"It is so hot I think I'm gonna puke!" Fidget cried, clutching her stomach.
"You know, if these guys weren't here we wouldn't have to wear these freakin', ORANGE jump suites," Magnetic said, enjoying the attention she now got from the boys ever since she had lifted her shirt up. Magnet was practically drooling over her all the time now. Magnetic still wasn't swayed by Magnet, but she couldn't hide her glee as she loved having someone goggling at her every second.
"Well at least now we're almost to that bus stop up ahead," Xray said.
It had been miles since the members of D tent had spotted the bus station in the distance, and it had been even more miles since they had started seeing a different car pass them about every four minutes. But as they had all happily raced towards the bus station they had realized it was really far away, and that's what brought them to slowly walking along, dragging their feet as they went.
"I could really use a nice LONG shower right now," Squid grumbled.
Chase bit her lower lip; she couldn't help imagining Squid in a shower.
"Well I could use A LOT of things right now!" Magnetic said, then she started counting off on her fingers. "A heavenly shower, nice clean toilets, a nice warm bed, a change of clean clothes, a smoothie-"
"Don't talk about food," Armpit warned her. "I'm starving!"
The group was running low on supplies; meaning food and water. They only had two canteens of water left and one can of beans.
"Maybe they have food at the bus station?" Fidget said hopefully.
"Yeah right," Squid grumbled again; he really wasn't in a good mood and all he seemed to be able to do was grumble-and think about tasty Chase.
"I bet they have like a vending machine at the bus station," Lei said. "I mean, they have to!" Lei's beautiful long hair was now completely ratted and filthy and her not-so-bright pink hibiscus was askew-it seemed to REALLY bother her.
"We're almost there," Twitch gasped. Out of the entire group he had been the one who always talked the most and spent a lot of his energy, wearing himself out. But he couldn't help it. If he tried standing completely still for five minutes the nervous energy would build up inside him until finally he would burst out talking and twitching again. But everything was fine as Fidget seemed to think all his twitching was cute.
Zippy poked Chase's arm to get her attention. "You wanna race to the station?" she asked, grinning.
Chase stared at Zippy with wide, disbelieving eyes. "You know Zip," she said, shaking her head. "Sometimes I just don't understand you."
Zippy just grinned more broadly. "Come on! It would be fun!"
"Would not," Chase replied. "I'm too tired and hot and I don't like running long distances!"
"What?" Zippy cried. "Then why the heck is your name Chase? I thought you loved running!"
"I only run when I have to," Chase replied. "Anyway I thought you guys call me Chase 'cause I'm always leading people on chases?"
"I don't see you leading me on a chase right now!" Zippy said. "Oh I get it!" she said slyly, grinning again. "You're afraid you'll lose!"
"No, I know I'll lose!" Chase replied. "I'm big and tired and you're small and hyper-what are the odds?"
"Race me!" Zippy cried.
"No Zip!"
"Yes!"
"NO!"
"Yes-you big wuss!"
Chase shot a glare at Zippy. "ON YOUR MARKS-GET SET-GO!" she said very quickly before taking off at a sprint, Zippy taking off behind her.
"They're crazy," Static said shaking her head as all the rest of D tent just slowly watched Zippy and Chase get smaller in the distance.
It did Chase a whole world of good to be running again; she hadn't ran like this for months and months-not since the day before she'd arrived at Camp Lakeway. The wind rushing through her hair, the beat of her heart in time with her feet pushing off the ground as she raced along. She was almost upset when she realized the race was won, and she had reached the bus station. Panting hard she looked back for Zippy, who was just running up, gasping for breath.
"That was awesome!" Zippy cried, grinning through her heavy exhaling.
"Come on," Chase said, clutching a stitch in her side. "Lets go inside and wait for the others.
Chase and Zippy took one step into the bus station and immediately stopped. The small, pine green-painted waiting area was air-conditioned.
"Ooh Heaven is a place on Earth!" Chase cried, sinking into one of the hard benches, almost identical to the one they had all broken earlier.
The bus station was small, only occupied with a few other people who stared at Chase and Zippy as they spread out on the benches, sighing with relief and occasionally laughing with happiness. At the back of the room was a side exit door and a small dais where a young man stood behind a ticket stand. At the front of the waiting area there was no wall, so the green cement floor gradually increased into normal gray pavement where the buses would come and go. Three large buses were parked neatly in their rows as their drivers took their breaks.
Chase wrapped her arm around Zippy's shoulders, "We're almost home!" she said, followed by a crazed sort of laugh that attracted the attention of more than one other person in the waiting room.
"You guys are whack!" ZigZag said as the rest of D tent made their way into the waiting area.
Suddenly they all stopped and stared up and onward as if they could see the air that surrounded them.
"Wow!" Zero cried. "Air-conditioning!" He raced towards Zippy and to her surprise he gave her a big kiss.
"This is awesome!" Xray nearly shouted.
The people in the waiting room stared, wide-eyed at the members of D tent. It had been weird enough for them to witness two filthy, tread-worn girls stumble their way into the room but now there was a whole group of dirty, smelly, tired looking teenagers that had entered the room and started screaming with joy at the feel of the cool air.
"This is SO great!" Magnetic cried, sitting down on one of the benches opposite a meek looking man with a large suite case whose mustache hid his entire mouth.
"Yeah, this is my new favorite paradise," Lei said. Static tried to figure out how many times Lei had changed her favorite paradise since they had left Camp Green Lake.
"What are the prices?" Armpit asked.
"Huh?" Chase asked, raising her eyebrow.
"The prices for the buses," Armpit explained. "Did you guys check them out yet?"
Zippy shook her head. "You should go ask the red head at the counter with the bad acne."
"SHH! Zippy! He might hear you!" Chase giggled.
Zippy grinned sheepishly.
"You go ask him!" Armpit said, he was comfortably sitting on one of the benches, enjoying the air-conditioning.
"I'm not gonna ask him!" Zippy snapped. "You ask him Chase!"
"Noooo," Chase groaned tiredly.
"Well somebody has to ask him," Lei said, looking around at everyone.
"I'm not!" Magnetic said.
"What, you afraid his zits are contagious!" Magnet laughed; sure he thought Magnetic was a total babe now, but he was still a rowdy Hispanic teenager at heart.
Magnetic shot him a dirty glare but couldn't help smiling a little.
"One of you guys has to ask him, I'm not going to," Fidget said with a yawn, she was laying across one of the benches, her head resting against Twitch's arm.
"I'll ask him," Squid groaned, jumping to his feet and making his way towards the ticket booth. "Ooh! I'll ask him too!" Chase said quickly, jumping to her feet and hurrying after Squid. Zippy and Zero smiled at each other, everyone else furrowed their brow in utter confusion.
"Hey man," Squid said as he approached the counter. "How much is a ticket to-to..." He stopped. He had no idea where they were trying to get-let alone where they were now. "Wait," he said, and he turned around to Chase. "Where are we going?" he asked.
Chase shrugged. "How should I know?"
"Well I don't know either!" Squid said.
"Hey guys," Chase called over to the others across the room. "Where are we going?"
But all the other members of D tent just shrugged their shoulders and mumbled "Idno".
Chase thought for a moment then walked up to the ticket booth. "Excuse me," she said. "Do you have a map I could see, please?"
The boy behind the counter just stared at Chase with a kind of dreamy look across his face. With the location of his job he probably didn't get to see that many pretty teenage girls.
But it was making Squid a little jealous so he rapped on the counter top with his fist. "Hello? She asked for a map! Do you have one or not?"
The boy jumped and stared at Squid in a rather frightened way. "Yes Sir," he said, pulling a map off a shelf behind him. "I have a map." Then he turned back to Chase and said in a softer tone, "Here you go, ma'am."
Chase took the map and smiled. "Thank you," she said before turning away and walking back over to the others.
As Squid turned to leave he glared at the boy in a menacing sort of way. The boy seemed to shrink back with fear as he smiled his meek "business man" smile.
"So, where are we going first?" Chase asked.
The others looked at the map then just shrugged their shoulders again.
"It all depends on who wants to go home first," Chase said quietly. She and all the others had been dreading this moment since they had all reached the road.
Zippy looked over at Zero whose face was glum. Again the question of where he was going to live when they all got home popped into her mind. What were they going to do? Just drop him off at Laney Park and drive away?
"Lets not think about where we're going first," Lei said. "Lets just worry about where we are for now."
"You are here," Fidget said, pointing at a little star on the map conveniently labeled, 'You are here.'
"Wow, we're really far away from any cities," X-Ray said as he studied the map.
"I live there," Twitch said, pointing out Houston on the map.
"Oh," Fidget said slowly. "I live in Wichita Falls." She pointed to it on the map and glumly traced it's distance from Houston.
"I live in Austin," Armpit said.
"I live in San Antonio," Magnet contributed.
"I live in Sundown!" Magnetic said proudly, pointing to sundown on the map. "I live in this REALLY nice neighborhood, in this really nice house-"
"You live close to X-Ray," Armpit said, smiling.
Magnetic wrinkled her nose.
"I live in Odessa," Chase and Zippy said in unison. Then they turned and stared at each other.
"YOU DO!?" Chase asked excitedly.
"YEAH!" Zippy cried. "Oh my god! This is awesome! I was worried we lived REALLY far away from each other! But! BUT!" Zippy hugged Chase who looked very surprised.
"Well that's real great for you guys," Squid said. "But I live on the other side of Texas."
Chase stopped squealing with delight. "Where do you live?" she asked quietly.
"In Henderson," Squid replied, pointing to a small dot on the map labeled HENDERSON.
"I live in Yoakum," Zigzag said. Then he turned to Static who was sitting beside him, "Where do you live?"
"Zapata," Static replied.
"Ha-your name is Static-you live in ZAPata-and you like electricity!" Twitch said with a laugh.
"Where do you live, Lei?" Armpit asked.
"In Lockhart," Lei replied. "And Hawaii."
"We live KINDA close," Armpit shrugging. "Or at least that's how it seems on the map."
"Where do YOU live Rogue?" X-Ray asked.
Rogue who was sitting far away from the group, her arms folded in her lap and her smudged face in a scowl, looked up.
"Huh? Where do you live?" Xray repeated.
"Yeah Rogue," Chase said, "come on over here and tell us what city you live in."
Rogue just hesitantly sat there for a moment, still looking at them, then she stood up, walked over to them, and sat down next to Chase.
"I live here," she said quietly, pointing to the map. "In Dallas."
"Cool," Zippy said smiling. "I like Dallas, it's a BIG city!"
"Yeah well, livin' in a BIG city ain't always a good thing," Rogue said, raising her eyebrows as if preparing to tell an old story. "I lived in this dodgy part of Dallas-where ya' hafta watch out for yourself, 'aight? Well, it wasn't a very safe place to live," Rogue lowered her eyes to the floor. "And I'm not too excited about goin' back-sure I'll love seein' my ma' and my little brother, Michael-but I sure as hell won't be trippin' ova' people to meet up with my ex again. Damn, he's gonna throw me in my coffin and bury me alive." Rogue stopped and took a deep breath, dreading the events to come in her future.
"It's okay-you'll manage," Chase said, putting her arm around Rogue; finally Rogue was being friendly and open again!
"Yeah, and you can always call the cops if your ex-boyfriend tries to hurt you again!" Zippy stated logically.
"You guys don't understand!" Rogue said, jumping to her feet. "If I rag on him he'll kill me!"
"Let's not think about that now," Lei said, looking around at everyone. "Lets just figure out how much it will cost for all of us to get home-I really need a shower-not to mention a cozy bed, and a decent meal."
"Yeah," Chase agreed. She got to her feet and walked back up to the ticket counter. "Excuse me," she said, immediately catching the attention of the red head. "How much would it cost to get to these places?" Chase pointed from Austin to Odessa, then to Zapata, and so on.
The occasionally glanced down at her finger moving across the map, but mainly stared at her face-and chest.
"So, how much do you think it would cost-and what kinda routes do you have?" Chase asked.
The boy was hesitant for a moment, trying to figure out what the heck she was talking about. Then he replied, "Well we have a bus that goes to Dallas then Lubbock then Sundown. We also have a bus that goes to Austin the Lockhart then San Antonio. We have one bus that goes to Wichita Falls and back. Our business has another bus that goes to Henderson then Houston. We have a bus that goes to Zapata and Yoakum, and we have a bus that goes to Odessa and back." He paused and glanced up at Chase. "The nearest one would be the one to Dallas, and that costs two-hundred bucks."
Chase's heart fell; she doubted anyone in the group had enough money. "Thank you," she said before turning and hurrying back over to the group.
"Well?" Zigzag asked her.
"The closest route is the one to Dallas, Lubbock, and Sundown," Chase replied. "But it costs like two-hundred bucks."
"What!?" Zippy cried.
"I know," Chase said disappointedly. She sat back down on the bench and rested her head in her hands.
"Wait a second," Squid said, digging in his pocket.
Chase sat up hopefully.
Squid pulled out a wade of smudged and torn cash. He quickly counted through it and looked up in a grave state. "I've only got sixty-two," he said.
"Only?" Fidget asked.
"I only have forty-three cents," Fidget said, holding the coins up.
"I've gotta hundred and fifty-six," Rogue said quietly.
Everyone stared at her.
"Really?" Armpit asked in surprise.
"Your money and Squid's put together is two hundred and eighteen dollars," Zero said quickly.
"We have enough for one ride," Chase said, raising her eyebrows.
"Yeah, but I bet we can make more on the way," Xray said optimistically.
"Yeah! Magnetic can lift her shirt up for money!" Magnet suggested.
Magnetic flushed.
"Well, should we buy the ticket?" Static asked.
"Yeah, we will buy the ticket," Chase said standing up, and with the money in hand moving back towards the ticket counter.
"You know, if these guys weren't here we wouldn't have to wear these freakin', ORANGE jump suites," Magnetic said, enjoying the attention she now got from the boys ever since she had lifted her shirt up. Magnet was practically drooling over her all the time now. Magnetic still wasn't swayed by Magnet, but she couldn't hide her glee as she loved having someone goggling at her every second.
"Well at least now we're almost to that bus stop up ahead," Xray said.
It had been miles since the members of D tent had spotted the bus station in the distance, and it had been even more miles since they had started seeing a different car pass them about every four minutes. But as they had all happily raced towards the bus station they had realized it was really far away, and that's what brought them to slowly walking along, dragging their feet as they went.
"I could really use a nice LONG shower right now," Squid grumbled.
Chase bit her lower lip; she couldn't help imagining Squid in a shower.
"Well I could use A LOT of things right now!" Magnetic said, then she started counting off on her fingers. "A heavenly shower, nice clean toilets, a nice warm bed, a change of clean clothes, a smoothie-"
"Don't talk about food," Armpit warned her. "I'm starving!"
The group was running low on supplies; meaning food and water. They only had two canteens of water left and one can of beans.
"Maybe they have food at the bus station?" Fidget said hopefully.
"Yeah right," Squid grumbled again; he really wasn't in a good mood and all he seemed to be able to do was grumble-and think about tasty Chase.
"I bet they have like a vending machine at the bus station," Lei said. "I mean, they have to!" Lei's beautiful long hair was now completely ratted and filthy and her not-so-bright pink hibiscus was askew-it seemed to REALLY bother her.
"We're almost there," Twitch gasped. Out of the entire group he had been the one who always talked the most and spent a lot of his energy, wearing himself out. But he couldn't help it. If he tried standing completely still for five minutes the nervous energy would build up inside him until finally he would burst out talking and twitching again. But everything was fine as Fidget seemed to think all his twitching was cute.
Zippy poked Chase's arm to get her attention. "You wanna race to the station?" she asked, grinning.
Chase stared at Zippy with wide, disbelieving eyes. "You know Zip," she said, shaking her head. "Sometimes I just don't understand you."
Zippy just grinned more broadly. "Come on! It would be fun!"
"Would not," Chase replied. "I'm too tired and hot and I don't like running long distances!"
"What?" Zippy cried. "Then why the heck is your name Chase? I thought you loved running!"
"I only run when I have to," Chase replied. "Anyway I thought you guys call me Chase 'cause I'm always leading people on chases?"
"I don't see you leading me on a chase right now!" Zippy said. "Oh I get it!" she said slyly, grinning again. "You're afraid you'll lose!"
"No, I know I'll lose!" Chase replied. "I'm big and tired and you're small and hyper-what are the odds?"
"Race me!" Zippy cried.
"No Zip!"
"Yes!"
"NO!"
"Yes-you big wuss!"
Chase shot a glare at Zippy. "ON YOUR MARKS-GET SET-GO!" she said very quickly before taking off at a sprint, Zippy taking off behind her.
"They're crazy," Static said shaking her head as all the rest of D tent just slowly watched Zippy and Chase get smaller in the distance.
It did Chase a whole world of good to be running again; she hadn't ran like this for months and months-not since the day before she'd arrived at Camp Lakeway. The wind rushing through her hair, the beat of her heart in time with her feet pushing off the ground as she raced along. She was almost upset when she realized the race was won, and she had reached the bus station. Panting hard she looked back for Zippy, who was just running up, gasping for breath.
"That was awesome!" Zippy cried, grinning through her heavy exhaling.
"Come on," Chase said, clutching a stitch in her side. "Lets go inside and wait for the others.
Chase and Zippy took one step into the bus station and immediately stopped. The small, pine green-painted waiting area was air-conditioned.
"Ooh Heaven is a place on Earth!" Chase cried, sinking into one of the hard benches, almost identical to the one they had all broken earlier.
The bus station was small, only occupied with a few other people who stared at Chase and Zippy as they spread out on the benches, sighing with relief and occasionally laughing with happiness. At the back of the room was a side exit door and a small dais where a young man stood behind a ticket stand. At the front of the waiting area there was no wall, so the green cement floor gradually increased into normal gray pavement where the buses would come and go. Three large buses were parked neatly in their rows as their drivers took their breaks.
Chase wrapped her arm around Zippy's shoulders, "We're almost home!" she said, followed by a crazed sort of laugh that attracted the attention of more than one other person in the waiting room.
"You guys are whack!" ZigZag said as the rest of D tent made their way into the waiting area.
Suddenly they all stopped and stared up and onward as if they could see the air that surrounded them.
"Wow!" Zero cried. "Air-conditioning!" He raced towards Zippy and to her surprise he gave her a big kiss.
"This is awesome!" Xray nearly shouted.
The people in the waiting room stared, wide-eyed at the members of D tent. It had been weird enough for them to witness two filthy, tread-worn girls stumble their way into the room but now there was a whole group of dirty, smelly, tired looking teenagers that had entered the room and started screaming with joy at the feel of the cool air.
"This is SO great!" Magnetic cried, sitting down on one of the benches opposite a meek looking man with a large suite case whose mustache hid his entire mouth.
"Yeah, this is my new favorite paradise," Lei said. Static tried to figure out how many times Lei had changed her favorite paradise since they had left Camp Green Lake.
"What are the prices?" Armpit asked.
"Huh?" Chase asked, raising her eyebrow.
"The prices for the buses," Armpit explained. "Did you guys check them out yet?"
Zippy shook her head. "You should go ask the red head at the counter with the bad acne."
"SHH! Zippy! He might hear you!" Chase giggled.
Zippy grinned sheepishly.
"You go ask him!" Armpit said, he was comfortably sitting on one of the benches, enjoying the air-conditioning.
"I'm not gonna ask him!" Zippy snapped. "You ask him Chase!"
"Noooo," Chase groaned tiredly.
"Well somebody has to ask him," Lei said, looking around at everyone.
"I'm not!" Magnetic said.
"What, you afraid his zits are contagious!" Magnet laughed; sure he thought Magnetic was a total babe now, but he was still a rowdy Hispanic teenager at heart.
Magnetic shot him a dirty glare but couldn't help smiling a little.
"One of you guys has to ask him, I'm not going to," Fidget said with a yawn, she was laying across one of the benches, her head resting against Twitch's arm.
"I'll ask him," Squid groaned, jumping to his feet and making his way towards the ticket booth. "Ooh! I'll ask him too!" Chase said quickly, jumping to her feet and hurrying after Squid. Zippy and Zero smiled at each other, everyone else furrowed their brow in utter confusion.
"Hey man," Squid said as he approached the counter. "How much is a ticket to-to..." He stopped. He had no idea where they were trying to get-let alone where they were now. "Wait," he said, and he turned around to Chase. "Where are we going?" he asked.
Chase shrugged. "How should I know?"
"Well I don't know either!" Squid said.
"Hey guys," Chase called over to the others across the room. "Where are we going?"
But all the other members of D tent just shrugged their shoulders and mumbled "Idno".
Chase thought for a moment then walked up to the ticket booth. "Excuse me," she said. "Do you have a map I could see, please?"
The boy behind the counter just stared at Chase with a kind of dreamy look across his face. With the location of his job he probably didn't get to see that many pretty teenage girls.
But it was making Squid a little jealous so he rapped on the counter top with his fist. "Hello? She asked for a map! Do you have one or not?"
The boy jumped and stared at Squid in a rather frightened way. "Yes Sir," he said, pulling a map off a shelf behind him. "I have a map." Then he turned back to Chase and said in a softer tone, "Here you go, ma'am."
Chase took the map and smiled. "Thank you," she said before turning away and walking back over to the others.
As Squid turned to leave he glared at the boy in a menacing sort of way. The boy seemed to shrink back with fear as he smiled his meek "business man" smile.
"So, where are we going first?" Chase asked.
The others looked at the map then just shrugged their shoulders again.
"It all depends on who wants to go home first," Chase said quietly. She and all the others had been dreading this moment since they had all reached the road.
Zippy looked over at Zero whose face was glum. Again the question of where he was going to live when they all got home popped into her mind. What were they going to do? Just drop him off at Laney Park and drive away?
"Lets not think about where we're going first," Lei said. "Lets just worry about where we are for now."
"You are here," Fidget said, pointing at a little star on the map conveniently labeled, 'You are here.'
"Wow, we're really far away from any cities," X-Ray said as he studied the map.
"I live there," Twitch said, pointing out Houston on the map.
"Oh," Fidget said slowly. "I live in Wichita Falls." She pointed to it on the map and glumly traced it's distance from Houston.
"I live in Austin," Armpit said.
"I live in San Antonio," Magnet contributed.
"I live in Sundown!" Magnetic said proudly, pointing to sundown on the map. "I live in this REALLY nice neighborhood, in this really nice house-"
"You live close to X-Ray," Armpit said, smiling.
Magnetic wrinkled her nose.
"I live in Odessa," Chase and Zippy said in unison. Then they turned and stared at each other.
"YOU DO!?" Chase asked excitedly.
"YEAH!" Zippy cried. "Oh my god! This is awesome! I was worried we lived REALLY far away from each other! But! BUT!" Zippy hugged Chase who looked very surprised.
"Well that's real great for you guys," Squid said. "But I live on the other side of Texas."
Chase stopped squealing with delight. "Where do you live?" she asked quietly.
"In Henderson," Squid replied, pointing to a small dot on the map labeled HENDERSON.
"I live in Yoakum," Zigzag said. Then he turned to Static who was sitting beside him, "Where do you live?"
"Zapata," Static replied.
"Ha-your name is Static-you live in ZAPata-and you like electricity!" Twitch said with a laugh.
"Where do you live, Lei?" Armpit asked.
"In Lockhart," Lei replied. "And Hawaii."
"We live KINDA close," Armpit shrugging. "Or at least that's how it seems on the map."
"Where do YOU live Rogue?" X-Ray asked.
Rogue who was sitting far away from the group, her arms folded in her lap and her smudged face in a scowl, looked up.
"Huh? Where do you live?" Xray repeated.
"Yeah Rogue," Chase said, "come on over here and tell us what city you live in."
Rogue just hesitantly sat there for a moment, still looking at them, then she stood up, walked over to them, and sat down next to Chase.
"I live here," she said quietly, pointing to the map. "In Dallas."
"Cool," Zippy said smiling. "I like Dallas, it's a BIG city!"
"Yeah well, livin' in a BIG city ain't always a good thing," Rogue said, raising her eyebrows as if preparing to tell an old story. "I lived in this dodgy part of Dallas-where ya' hafta watch out for yourself, 'aight? Well, it wasn't a very safe place to live," Rogue lowered her eyes to the floor. "And I'm not too excited about goin' back-sure I'll love seein' my ma' and my little brother, Michael-but I sure as hell won't be trippin' ova' people to meet up with my ex again. Damn, he's gonna throw me in my coffin and bury me alive." Rogue stopped and took a deep breath, dreading the events to come in her future.
"It's okay-you'll manage," Chase said, putting her arm around Rogue; finally Rogue was being friendly and open again!
"Yeah, and you can always call the cops if your ex-boyfriend tries to hurt you again!" Zippy stated logically.
"You guys don't understand!" Rogue said, jumping to her feet. "If I rag on him he'll kill me!"
"Let's not think about that now," Lei said, looking around at everyone. "Lets just figure out how much it will cost for all of us to get home-I really need a shower-not to mention a cozy bed, and a decent meal."
"Yeah," Chase agreed. She got to her feet and walked back up to the ticket counter. "Excuse me," she said, immediately catching the attention of the red head. "How much would it cost to get to these places?" Chase pointed from Austin to Odessa, then to Zapata, and so on.
The occasionally glanced down at her finger moving across the map, but mainly stared at her face-and chest.
"So, how much do you think it would cost-and what kinda routes do you have?" Chase asked.
The boy was hesitant for a moment, trying to figure out what the heck she was talking about. Then he replied, "Well we have a bus that goes to Dallas then Lubbock then Sundown. We also have a bus that goes to Austin the Lockhart then San Antonio. We have one bus that goes to Wichita Falls and back. Our business has another bus that goes to Henderson then Houston. We have a bus that goes to Zapata and Yoakum, and we have a bus that goes to Odessa and back." He paused and glanced up at Chase. "The nearest one would be the one to Dallas, and that costs two-hundred bucks."
Chase's heart fell; she doubted anyone in the group had enough money. "Thank you," she said before turning and hurrying back over to the group.
"Well?" Zigzag asked her.
"The closest route is the one to Dallas, Lubbock, and Sundown," Chase replied. "But it costs like two-hundred bucks."
"What!?" Zippy cried.
"I know," Chase said disappointedly. She sat back down on the bench and rested her head in her hands.
"Wait a second," Squid said, digging in his pocket.
Chase sat up hopefully.
Squid pulled out a wade of smudged and torn cash. He quickly counted through it and looked up in a grave state. "I've only got sixty-two," he said.
"Only?" Fidget asked.
"I only have forty-three cents," Fidget said, holding the coins up.
"I've gotta hundred and fifty-six," Rogue said quietly.
Everyone stared at her.
"Really?" Armpit asked in surprise.
"Your money and Squid's put together is two hundred and eighteen dollars," Zero said quickly.
"We have enough for one ride," Chase said, raising her eyebrows.
"Yeah, but I bet we can make more on the way," Xray said optimistically.
"Yeah! Magnetic can lift her shirt up for money!" Magnet suggested.
Magnetic flushed.
"Well, should we buy the ticket?" Static asked.
"Yeah, we will buy the ticket," Chase said standing up, and with the money in hand moving back towards the ticket counter.