ataraxia

chpt.3

Chester honked the horn outside. Everett's dog started to bark at the window, the glass fogged as he barked and barked. She had her phone in her hand and slightly jogged outside and got in the passenger side of his car.

Chester is a friend of Lou and her from school. Laura does online school, ever since the pandemic she just stuck to online school. Everett doesn't know how she likes it, since she almost failed 9th grade. The song 'Teenage Dirtbag' by Wheatus played on the radio.

Chester drove a 2005 Sedan Honda Civic. The transmission blew twice and there's something wrong with the muffler. It runs and sounds like complete shit, Everett already heard him coming up the street even before he honked the horn.

"Ready to smoke some weed?!" He exclaimed as he shifted gears and drove off like a complete moron. Everett grinned as she buckled her seatbelt and held onto the door handle letting out a shaky breath.

There was still some frost around the perimeter of the windshield. It was freezing in the civic considering the knob to turn up the heat was stuck, when you turned it on it just blew cold air. Laura only lived about 3 minutes out of town.

"We'll be in the camper for the night." Chester said breaking the silence between the two. His hot breath turned to steam in the frigid winter of Pennsylvania. Everett furrowed an eyebrow.

"Smoke weed? In that brand knew camper in February?" Everett she mocking his statement.

"Well it's better smoking in the damn house." He argued with her. "No one goes in it until spring— she has the heat plugged in and just say a skunk sprayed up the tail pipe or something."

"Well we'll air it out before we leave. We'll be fine." She said trying to convince herself.

They drove out to almost the middle of the woods and started to see farmland everywhere. Farms are everywhere in Scottsdale, their only form of income other than the paper factory over across town. Chester took a sharp right down the rocky driveway that had chunks of ice sifted through.

They finally reached the house and shut off the car. She hopped out the car and ran into the house seeking for the warmth her freezing cold hands needed. She stomped the snow off her doc martens before stepping inside. She stepped over a baby gate and Laura's small Jack Russell Terrior, Max started to jump and bark at her. His tail wagged as he yipped excitingly.

Her house was really long and wide, it's two floors, that floor and a basement. She walked through the long house till she reached the other side to her room, Chester followed her about ten steps behind.

Everett pushed open the door and Lou and Laura both snapped their heads. Lou had a bottle of fireball in her hands and a cowboy hat that had American flag print on it with flashing shutter shades on.

Laura had an old timey gas mask on with a hole cut out in the front with a pink bong in her hands. Everett laughed at the sight and shook her head.

"What the fuck." She laughed walking up to Laura as she took the gas mask off giggling. "I made that gas mask-bong-shit thingy!" She said as she took the mask.

"And you left it, mine now." She jokingly said. Everett gave her a look shaking her head smirking.

"Where the fuck is Levi and Dustin?" Chester said walking in looking around.

"Basketball." Lou and Everett said in sync.

"How would you know?!" Laura teased snatching the gas mask back grinning.

"Oh I don't know..maybe they have a championship game next Friday. Wild guess though..." She said sarcastically as she grabbed Laura's vape and started to hit it.