Chapter Thirty-four: One Hour, Thirteen Minutes
"Santana, you behave. You listen to Shelby or she has my permission to treat you just like one of hers." Maribel Lopez said as she helped Santana put her suitcase in the back of Shelby's SUV.
"Mom, I know!" Santana whined.
"I am serious, Santana."
Santana nodded, then unzipped her suitcase, rifling through things looking for something.
"Santana Lopez! Young lady, stop. What are you looking for? I have already had to unpack your suitcase once and repack it because you have no idea how pack a suitcase."
"I need my iPod!" Santana whined again. It was early, five in the morning, and Santana was one who needed her sleep. It was the reason that Maribel made sure that Santana always got at least eight hours of sleep.
"Santana, stop whining. You can go home with me."
"No. Do you know where my iPod is?" Santana asked, this time a bit more calmly.
"Yes, I do. Shelby has it. She asked for everyone's iPod's. She isn't going to give them to you until you need them."
Maribel knew that Shelby was holding onto the gadgets just in case the kids got on one another's nerves on the drive. She could hand out iPods and make them listen to them if necessary.
Maribel thought her plan was pretty ingenious.
"Ugh. Fine." Santana said. She was so tired.
"Santana! Are you ready? I am so excited! I have barely slept all night! Only when Mom threatened to make me stay with Beth and Aunt Judy did I go to sleep. Well, Mom thinks I went to sleep, I was playing on my phone and researching things for us to do in Chicago, I…"
Santana's eyes widened as she listened to Rachel and watched as Shelby walked behind the girl who was currently speed talking so fast, that Santana's sleepy mind couldn't process.
"I guess I am going to have to start taking your phone from you when I send you to bed. You just got your texting and internet back. I was being generous by giving it back to you two weeks early, do you really think that you need to push limits so soon?"
Rachel swallowed and turned and looked up at her mother.
"I am sorry! I am just so excited." Rachel said.
Shelby smiled and pulled Rachel towards her. She knew that Rachel got overly excited about things, and that the newly turned fifteen year old did not care that it was just past five in the morning.
"Baby girl, I know that you are excited, but you need to calm down, okay? We still have at least a five hour drive if we include the stops that we will have to make, and I need you to be a good rider."
Rachel nodded excitedly.
Shelby knew that she was going to have to make Rachel sit in the front seat, at least for the beginning of the journey, because otherwise she was going to drive the other kids nuts.
"Go make sure that you got everything that you want to take with you." Shelby said, though she knew that Rachel had everything. Shelby had packed Rachel's suitcase to make sure that everything was in there that she would need.
"I love you, Quinnie." Judy said as she gave her daughter a hug. Quinn was already sitting in the car, Judy was standing beside her with the door open.
"Love you, too." Quinn mumbled, practically asleep. Judy tucked a blanket around Quinn's lap and kissed her head. Quinn was about to fall asleep, and Judy wanted her to be comfortable.
"You call me when you get there and every day after. You also call me if you just want to talk to me, okay?" Judy said.
"I know, Mommy." Quinn mumbled, her eyes closing heavily, but trying to open back up.
Judy kissed her again, and smiled. Quinn only called her mommy in a sleepy haze.
"I will see you later, sweetheart." Judy whispered and closed the door quietly, as Quinn was already asleep.
Judy turned to find Shelby standing behind her with Rachel leaning into her.
"Quinn asleep already? We haven't even started moving yet." Shelby said with a laugh. She had known that Quinn would be the first asleep though. The girl could fall asleep in any moving vehicle within the first five minutes.
"I don't think that she slept last night. Shelby, are you sure about this? With all four of the kids…" Judy asked one last time. She personally thought that Shelby was a bit nuts. Rachel and Quinn alone were handfuls. Add Kurt and they were even worse. Now add Santana…Judy shuddered.
"It will be fine. They will behave, or I will make sure that they do. It will be fun." Shelby said.
"I hope that you are right," Judy said laughing lightly.
"I am. Baby girl, go sit in the front seat." Shelby said, as she watched Kurt jumping out of Carole's car, grab his suitcase, and wave bye to his stepmother. Carole waved at Shelby and Shelby waved back. The two of them had talked for a while the night before, but both women knew that Shelby knew more about Kurt than Carole, as she had been in the boy's life since he was a toddler. Carole was still learning, but Shelby was glad that Kurt was making more of an effort with the woman.
"I am here, Auntie Shel!" Kurt yelled, putting his bag in the car and then climbing in to sit in the middle of the backseat. He was ready to go.
Shelby shook her head as she watched Santana peak to make sure that no one was looking and then wrapped her arms around her mother and then kissed her cheek. Shelby thought she heard the girl whisper that she would miss her mom.
Santana wanted people to see her as a badass, but Shelby saw past the attitude and the mock confidence. She saw the little girl who wanted nothing more than to have her mother's trust and approval.
"Call me if Beth gives you any troubles, Judy." Shelby said as Santana climbed into the car. The kids were ready to go, now she had to get in the car.
Judy laughed.
"Me? Trouble with Beth? How about you and the four fifteen year old's you have in your car."
"We will be fine." Shelby laughed. Maribel raised an eyebrow at Shelby as she walked over to the other two adults.
"We will be thinking about you. Please make Santana call me every day. She will want to, but won't because the other kids are around."
"No worries. I will make her. It will be fine guys. You will see."
Soon, Shelby was backing out of the driveway, Judy and Maribel standing on the sidewalk watching the car before they went back to their own homes.
"How long do you think it will be before she has to threaten one of them?" Maribel asked.
Judy laughed again.
"I bet she doesn't make it two hours."
Maribel smiled.
"I bet you are right."
-OneStepAtATime-
It was approximately one hour and thirteen minutes before Shelby felt that maybe a road trip with four teenagers was not such a good idea.
Thirty minutes into the trip, Rachel had needed to use the bathroom. Shelby had told all of the kids to go before they left the house, but obviously they had known better than Shelby and decided that they didn't need to go.
Again, Shelby told them all to go when they stopped, but she couldn't get Quinn to wake up enough. Fifteen minutes after they left the restroom that they had found, Quinn woke up and needed to go.
Shelby had sighed, but said nothing, and turned into the next rest stop. That was the moment that Rachel started flipping through radio stations.
"Stop Rachel!" Kurt hissed from behind her. Of course, Rachel ignored him, so he pushed the back of we seat with his legs.
Shelby sighed, but kept an eye out for Quinn.
"I'm hungry." Rachel said. Shelby knew that she had been up since four(ish) and had not eaten anything yet. Rachel was used to her mother fixing her breakfast as soon as she was up.
"We are stopping in an hour." Was all Shelby said. Rachel sighed.
"Can I go get something in the store?"
"No."
Rachel sighed again, and then went back to flipping through the radio stations as Quinn came back out and climbed into the car.
"Rachel! For the love of Barbra! Stop flipping through the channels!" Santana said from where she was sitting in the third row of seats.
It was silent for another glorious fifteen minutes.
Click.
Another station.
Click.
Yet another.
Whap!
Kurt kicked Rachel's seat.
"Stop, Kurt!"
Click.
Whap!
"Stop!" Rachel yelled and then turned around and raised her hand to hit Kurt, but Shelby, without ever turning around, caught her arm with her right hand.
Shelby didn't say anything because she was interrupted when Santana poked Kurt for kicking at Rachel's seat.
"Santana! Stop touching me!"
"Stop kicking Rachel's seat!"
"Shut it, Satan!" Kurt hissed.
Santana unbuckled her seatbelt and reached over the seat and smacked Kurt.
"Santana!" Shelby scolded.
"Don't call me satan, fancy pants!"
"Ow! I'll call you what I want!" Kurt yelled.
"You are both acting like toddlers!" Quinn said, rolling her eyes.
"Satan!" Kurt yelled.
"Kurt, leave Santana alone! You're being a douche!" Rachel turned around and yelled.
"Rachel, you're not helping anything." Quinn hissed.
"You guys better not make me pull this car over!" Shelby said over them all.
"I'm gonna smack you, Quinn, if you don't shut it!" Rachel said.
Then Quinn, thinking Shelby could not see her, flipped Rachel off.
Rachel undid her seatbelt, and before Shelby knew what was going on, Rachel was in the backseat.
"Nice one, Rachel!" Santana said.
"You're such a brat!" Quinn said.
Shelby instantly turned into the convenient store parking lot they were passing.
Shelby slammed the car in park and climbed out.
"Oh shit." Quinn whispered.
Rachel's eyes were wide.
"Guys, we have to hide!" Kurt said quickly.
Before Santana knew what was happening, she was the only one left in the car and her three friends were running towards what appeared to be outside bathrooms connected to the store.
Santana looked towards Shelby and noticed the look of pure anger on her face.
Santana instantly jumped out of the car and ran towards her friends, despite hearing Shelby calling for her.
Where had the other three gone?
She saw a swinging door... Had they really gone in there? Had they really gone into the men's bathroom?
The more Santana thought, the smarter that sounded. So, she headed straight in the bathroom, despite hearing her name being called again.
Inside of the bathroom, one of the most revolting places that Santana had ever in her life been, she was confused. She had no idea where everyone had gone. She stepped over a mess of soaking wet toilet paper. She silently hoped that it was only water that was on the floor.
"Where the hell are you guys? You better not leave me to be the only one to get in trouble, damnit!" Santana growled.
"Shut the hell up, Satan! We are in the last stall…the only one with a door!" Santana heard Kurt say. Santana rushed down to the last stall and pushed it.
"Open the door, shit!"
Soon, the door was opened by Kurt. Santana pushed him aside and walked into the stall. The water was standing on the floor in here as well.
And Quinn and Rachel were standing on top of the toilet.
"What the hell are you guys doing?" Santana asked as Kurt slid the lock back into place and then climbed on top of the toilet lid with Quinn and Rachel.
"You might want to get up here." Rachel said. She was leaning against the wall, above the toilet flusher.
"Why?"
"My mom is pissed. When she stops the car like that, she means business. You want her to calm down. Plus, you took your seat belt off while she was driving." Rachel said, her arms crossed over her chest.
"So did you! And you jumped at Quinn from the front seat!"
"Yea, she will probably get me for that one. But, I would rather she calm down first."
"Isn't us hiding in here, in the men's bathroom, on top of a toilet, going to make her angrier?" Santana asked, though she did take a couple steps closer to the toilet.
Then she heard the bathroom door slam open.
Rachel's eyes grew wide and she motioned for Santana to get on top of the toilet seat. Santana didn't even hesitate this time. She climbed up on the toilet seat, a place that was suddenly very crowded with four teenagers standing on top of it.
"Do you think that is her?" Quinn whispered.
Rachel nodded. So did Kurt.
"This is ridiculous! We are going to have to get out of here sooner or later, and she is going to get mad if she thinks she lost us!" Santana whispered.
The other three just looked at one another. Santana was new to all of this. What did she know?
"I know that the four of you are in here. I am going to count to three, and if each one of you is not standing in front of me, I am going to start busting butts. I would hate for you each to have to make the rest of the trip with a sore backside."
The voice startled Kurt, who knocked into Quinn, who fell into Rachel, who then accidently grabbed Santana.
Santana then slipped into the toilet with her right leg.
Her eyes grew and her eyes blazed.
"Holy fuck, Kurt! You pansy ass! You just made me step in the damn toilet!"
"Santana Lopez!" Shelby yelled. That language was not acceptable. That, added onto everything else that had happened in the last hour, was about to set Shelby off.
"One."
Rachel jumped down. Santana was pissed at Kurt, and Quinn was still standing on the toilet.
Rachel opened the door to the nasty stall and tried to step back, but Shelby grabbed her arm and swatted her backside.
"Ow! Mom! Not fair! I opened the door! Why am I the first one to get swatted?" Rachel said, tears welling up in her eyes. Shelby focused on her for a moment. One swat, a swat that wasn't even very hard, never made Rachel cry. She would have to talk to Rachel later and see if there was something else bothering her.
"There will be more where that comes from if you do not start behaving," Shelby focused on each one of the teens for a few seconds and then spoke again, "I am ashamed of each and every one of you! You are each fifteen years old and we have not been on the road but a little over an hour! Rachel, stand in front of me. Kurt, behind her. Quinn, then Santana. We are going back out to the car, You will each sit in your seats, buckled up, and you will be completely quiet until we stop for breakfast, which as of right now, is still more than thirty minutes away."
Shelby continued to lecture the four teens as she walked them out of the bathroom in a single file line. She shook her head. Why in the world had they thought that it would be a good idea to hide from her in a men's bathroom? On top of a toilet? Shelby felt like she needed to sanitize them completely now.
She stopped right before they got to the car and used the clicker in her hand to unlock the door. She dug through her purse and pulled out some hand sanitizer and opened it.
"Everyone, hold open your hand." She said and then proceeded to squirt some of the sanitizer into each of the kids' hands. She then went back to the front of the line.
"Rachel, backseat. If you take your seatbelt off while you are back there, I will pull over, no matter where we are, and I will spank you without a care about who is watching. Now, car." Shelby said, though she knew she would not spank Rachel in front of anyone. Swatting, however, was completely different. It was a warning, not a punishment.
Every one of these kids needed a warning at the moment. Shelby liked to think that her patience had no end. She was, after all, the mother of Rachel and Beth Corcoran, and they tested limit, she was positive, like no other children in the world. That was why she was certain that this trip would go off without a hitch.
Rachel tentatively walked past her mother and, just as she suspected, another light swat met her behind, and she rubbed furiously as she climbed into the backseat of the car, not because it stung, but to hopefully deter her mother from providing any further swats. Her eyes were still tearing up though.
"Kurt. You are next. You will sit where you sat earlier. Come here."
Kurt sighed and walked over to his aunt. As much as he wanted to hide, he knew better. He knew better than to try and get past her too, so he just stopped in front of her.
Two swats fell onto his backside and then his Auntie Shel pointed to the car.
He wished that he had his game boy. But his auntie Shel had that and his iPod.
"You will stop causing trouble. No hitting the back of the seat or name calling. Santana does not want to be called Satan, and I better not hear you doing so. Go get in the car." Shelby told him.
He trudged over to the car and got in with a sigh.
"Quinn."
Quinn sighed. She crossed her arms and just waited. She knew the swats were coming and it was a lot harder walking over to her aunt when she knew that.
They did.
"Quinn, you know how to behave. If the other kids are fussing, it is best for you to simply stay out of it." Shelby said, knowing that oftentimes Quinn let the others pull her into things and was rarely ever the leader.
"However, the next time I catch you flipping someone off, you will regret it."
"Okay, Aunt Shel." Quinn said nodding, and then walked over to the car and got in, sitting behind the driver's seat.
Now Shelby stared at Santana. She could tell the girl was uncomfortable and her right pants leg and shoe were soaked making the entire situation even more uncomfortable.
Santana, despite trying to maintain a badass stance, was nervous. This was Ms. Corcoran. Ms. Corcoran, though Santana wished that it wasn't so, had way more badass points than Santana did.
"I realize that you are new to our unconventional little family, but over the last few weeks we have all begin to think of you as another part of it. Just because you are new does not mean that you can misbehave. Unbuckling you seat belt, cursing, hitting, and name calling are not acceptable. The other kids know this, which is why they are already in the car, I just want to make sure that you also know it, okay?" Shelby asked Santana gently. Shelby knew that the girl had to get used to being in their group, especially when it was just Shelby with the kids.
"Yes, ma'am." Santana said and looked down at the ground. She had yet to truly separate the Ms. Corcoran at school and the Shelby out of school. They were still very similar to Santana, especially now that she was being lectured.
"I want you to get changed into something else, Santana. I want you dry. Did you bring another pair of shoes?"
Santana nodded. Her mom had made her pack three different pair of shoes. Santana was never wearing the shoes on her feet again. They had fallen into a toilet in a men's bathroom!
"Okay, I want you to change in the bathroom, and then you are up front with me for a little while."
"Why do I have to sit in the front?" Santana asked suddenly. She had liked sitting in the back.
"Because that is where I want you for the time being." Shelby said, but part of the reason was because she knew that Santana was the only kid in the car who would probably not mess with the radio. Shelby was not ready to give in and hand over their iPods yet because she knew that after about an hour, the iPods would be tossed aside.
"Fine." Santana whined a little and went to the back of the car where Shelby was lifting the back up. She needed new clothes so that she could get out of these nasty, wet ones.
"I have a sack you can put your shoes and pants in since they are wet." Shelby said.
Santana looked at her like she was nuts.
"I am throwing them away. There is no way I am every wearing them again! They are nasty! That was a guys bathroom!" Santana suddenly screeched.
Shelby raised an eyebrow and grabbed the sack from the back, handed the sack to Santana, swatted her twice, and pointed towards the women's bathroom.
"Go. Do not throw your clothes away. They will wash. You have five minutes, and then you need to be in the car."
Santana, eyes wide and mouth open, nodded. She had not really thought that she would be swatted! She was shocked. Her mother was the only person who had ever swatted her! She had her father wrapped too tightly around her fingers. He would do anything she asked and they both knew it.
Unfortunately, her mother knew it too.
But, back in the present, Santana was merely staring at Shelby.
"Go on, Santana. Be thankful that you are only getting those two swats. That was your warning. There will be no more warnings today, so hopefully you and your cohorts will behave from now on." Shelby said with one eyebrow still raised a bit higher than the other. She could tell that the swats had thrown Santana.
"Yes ma'am. I am going." Santana said quickly and made her way towards the bathroom quickly.
Shelby shook her head and smiled. It was almost scary how well Santana fit in with the crew in the car.
Shelby went over to the back door where Quinn was sitting and looked at the three in the car. She could tell that, given the chance, Quinn would be back asleep before long. Kurt was just looking at a magazine he had brought.
It was Rachel who really caught her attention. The girl was still crying. It was extremely abnormal.
"Baby girl, come out here. I want to talk to you for a minute." Shelby said. Rachel nodded and climbed out of the backseat and over Quinn to get out of the car.
Shelby took Rachel's hand and walked over to the back of the car.
"Baby girl, why are you crying? This is not like you. It was just a few swats that I know didn't even sting." Shelby said, wiping Rachel's tears away with her fingers.
Rachel sniffed.
"They didn't hurt. That's not why I am crying. I didn't even mean to start crying."
"Then what is it?"
"I am hungry! I am used to eating when I get up. You always have breakfast waiting on me." Rachel sniffed and then fell into her mother and put her hand up the bottom of Shelby's shirt.
That was the moment that Shelby realized what was truly wrong with her daughter.
"How much sleep did you get last night, baby girl?" Shelby said, rubbing Rachel's back and letting Rachel lean into her and seek the comfort she needed in that moment.
"I don't know. I was excited. And I couldn't sleep. And now I am hungry and you are mad." Rachel said. Shelby smiled, though didn't let Rachel see her. Some things never changed. She wondered if Rachel would always be cranky when she was tired and hungry.
"We have thirty minutes before we get to the restaurant for breakfast, Rach, and then two hours before we get to the hotel. If you all don't sleep between now and then, all of you are going to be taking a nap when we get to the hotel for a while. Okay? That will leave us plenty of time to get up and get ready, eat an early supper, and then go see Wicked."
Rachel nodded into her mother. Usually, she hadn't the idea of taking a nap, but she had not slept the night before. At all. She had told her mother that she had not slept much, but the fact was that she had been up since the day before at nine when she got up for breakfast with her mom and Beth.
"Will you lay with me if I have to take a nap?" Rachel asked quietly.
Shelby patted her back.
"Yes, I will lay down with you when you nap. I wish you would have come into my room last night and told me you couldn't sleep."
"I am fifteen now though." Rachel said quietly.
It was then that Shelby realized that Rachel had not slept in her bed or asked her to lay down with her since her birthday.
Shelby hugged her tighter.
"It doesn't matter how old you are, baby girl, you can always lay with me when you need to." Shelby said.
Rachel nodded. She could fall asleep standing against her mother if they were to stand there much longer.
Shelby kissed the top of her head and then patted her behind.
"Go on and climb in the car. There is Santana, and I know that you are hungry. I am too, so we need to get on the road."
Rachel smiled and nodded and then climbed back into the car.
Several minutes later, they were on their way.
Shelby hoped that her kids behaved from here on out.
Hopefully.
Surely they wouldn't be able to get into any trouble if she kept them busy…
Surely not.
AN: So, thoughts? Comments? I want to thank everyone who reviewed :)