Light glinted off the windshield of the brand new pickup truck Ulrich had picked up the day before. The four others were standing there waiting for him. Jeremy and Aileita were talking to each other about classes like they normally would while Odd played a game on his phone and Yumi watched. Ulrich soon after rolled up onto the campus parking lot and hopped out to meet his friends. "So, what do you guys think" Ulrich gazed at them waiting for an answer. Before anyone could speak Odd began laughing almost like he has just been told one of his own unfunny jokes before saying "Wow Ulrich, that's a really big truck." He had exaggerated the sentence . "Think your compensating for anything?" This had gotten a light giggle from the rest of the group. Ulrich rolled his eyes and turned away from the rest of them. "Whatever, all of you throw your stuff in the back and get in." Odd raised his hand and screamed "I call shot gun." "No way, Yumi gets the passenger seat. She won Rock Paper Scissors remember? Plus you three are smaller so you can fit in the back. "Yumi looked over at Ulrich. "Are you saying I'm to big to fit in the back. Ulrich glared at her and said "Stop." They all laughed at him as they got in the car and began driving.
They hadn't had very much time to plan for this trip. Originally Jeremy and Aileita where going to stay at school and study. Odd was telling everyone he was gonna go to a different part of town everyday just to see new things. And Yumi was gonna stay home and probably just watch her younger brother. Ulrich was supposed to be going on this trip with his dad as they usually only saw each other during summer and spring break.
Odd had been there when Ulrich got the call from his father that he wasn't gonna be able to come and camp. "Hey sorry to hear about that" Odd had tried to console his friend but as usual Ulrich just pushed everyone away. Thats typically what happened when Ulrich was sad or angry. During class the next day Odd had the idea to try and get everyone else to come and take Ulrich on a camping trip together. They had all gotten together after school and ordered some pizza and told Ulrich. He agreed and they decided to leave early Monday morning.
They had decided to head out earlier in the morning before breakfast was served at the cafeteria. The school had staff for the summer to cook for kids who choose to stay at campus. The group had however, opted to stop at a local diner for one good hearty breakfast before the trip. Most of the group got pancakes or waffles with a side of bacon. Yumi instead got a omelette with hashbrownd that she shared with Odd who in turn shared his bacon. He didn't really like the stuff to much anyway. They drove over to the grocery store as a last stop before fully beginning the drive. They ended up filling a large cooler with other foods that could be cooked on either a stick or small skillet over an open campfire.
After breakfast and discussing the route they were going to take to get to the camp, they hopped back in the car and drove off towards the highway. It was supposed to take about a three and a half hours minimum to get there as long as they didn't have to stop and deal with traffic. Saddly today would not be leaning in their favor.
They had heard on the radio that there was an overturned tractor trailer and that cars were hardly moving. Ulrich looked over to Yumi and asked if they should take another way to try and get passed it. She thought about it for a second then answered "No other people probably thought of that first so it probably won't be worth it. And it can't be that bad, right?" They quickly found out they were wrong and came to full stop traffic jam. Yumi switched from the music station to the local news. With the trailer crash there was three other cars involved in the incident along with three injuries. They heard that the estimated wait time would be about 6 hours. Almost tripling the expected time to drive.
Jeremy got out of the car telling Aileita "I'm gonna look ahead and see what up." After a few seconds he got back in. "I couldn't even see the crash from where we are yet. Well probably be sitting here for a while. You might as well turn the engine off so it dosent over heat." Ulrich did so and then switched back to the music station though it was really only Odd and Aileita that could enjoy it since it was mostly pop.
Odd stopped and saw the distaste on Ulrichs face from the music and remembered something. "Oh Ulrich turn that off. I got something much better." He pulled out a CD for the latest album of Ulrichs favorite band the Subdigitals. Odd pulled himself over the front seats and stuck the disk in the slot. They sat in the car jamming out while passing around a bottle of soda Odd had brought in his pack.
After the first of three hours passed they could see cars towards the front of the line begin to move forward bit by bit. It would still be a while before they got to start moving. By then the music was over and Jeremy along with Aileita were passed out on top of each other. Odd was still up but had both earphones in while playing some music game, so he wasn't hearing anything else. Yumi had her legs crossed and up on the dashboard. Ulrich would've said something if it was anyone else doing it but because it was Yumi, he didn't care. She had the almost empty soda bottle in her hand that she had sticking out the window.
It was starting to get hot in the car but Ulrich was reluctant to turn the A/C on worried that the battery might run out, so they all had to rely on the slight breeze that was flowing through the windows.
"Sorry about all the mess up's with this trip Ulrich" Yumi spoke up out of nowhere, startling the bored boy in the driver seat. "I know you were excited to go on this trip with your father. And now, with the traffic being shitty, I can't imagine this getting any worse." Ulrich shook is head. "Na, there's nothing to worry about. My dad had more important things to do probably and I've been having fun driving so far." Yumi pulled her gaze to the front window, attempting to avoid uncomfortable eye contact. "I guess if that's really how you feel." She said while she thought about how true his feelings actually were.
Within a few minutes of silence and the warm breeze still flowing through the window Yumi couldn't help but fall sleep along with the others in the back. Ulrich looked over everyone and smiled.
Odd woke up a few hours later "Ah, we're finally moving. When did we start?" Ulrich looked at him through the rear view mirror, startled by him. "Oh, your awake Odd. We just started moving again about an hour ago." As they kept talking, the others started to wake up. Everyone exept Yumi was now awake. It was now around one o'clock in the evening. Aileita looked at the map on her phone" how much longer do you think it will be Ulrich?" "Can't be longer then two and a half hours at most." He responded.
They kept driving for the next half hour mostly in silence except for the conversation Jeremy was having with Aileita which seemed to be somthing about his computer club. At this point Yumi was finally beginning to wake up. She stretched her arms out with a large yawn. "Jeez guys how long was i asleep?" "Way longer then all of us. We woke up about half an hour ago." Odd replied throwing half a candy bar at her. "Here I got some out of the cooler we've been sharing them. "Ah, thanks." She responded.
Aileita was starting to get hungry as were the rest of them. She pulled herself between the driver and passenger seat and looked over to Ulrich. "Is there any place coming up that we can stop and eat. It's starting to get late and I think we're all getting a bit hungry." Ulrich thought for a moment before shrugging and replying "I don't know anywhere around here. Why don't you guys look at the map together and tell me anything interesting you see.
After some talking in the back Aileita spoke up again. "There's a Waffle House coming up soon how does that sound Yumi?" "Sounds fine go me. Is that all good Ulrich?" She replied. He grinned "Yeah that's a good place. Just tel me when to turn.
After a bit more driving they found the the small town and spotted the restaurant parking lot. It wasn't a very big Waffle House and there seemed to be a good amount of cars. "Yikes, hope theres gonna be enough seats for us." Odd said shocked at the scene. Once they found a parking spot they went into the place just as a family was leaving their booth. They jumped in it as soon as they could before anyone else could grab it.
They quickly ordered their meals along with some coffee to get them through the rest of the drive. "Hey, can someone check how much longer we have before we get to the campsite?" Asked Ulrich. Yumi replied "Oh not much longer. Maybe 30 minutes tops." "Oh, ok thanks" he responded. The talked for awhile longer while eating their dinner.
Once they finished and paid for their food. They climbed back into the car and were off again. It didn't take as long as Yumi had told him but by the time they got to the campsite it was already getting dark. They realized there wouldn't be much light left so they threw most of the bags out of the way and threw their tents together.
The boys stayed in one tent while the girls stayed in the other. They had set up a third tent shot everyone to keep their bags in. By the time they were finished it was around 5:30. None of them seemed to be tired so they set up a small fire between the tents and set up their chairs around it. They all stayed up till about 8:30. They played various card games and talked about plans for the week. They wanted to start early the first day so they all decided to go to sleep early.