Take Me Home | ✔

Chapter Thirteen (edited)

dedicated to yazzy slash sexponents bc she helped me get through "to kill a mockingbird", which turned out to be a heartbreaking novel and now, one of my absolute favorites. x

[ thirteen ] mood swings & marcus

             ↠  sunday - five days before graduation   

Unlike Elliot who had an undisturbed sleep, I couldn't bring myself to shut my eyes. Stress poked at me every second, and even though I tried to get lost in the rolling hills that passed the window, the atmosphere of the tour bus reminded me constantly that we didn't belong. That we lied about who we were and we took someone's identity just for a free expense trip.

On one side, I had no difficulty with taking the opportunity. When it knocks, you gotta open the door, right? What other choice did we have other than rotting in that leaky convertible?

On the other hand, we were posing as someone else. And the suspicious looks from none other than Marcus kept reminding me. All throughout the night, when he wasn't reading his book, he shot me a look of pure skepticism. If he looked back one more time, I'd be tempted to shoot him the finger, no regrets.

My eyes drooped heavily but I didn't bother going to sleep now. The sun was rising, and as I glanced outside the tour bus window, the sun's rays were already escaping from behind the hills on the interstate. One thing was for sure; we had finally left corn country. A massive boulder just lifted off my chest. I didn't plan on seeing those yellow crops of torture for a long time.

I stared long and hard at the passing yellow strips that decorated the gray gravel passing beneath us, so hard that my eyes hurt. Getting lost in thought was a wonderful stress reliever. The scary thing about this all was that I didn't know what to do next, what to do if we got caught, when they figured out that we weren't Zoe and Alfie Whatevers after all. I've always liked having a plan, because knowing what happens next meant no disasters or unplanned things. And here I was, sitting on an unplanned bus going on an unplanned tour with an unplanned acquaintance. And to be frank, it scared the shit out of me.

I wondered how they were coping with my loss back at home. The class probably had gotten off the plane by now, if they hadn't already. My mother would be straight-out overreacting and interrogating Kara as to why I was left behind. I would be surprised beyond belief if she hadn't sent a search party out after me.

Ever since my dad left and didn't return like he promised, she'd been keeping a close eye on me, so much so that it was smothering. Maybe she figured that I would leave just like my dad. What else did I have to stay for? She had her new husband. As far as I was concerned, I wasn't returning for my mom. I'd go back, snatch my diploma, and leave once again without another look back.

Something stirred beside me, and a heavy head fell on my forearm before waking up. Batting heavy lashes, he yawned with a sullen look.

"Hey."

"Hey, yourself."

"Got any beef jerky?"

I resisted the urge to smile at him before shaking my head.

"Good morning to you too."

"Sorry, I'm just really hungry," he grinned sheepishly. "I haven't had a decent meal that wasn't Ruffles or Zebra Cakes."

I sighed heavily. "Maybe they have complimentary meals on this tour. You never know."

"Speaking of this tour, you know we can't keep posing as Zoe and Alfie forever," said Debby Downer. "What if they call the tour that never picked them up? We're really screwed then."