A/N: Aw guys, thank you once again for all the amazing response that this story has gotten (I hope you realize that I will gush over you all in every chapter). And thank you everyone for the well wishes. I am getting there. No more dancing in MRI machines. It is kept strictly for doctors waiting rooms ONLY! (You will all probably learn that I am not ashamed to do anything...I can't tell if it's a blessing or a curse).
Also guys, the reason this chapter has taken so long is because I want the story to be as consistent as possible. I like to write out timelines for my stories (to help with consistency), but as I sat to write this one, I realised just how much I'd have to do. Three separate timelines, which manage to interlink but at the same time don't...if that made any sense lol. I even had to get my little sister to draw out a map of the States so I could plot and mark when and where specific events would take place lol. Hopefully all that pays off in the end :)
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Never once did we realize we were making memories.
We just knew we were having fun.
Chapter Eight
It was when she had hit the tender age of five that Annette Greene had come to realize that her youngest daughter was unlike any other child her age. When the kids at the day care were out playing in the yard, Beth was busy reading Oliver Twist while humming 'You've Got To Pick A Pocket Or Two'. At school, when the other girls drew out their game of hopscotch, Beth's would end up looking like detailed drawings of bank floor plans more than anything else (although in reality, that was probably down to the fact she was about as artistic as a blind kangaroo with a paintbrush). Her favourite films were The Stone Of Destiny and Gone In 60 Seconds, and as of last year (to top everything off) her favourite song had been about a girl stealing her boyfriends keys before trashing his car. So as far as Annette was concerned, it was really only a matter of time before her daughter became quite the pilferer.
With a frantic sigh, she finished piling the last of her and Hershel's clothes into the open suitcase; all the while muttering about her unusual desire to throttle her daughters and their companions. Running a hand through her now loose curls, she turned to look at her husband, her annoyance bubbling up inside her once again as she watched him casually flick through the channels on the TV.
"Y'know..." She began closing over the case, her hands flying to her hips impatiently "You could at least pretend to be a little more concerned by all of this instead of watchin' the TV, Hershel!"
"I'm bein' look-out." Was his murmured reply, his eyes never leaving the screen in front of him as he settled on a station "Y'never know...Might get caught speedin'. Might see them pop up on the news or somethin'. If Daryl's drivin', then I'll even put money on it."
"You're watchin' The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air!" Annette exclaimed, arms flailing in the direction of the TV.
"Then let's call it 'Geographical Research'!" Hershel replied matter of factly "Bel-Air is in LA!"
Groaning in frustration, and pinching the bridge of her nose, Annette wasted no time in snatching up the remote and turning the TV off. With a subtle glare in her direction, Hershel could do nothing but cross his arms over his chest and sit back in his seat as his wife began to pace (Again). It wasn't that he couldn't understand why she was so anxious. He could understand perfectly. The whole situation had left him rather stunned if he was totally honest. Never in a million years did he think he'd ever have to worry about his daughter's stealing the body of his son. So, yes, he could understand why Annette was upset. He just didn't see how worrying and acting like a stark raving lunatic could help.
"Hershel!" She barked, breaking him out of his thoughts "This ain't fun and games! This ain't somethin' that we'll end up laughin' about over Christmas dinner, like 'Oh yeah, remember that time Beth and Maggie stole Shawn's body and drove him to LA in the back of a truck? Remember how funny that was?'. I'm not goin' to be textin' my friends that I'm headin' across country to get my son's corpse back! Can you imagine it!? 'LOL , #YOLO, smiley face, TAG ME'!" By this point, Hershel was pretty sure his wife was on the verge of taking a seizure, her voice becoming louder and screechier with each word she spoke "This is not somethin' that people will write about!"
By the time she had finished with her rant, Annette's body was heaving; her breathing erratic as she tried to regain any semblance of dignity that she had left. Fighting to hold back his smirk, a smirk which he was pretty certain would be slightly inappropriate (and would most likely end with him in the dog house for the rest of existence), Hershel leaned forward.
"Honey..." He began, clearing his throat "Do you remember when we got married all those years ago?" With an annoyed roll of the eyes, Annette scoffed "Remember? You were sane."
"Yeah, well you were a 28"waist!" Was her retort "Things change!"
"Hurtful."
Zipping up the suitcase, Annette quickly grabbed it before heading out the room, the sound of her thundering down the stairs forcing Hershel up once again. With a sigh, he traipsed out the bedroom and followed her, the front door lying wide open when he made it down to the ground floor. Walking out onto the porch, he watched as she lugged the large case into the trunk of the car; the cursing of the 'damned piece of crap' causing a smile to tug at his lips. Once the trunk had been slammed shut, Annette briskly made her way round to the passenger side before ushering Hershel to 'move his ass' and get in.
Finding it best that he just humoured her, Hershel closed the door and sauntered over to the car, his wife practically bouncing in her seat trying not to scream at him to hurry up. With a loud groan, he lowered himself in, Annette frantically slapping a hand on the dashboard. But instead of starting the car, Hershel just sat there, both hands on the steering wheel as he stared out in front.
"So, honey..." He began,turning slowly to face Annette "What route is it we're taking?"
As if the wind had just been kicked out of her, Annette's arms fell to her side with a thump, her eyes widening as realization hit her. With a large intake of breath, she screamed. Climbing out the car, she began to march back towards the house, stomping back up the stairs and slamming the front door as she went. What was impressive is that she never stopped for air at any point.
"Well..." Hershel murmured to himself, still gazing out the front window "She took that much better than expected."
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Their laughter rang out through the cramped truck, Maggie wiping tears from her eyes as she finished sharing her favourite story about her baby brother. She didn't think she'd ever forget the time where he had taken it upon himself to 'prettify' her car, something (she'll admit), had pissed her off ever so slightly in the beginning. It had been right after she had passed her test, a great achievement as far as she was concerned (probably because it was her millionth time sitting it). The deal had been that if she passed and kept her grades up, then her parents would buy her a car for her birthday. One license and four A's later, she found herself to be the (not so proud) owner of a bright yellow 1993 Ford Festiva.
At first Maggie thought her parents had been joking when they handed her the keys; a burst of hysterical laughter proof of that. But soon it began to sink in that their idea of a safe car was her idea of becoming a social outcast. The minute they had went inside, leaving her with the heap, she had nearly burst into tears. That's when Shawn entered the scene, however. He had wrapped his arm around her shoulders as she stood staring at the banana car, her lip quivering slightly in distress. With a groan of frustration, she quickly headed inside, unknowingly leaving him there with one of his more ludicrous ideas.
By the time the next morning had rolled along, Maggie had come to the decision that the bright yellow hunk of junk was better than nothing at all, so with bag in hand (and sunglasses perched securely on the bridge of her nose), she went outside to take her very first independent drive to school. The only problem was though, that when she walked outside, her car was no longer the ghastly canary coloured monstrosity that she had seen the day before, but instead had been painted over by none other than Shawn. The only reason she had known it was him, was because he had taken it upon himself to sign the corner of her windshield.
With jaw hanging, Maggie had dropped her bag at the sight before her. Flames had been painted round the front tires. Orange, red and ironically, yellow licking up the side of her doors. Behind the flames were hundreds of pretty flowers. Purples, pinks and blues making their way right round the back. He had painted rainbows, unicorns and stars all over the car. He had fixed the wing mirrors by adding two large eyes to the back of them. Very carefully he had painted the words Maggie's Magical Motor onto the bonnet, and to top everything off, a massive turtle on the roof with ' Anthony' written beside it, because in wise words of Shawn, 'even a turtle needs a name'.
It hadn't been too funny then. For everyone else had been hilarious, but for her it had been soul destroying. She had hated that car with a passion in the end, but now she would give everything to have it back for just one day.
"Ok, I've got one for you..." Glenn laughed, cutting Maggie's thoughts about her old car short "I remember, a couple of years ago, there had been a party in my old dorm one night. The place was jumping, so thinking that it would be good for Shawn to get out for a little while, I invited him along." Sitting back in his seat a little, Glenn couldn't help but chuckle "He had been at the party less than half an hour before a he had sparked the attention of a girl. She seemed nice. Quite quiet, but really into him...But of course, Shawn being Shawn, he was totally oblivious."
Daryl couldn't help but laugh at that. He had many memories of his own that involved Shawn and his inability to recognize the fairer sex.
"I kinda encouraged him to talk to her, which he did..." Glenn carried on "But at that time, Shawn's idea of deep, meaningful conversation was discussing Pokemon cards. Poor girl seemed so lost." Smiling ever so slightly, Glenn couldn't stop the pang of sadness from hitting him "Just before the girl got up and left, We Built This City started playing. Shawn got over excited, declared that he loved the song, and then decided he was going to 'air guitar'." Beth snorted with laughter at the thought of her brother bobbing along to Starship "But, wait..." Glenn cut in "It gets even better, because not only did Shawn start with his air guitar, he actually took his leg off and pretended to strum on it."
Daryl couldn't hold it back in the end; the burst of laughter that erupted from deep in his chest.
"You have got to be kiddin' me?" He spoke through chuckles "What did the girl do?"
"Man, I've never seen someone go so pale, so quickly in my whole life. I honestly thought she was about to pass out at any moment." Glenn chuckled "She didn't stick around too long after that. Shawn didn't even notice she had left." Settling down a little, Glenn couldn't stop his smile from tugging "Y'know, it's funny...all these stories we have of Shawn. Never once did we realize we were making memories. We just knew we were having fun."
"Yeah...But trust Shawn." Beth laughed, running a hand through her hair, her feet propped up on the dashboard "Y'know, it's one thing I noticed about Shawn. He never needed romance to make him happy."
"No, he just needed prosthetics, paint and bad 80's songs." Maggie laughed, trying hard to stifle a yawn.
"I couldn't do it, y'know." Daryl chimed in, never taking his eyes off the road as they passed through another small town "I mean, romance isn't the be all and end all. Would be a joke to say that I'm a romantic guy, but I can safely say this...I haven't had sex in a year, and I can guarantee you that if I go another 365 days without it, I'll most likely slip into a depression and ultimately die."
"How honest of you, Daryl." Beth blushed, both Maggie and Glenn chuckling away in the back "Don't know if I could've went another day without that knowledge."
"Well, I try." He turned, shooting her a bright smile before wiggling his eyebrows.
Beth's cheeks only reddened further.
"Play nice, Dixon." Maggie laughed, playfully slapping him on the back of the head "Beth can't handle sex talk."
"I can too!" The young blonde exclaimed before turning round to scoff at her sister "Just...some people's sex lives should remain private." Turning back in her seat she shot Daryl a glare "Should never be spoken about ever again...Ever..."
Again, he could only smile. Opening her mouth to tell him to 'cut it out', Beth was stopped by the sudden chirp of her phone. Glancing down at the screen she couldn't stop the panic from building up within her at the sight of 'Mom' calling. With palms sweating, Beth could feel all oxygen cut off, the thought of answering to her Mom too daunting to think about.
"It's Momma!" She gasped, turning the phone to face her sister "What do I do?"
"Answer it? I don't know!" Maggie replied, her eyes just as wide "But do somethin'!"
"Are you crazy!? I'm not answerin' it!" Beth cried, throwing the phone to her sister "You answer it!"
But as Maggie caught the phone, it left her grasp like a hot potato just as quick...straight out the truck window. Shocked at what she just did, her hands clasped tightly over her mouth, her gaze slowly turning to face her sister who looked to be just as stunned.
"M-my phone..." Beth stammered, pointing to the window "You...you threw my phone out...out..."
"I'm so so sorry, Beth..." Maggie began, Glenn biting his knuckles to stop himself from laughing "I didn't mean to. I just panicked. When you threw me the phone, I didn't know what to do..."
"SO YOU THREW IT OUT THE WINDOW!?" Beth cried, falling back into her seat "Daryl, you have to go back!"
"Are you kiddin'?" Daryl scoffed "At the speed we're goin'? Beth...Unless your phone's a Nokia 3310, which, by the way, has a higher chance breakin' the road than the road does it, then there's no chance it made it...I'm sorry..."
With a small whimper, Beth lay her head on the dashboard. They weren't even out of Georgia yet and she was already phoneless.
"Oh..." Maggie chimed in, causing Beth to snap up and face her "I've had...seven missed calls from Mom..." Biting her lower lip with an 'oops' face, Maggie quickly turned off her phone "I'm takin' it they've probably found the letter."
Moaning again, Beth's head found solace atop the dashboard once more. What would Shawn do in a situation like this? Make cup phones most likely.
"Hey..." Glenn piped in, obviously trying to fill the now awkward silence "How about we listen to some music. Might cheer you up, Beth."
"My phone had music..." She whined, sitting up as Glenn leaned over and switched on the radio "...Good music..."
"Well..." He murmured, turning the small dial "I'm sure I can find a good song for us to play..." Settling on a station, he sat back "There!"
As the soft melody began to play, Beth struggled to stop the smile from tugging at her lips. Savage Gardens, Truly, Madly, Deeply was by far (and very ashamedly) one of her all time favourite songs. Every time she heard it play, she couldn't stop herself from doing the cheesy bop of the head while bellowing it at the top of her lungs.
"Uh, what the fuck is this?" Daryl asked with a raised brow all the while glaring at Glenn in the rearview "I'm not listenin' to this shit, man. Didn't like it when it came out, don't like it now."
"Oh c'mon, Daryl..." Beth smirked, embracing the opportunity to get back at him for the little 'sex talk' fiasco. As much as she hated the thought of her phone lying shattered somewhere behind them, the thought of annoying Daryl a little was just too good to pass up. Nudging him slightly with her elbow, she scooted closer to him.
"You know the words..." She carried on "Sing along with me...I'll be your dream, I'll be your wish, I'll be your fantasy."
"Not happenin'." Was his firm reply.
"I'll be your hope, I'll be your love, Be everything that you need..." Maggie joined in with a smile, leaning in between the two front seats.
"Stop it!" He tried not to smirk "Glenn, make them stop!"
But instead of obeying his friend's request, Glenn brought his 'air mic' up to his lips and carried on with a bellow.
"I'll love you more with every breath, Truly, madly, deeply do..."
"Way to be straight, man." Daryl mumbled, covering his chuckle with a cough as the three of them started to sing together with their 'mics'.
"I will be strong I will be faithful, 'cause I'm counting on, a new beginning, a reason for living, a deeper meaning, yeah..."
"C'mon, Daryl..." Beth giggled, grabbing his arm and tugging on it slightly "Join in with us! I promise you, you'll still have your testicles at the end..."
With a laugh, he shook his head.
"Ah, what the hell..." Was his reply as the four of them burst into a loud rendition of the chorus.
"I want to stand with you on a mountain, I want to bathe with you in the sea, I want to lay like this forever, Until the sky falls down on me!"
With loud laughter, all thoughts of her phone left Beth's mind. The only thing she could focus on at that moment was Daryl singing away while banging his hands on the steering wheel; Glenn and Maggie falling about 'passionately' as they sang to each other in the back.
"You utter a word of this to anyone and I'll kill you." Daryl playfully warned, pointing at Beth.
"Whatever..." Beth laughed "...I lied about you still having your balls in the end."
With one hand placed firmly on the wheel, he quickly reached over and grabbed her in a one armed head lock, Beth giggling as he forced her closer into his side. The sound of her laughter caused his own to soon spill from his lips. He couldn't remember the last time he had had as much fun driving, and because of it, he didn't even realise when they crossed over the Tennessee Border.
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A/N: Lol, well guys, I REALLY hope you liked this chapter. I wanted it to be fun. Hopefully that was executed well enough. Lol.
So there's a chance that this chapter may take me over the 100 review mark, and something that I like to do in all my stories, is dedicate a chapter to the 100th reviewer. I know it's not a lot, but your feedback means the world to me. I want to write professionally, and although I can't give back to people just now, I hope little things like dedications will show my readers how much I appreciate them. So, if this story gets over 100 reviews by the next chapter, I will dedicate chapter nine to that reviewer :o)
Also guys, I have just started another (Yes another) story called 'Inside I'm Dancing'. If you like this story, then I think you'll like that one too. Please check it out and tell me what you all think.
And on a totally pointless side note, every time I write Annette, I can't help but picture Michelle Pfeiffer lol. So if you don't know how to picture her (I know they had that brief picture of her in the series), this is how I see her lol :o)
Take Care my lovelies xxxx
