Chapter Twelve: Wreck Of The Day

Sitting in the backseat of the Manning car, Tori asleep on her lap, Penny hung up Vin's cell phone and held it close to her chin, just thinking. They'd been driving for nearly an hour and it all felt so unplanned and insane. She'd never been in a position like this, she hadn't the slightest clue what to do.

"What's the plan?" Vin slid in the front seat and glanced behind him.

"I don't really know." Penelope sighed. "I'm sorry to drag you guys into this."

"Don't worry about it." Vin sighed and put the key in the ignition.

Penelope just watched as Hartley left the gas station and headed back towards the car.

"What do you think we should do?" Vin asked his brother slid into the passenger seat. Once again, Hartley had slipped into his mute-like tendencies and just shrugged his shoulders.

"You know," Penny spoke up while keeping Tori warm beneath Hartley's coat. "Wasaga Beach is only three hours from where we are now." Both boys just looked at her as if she was mental. "I know, it's out of the way for you two but, I just think she needs to get away right now."

After a moment of silence and glancing between Penelope and his brother, Vin nodded his head and turned out of the gas station.

"Wasaga it is." He lightly turned the radio back on to a classic rock station.

Hartley offered his brother a jube-jube from a small little paper bag he'd purchased at the gas station, Vin took a whole fistful and shoved them in his mouth at once. Twisting around in his seat, Hartley silently offered some to Penelope.

"No, thanks." She just yawned and watched the chattering cold breeze pass her by.

"Do you have any idea where she'd head?" Emma asked, shivering beneat her black winter coat and watching her breath drift through Sean's car. Sean wasn't known for driving safely but, he was driving even more pyhcotic than usual. Nervously, Emma watched him as he'd cut in front of cars and drive through blinking yellow lights as fast his car allowed him.

"No." Sean turned his music louder. "I'm really sorry about this, Em. Do you want me to drive you home? I can turn around."

"No, I want to come with you." She assured him while placing one of her hands over his which was holding the steering wheel tightly. He looked down at it and instantly felt a little better.

"Thanks." He spoke softly. "I can't believe she'd pull a stunt like this."

The night was turning darker and darker around them and seemed to swallow all the stars whole. Sean just kept driving - following his gut instinct. While stopping for gas, Sean called Cody to let him know he'd be out that night.

"Oh, Em." Sean noticed it was nearing one am. "You've got to work tommorrow. I'm so sorry."

"I can call in and say i'll be late. It's okay."

"I wanted this date to go well, I really did. Damn kids." He shook his head and sighed heavily.

"Why didn't you tell Penny that you were going on a date with me?"

"I thought she'd flip out. She'd been having major mood swings lately."

"I think she's just stressed. She puts a lot more responsibilty on her than most sophmores do."

"That's all her doing."

"Have you tried to talk to her about it?" Emma cared too much for her own good sometimes.

"I'm good father." Sean said aloud trying to convince Emma but, mostly trying to convince himself.

"I know that, I know." She nodded and decided it was best to back down.

"Ready to head out?" Dressed in his casual wear, Gavin appeared out of the kitchen and stood by the counter for his daughter. Her eyes were smaller and puffier than before and her cheeks were red like she'd been outside. "Sydney, are you alright?"

"Sure." She closed the drawer of the till and looked away from him. "Let's go." She got bundled up in her winter gear and the two left his closed up resturant.

"It was dead tonight, eh?" He asked as they drove down the icy streets, the sound of a hockey game quietly coming from the radio.

"Yep." Sydney only stared out the window, watching her reflection.

"Did you guys happen to prepare some roll-ups for tommorrow morning? Ike said they were short the last few mornings."

"I did two bins." She nodded.

"Only two?" He sounded surprised.

"Nicole did two, too, I think Tyler might've done some." She shrugged not turning around to look at him.

"Did something happen tonight, Syd?"

"It's Sydney!" She snapped.

Gavin didn't know how much more of his daughter's new attitude he could take. She was like a flame she'd grow wild and then burn out and the mood swings were too drastic for him to live through. He still wasn't used to being a single father.

He took a moment to let her cool off and then tried again.

"You going to talk to me about it?"

"No." She shook her head.

"Well, I hear you didn't go to your appointment with Miss Nelson today."

"What? Is she, like, on our speed dial now?"

"Hey, she's trying to help us."

"I don't need help!"

"Well, I do!" Gavin shouted right back at her. "I can't handle you anymore! You're all over the place; you're getting drunk, sneaking out. I just want my little girl back." His voice croaked at the end. Sydney was ready to keep fighting with him but after all he said, she had nothing more to say. She just sunk down in the chair and pouted. She was still aching over her earlier encounter with Jayson Hogart.

Craig hung up his phone back on it's cradle and sighed loudly, leaning over the sink. Ellie sat nervously on the couch in the living room, her teeth chattering.

"That was Vin." He called to his wife from the kitchen.

"He's okay?!" She stood up right away and turned to face Craig's back. "They're okay? Where are they?

"On their way to Wasaga Beach." Craig finally turned around to face Ellie's panicked expression.

"Why?" She asked.

"To help someone, apparently." Craig wandered away from the counter and pulled a cola from the kitchen. "Want one?" He offered.

"No, I don't want a pop. Craig," She meandered into the kitchen and right over to him. "I want to know when my sons are coming home."

"He said he's safe and not to worry."

"That means nothing, Craig!" She threw her hands up onto her forehead. "You have to ask questions. You have to be firm, have you learnt nothing in these last eighteen years of raising two boys?!" She started to accuse him, furiously. The legend of red head shone through her clearly.

"Ellie, they said they were fine, relax. You know Vin and Hartley, they're good kids."

"Sydney Mason is a good kid and you heard what Spinner said when we were at his restaurant. Spencer Del Rossi is a good kid and he's driving Marco mad these days." She began to list off names for Craig. "The Menedez Brothers are good kids and they killed their parents in their sleep!" She screamed at her highest pitch.

"You're overreacting, Ellie." Craig took a large slug of Cola and took a seat in front of the couch and turned on the television.

"I'm overreacting? Craig, it's one in the morning. I think it's a little understandable that I am upset that my kids took off in the middle of the night to Wasaga."

Craig was through with arguing and tuned her out to concentrate on the music video playing on the screen.

"I can't believe you." She muttered and wandered down the hall to their bedroom, slamming the door behind her. Craig knew the couch was certainly where he'd be sleeping that night.

He got bored quickly and went to take his mind off the fighting his wife and he had been doing lately. Ellie and he rarely ever fought in their two decades of marriage. He hopped in the car and went looking for something reliable and exciting.

"Want to hop in the front?" Hartley looked through the rear view mirror at Penelope who was turning pale and falling asleep in the backseat. He patted the back of the passenger seat.

"How can he brave the cold?" She glanced out the window at Vin who was walking through a forest of empty frozen trees to find a bush to relieve himself in. Hartley just sort of watched.

"Sure." She slid out of the backseat and left Tori to lay in her sleep. He reached to his side and opened the door for her and in she slid. Since, she'd finally heard Hartley talk, she could tell a distinct difference in Vin and his voice now. Vin was chatty but didn't really have a whole lot of welcomeness in his speaking voice. Every one of Hartley's words was filled with meaning.

"How are you?" He asked like they hadn't been on the road together for the past three hours and ten minutes.

"Cold." She shivered. "You?"

Hartley reached foreword and turned the heat on even heavier than it already was.

"I'm relaxed, actually. Something about the long drive."

"I wouldn't know." She shrugged. "I only have my beginners."

"Really?" He carried on their conversation with such ease.

"Yeah, my dad lets me drive all the time but, I haven't gone farther than a few blocks."

"You want to drive the rest of the way?" He leaned back as if he was offering her the wheel.

"Uh," She thought out loud. "In fear, I might kill all four of us, no." She laughed causing him to chuckle, too.

"So, where exactly are we going?" He asked, watching Vin wander through the snow field of trees.

"There's a motel right when you first enter." She offered. Hartley just seemed to take it in with no reaction. "Or my grandparents live out there."

"Do you think they'd let us stay over there for a night?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen them in such a long time."

"Why don't you call them?" Hartley fished his cell phone from his coat pocket and held it out for her to take. "Just so they know where we are, just in case."

"Good idea." She smiled meekly and began to dial the number her father very rarely did.

"You know I remember you." Hartley stared out the windshield and mentioned.

"Pardon?" She asked holding the phone to her ear.

"When you were a little girl, all the sundress stories, I remember. Vin and I used to go ride our bikes with Zac all the time. I remember you."

Her heart was warmed and for the first time she was certain she had somebody she could count on. No boy, or anyone for that matter, had gone that far out of their way for her as to drive her to Wasaga or even take the time to remember her.

"I didn't mean to make you blush." He sounded worried and apologetic when he noticed the tinges of pink filling her cheeks.

"Hi Grandma?" Penny spoke into the phone as Vin slid into the backseat next to Tori.

"Sean, where are we even going?" Curled up in the passenger seat of his car, she yawned.

"I don't know." Sean turned the radio down. "Try and catch some sleep." He spoke in a lullaby like tone.

"How's you nose?" Drowsily, she asked.

"It's fine." He just smiled. Even half asleep, she cared about him.

Right then, killing the moment, his cell phone began to buzz on the dashboard. He answered it immediately.

"Mom?" He asked, they barely talked. He was shocked. Emma woke herself up right away to see what would come of this. "She is?" He sounded completely blown out of the water. "Wasaga, what?" Now, his voice went to frustrated. "Yeah, sure, thanks." He hung up immediately.

"What's the latest?" Emma asked, as alert as she could be.

"They're headed where I thought they'd be."

Not the best chapter, I suppose but, again I've got all sorts of plans brewing.

Let me know what you think. I love reading your reviews.

WRECK OF THE DAY - ANNA NALICK