AN: BIGGERimagination didn't guess the two references in the last chapter, so those are still up for grabs.
There are three in this chapter, and they're all in the last POV section.
FIVE CHAPTERS IN ONE DAY!
I'm a rockstar.
Nick's POV
"Explain to me again why it is you need to go to Sacramento?" I asked my daughter, standing in front of me in crazy neon clothes, holding her iPod. It's name is o0, but it's pronounced Jared. Randomness.
"Well, Kaylee's sister and her sister's friend go to this college where there's this indie band that's only playing in Sacramento, and we met the band at camp in Santa Cruz, and they gave us free tickets to their concert, and they're expecting us, now. So really, we have to go."
"Kaylee doesn't have a sister."
"Did I say Kaylee? I mean Molly. So, she's expecting us, now. So we really have to go."
"Oh, you don't have to go anywhere. This sounds extremely fishy, young lady. How do you know all this? You haven't talked to Molly OR Kaylee for the past three weeks! Besides! Your school starts in two weeks!"
"Dad. I can pay for everything on my own. I have money for the ticket. We'd stay with Molly's sister. So everything would work out."
I groaned and ran my fingers through my hand. I couldn't deny her much longer. She would be getting out of the house.
"If you can make this work, Alena, then I will think about it. But you need to write me up a schedule of where you'll be staying the entire time you're there, and what you'll be doing, and how much everything will cost."
I was shoved a few feet back by the momentum of my daughter hugging me around the midriff. "Thank you, Daddy! Thank you thank you thank you!" she ran off, still yelling 'thank you'.
All of this because I dropped her once when she was a baby.
Alena's POV
OH. MY. HOLY JESUS. Dad said that I can go to Sacramento if I write up a schedule. So I'm doing that now. I also had to call Molly and Kaylee to get them to ask their parents if they can go, too. I'll need some reality to my plan. And we did meet an indie band from Sacramento. Maybe we'll meet up with them when we get there.
My phone rang from my bed and I snatched it up.
"Hello?" I asked distractedly, pulling up Word on my PC in my room.
"Len? Let me connect this with Molls." There was some beeping and clicking as Kaylee maneuvered around on her phone. "There."
"Alena present."
"Molly here!"
"And I'm Kaylee, I'll be your hostess this evening!"
"So? What's the verdict?" I asked tenuously. There was a pause on the other line. "Crap, guys! I need to go! Caleb paid for my fucking plane tic—"
"WE CAN GO!" they yelled simultaneously.
"Don't ever do that to me again!" I yelled into my phone. "Okay, well, Molls, call your sister and see if you guys can stay there. I'll see about getting plan tickets for you two. I have enough money saved I can pay for a couple seats by the bathroom door or something."
"Len, we'll pay for our own tickets," said Kaylee.
"And I already asked my sister. We can crash there, but there's only room for us two, so you'll have to stay with Caleb. And there's a flight from Sacramento to Vegas four days from the date on your ticket, so we'll be home before school starts again!"
I screamed into my phone. "This might just work!" I heard my dad yelling up the stairs and quickly said goodbye to my friends and wrote up a schedule with shaking hands.
Sara's POV
Alena's out of her awkward funk. She's back to her normal screaming self. She's going to California again. Apparently Nick said she could go before even asking me. Great. She has school two days after she'll be getting back. But at least she'll be out of the house and with her friends.
Meanwhile, I've had to clean the entire refrigerator with Lysol because I kept smelling something disgusting from inside. And it still smells bad in here.
"Mom? Can you take me to buy a new pair of pants and some new clothes? All mine are about three inches too short. It's been a long time since I've actually worn pants."
We both looked at each other, smirks on our faces. We burst out laughing, and I looked at her.
"It's nice to have you back, Alena."
"It isn't nice to be back, Mom." I looked at her questioningly. "Not yet."
Alena's POV
We were sitting on the plane again. It was just like that time before band camp. It seems like ages ago, but really, it hasn't even been two months. I gripped Kaylee's and Molly's wrists.
"You know, my dad told me that planes want to stay in the air," said Kaylee.
"Yeah. Once that 'fasten seat belt' sign goes off, we'll be in the clear," said Molly, tapping her feet anxiously. There was some turbulence, and we were forced back in our seats as the plane took off.
"Not. Going. Off," I said slowly.
"It will. It'll ding when we're fine."
"The chance of a plane actually going down are something like one in a million. Maybe even a billion."
"It's. Not. Dinging."
We sat in silence for a few seconds.
ding
