Author's Note: hey guys! How's everyone? Have you heard about the Australian/Queensland floods? They're devastating! But we can only hope for the best :( These holidays have been so up and down. It's been pretty good for me but other people's lives have been ruined.

Dedication:

Miss Charz and Bubble(.)Gum(.)Green for Beta-Reading this chapter.

Devil On My Shoulder: Because you have awesome ideas. Because you're the one who made this chapter possible :)

Disclaimer: Unfortunately for me and fortunately for Ally Carter, I'm not Ally Carter. So yeah, this story has officially been disclaimed.

Rating: T

Summary: RoadTrip! Macey forces the girls to go on a RoadTrip up the East-Coast of Australia in a CombieVan. I mean, technically, when your driving off into the sunset in a different country and you're on wanted lists galore, it's the same thing as running away, right? But who care's? It's Summer Vacation – who wouldn't want to escape for three weeks?


Elizabeth Grace Sutton
17 Y.O
Attends the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women
Currently missing from all radars
1.5 Million Dollar reward for those who find her. Alive only.

I woke up to the sounds of Cam trying to park the Kombi and Bex trying to locate the nearest public toilets.

'Morning, sleepy-head.' Macey pulled the pillow out from underneath my head and off her lap where the upper-half of my body had been resting. 'We're in Melbourne now. Hungry?'

I glanced out the window and onto the passing sidewalks where coffee shop after coffee shop passed my eyes. Each one looked unique. I could match them to each of our personalities:

There was a computer cafe with square, single-person tables arranged neatly around the shop, nestled on the corner of a street and I instantly knew I would melt into that scenery.

One looked like it had been plucked from a Paris board walk and, if I tried hard to visualize it enough, I could see Macey with a baret perched on her head, sitting at a vintage wrought-iron table, smiling a closed mouth smile at a waitress and accepting her cup of coffee.

Tucked between a chic apartment building and a small, old-age bookstore was a bustling cafe with gorgeous London/Melbourne resemblance photography hanging on its walls, I could plainly see Cammie reading a summer romance novel at a table with her latte in front of her on a cardboard coaster and one leg crossed neatly over the other, blending in like a Chameleon.

Bex was at the front of a long, single file queue, ordering a "To-Go" iced coffee from a stunning man behind the counter of a large cafe that took up the entire corner of the street, smiling open-mouthed and laughing as he signalled for her order to be made.

'Yeah,' My stomach growled, agreeing with me. 'I can see you sitting right there, Macey.' I pointed to the cafe I had beenvisualizing before.

'So can I,' she gushed with a flourish of her hands. 'I could get used to Melbourne, ladies.'

'We all could, sweetheart.' Bex jabbed the air in front of her where an empty car space was teasing them. 'There, Cam, there!'

'How about there?' Macey asked as we reversed into the parking lot. 'It looks good. And yummy.' Macey's eyes darted after a boy leaving the place, holding a cinnamon roll. 'On both accounts.' Her eyes got bigger and formed a doe-eyed, I'm-the-one-you-ought-to-love expression.

'What are we going to wear?' Cam looked doubtful as she peered into the backseat with Bex. 'I can't be seen in this,' Her hand flew down her torso making me aware of the fact she was wearing a black singlet and some floral printed flannelette mini pajama pants.

'Agreed,' Bex flashed her eyes down her own body.

'Well, choose.' I grabbed their day bags and threw them in the front. 'Wear what's in there.'

'And get changed in full sight of the street-goers? Uh-uh. I draw the line right there, Lizzie.' Bex wriggled her finger in front of her face.

'You said you wanted to use the public toilets.' Macey pulled off her top and quickly pulled a loose cream, flowy blouse that barely covered her belly-button over her head and tugged her pants down and replaced them with a white maxi skirt. Baby blue gladiators adorned her tanned feat.

'Fine. We'll change in here. In the back though.' Cammie gave Bex a pleading look and shuffled Macey out of the Kombie. I changed into a vibrant orange, strapless maxi dress and used a belt to cinch it around my waist.

Once Macey and I were out of the Van we sighed and let our faces bask in the sun. It felt unusual to see Christmas being advertised in summer. I shuddered under the heat. 'So hot, isn't it?' Macey's head nodded and she glared at the sun. I turned around and saw Cam and Bex get out of the Kombie, Cam wearing something very bohemian and hippie while Bex preferred city chic and clean cut.

'Ready my loves?' I hooked my arm through Bex's and Macey's and together, as a unit, we strutted down the streets of Melbourne. Macey, being on the end of our linked group, occasionally lifted her hand and swirled her fingers at the gorgeous guys who walked past us, even going so far as to twist her head back and smile at them.

'Someone's feeling flirtatious,' Bex observed. 'Considering you got down hot and heavy last night.'

'Well, you need mix it up a bit. It was intense last night, acting like a slut, so this morning I'm up for a bit of cute smiles and winking. Light and airy.' Her mood and clothing reflected her theory too. This time she tilted her French straw hat a passer-by who winked at her.

'Well, then. Let's mix it up.' Cam moved her head to her left and back in a normal paced motion, the universal motion for "Great Idea".

Bex – being in the middle – had complete control over the group as she dragged us into a little coffee shop. 'Excuse me, but do you know where the Melbourne Street Art Tour meeting place is? We're totally lost.' Bex's eyes twinkled at the boy behind the counter. He seemed about fifteen and we all knew that Bex knew exactly where we were and how to get to the Walk to Art meeting place (which was the 7-eleven in Federation Square.) but she was just messing with this poor boy.

'Yeah. Fed Square.' He pressed a few buttons on his cash register, not even glancing up, as if he didn't give a shit about Bex, Cam and Macey's Earth-stopping looks. 'What would you like to order?'

Macey's head tweaked to one side and squinted her eyes, 'We're still thinking,' she turned her head towards us and gave the three of us a look that screamed "I thought waiters were easy targets!"

I pulled my purse out and extracted a twenty dollar bill. 'We'll have four sherbet choc-chip cookies and two large skim milk coffees with three cubes sugar.' I put the note on the counter in front of him and said 'Eating in,'

After he had jabbed in our order, he lifted his head and smiled at me. And God, was it a smile. Blowing me away, he took the twenty dollars from the counter and said, 'You're number three. There's a spare table over there,' He pointed towards a four seater round table with plushy cushioned chairs.

'Thanks,' I pushed my feelings down as he returned my change. 'How long will that take?'

'A minute.'

'Really? That fast?' I was lost in his eyes.

'Uh, you four are the only customers in the shop.' He glanced around and coughed, 'See you in a bit.' I slipped the change into a Ronald McDonalds Charity case and using a closed mouth smile I clamped my purse back shut.

When I turned around I made a face that I was screaming with happiness at the girls. I scooted into the last seat left and bit my lip and raised my eyebrows at the girls.

'Utterly gorgeous.' Bex dabbed a bit of sugar onto her index finger and put it in her mouth.

'And he's totally into you,' Cam picked up her camera and took a photo of me blushing.

'Did you see him ignore the rest of us? I mean, rude!'

'Ha ha ha, Mace. Only you would be able to say that and get away with it.' I pushed Cam's camera out of my face.

'But you know I love you and I totally love that he's got a thing for you, except...' Macey looked out the window of the shop and watched the people walking by.

'You're not used to being rejected.' Bex ate some more sugar and I was tempted to follow suit. Sugar to make me hyperactive. Just what I needed.

'Hang on, I was not rejected. Just over looked. Liz's outfit flattens mine today, anyway.' Macey leaned across the table and pinched my cheek, 'I trained you well,' She smiled her thousand-watt smile.

'Love you too, Macey.' I shook my head in a fake-disapproving way, a smirk crawling onto my lips.

'Here you go.' The boy from behind the counter put a tray with our order down on the table. 'Hope you love it. Are you guys in Melbourne for a while?'

I took one of the mugs from the tray and put an extra serve of sugar into it. 'Just a day and a half. We're driving up the East Coast this summer in a Kombi Van.'

'Really? That's cool. How old are you guys?'

'Seventeen and a half.' Macey took a bite from her biscuit and assessed her nails.

'So you've got your drivers' licenses?'

'Uh, yeah. Otherwise we wouldn't be here. Parental control and me don't go.' Macey flicked her hair and looked him square in the face.

'Do I recognize you from somewhere? Abroad?'

'Think harder, mate. Think America's Senator's daughter. Think McHenry Cosmetics. Think American Charity balls. Think abroad. Think America.'

'You're Macey McHenry? Well, nice to meet you, Macey. Do you want me to polish your shoes while I'm at it?' He cocked his head to one side and produced a tea-towel.

'I'll be fine, thanks.'

'I know you will be.' He tucked his tea-towel back into the waist band of his pants. 'See you around, girls.' He walked back to the counter and disappeared into the kitchen.

'Nice one, Macey. Totally ruin Liz's chance.' Bex slapped Macey's arm. 'Couldn't let Liz have this one, could you? Sure, let Cammie and I have as many as we want. For God's sake, you let Cam loose in a nightclub only to find her smashed up against a total stranger in a Janitors Closest.'

'Look, I'm sorry, Liz. He just seemed totally rude and gave off a weird vibe.' Macey grasped my hand and squeezed it, 'It's just hard to see you making a play for a guy. We're growing up so fast.'

'Now you sound like my mum.' Cam sipped the other coffee.

'It's okay, Mace. We're living in a Kombi Van. We're bound to be crabby with each other after sharing a queen-mattress for a night.' I made a funny face, 'you smelled yuck when I woke up last night too. See? Now we're even. Not like I'm ever going to see him again.'

Macey smiled and said, 'Yeah, about that. I'll show you tonight how to properly turn the bed the right way. But basically we just have to flatten the back seats together and we get a second double mattress.'

'Awesome. That'll be a life saver.' Bex took the last bite of her cookie, 'I'm full. Let's ditch.'

'Agreed. Give me the rest of that.' Macey grappled for Cammie's half empty coffee mug. She downed it and I offered Bex the rest of mine before she declined and I left it on the table. I grabbed my cookie and placed it between my lips and walked out the door with the girls.

Macey Madison McHenry
17 Y.O
Attends the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women
Currently
missing from all radars
1.5 Million Dollar reward for those who find her. Alive only.

The graffiti on the walls had been gorgeous and everything we saw with our tour-guide was breath taking (just like the sight of her uncoloured roots that needed a touch up but in a very different context with this breath taking being used) and all the little art boutiques were dainty and gave off a relaxing feeling. But now we were piled in the Kombi Van again and I was explaining how to pull the seats backwards so they lay flat.

'That's pretty nifty. I like it.' Cammie was taking a photo of the inside of the Van and laughing along with Bex. 'Look, let's ask them to get a photo of us.' She darted off and – still in the clothes we had been wearing on the cafe-littered streets – we tried to organize how we would stand. Finally, once Cammie had coaxed an elderly couple into taking the photo for us, we were lined up: Bex, Liz, Cammie, me; with our arms strung loosly over the person next to us shoulders'. Once Cammie had checked the three pictures the man had taken, he tried to help the woman figure out how to have a go and we reorganized our selves: Bex and I on the ground with Liz on my shoulders and Cammie on Bex's. It wasn't the most flattering because three of us were wearing skirts, but we worked it out and hopped down afterwards.

'Stuh-ning.' I held up the camera for us to have a look and Liz thanked the couple for their help.

Looking back at us were four teenage girls enjoying the bright, orange tinted sun that bounced off their faces. Their eyes glowed with excitement and their smiles were full and dazzlingly hypnotizing. Tanned limbs, linked arms, peace signs and bitten lips with unsaid words hanging off the end of their tongues tumbling out. Free thoughts and beautiful laughs floating in the breezy air, tickling their noses and diving into their ears. "Happily-Ever-After's" teasing their futures and guaranteeing a prince charming and secrets that will never hurt lingering in their minds. For one brief second, they looked untouchable and lively, determined, unbreakable and "Once-Upon-A-Time" ish, young, timeless, gorgeous, happy.

For one second, we were them. And everything whispered the promise of freedom.


Hellloooo :)

Q&A:

Q: Did Cammie lose her V Card?
A: Nope.

Q: What happened to their cover names?
A: Cover names only apply when they've got to put their names down. Like for the cops or something. Sorry for the confusion :(

Was this better for updating? Does this time frame suit you? Or would you prefer faster? Or slower? Tell me in your reviews.

Aaarrrhhh! I've just tried updating this story three times and I hope the fourth will be the last...so damn frustrating!

Hope you loved this chapter :D

xox Amy