Spring Fever
Chapter 3: Attention, slippery road
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Notes: From Adam’s point of view.
Well, this
was just peachy. After a night listening to Luis’s depressed babbling, Adam
wasn’t too happy about the fact that he had to drive.
Charlie had
convinced him to do it when they ran into each other at breakfast. Charlie was
having a headache after sharing room with Cecilia and said that if Adam didn’t
drive, there would be a car-accident before the day was over.
Adam had
changed the seating arrangements, now when he was in charge of the van. Fred
and Charlie both needed a ‘Cecilia-break’, so Adam sacrificed himself and let
her sit in front with him.
It wasn’t
too bad, actually, since she was helping him not to fall asleep again. The
annoyance he had felt yesterday towards her had slowly faded away during the
hours that they were apart over the night. Now he was mostly annoyed with Luis
and his depressed manners.
“Tell me
another one,” Cecilia demanded. She had really calmed down since yesterday and was
almost behaving like a normal person today. Almost, though, she was still
Cecilia.
“Uhm, I
don’t know any more stories. Tell me one yourself.”
Cecilia
followed the car in front of them with her eyes. She looked at him with a
begging face and Adam laughed.
“Forget it,
Cee. I’m not letting you drive, so forget about it.”
“I know how
to drive!” Cecilia pouted. “Fred taught me. Besides, I know how cars work, my
granddad was a mechanic.”
“I know
that you know stuff about cars, I’m just saying that you drive badly. Too fast,
too reckless and too aggressive. You might be a good driver, but you’re
terrible when you’re out on the road.”
Cecilia
sighed loudly a couple of times before she gave up. Adam looked in the
rear-view mirror to check what the others were doing. They weren’t paying any
attention to him and Cecilia, they were busy sleeping, discussing relationships
and playing cards.
“Anyone
else who’s starving?” Connie asked, snuggled up in Guy’s arms in the backseat.
“I think I’ve lost like five pounds already. Do I seem skinny to you?”
“There’s no
right answer to that question, is there?” Guy said to be sure. “I think I’ll go
with secret option number three.”
“No more
kissing,” Luis complained and made a sickening sound. “I’ll buy you a pizza
myself, if you don’t stick your tongue down his throat again.”
Connie
shrugged and climbed over to the middle seat instead. Both Travis and Fred
objected when she began to go through their packing, looking for anything
eatable.
Adam
smiled. Was it just he or had Connie actually caught
Cecilia’s energetic behavior from yesterday? Cecilia was calm and Connie wasn’t. That only
happened on very rare occasions.
“Connie, if
you don’t get off my foot, I’ll have to throw you back into the backseat.”
Connie gave
Fred a dazzling smile and threw her arms around his neck. “Good luck, Fred. I’m
a lot heavier then it might appear.” Fred began to laugh.
Cecilia
turned around and slapped Connie’s knee. “Hey, Con, wanna tag along to that
gas-station over there?”
“Yeah,”
Connie shrieked and threw herself over Travis and Luis so she could get to the
door.
“Calm
down,” Adam told her. “I haven’t pulled over yet. Besides, I didn’t know we
were stopping?”
Cecilia
took off her seat belt and started to bounce up and down. She was back to her
old self again, Adam could tell.
“Fine, I’ll
stop, but just because I think you’re a menace to the rest of the traffic. Get
down from there, Cee.”
Connie and
Cecilia tumbled out of the van and ran off to the store, while the guys stayed
at the van to wait for them.
“I think we
should leave without them,” Fred suggested. “Girls on too much sugar means
head-ache for everyone else. Maybe we could buy them bus-tickets instead. Just
for the peace and quiet.”
“Bus-tickets
where? We’re not sure where we’re heading yet. Mostly because of you,” Charlie
pointed out. They all leaned against the car and waited for Fred’s answer.
“Look, I
told you guys, I’m not gonna ask my Dad for any favours. Why can’t you accept
that? Charlie, c’mon, you of all people should know how difficult this is,
right?”
Charlie
sighed. “Yeah, but still, at least you have a Dad. If he offers you something,
maybe you should think twice before you reject it?”
“If your
Dad offered you something, would you take it?”
This
conversation was going in the wrong direction, Adam knew for sure. He decided
to not get involved at all. He still had some unsolved business with his
father, and the last thing he wanted was to have a deep conversation about that
right now. There were too many people around that didn’t need to know his
business.
“I guess I
wouldn’t,” Charlie responded. “But my Dad has nothing to do with this.”
Connie came
rushing towards them and leaped into Guy’s arm. Guy looked like he was about to
double over, but didn’t. “I’m back. Look, I bought candy.”
“Yeah,
‘cause that’s what you need, Con. More sugar.” Charlie gave her a smile.
Fred looked
around to see were Cecilia was. Although he tried his best to give the impression
that he wasn’t looking for her at all.
“There she
is,” Adam grinned and pointed at her coming down the stairs.
Fred gave
him an irritated look and growled something.
“I wanna
drive,” was Cecilia’s first word when she finally reached the car. Adam was
about to answer, but Charlie beat him to it.
“Like hell
you are. I’m in charge of the van and Mike told me specifically to not let you
drive.”
“He did
not!”
“Well, he
should’ve. Besides, he said not to lend the car to anyone without a license.
So, Adam and I are the only ones that are allowed to drive. Back off, Cee.
You’re too young, baby. When you’re mature enough, you can drive. I’ll call you
up in 2005, ‘key?”
Cecilia
slapped him on the arm, and Charlie laughed. “Don’t be so violent, Cee. I’m
just being honest. You’re a reckless driver. Don’t make me sit on you, Cee.”
Adam went
over to the driver’s side, while the scuffle behind him seemed to increase.
Cecilia yelled something, and it sounded like a cursing, mixed with laughter.
“Get into
the car now, or I’ll leave you all behind,” Adam bellowed. “Charlie, let go of
Cecilia and get in here!”
Charlie
climbed into the van with Cecilia tossed over his shoulder. He dumped her off
over the seat, and she landed next to Adam. Adam gazed at her, while she tried
to get back on her feet again.
“So, is
everyone present? Where are Connie and Guy?”
Luis
climbed into the van with a disgusted look on his face. “What do you think?
Outside making out, of course.”
“Connie!
Get your ass in here!” Charlie howled. “I’ll eat your candy, if you don’t.”
“Don’t you
dare!” Connie leaped into the car and shoved Charlie to the floor. “Guy,
c’mon!”
Adam had to
count them all again. Who was missing now?
“Where’s
Fred? He was here a minute ago.”
“Talking
about leaving the girls behind, and he can’t even show up himself,” Luis
muttered.
“He wanted
to leave me behind?” Cecilia had a hurt look on her face. Adam could’ve cut
Luis’s tongue off. Why did he have to say that?
Luis also
seemed regretful when he heard Cecilia’s question.
“No, he was
just kidding. He was annoyed with Connie, that’s all. I bet he didn’t even talk
about you.” Nice, Charlie. You’re making it worse yourself.
Fred and
Travis both came tumbling into the car at the same time. Adam gave them a meaning
stare. “I think you two could use a lesson in ‘how to tell time and be
punctual’.”
“I’m here
now, so stop the yapping.”
Cecilia
sighed. Yapping, huh? Wasn’t that the word Fred usually used when he referred
to Cecilia’s talkative manner?
Adam wasn’t
sure what was going on. Did they brake up, or what? Maybe they were just
arguing.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
They had
just passed the sign telling them that they were about to drive out on to the
freeway when Cecilia got her usual crazy idea of the day. She took off her
seatbelt and began to bounce again.
“Stop it,
Cee. I’ll kill you,” Adam growled. “I’m trying to drive here.”
“Let me
drive!”
Adam was
waiting for a loud objection from Charlie, but when he checked the rear-view mirror
he found that the others were in a deep sleep.
“Cut it
out, you’re not allowed to drive. Sit down, shut up, be still and be quiet.”
“That’s a
double definition of the same things,” Cecilia replied. “Can’t I just drive
here? There’s nothing else but cars here. We’re on the freeway.”
“Absolutely
not! A freeway is the last place on earth you should be driving on. You’re just
fourteen!”
“I’m
fifteen, thank you very much, and I’ll have my driver’s license in...”
“Exactly
one and a half year. You turn fifteen in October, and that’s a lot of months
away. I’m sixteen, and I can tell you to sit down and shut up.”
“You’ve
already done that,” she exclaimed. “Now, are you gonna bitch about it, or are
you gonna let me drive? You know I’m a good driver, and I won’t crash the car.
I promise.”
“It’s a
mini-van, twice the damage.”
“I saved
your ass in that driving-competition,” she smirked. “I kicked some varsity-ass
with your car. You know I can drive.”
“This is
not a racing-track. This is a freeway, with other cars, filled with children
and old people. Don’t kill them, I tell you.”
“You’re
gonna let me drive! Yeay!”
“To the
next rest stop and not a mile longer. Would you should up then?”
Cecilia
nodded and started to bounce again.
Was this a
huge mistake or what?
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
This was a
huge mistake. A huge mistake that was so huge that there could be no word for
how huge it was.
“How could
you let her drive?” Charlie yelled. “I told you that you and I were the only ones
that could drive, the only exception I was willing to make was for Fred. Not
Connie, not Guy, not Luis, not even Travis and especially not that lunatic
Cecilia!”
They were
all standing beside the road, trying to get hold of a car that would actually
stop for them.
Charlie was
yelling at Adam and everyone else was eavesdropping. Cecilia was sitting on the
side of the road with her head buried in her arms. She was probably feeling
horrible for the accident, although it hadn’t been her fault.
If Adam had
been driving, he hadn’t been able to avoid that other car either. But, Cecilia
had been driving, and Charlie was pissed.
“Look,
don’t yell, Charlie. It wasn’t her fault. That other car pushed us off the
road, she did everything she could so we wouldn’t crash. If I’d have been
driving, I’m not sure I could’ve made it turn out as good as it did. She’s a
good driver. You should thank her for getting us out of this alive. She’s the
one that’s hurt, and you’re upset about the car?”
Charlie
sighed. “It’s the team’s van, Adam. It was my responsibility, just like she is.
She’s the youngest of us all, and I’m the team-captain.”
“We’re not
out on the ice now, Charlie. Could you just talk to her and maybe make her feel
like it wasn’t her fault?”
Charlie nodded.
He could get really furious sometimes but in the end, he always did the right
thing. Cecilia was the youngest and she was the one that had been driving. She
really didn’t deserve this, especially not when it’d been Adam’s fault in the
first place.
Adam could
see Charlie’s point of view too. He was responsible for them all, especially
the younger players, and when things like this happened; of course he’d be
upset.
“How bad is
she hurt?” Charlie asked. Adam knew that Charlie already had a pretty good
picture of both the damages on the car and the damages on Cecilia. It had been
the first thing he’d done, check if everyone was okay. He was a good leader,
Adam had to give him that.
“She got
some bruises and a cut above her eye. That’s all I know about, maybe there’s
something more too.”
“If anyone
asks, tell them that I was the one driving.” The true leader ability shined
through Charlie’s comment. He usually took the blame for most of the more
serious trouble the team caused sometimes.
“No, I can
say that I was driving, because if she hadn’t, I would’ve. It’s okay; it won’t
matter, since it was the other car’s fault. Just don’t let them know Cecilia
was driving.”
“No, I’ll tell
the others too. We could be in big trouble if the police find out that she
doesn’t have a license. Maybe we’ll get sued or something.”
“Talk to
her first, Charlie.”
Charlie
agreed and went over to talk to Cecilia, who was still sitting on the curb.
Adam went over to Travis, who was talking in his phone.
“I don’t
know, I think it’s three cars or something,” Travis told the person on the
other end of the line. “No one is seriously hurt, but the driver of our car...”
Adam shook
his head violently. Travis bit his lip. “I mean one of the passengers in our
car was hurt when the other car hit us.”
Travis
continued talking for a few minutes and Adam grabbed his arm the instant second
that he hung up.
“What did
they say? Was it the police?”
“No, it was
the women at the emergency. I called 911.”
“What did
she say then?”
“They had
already got an alarm about the accident, so a police-car is on the way. They’re
sending an ambulance too.”
Adam took a
deep breath. “What do we do now?”
“We call
Coach Bombay and Muck,” Fred replied. He had been standing beside the car,
looking like he was in some deep thoughts.
“Yeah, Fred
is right. We have to call them. Maybe they can help us.”
As much as
they all feared to tell their coaches about the incident, they all knew that it
was what they had to do.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
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