Ok, for those of you that knew how close I was to canning this story altogether you may be surprised at the 'quickness' of this update. After your reviews asking me to continue I have obviously reconsidered and am writing again. Thank you especially to LoVe23, KeitaWolf, Mrs.Williamthebloody and whyshouldicare1 – without whom this chapter would not have been written. You all gave me the reality check that I needed as well as helped me to figure out why no one had reviewed after asking me to write more. I hope that this chapter lives up to what you all seem to expect and if it doesn't I hope that you'll let me know why and help me to improve it – oh and yeah I know it's shorter than the other chapters but I wanted to post it soon so that I could include this authors note and apologise to you all for my so called "flakiness". It won't happen again an I'll write this story till the end or until you all get sick or it (which ever happens first lol). Ok, enough from me – on with the story!
'Tristan is a good driver.' Paris muttered to herself as the van swerved wildly around another corner. She'd been in a car with him before and knew he was probably the best driver there, but that didn't stop her panicking every time the van tilted dangerously.
"Could you slow down please?" Rory called, saving Paris from having to ask. "The last thing we need right now is to crash."
"We're not going to crash." Tristan assured her. "So, does anyone have a plan yet? I mean we got out of the house but we can't just drive forever."
"We drive till we get to a town, where we will go straight to the nearest police station and report everything." Paris answered immediately.
"We've been driving for ages and we've yet to see any sign of civilisation." Rory pointed out, "Do you know where we are?"
"No idea, but this road has to go somewhere right?"
"But what if we run out of petrol before we get where the road goes?"
"Honestly Rory, enough with the what ifs, we're going to be fine now."
"Can you guarantee that Gellar?" Jake turned around in his seat next to Tristan.
"Well no…but we need to think positively. I mean we escaped from Tom and Al so even if we do run out of petrol or something of the sort then we'll find a way to fix it." Paris scowled at him.
"Like what? Inventing the magical van that runs on happy thoughts?"
"Dude, don't provoke her." Tristan sighed, "I'm sick of the fighting."
"You're just scared she's gonna turn on you next." Jake taunted his friend. Tristan didn't reply, choosing to instead concentrate on the road he was meant to be navigating.
"Uh guys…" Rory spoke hesitantly a moment later. "What's this?"
"Wha-" Paris cut herself off mid-word when she saw what Rory was holding. The black satchel was instantly recognisable.
"Holy crap." Jake held out his hand for the bag. When Rory passed it to him, he quickly opened it. "It's full."
"Of money?" Tristan glanced sideways at him.
"Yeah." Jake nodded, "We're rich."
"It's not real." Rory reminded him.
"We're not keeping it." Paris glared at the other occupants of the van, "It's not ours and it's not legal. We'll give it to the cops when we get there."
No one spoke for a long time after that. Paris and Rory eventually dozed off in the back, making up for the sleep they'd missed the previous night. Tristan drove faster. Without the girls awake to worry about it, he pushed the accelerator as far as it would go and tried to leave all his problems in the dust.
Some time later Jake sat up straight and pointed to a glint in the distance,
"Tris…can you see-"
"Yeah." Tristan cut him off, "I saw it about 10 minutes ago. I think it's a town."
Now that they knew they had help nearby, both boys relaxed considerably. It took just over a further 15 minutes to reach the outskirts of the city.
"Dude, pull up over there." Jake pointed to a small petrol station.
"What? Why?." Tristan frowned.
"Coz I haven't seen a toilet in the last 18 hours, that's why."
"Can't you just wait till we get to the police station?"
"No, I need to go now." Jake insisted, "Pull up here."
"Paris will have a fit."
"Paris won't know. I'll be two secs, in and out, she's asleep so she'll never know."
"Alright." Tristan caved, "I might get something to eat while we're here."
After parking the van, they slowly stepped out onto the footpath, careful not to wake the sleeping girls.
"Don't be long." Tristan warned before heading into the shop.
The homeless guy on the footpath seemed to see right through Tristan's dirty clothes to the rich kid he was underneath. They stared at him, holding out their hands for money that he couldn't give even if he wanted to. For all his breeding and the strictness of his proper upbringing, he was nothing without his father's money. Money that he didn't currently have. The accusing glares followed him into the store and Tristan knew exactly what they were thinking. Nevertheless it felt good to be back amongst society, even if it wasn't the type of society that he was used to. The shop didn't have much in the way of food. Mostly it was parts and accessories for cars, however near the counter there was a small stand of candy bars. As Tristan browsed through the selection, he felt eyes burning into him. Glancing up he found the shop assistant staring at him curiously, Tristan had no recollection of ever seeing the girl before so he just smiled politely and returned his attention to the candy.
"Uh, I'll just take these two." He eventually made his choice and looked up again.
"Ok." The girl smiled, still looking at him strangely, "Have I seen you before?"
"Uh…I really don't think so." Tristan shook his head.
"Yes I have!" she exclaimed, recognition filling her eyes, "You're the guy off the TV."
"The TV?" Tristan frowned, "Uh, no I think you have the wrong person."
"No, I'm sure it was you. You've been on all day." She insisted. Mounted on the wall behind the counter was a TV. Picking up the remote the girl turned it on and changed to the 24 hour news channel. What Tristan saw made him drop the candy without another thought.
"…the four teenagers have been identified as Jake Mahoney, Paris Gellar and Tristan DuGrey of Hartford and Lorelai 'Rory' Gilmore of Stars Hollow." The news reader was saying as each of their pictures flashed across the screen before being replaced with an image of a quiet street, "They were last seen leaving this downtown Hartford pub with Albert Buchanan and Thomas Lee, driving a green 1987 Ford van, licence plate; TF1437. Police have issued warrants for all six members of the gang who are being described as armed and dangerous. We go now to Sarah Poynter who is live in Hartford with a witness at the scene…Sarah?"
Tristan's stomach rose higher and higher as his heart clenched tighter and tighter. His eyes glued to the screen he watched it change,
"Yes, Kate, I'm here with Robert Judd. Robert you claim to have been in the bar when the pick up took place?"
"Yeah." The guy nodded. "I was there. The kids were just mucking about like they didn't have a care in the world, then those two brutes came in, showed them the money and they all left together."
"What!" Tristan exclaimed as he finally recognised the man, "But he was asleep! How would he know what happened?"
Realising he'd spoken out loud, Tristan glanced down at the assistant who was by now extremely pale,
"I'm sorry Sir but I'm gonna have to call the cops now." She smiled apologetically as she reached for the phone.
"No!" Tristan grabbed her arm. "Please, you really don't want to do that."
"Are you threatening me?" she fought to free her arm from his grip.
"What? Oh, no. Look I'm sorry but please don't call the cops." He begged after letting her go.
"I have to. There's a warrant out for you…they say you're dangerous." She was shaking now.
"Do I look dangerous?" Tristan held his arms away from his body. Big mistake, he realised too late as his action revealed the butt of the gun he'd tucked into his pants when he'd confiscated it off Jake earlier.
"Omigod!" the girl's hands flew to the phone and before Tristan could move she'd dialled the emergency number. Cursing loudly Tristan did the first thing that came to mind; he ran. He burst through the door onto the footpath as Jake came around the side of the building.
"You look like you've seen a ghost." He laughed as Tristan looked around wildly.
"We have to go."
"What? What's the rush?"
"I'll explain in the van, we just have to go…now!" he yelled when Jake didn't follow his lead across the car park.