2. The Early Bird

I awoke with a start. I didn't remember falling asleep. It was morning and the car was parked in a far corner of a diner's parking lot. It was one of those 50s-style diners that are open 24/7.

How inconspicuous. I chuckled to myself.

Everyone else was still asleep in different awkward positions. I decided to take this opportunity and study the passengers. I'd only met them a few days ago on graduation day when I overheard them talking about leaving town. It seemed like a golden opportunity to me, so I asked to join them. They didn't ask me any questions and I was grateful for that, figuring they all had their own reasons for leaving, and probably didn't want to be asked either. Apparently it all got started when Payton, the older brother of one of my fellow seniors, Jade, decided to move to California. Then all of us decided to join in on it. My question is, why California? Everyone goes to California. When anyone wants to run away they immediately think of California! I'm wasn't complaining, I was just glad to get away. Anywhere was better than back home. But there I go again, getting side tracked. Back to my fellow passengers.

Payton Latrouse was our driver and he was a few years older than all of us. He had dark brown hair, almost black, with eyes that must change colors because yesterday they were blue and the day before they were a greenish gray. I wondered what color they would be that day. He was pretty tall and had an average build. He wasn't all macho man, but he was no Mr. Puny. I guessed he was a musician of sorts because when I got to his house, he was loading a guitar case in the trunk. Either that or he just used the guitar case as a suitcase, which I seriously doubted. He looked the musician part. Kinda skater/emo/punk rocker. He seemed pretty nice so far, not like I had talked to him more than a simple “Hi,” or anything. He was pretty cute, that I could tell.

Moving on to his sister, Jade Latrouse, sat in the passenger's seat next to him. She had the same hair color as her brother, but her eyes did not change colors. They've been the same shade of green ever since I've known her. Her hair went down to the middle of her back and was perfectly straight. She had a pretty face, the kind I envied. Not drop-dead gorgeous, but just the kind that usually makes a guy do a double take. She was a few inches shorter than me, and very petite. I knew for fact she was a musician because she was in Mr. Hayes piano class the year I was, and no one could hold a candle to her. She had a similar personality as her brother, but is slightly more “emo” than he was.

Directly behind her was Derek Edwards. He had short blonde hair, blue eyes and was extremely cute. The top of his hair was gelled up into a fauxhawk. He was the rebellious jock type and no one was going to get in the way when he wanted something. I wasn't even sure if he played for any of our school's sport teams, because I never went to any of the school's games. I mean, I liked playing sports, but not watching them. I hadn't even seen him before graduation day. We must not have had any classes together. He was a couple inches shorter than Payton, but made up for it with his incredibly muscular build.

The girl between me and Derek was Cameron Peterson. She wasn't from our school and I had only met her when I got to the Latrouses house. I had no idea if she'd even graduated high school, but didn't look any younger than any of us, with the exception of Payton. She had medium length chestnut brown hair and a very blonde personality, but it wasn't the stereotyped ditzy popular girl personality. She just occasionally made extremely blonde mistakes like yesterday when she said, “I had $100 in here and now I only have $91!” Of course she didn't realize she'd read a 10 dollar bill as a 1 dollar bill until I pointed that out. How she missed that was beyond me. She just laughed and flashed her dimpled smile. She had brown eyes that always sparkled and seemed to love everything she saw. She and I were almost the same height. She might be an inch or so taller though.

For someone who really didn't have many friends all her life, I had quickly made four new ones over the past few days. At least I hoped to be able to call them friends. Who knew what would happen when we all got to Cali. Would everyone split and go do their own thing? Would we all stay together? I had no idea. I wasn't going to let my heart get attached to them or anything, but I just wanted to pretend they were friends and have a good time till we got there.