Cruising down a deserted backroad in the scorching June heat, Peyton Sawyer, Haley James, and Brooke Davis couldn't have been having a better day.
"Ugh, this is amazing!" Yelled Haley excitedly as she threw her arms up in the air.
"Definitely," agreed Peyton from her position in the passenger seat beside Brooke, who was driving. "It definitely beats taking exams in stuffy classrooms."
It was true, the few past weeks all the girls had been doing was cramming for exams not taking a moment to relax. Tension had been running high in the apartment and the girl's had been at each other's throats for weeks. To all of them, it felt nice to just feel the wind in their hair and be able to relax for a change.
"Well, girls," sighed Haley happily, "exams are over and we are free for the entire summer."
"Damn straight we are," nodded Brooke in agreement as she flipped the static-filled radio station. But, no mater how many times she changed it, all she could find was ear piercing static. "Literally none of the stations are coming in."
Peyton rolled eyes playfully and lightly nudged Brooke's shoulder with her fist. "Of course they're not. We're in the middle of nowhere if you haven't noticed, B. Davis."
Sure enough, as far as the eye could see was just trees, trees, and more trees. The forest was so thick that all the girls could see was the road in front of them and woods encasing the road on either side.
"Yeah," nodded Haley as her eyes narrowed in suspicion, "I thought you said that we weren't lost."
"We're not," Brooke insisted, brushing off Haley's worries with a wave of her hand. "I told you, I just took a shortcut. It'll get us there twenty-five minutes sooner than the main roads would."
"Whatever you say," Haley replied as she picked up a map that had been discarded onto the floor of the car. She opened it and examined the image. "But nowhere on here do I see this road."
"That's because backroads aren't on maps silly," Brooke chuckled at her as they cruised down the road.
"I'm pretty sure they are, Brooke," Peyton added to the conversation as she slid her sunglasses off of her eyes and settled them into the mass of curls on her head.
"Whatever," shrugged Brooke. "Don't worry your little heads off, I'll get us there, I promise."
About ten minutes later, the girls were driving down the desolate road in comfortable silence, as the radio had since been turned off.
Suddenly the girls shrieked as the car jolted and shook. Brooke, from her position in the drivers seat, pulled over quickly to the side of the dirt road and put the car into park.
"What the actual hell was that?" Asked Peyton while pushing her disheveled curls out of her face and picking up her sunglasses that had fallen into her lap.
"Uh, I-I don't know," Brooke stuttered as she peered over the side of the convertible. When she couldn't see, she unbuckled and leaned halfway out the car, and then she spotted the problem. "Damn it!"
"What?" Asked Haley wearily as her head fell back to lay on the headrest. "What's wrong?"
"We have a flat tire," Brooke sighed while settling back into the car and dropping her head onto the steering wheel defeatedly.
"That's fine," Haley dismissed the problem with a wave of her hand as she unbuckled and stepped out of the convertible. "My dad taught me and all of my siblings how to change a flat when we were little. Just get your jack and a spare out of the trunk and I'll have us back on the road in no time."
"Jack?" Brooke asked with her brows furrowed in confusion as she raised her head to look at Haley. "Who the hell is Jack and why would he be in my trunk?"
Haley sighed. "No, Brooke, a jack is what lifts the car up so the tire can be changed."
"Oh," Brooke nodded in understanding and then frowned. "Well, I don't have one of those... or a spare tire."
"What?!" Exclaimed Peyton as she glared at her brunette friend. "You've gotta be kidding me, Brooke! You don't even have a spare tire in the trunk or something?"
"No!" Brooke yelled back, sheepishly. "I didn't think about that."
"God you're so idiotic sometimes, I don't even understand how you manage to keep yourself alive," groaned Peyton as she buried her face into the palms of her hands in frustration.
Haley shook her head in disbelief as she crossed her arms over her chest. "You didn't think that we'd possibly need a spare tire? On a road trip nearly all the way across the country?"
"Stop yelling at me!" Shrieked Brooke defensively.
"I'm not yelling!" Haley shot back, her voice raising unintentionally as she became more and more frustrated.
"You are now!"
"Only because you made me!"
"Ladies!" Peyton yelled to be heard over the argument as she stepped out of the car along with Brooke. "You're both yelling, now get back into your corners before Mama Peyton KO's the both of you!"
"Okay, you're right, Peyton," Haley sighed as she frustratedly ran a hand through her hair. "Let's just call someone to tow it, or fix it, or something."
She pulled her cellphone out of her back pocket, only to see that she had no service. "Damnit, no bars. What about you two?"
Peyton and Brooke both looked at their phones to see that they, as well, had no service and couldn't call anybody for help.
"Why does this happen to us?" Brooke groaned. "I've been good all my life! I've never lied or stolen, so why me?"
"Stop being so overdramatic Brookie," Peyton chuckled. "We'll be fine. Plus I'm pretty positive that I remember you stealing lipgloss from that 'Claire's' back home in the eighth grade."
Just as Brooke went to retort, Haley pointed to a sign up ahead and said, "look, that sign says that the next gas station is a few miles up ahead. We'll just hike up there and call a tow truck, then we can call the boys and tell them that we'll be later than we expected."
"Fine, okay," Brooke relented. "You're right."
She then, hopped into the convertible, put up the roof, turned the engine off and then pocketed the keys.
She got back out of the vehicle, and turned to her two sisters in all but blood. "What are we waiting for, ladies?"
They then began their journey down the dirt road and to the gas station that seemed hundreds of miles away.
