A Weekend in Seattle
Day 1/ Part 2
May 9, 2008
A cloud of fog surrounded our car, and I woke up to the noise of my dad pulling through the pay toll. He talked briefly to the person at the toll, a red headed man with a British accent, and dropped his coins into the paying place. Our car kept going, the blue-grey floor vibrating as the rest of the car crept forward. I yawned sleepily and checked my watch. It was 1:45 pm. The strap of my seatbelt made me fidget, causing a sleeping Morgan to kick me in the shin. At least, I was pretty sure she was sleeping. I rested my head on my window, only to draw back sharply as ice-cold condensation pressed against my cheek. My mother was fidgeting with a deck of cards in the front seat.
It had not gone well the first few minutes before I fell asleep. Mom was yelling at me, Morgan and Kelsi were fighting, and Dad. Well, he zoned out the first thirty seconds. Anyways, she kept telling me he wasn't right, (he being Logan, if you haven't guessed) and the cards never lie, and so on. It got old the first 10 times she said it. Moreover, I had been sleeping since.
I couldn't tell what state we were in, let alone which city. My sense of direction had completely faltered in the 5 hours I had been asleep. There were no signs, just the average McDonalds and Dunkin Doughnuts and the occasional Wal-Mart. There were palm trees, which told me I was definitely still in California. Besides, it takes 12 hours to get from PCA to Seattle, and it had been only five. I groaned. The trip was less than half over.
The car squeaked to a stop. I looked up, hoping my calculations were wrong and we were actually there, but it was just a red light. My mom turned around in her seat and examined me. I became self-conscious and closed my eyes. Not that I thought it would help, because I had gotten over the whole 'If I close my eyes nobody will see me' thing when I was six. I opened my eyes to see her eyes move up and down my body, as if she were trying to remember every last piece of information on one of her court cases. (She's a lawyer, too. The only reason I didn't mention it is because nobody really 'needs her services' anymore.) She shook her head in frustration and returned her focus to the front, where the fire truck red of the stoplight was turning to lime green. The sudden stop made Morgan and Kelsi drift out of their sleep. Now, fully awake, they were bickering again.
Morgan and Kelsi are twins. They both have curly dark brown hair and bright blue eyes. They are both 10 years old, and I'm pretty sure they both hate me. I mean, I don't think they hated me before I went to PCA, because they were only 6. We used to get along, but I don't know what happened. Lately, I feel likes there's been a wall between us. They're lucky, growing up with someone close to their age. They are lucky mom and dad actually like them. But they don't go to PCA, so that's one thing I know I have. But their good luck doesn't bother me. Neither does the fact that they're bound to be famous singers by next year. I never really cared about that stuff, but I was sure my parents did.
We stopped at a drive in and I got chicken fingers. I was sure I wasn't going to eat them, because although I love them, I wasn't very hungry. And even if I was hungry, who eats chicken fingers right when they get up in the morning? Answer that, and I'll be convinced. Convinced of what? I have no clue. I took a sip of the orange juice I ordered and fished through my bright blue backpack. I asked for make-up work, forgetting I would be gone during the weekend, and I was given the work for next week. I figure I get it done now, and I can relax more when I get back to PCA. Wow, I was already thinking of that, and I haven't even been home yet. I had algebra, so I took out my notebook and started to do the first problem.
1. x2 + x + -3.75 0
My pencil lay flat on the paper, my eyes focused on the math I used to love. I was bored out of my brain. I found my self unconsciously doodling in the margins of my blue lined paper. When I looked up, I saw almost 3 whole hours had gone by. I guess I must have spaced out, because I had rainbows, hearts, and little people and animals covering my paper. It looked like a years worth of thoughts out on one paper. I was going absolutely nowhere with this work. I kept getting distracted. In addition, we were in my favorite city in California, Oakland. I could see the highways, gracefully intertwined. Cars of every color were on the road, and we were just one in a million in a sea of fish, or, cars if you don't like my comparison. I could see the ocean from where we were, and it made me feel homesick. No, let me correct myself when I say PCA sick. I miss PCA. Our car rumbled along, and I could hear the occasional blare of music from other cars, whose owners apparently wanted to make themselves go def.
Anyway, we were just driving along through Oakland. I kept looking out to the ocean. Although I couldn't smell the saltiness of the ocean, I knew it was there. Just like I knew my friend's would be waiting for me on the other side on May 11, 2008. I'm already counting down the days.