The Punching Bag Therapy

Chapter 9. - Kill em with hatred

"Kill em with kindness"-Selena Gomez

Two false alarms of heart attacks and four weeks later you get six friends crammed in a bright orange van on the way to New York City.

Now, let's break the events one by one that led to this very moment.

First, what happened between Joanne and Noah?

Well, turns out Noah liked Joanne too but he was awaiting a signal from her part, which in his mind meant having a lady and the tramp moment.

I guess smashing a music speaker unto the ground would have to do it for now.

Second, what exactly happened to Maia and Mathew's hearts?

After the ridiculously dramatic false alarm, they both distanced themselves to the point where they even stopped pranking and insulting each other.

Odd.

That right there was enough to mess up the world's balance.

And third; why an orange van?

Of all the colors...

Well, we could blame Maia for that.

The group of friends were about to take the highway, led by, the always sarcastic, Sean; who was the designated driver for the day.

This journey was surely promising because there's lots of room for things going out of control when you've got six insane teenagers driving from Atlanta, Georgia all the way to New York City.

"Good morning guys!" Joanne, the only morning person in the van, chirped very happily and energized.

She only received grunts in response.

"So... I just wanted to tell you guys how happy I am that we got to experience this trip as a group and I know that it'll be great!" Joanne paused for a moment and gulped nervously bwfore she continued.

"Also, there might have been some details I left out and these details are exclusively for Maia and Mathew"

"We are all tired of having to hang out on different dates so you won't bite each other's head outs and we are also tired of you utilizing one another as a personal punching bag"

Maia's and Mathew's eyes went out of their sockets.

"Yeah, that's right, I noticed what your little behavior was all about. You take all of your frustrations and anger on each other."

"Want to know what I think about that?"

"I think that is downright st..."

"Genius!" Sean interrupted

"I mean that's by far one of the best anger coping techniques I've ever heard." Sean concluded, amused and in awe.

Joanne cleared her throat "What I was going to say before I got very rudely interrupted was that the punching bag behavior has got to go. Am I clear?" Joanne questioned with a fulminating tone in her voice.

Silence.

"I will take that as a yes."

"Now let's go straight to the rules"

"RULES?!!?" Maia yelled alarmed.

"Yes, my dear... rules." Joanne grinned, since she knew very well how much Maia despised rules.

"Anyways, unto the rules"

"Noah, honey, would you mind passing me the official rule book?"

Noah, who was taken by surprise, blushed and shyly passed Joanne the book. In response he got a wink which only made him blush even more.