Whoo! That was a long chapter. Let's see if we can get this chapter out a little faster. Other than the beginning of the chapter I don't know what's going to happen.

BTW, I have a Twitter if you want to look me up and send art my way. Or just bother me a lot. Look me up at White Thunder ThunderingWhite. Look for the picture of the horse.

Chapter 16 – From Far Away to Here

I woke up in a cold sweat, trembling with fear. I didn't get it. Usually when I was with my friends my nightmares would cease to haunt me. Shivering, I sat up and looked around. Ike was still sound asleep beside me, a small smile on his face. Michael and Henrietta appeared unbothered as well.

"Firkle?" a voice said behind me, startling me slightly. I turned around to see Pete staring at me through the darkness. "What's wrong? Are you all right?"

I blinked at him with wide eyes. Other than Henrietta, neither of my friends knew I suffered from nightmares. I took in a shuddering breath and tried to calm myself.

"Y-Yeah," I lied, "I was just… startled is all. I forgot I had two people sleeping next to me. That's all." Even in the darkness I could tell he didn't believe me. But I didn't want to tell him the truth about my nightmares.

"Are you sure you're ok?" he asked again. I sighed.

"Honestly, I could really use a smoke right now," I admitted. Pete gave me a small smile.

"That's good," he said, "Because I could use one myself." As quietly as we could, the two of us crawled out of the bed and left the room. We stole down the hallway and made our way to the elevators.

"You grabbed a room key, right?" I asked him as we headed down.

"Of course I did," Pete answered, holding it up.

We made it to the ground floor then left the hotel. We found a nice dark corner to lean against before Pete pulled out his cigarettes and handed one to me. He lit it for me and I took a long drag before blowing it out. Instantly, I started to feel better.

"Thanks, Pete," I said. He smiled down at me.

"No problem," he replied, blowing out his own smoke.

We were silent as we smoked our cigarettes. I started to get lost in my own thoughts after a while so I didn't notice at first when Pete turned to me.

"So, what's up with you and Ike?" he suddenly wondered. I started coughing on my smoke.

"What do you mean?" I questioned when I regained my breath.

"You've been spending a lot of time with him recently," Pete noted, "I was rather surprised when you asked us if he could come with us on this trip. I find it a little strange that he's been getting you to do things you would normally never do."

I looked down at the ground. "It's nothing," I insisted, "He's just someone to hang out with. I don't have anyone my age that tolerates me besides him. Besides, he helps me with my homework, so what's the big deal?"

Pete stared at me for a long moment before sighing. "Sorry," he said, "I just wanted to make sure he wasn't…" He paused and I looked at him.

"Wasn't what?"

"Nothing," he replied, "Forget about it."

I stared at him, confused, but said nothing. We eventually finished smoking and headed back upstairs to the room. As we rode the elevator up, Pete looked at me.

"Feeling better?" he asked me.

"Yeah," I sighed with relief, "Thanks Pete. I really needed that. I was just feeling so anxious."

We made it back to the room and quietly snuck in, careful not to wake anyone. Luckily, the other three were still asleep and didn't seem to have noticed that we left. I slid into the bed next to Ike and Pete laid down next to me, lightly pressing against me.

I let out a soft breath and closed my eyes, falling to sleep within a few minutes.

…

When I woke up the next morning, I was completely smooshed between Ike and Pete. Growling slightly, I pushed them both away from me, needing air. I sat up as Ike gave me a sheepish grin.

"Good morning, Firkle," he greeted. I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"Morning, Ike," I murmured, "Sleep well? You seemed to." He blushed slightly.

"Sorry," he apologized, "It was, ah, really cold last night."

"Well, I did warn you that we keep the room cold," I told him, "You can't blame me for not being prepared."

"Yeah, but I didn't know how freezing you guys liked to keep it!" he exclaimed, "I had to get up during the night to put my shoes back on because I thought my toes were going to get frostbite!"

"You're over-exaggerating," I dismissed with a quick flick of my eyes.

"Maybe, but you get my point." He got up and grabbed some clothes from his bag. "I'm gonna take a shower and warm myself up," he informed me.

"All right. I'm gonna turn up the temperature to wake up these lumps," I said, indicating my still sleeping friends, including Pete, who had gone back to bed.

Normally we all slept until noon or later. But we needed to get up and get going and I knew my friends (as well as myself). We could not sleep at all if the room was above a certain temperature, so I went over to the thermostat and turned it up. Then I went to the fan and chanced it from AC to heat. They would be awake in a few minutes.

Sure enough, after the roaring of the heat turning on, a couple of minutes later the three of them began to stir. I sat, cross-legged on the bed, watching as they started shifting and getting irritated, and I wondered who would wake up first.

It was Henrietta, surprisingly. Grumbling loudly, she rolled over from where she had been practically crushing Michael and sat up. She groaned and rubbed her eyes.

"Urgh, you turned the temp up, didn't you, Firkle?" she mumbled.

"Yes, I did!" I answered proudly.

"You little bastard," she groaned.

At that moment, Ike came out of the bathroom, freshly showered and all dressed, letting more steam and heat into the room. Apparently that was too much for Michael and Pete.

"Guh. That's it. Next time we're getting separate hotel rooms," Michael grumbled.

"If we did that you guys wouldn't get up until like, dinner time," I pointed out.

"No, we wouldn't!" Pete argued, "Hunger would wake us up well before that!"

Ike walked over and plopped down on the bed next to me. "So, are we getting breakfast before we leave?" he asked.

"I sure hope so," Henrietta replied, "I'm not driving on an empty stomach. I need meat."

"You always need meat," Pete pointed out. Henrietta cast a glare at him.

"Don't test me, boy," she growled at him, "Or you're going to be my breakfast."

"Speaking of which, are we eating here or looking for somewhere else to eat?" I inquired. Henrietta shrugged.

"I guess here is good," she responded, "I don't feel like wandering around looking for a place to get food."

With that, we packed up all of our stuff and made our way down to the lobby. Thankfully they were still serving breakfast and there was plenty of food left, so we found a place to sit away from the other guests and grabbed a plate of food.

Despite Michael having found like the cheapest hotel we could afford, the food was actually pretty good. Henrietta had her plate piled high with every kind of meat available because she's insane. Ike, who sat beside me, had a raisin bagel and I had to resist the urge to call him a weirdo. I had a muffin. Michael said I should have more to eat but I didn't want to. I did sneak some ham off of Henrietta's plate when she wasn't look, though.

When we were finished eating, we packed up the truck and got back on the road. Again, I sat between Ike and Pete and because of our bags of books it made it even more cramped than before. I decided to start reading Dracula to distract myself from how uneasy I was.

Soon we stopped at one of those rest points because Henrietta "Tiny Bladder" Biggle had to pee. It was one of those combination rest stops/restaurants/giftshops. Which meant we could all relieve ourselves and get snacks while we were here. As well as getting some bags of chips and other snacks, I decided to also get a burger since I didn't eat much for breakfast. When I got back to the truck with my food, Michael was there waiting for everyone else. He sighed when he saw me.

"Really Firkle?" he asked, "You know, you wouldn't need all of that if you had just eaten more at breakfast."

"Don't judge me," I grumbled as I got back in the truck. I couldn't actually hear Michael let out an annoyed sigh or see him roll his eyes, but I know he did it.

A few minutes later the others got back and we were on the road again. I opened my burger and took off the top bun. "Here, Ike, take these pickles," I instructed, handing them to him, "I don't want them."

I also pulled off the large onion and gave that to Pete. The cheese had to go too. And that's when I got a strange look from Pete.

"Why did you order a cheeseburger if you were just going to take off the cheese?" he wondered, "Why not order a plain hamburger?"

"Because fuck you, that's why," I muttered, taking a bite of my burger. And then as soon as I finished my burger, I fell asleep leaning against Pete.

…

When I woke up again we just outside of South Park and Henrietta was blasting the song "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on the radio. I sat up and noticed Ike plugging his ears, likely from how loud she had the volume up. I smirked at him. Wimp.

The song ended and Henrietta turned the music off. With a silent sigh of relief, Ike took his fingers out of his ears.

"You know, friend of Firkle, you could have told me that the music was too loud," Henrietta pointed out, "I would have turned it down."

"Um, actually I did ask you to turn it down," Ike murmured, blushing, "But you couldn't hear me." Then I heard him mutter under his breath, "And I have a name."

"Oh. Well, I feel silly," said Henrietta.

"Should we drop you off at your house?" Michael asked him.

"Um, sure," Ike replied, "My mom will probably want me home soon. She always worries about me, even when she knows where I am."

"Wish I knew what it was like to have a mom like that," I hissed.

"Same," Henrietta agreed. After her parents realized they couldn't change or control her, Henrietta's parents sort of stopped caring what she did. Which was nice for freedom, but it made Henrietta think that they never really cared about her in the first place, much like my parents.

We pulled up in front of Ike's house and he hopped out of the truck with his bag of books. I decided to get out with him to help him get his overnight bag from the back. When he had everything, he turned to the truck.

"Thanks for inviting me along this weekend," he said to us, "I had a lot of fun and it's been a while since my mom let me leave town."

"No problem, little man," Michael called from the passenger seat, "Some of us know what it's like to have overbearing parents."

I gave a half wave good-bye to Ike before we drove to Michael and Pete's dorm room to hang out for the rest of the day.

I'm gonna end the chapter here. Next chapter something different will happen, but I do know what will happen. Mostly. Anyway, please leave a comment, stay safe, and wash your hands!