Chapter 1:
Just a Pit Stop. Right?
Click. Justin Bieber’s prepubescent voice blares from the stereo. Click. The grand duo of Icona Pop fills the air. Click. Back comes bieber, One Less Lonely Girl. Click. And here is Icona Pop, I Don’t Care. Click. Bieber. Click. Icona Pop. Click. Click. Click click click click click.
“Zoe will you stop! This is MY car, so we are playing MY music.”
I shout over the squeaky childish voice still booming from my elderly car radio. I reach my hand out to switch the station yet again when a dainty hand comes flying out of nowhere and snatches my wrist. I can feel my bones moving due to the pure strength of the grip, the clasp so tight her knuckles are turning white. In a feeble attempt to escape I throw my hand to the right, only managing to turn to steering wheel. My worn Chevrolet truck weaves to the side and I can feel the pressure on my hand disappear as I frantically catch the wheel.
“We are SO gonna die!”
Zoe screams and covers her eyes, as if she can just poof herself away. I on the other hand am actually trying to save our asses! My hands fly out and grip the plastic wheel, holding on to it for dear life. With all my strength, with I must admit isn’t that much, I pull at the wheel. Its like a game of tug-a-war, and the prize is our lives. No pressure. Finally, after several stressful seconds of wrestling with my truck, the wheels screech and we are once again riding peacefully on the road. I thank my lucky stars that we happen to be on a deserted road, with no other vehicles around. Wouldn’t that have been a lovely game of bumper cars?
I take a deep breath and try to calm my frantic heart when I hear an odd noise. Laughter. Ever so slowly I turn towards Zoe. She’s sitting there, her legs folded Indian style on the seat and her body hunched over, laughing. She’s. Laughing. I stare at her as if she’s mental, which might be the case here. I can see the silvery tears form and fall down her face in a steady stream, rolling over her round cheeks and falling off her chin. After several silent minutes, quiet asides from her insane chuckling, she notices me watching her. And bursts out into another fit of giggles.
“What on earth is wrong with you?! We almost just died!!”
I shout at her, wanting to shake her by the shoulders. Good god, do you think she hit her head? That’s the only explanation. A short while later she manages to relax and calm down, though only seconds after the hiccupping begins. Ever since Zoe was a kid she would hiccup after a vicious attack of laughter, which happened more often than you would think. It seems like this girl was always chuckling, at the most random of things. Maybe I should have followed through with my plan in third grade and signed her into that mental hospital.
“You know I laugh when I’m nervous. I get giggly, you get pissy.”
She follows up the statement by sending an innocent smile my way, her sparkling blue eyes wide and doe-like. Gosh, how can something so sweet looking be so evil?
“You’re horrible. You’re making jokes after we almost just got in a car accident!”
Zoe grins, exposing her perfect white teeth and brilliant smile. She leans back and props her feet on the dashboard, even though I’ve asked her at least a million times not too. She’s gonna leave scuff marks on my baby! I glare at her shoes, a worm out pair of brown leather combat boots. Who knows what’s on the bottom of those…
“But we didn’t.”
I sigh and turn to her.
“Yeah but we almost did. We almost died. We almost… “
I’m about to finish my sentence when my horrid best friend decides to interrupt.
“Mak, you should really keep your eyes on the road. Don’t want to almost get into another accident.”
