𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙮 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡 / 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙧

"we're going to die out here"

I woke up to someone shaking my shoulder. I blinked the sleepiness from my eyes and looked at the source of the shaking. It was Adam.

"Ella, we need to go. It's 2."

That got me up quickly. I bolted upright, spilling the remainder of my soda onto my shirt. "Oh shit!" I pulled the sticky fabric away from my skin and walked over to find my shoes. As I put them on, I looked around the room. Almost everyone was gone and the Karate Kid movie was back to the main menu. Joey was no where in sight. He had probably gone to his room.

"Um, Goldberg and Averman need rides home. Hope you don't mind." Adam motioned behind him to the two boys who were gathering the remainder of the snacks into their pockets. 

"Great." I groaned. "You two!" I hissed at them. They stopped and looked up. "Let's go. Now!"

They dropped whatever they couldn't fit into their coats and followed Adam and me into the street. It was pitch black outside and freezing cold. The only light was coming from a flickering street lamp a few houses down. It was creepy.

I opened the door of the passenger side and took a seat next to Adam. Goldberg and Averman settled in the back and I could already hear a chip bag being opened.

I glanced at the car's clock that read 2:14. I sighed and nervously picked at my nail polish. Adam must have noticed because he grabbed my hand in his. "It'll be okay." He said reassuringly and made his way out of Joey's neighborhood. 

As we left the small town, the car was quiet. We were all tired and I was nervous about getting home so late. About 10 minutes later, Adam's car started to make a weird noise. 

Adam pulled to the side of the road as the car sputtered. He turned the car off for a second before trying the ignition. It didn't work. He tried again. Nothing. After a third try he threw his keys against the windshield. "Dammit!" 

I jumped at the sudden outburst and he quickly calmed down.

"Sorry, sorry." He leaned back and rubbed his face with his hands. "I guess we should go see what's wrong."

Adam stepped outside and I looked out the window. On both sides of us were corn fields. Miles and miles of corn. We had left the nearest town a few miles back and wouldn't reach the next one for awhile. 

No others cars were coming by at 2am. We were completely alone.

"Ella, what're we gonna do?" Averman looked at me and nervously grabbed ahold of Goldberg's arm. "Are we going to die?"

I rolled my eyes. "Let's hope not. You two stay in here." They nodded and I got out of the car. Adam was at the front with the hood popped up. He was holding a small flashlight that I knew he kept in the glove compartment.

"How's it going?"

He shrugged and shook his head. "I don't know the first thing about cars. We're going to die out here."

I laughed a little, despite our dire situation. "I told those two that we wouldn't die. Maybe by chance one of them knows a thing or two about cars?"

Adam sighed. "It's worth a shot." He walked over to the side door and gave the window a tap. Screams erupted from the car and quickly died down. 

Goldberg slowly rolled the window down a couple of inches. "Yes?"

"Do you or Averman know anything about cars? Anything? We're kind of at a loss of what to do here."

"When I was three I read this one book called Awesome Automobiles like every single night. Not much about a car's engine but I can identify a whole bunch of different automotive vehicles." Goldberg smiled at Adam and I.