Grounded…again. Mom and dad are at it again; I can't stand the screaming but I can't leave. I miss curfew just once and they both want me to live in hell…This is Spring Break for God's sake! But anyway, better go turn on the radio again before their yelling drives me crazy.
-Claire
Claire Standish slammed her diary closed and sighed, tuning the radio to her new found favorite rock station. She was enjoying the music for a few minutes, and jumped when the phone rang.
She let it ring a couple of times, but decided to answer only when she realized that her parents were too busy screaming to even hear it.
"Hello?"
"Hey Claire"
"Oh…hey Jess"
"You coming out tonight to Laney's party?"
"Oh..shit no I can't…I'm grounded..again"
"As always"
And just like that Claire's "friend" hung up on her. She sighed and went back to working on her chemistry make-up work, not even so sorry that she was missing that party. She'd had enough of those drunk jocks and cheerleaders anyway…
She had almost started to understand the worksheet on the chemical formulas when she heard a slightly annoying noise. It was a sort of soft humming noise.
She looked all around her room before seeing something just outside the window.
She got up from her bed and walked almost cautiously to the window. Out where the roof met the ledge to her window, there sat a boy she recognized vaguely.
Okay, maybe it wasn't so vague. She had only been picturing him in her mind for two weeks now…
"Well Claire, are you gonna open the window, or just sit there and look pretty?"
She cracked the window a bit, and peered out a bit.
"What are you doing here John?"
"Well, I was thinking about how I've been stoned for a week and a half and how it's getting a little old. And when the cloud of fog around my head finally went away, I remembered what you said about your parents being bitches, so I thought I'm come to your rescue. C'mon we're leaving."
Now, normally Claire would have objected to following a druggie to only God knows where. Today was not the day for over-thinking, though.
"Well…where are we going?" she asked after a few seconds.
"It's a surprise. Just pack some stuff."
She didn't even question the strange boy, as she crawled out the window and down the ladder her dad had been using a few weeks ago to get to the roof.
She partly expected someone to barge out of her house, telling her to come back. But, it turned out that the larger part of her expectations were right; no one even noticed.
John led her to his car; the one she didn't even know existed before that day. Come to think of it, she really didn't know anything about him. But being with him was a whole hell of a lot better than sitting in her room alone, listening to her parents bitch.
It seemed like they were in the car forever. After they had stopped and ate some dinner, Claire fell asleep to the sounds of the road and the radio. When she woke up, the day was breaking, and she honestly had no clue where she was. "John, where are we?" she said sounding severely awake, almost surprising herself.
"Well, just wait for the next sign…"
She was agitated at Bender's elusiveness, but she smiled to herself, just thinking of his grand rescue of her. She looked up to find a sign right in front of her.
VIRGINIA BEACH
It read.
"And this, my friend, is where I grew up."
"You know, I bet you my parents are going to wake up this morning and wonder where the hell I am."
"Yeah, well that's where you're wrong."
She looked at him curiously, as he started to explain.
"Well, before I came to pick you up, we called your parents and told them that you were going to spend the rest of Spring Break with your aunt. Funny thing is, your aunt even agreed to it. So, really Claire, they won't wonder you are at all. Now they can bitch in peace and quiet."
"Wait…who is we?"
