely, sticking out her lower lip.

”I know.” Sophie said, adjusting a string of hair that bounced right back when she let go if it. She cursed under her breath and gave her hair a furious glare.

Crystal shook her head, putting away the brush she had used to brush her long dark brown curls with. “Well I don’t get it…” she said, sighing.

Sophie smiled softly, but didn’t reply. The fact was that she tried to look out for Hannah. She didn’t want her friend to become to embarrassed, just for Crystal’s amusement.

“Man, it’s freezing in here!” Crystal suddenly said, rubbing her hands together for a little warmth.

Sophie frowned, as she hadn’t noticed before that it was indeed very cold in the room. She found it to be strange, since it was in the middle of the summer and the outside temperature wasn’t even below ten.
”Hannah, are you done yet? Or did your but get frozen to the toilet seat?!” Crystal yelled, trying to get the girl to hurry up.

The TL-lights, who’s humming noises rang in the girls ears, started to flicker slightly and slowly seemed to dim.
With a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach, Sophie watched the lights as they indeed seemed to become less and less bright.

Crystal didn’t seem to notice this as she was impatiently looking at Hannah’s booth door, still waiting for the girls answer.
Sophie’s head shot towards the toilet booth where she had watched Hannah go into. “Why hadn’t she answered yet?” she wondered.
Frowning, Sophie took a step towards the booth. “Hannah?” she tried, her eyes narrowing slightly.

Crystal sucked in breath as she watched the booth door with large light brown eyes. “Do you think she fell a sleep?” she whispered.
Sophie ignored Crystal, nearing the booth door slowly. “Hannah…? Are you there?” she tried again, swallowing away a lump of nervousness in her throat.
Cautious, she reached out for the door until her fingertips just barely touched the green wood, tingling her senses.

With a loud bang, the door flung open and Hannah jumped out screaming: “Boo!”

Sophie and Crystal both let out a loud scream with Sophie stumbling backwards, tripping over her own feet and falling down on her bottom.

“Damn it Hannah!” Crystal yelled in an extremely high pitched voice. “What’d you do that for?!”

Hannah stuck out her tongue sheepishly and shrugged her shoulders. “Thought it would be fun.” she said with an amused glint in her eyes. “And I was right, it was!”

Sophie snorted loudly, pushing herself up from the floor with a tired groan. “I didn’t find it so amusing, Hannah.” she bit back while she rubbed her sore bottom.

Hannah giggled and went over to the sink to wash her hands. “Well I did, and that was my goal.”

As soon as Hannah got her hands cleaned, the three walked back to the car where the boys were already waiting for them.
Danny pushed himself off of the side of the car as soon as he saw the girls coming into view. “Finally! We were about to leave without you!” he exclaimed, shaking his head at the girls. “Bunch of slowpokes.” he mumbled, loud enough for them to hear.

Hannah gave him a cold glare, stomping her way towards the front passengers seat. “Well for your information! My brother would never leave without me.” she retorted, holding her chin up high.

”Eh…actually.” Joey started, looking from Danny to his sister. “It was my idea to leave you three here.”

Danny snickered as he watched the tension build up around Hannah.
Sophie shook her head followed by an annoyed sigh. “Hannah, let it go. They’re just trying to anger you.”
Sophie never understood why Hannah could be so hot tempered one day, and so loosen up the other.

“Let’s get going, guys.” Crystal offered, her eyes glued on the darkening sky. “We still have to search for a place to sleep before nightfall.”

Stars were becoming visible winking at the party of five, seductively like diamonds.

Joey nodded in agreement. “Crystal is right, let’s go.” And with that he got back into the drivers seat.

After everyone got back in the car in their former positions, Joey drove the vehicle away from the gas station and onto the, strangely enough, empty and lonely road.

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