American Vacanza

naomi feels positively guilty • madison

Ethan whispered something with the word "insane," low and quiet, but in this small space, nothing went unnoticed. Siena shot him a disgraceful look and turned back to Naomi. "It's okay. They'll probably never find out! If my parents can keep the secret of ditching us, they'll be able to keep the secret that we're not there. Your parents won't find out. I promise."

Siena could try, but Naomi was in hysterics at this point. She'd crossed the border into Crazyville, and there was no turning back.

"They will. And I'm terrible at keeping secrets. They'll probably call me. Then, I'll never be able to keep the secret. I'll blab it to them, just like I awkwardly blabbed to Gavin that I loved him. The only thing is, Gavin liked me back, at least for a day or so. My parents will just disown me."

Siena laughed. "If your parents disown you, you can come live with us." Not the time for your pathetic humor, Siena. Not the time.

"I don't even want to ask," Naomi said. "But I can't take this. I can't take a week of this guilt. It's going to absolutely wreck me. No. I want to go home, and I want to go home now."

"Whoa. You can't do that, Naomi," I butted in, rather heartlessly. "You're on this trip with us, and you're on this trip to stay. We've left your house. There's nothing you can do now."

"I want to go home. Madison, we're, like, thirty miles from my house. Can't we turn back? You guys can drop me off."

"Sorry, girl, you're outta luck," I clucked. "We've already decided that we're not turning back for anything." Siena and I both knew that we hadn't decided on anything of the sort; however, Naomi didn't know that, so I trusted Siena to keep quiet.

Remind me again why I trusted Siena?

"We never agreed on that!" she screeched, prompting me to pull over on the shoulder of the highway. "You're lying!"

"So? I'm not taking your friend home just because she's some four-year-old princess with cold feet. We're all in this together."

Ethan started humming songs from High School Musical, which would have normally bothered me if I wasn't already completely pissed at Naomi for being such a freak. And at Siena, for bringing a chick that was even worse than her. And at Krystal, for giving birth to Siena, and also marrying my dad, and also making me rebel and basically ruining my life.

"'We're all in this together?' Says the girl who hates everyone with every ounce of her being!" Siena yelped, a fierce edge in her voice. She was on her last legs, her final, most aggressive stance before she would break down in tears.

"I don't hate everyone," I snarled, thinking of my dozens, even hundreds, of friends back home. "Just you."

Silence, cold and dead, fell over the car like a sheet of ice.

"Take Naomi home. Take her home NOW," she ordered, her razorlike deadpan slicing through the otherwise silent car.

"Fine," I grumbled. "I'll turn around at the next exit. But you're in charge of making sure she keeps her mouth shut. I don't want someone calling the cops because our parents are neglectful. So just make sure your friend shuts up about our... our detour, okay?

"I guess," she squeaked, silence falling over the car. At once, I sped up, turned around the ramp, and headed back to Palmsville. It was time to get this over with.

***

We were just a mile or two away from Naomi's house, and through a few tears, two freak-outs (one from Naomi and one from Siena), Naomi was finally ready to lie to her parents about where she'd been.

I was a little suspicious, to say the least. Naomi didn't want to come with us because she didn't want to lie to her parents. But as soon as we turned back, she was ready to lie to her  parents about why she wasn't in Italy.

And that's when I realized: she wasn't scared of lying to her parents. She was scared of road trippin'.

That revelation lead to another revelation: we were about to embark on a huge journey. I'd agreed to this road trip as a spur-of-the-moment decision, but now that the excitement of that moment had faded, I finally realized how crazy this was. If we hadn't packed our things last night, I wouldn't have even been prepared.

We were driving across the country. A girl who'd only had her license for a year and her rival stepsister, plus her lovably dumb boyfriend. It was like a bad movie.

But at least Naomi and Siena had come up with a great excuse for why Naomi was returning. Naomi would just tell her parents that she wanted to come home and take an extra summer school course, and her parents would supposedly, according to her, be elated and not question.

We pulled up to the neighborhood of manicured lawns and white-painted fences for the second time in a day, and Naomi started shoving things -or thing (the only thing she had out was her book) into her backpack. Siena gave her a hug and told her she was sad to see her go.

Here, dear friend, is a life tip: if someone ever tells you that they're sad for you - like actually, vocally says that they're sad - they're not that heartbroken after all. In some cases, they might even be happy.

I pulled into Naomi's cobblestone driveway, creating an earthquake for the little hula girl that sat on the dashboard. "Do you want me to walk you in?" Siena asked quietly.

"I'm good," echoed Naomi, staring straight ahead through the dashboard." I tossed her the key to the trunk and told her to return it to me when the trunk was closed.

Siena grabbed Naomi's arm before she left. "Text me, okay? I want to keep in touch." Naomi flashed a considerate smirk as she exited the car, slamming the door shut.

Siena made a face once Naomi was safely inside her house- the perfectly timed combination of an eye roll, snarl, and snort. "I'm so glad my phone doesn't work internationally."

So maybe Siena did have a little bit of spunk in her after all.