Chapter 1 The Breakdown... Somewhere From The Roads From Wellington

Chapter 1 The Breakdown... Somewhere from the roads from Wellington to Upper Hutt, driving to a resort I’ve never been to. There were nine of us, so, we planned to convoy: a car and a pickup truck; five on the car and four on the truck including me. Our luggage’s, which are plenty, were at the back which was covered with a black sheet. But we got separated from the others when we made a wrong turn. They wouldn’t have noticed if one of the guys in the car phoned and asked where we were. Spencer said to just drive along and then stop at the next town and we left it at that. The radio was on but I wasn’t paying attention to it or to the guys seating at the front. Spencer was sitting in front of me and Mico on the steering wheel opposite Spencer. I just looked at the view on my side which was on the lefthand side behind Spencer that meant there was nothing really to see but a wall of rocks and trees. It was better to look at that than to feel neglected by these guys in front of me chatting away like there was no one else but them in the truck. Shane also felt this and didn’t really want to shout over the voice of those two in the sense that if she does she’d get in a fight with Spencer and he might throw me out to the next bus stop we pass through. So, we settled with sending text messages back and forth and were lucky that it was a Saturday and had free unlimited text for the whole weekend. This s s0 b0rng! Shane sent me. U thnk? I replied and looked at her with blunt sarcasm. She stifled a laugh while punching her keypad. So, wt do u think b0ut Jay hanging 0uT wid Lucas, huh? H0nstly, I think Lucs isn’t dt bd. Shane looked incredulous from across me. I shrugged. Then she replied with a “what” with a lot of exclamation points. I gave her a puzzled look then started to punch in a message in my and was ready to press send when we screeched to a halt. When I glanced up from the screen of my phone to look out front, there was nothing. I was quite puzzled we weren’t using the heater or anything else only the radio.

Mico turned on the ignition and it came to life again. Mico and Spencer made a hooting sound and made the gesture of like pulling the siren of a train. But only after a few meters it went dead again and this time when Mico turned the key on the ignition it remained dead. He checked the gas but it was there was still three quarters left of the full gas they pumped in at the last gas station we stopped at. Then he swore under his breath. Then after a few seconds, we lifted our gazes – all in the same time, like you saw in the TV – to the hood of the trunk. To my dismay, steam was coming out of the hood. Perfect! I grimaced, Just perfect for steaming the already steamy tension in the air. “Ugh, this suck.” Spencer groaned and slammed his fist on the dashboard of the pick-up truck. His half-inch thick gold and silver bangles clinked at the movement. “Whose stupid idea is it to get this stupid junk?” Beside me, behind, Shane gritted her teeth. Her smoky blue eyes had a dark nasty glint as she looked at her brother’s backside under her thick dark lashes. I wondered why Spencer hasn’t set on fire yet on the intensity of my best friend’s gaze. “How should I know that Breshh haven’t changed a bit since third grade?” She snorted. “And anyway, you were in charge with the money for transportation. Why did you give in?” Breshh is their cousin on the father side who sweet talked Shane into renting the van we are in now. He insisted that the truck was terrific with its almost brand new black gloss coat, the comfy dark grey seats and the detachable seats at the open trunk. There is also sort of a mini bar under where we – Shane and I – were sitting which could be opened from the back of the truck or by opening it from inside which could not be done so while someone is sitting on the lid, obviously so. But the only thing he didn’t really detailed to much is the warrant of fitness. For a guy like Spencer, who tunes his car himself every semestral brake, he didn’t really thought this through and I was just itching to shove it to his face but I built an image of being the “shadow” since Spencer snapped at me for having a big mouth three months ago. I know I should have walked away from this batch but Shane is the best and only true friend I ever had in all my sixteen years and me to her too. She threatened that she was going to

leave their house and be on her own – well, with me – if I left her there because she and her brother fights more often than not. I reasoned with her, telling her that I can’t stand Spencer and his guy’s scrutiny and sharp verbal slashes at me and that I wasn’t reason enough to leave her family – hey, don’t get me wrong here, I’m no lesbian but I do hate guys that much though, leaving me with another reason yet to stay away from them – and that she’ll find more better friends than I am but she countered with an actually really sweet counter of: “Oh, trust me I’ve waited and now that you’re here I am so not going to let you go.” I was so touched by it that that did it for me. I stayed with them for her sake and my sanity’s sake – ‘cause I’ll probably go gaga again if I went alone again – and stayed as inconspicuous as I can around them and kept with the shadows. Which is what I’m doing right now, biting my tongue, keeping plastered to my seat while holding Shane’s hand. Squeezing it to help her keep in control of her rage to lash out at her brother’s arrogant face with bright pink coated nails because it was just going to piss Spencer more. “Yeah, I know, it just shows me not to trust your point of view as far as I’m concerned.” He threw a mocking glance at his flushed little sister before opening his door then glanced back at his best friend beside him who was bored watching the two quarrel, which was just since he knew them long before I made it in the picture and was used to it years ago. “You mind helping me finding what the hell’s wrong with it now?” and slipped out of the car and slammed the door shot. Mico shrugged and opened his door but paused to look at Shane who was snuggled close to me. It was only two in the afternoon but it was cloudy and the glasses of the truck had a really black tint making it really dark inside the truck inside which also made Mico’s eyes seem to make his emerald gaze sort of glow and appear bigger as he raised his gaze to meet mine and held it there. I became agitated at that partly because it was his this-is-kind-of-your-fault-but-don’t-worry-Idon’t-care look whenever Shane and Spencer fight and partly because he was really cute when he looks that way. Intensified by the wind blowing his silky dust brown hair to disarray and his jaw clenched making him look more mature and really hotter than he usually is. Crazy right? It doesn’t mean I like him or any of his attitudes only his face.

“Mico!” Spencer’s irritated voice called from outside. He opened the hood and a puff of smoke shot to his face making him stagger back coughing. He raised his hand to fan away the smoke from his face and called to Mico again “Hey, I need some help here.” Mico broke our eye contact. He shook his head then chuckled to himself and whispered “Aww, man, he’s totally lost it.” Umm, duh, he’s not the only one who’s lost here. There are four of us. I mentally stuck my tongue out at him. I turned to Shane who was snuggled to me and asked, making small talk or something “So, where do you think we are?” She sat up straight and took in the view pass the black tinted windows. In front of us the road stretched as far as we can see. To our right was nothing but yards of grass fields lined by foggy mountains in the distance. “I have no idea but here’s what I do know. It’s that Spencer is the most irritating brother a girl could ever have.” “Oh, yeah, the most irritating sizzling-dog” Shane looked bewildered when I looked at her. “You know, sometimes I think that you stayed with because of him.” Before I can protest to that, Spencer went inside the driver seat and tried to start the ignition. It just gave a scratching sound and stayed dead. He slid down the window and Mico went to his side and peered in the window to Spencer. He leaned his elbows on the window and buried his face in his hands. “Ugh. What are we going to do?” Mico’s frustrated voice was muffled in his hands. “We don’t even know where the hell we are.” I saw Spencer on the rear view mirror nibble at his lower lip then suddenly commanded “Shane, get out and help to push this damn truck. Let’s see if we can rev this junk up.” “But why do I have to push? Why don’t you push?” When Spencer tuned to us – well, mainly Shane because I think he already forgot that I was there – his look was simply, menacingly, devilishly hot. His physical features were typical for a seventeen-year-old English heart throb but intensified mainly by his predatory eyes like that of a wolf. Even if the only expression directed at me was contempt – like now – I still can’t help falling for his crystal blue frost eyes. His deep black hair

intensified the diamond-like glint on his eyes which was now battling with the burning smoky haze in his sister’s eyes which was glaring back at him. Spencer smirked and in his cool but menacing-as-hellunderneath voice he just plainly said “Out.” That single syllable held all the irritating authority that Shane just hates. Reluctantly, Shane reached passed me and opened my door. She scrambled to get out dragging me with her. Since I’m wearing all black accompanied by my dark brown hair against the black interior of the truck I really look like a shadow. We got to our feet and went to the back of the truck. We all pushed the truck at Spencer’s mark. It moved but nowhere near alive. We stopped and just leaned on the truck. We heard the slam of the door in front and Spencer’s angry stomps coming. He sat down beside Mico and propped his arm on his legs. The sleeves on his sweater stretched showing off his toned but not overtly bulky biceps. “Cynn, you are such a pain in the ass!” he growled. It snapped me out of my reverie. What was that supposed to mean? Puzzled, I looked at him and actually met his eyes. It was blazing with some sort of hatred or something similar with it. And what the hell is that supposed to mean?! I protested in my irritated brain. Why the hell did I thought he there was hotness in him?! I have really got to see a psychiatrist. I was about to open my mouth when Shane stepped in front of Spencer. “What does that mean? She hasn’t done anything, you know!” Spencer didn’t look up at her and just shook his head. He replied “That’s just it!” Shane’s puzzled gaze lock with my own puzzled one. I shrugged then we looked at Mico who just looked bored and didn’t offer in enlightening us. “She hasn’t done anything,” Spencer continued “We all know she’s the only one you, Shane, listens to. If she told you not to buy this stupid junk, we wouldn’t be in this shit!” He jumped up. I didn’t answer him. I didn’t know what to say! What was I supposed to say to that? I just stood there with my mouth hanging open. Gosh, this guy is impossible. I wasn’t with them

when they looked at the truck. I didn’t even know that we were going to rent a truck! I thought we were going to use his Hammer! Oh, did I mention that this guy is freaking IMPOSSIBLE?! I was finally able to build a coherent sentence when Mico bursted out laughing. We all stared at him. After a moment of just staring at Mico, Spencer, who was already riled up, demanded “What the hell is funny?” Mico was bent over and holding his stomach when he answered “You two are just so cute when you do that.” Now I was more confused by his answer. What? My mental voice screamed, what are you talking about?! Spencer stood up and folded his arms across his chest. He leaned his head to one side, looking menacingly at Mico, who ignored it, and asked what I was asking in my head. “Nothing. In your state of pissy-ness, if I tell you what’s in my head, it would be a wonder why you wouldn’t kill me.” Mico straightened up and glanced at me. His eyes were laughing at me and mocking. I don’t get any of these and I’m nowhere near getting it any time soon. “Uh-huh, but I’ll break your neck if you don’t tell me now.” Spencer threatened his best friend. “Okay, but don’t tell me I didn’t warn you...” Mico edged farther away from Spencer and towards his side of the door and said “...but let me get in the protection of the truck, just in case.” He got in the truck and only left the door ajar, only enough to hear him. Spencer rolled his eyes at his best friend for his dramaticness. Mico knows Spencer the best, so, I edged away from Spencer also, ready to ran for my life. Over exaggerated? With Spencer, everything is. “Start explaining.” Spencer was standing in front of Mico’s door, arms still crossed on his chest, his feet braised apart. “Well, you two, you and the little mime,” Mico referred to me, “ Are like the cat and mouse. Even if your conversations are always one sided but in the end you two,” Mico was starting to edge the door close slowly and continued, “Always take the saying ‘the more you hate, the more you love’...to the cutest

level.” He slammed the door closed and put the lock down just as Spencer yanked the door handle up. Spencer’s face was really red, beyond comparison. And then at my three months of being a perfect “shadow”, instead of running to jump in the truck as Mico did, I laughed at loud! Shane looked at me suddenly, a terrified look on her face, and questioned me quietly, mouthing “Why?” on her lips. Uh-oh, even Shane thought that it was a totally bad idea. She don’t have to tell me because as soon as me eyes met Spencer’s furious gaze, my knees buckled. I tried to whimper an apology or something but my “shadow”ness kicked in involuntarily. I grimaced inward and thought, Shit! He’s gonna kill me! We’re not close enough to plead for my life. I am dead. I hung my head and closed my eyes waiting for my doom but, greatest of miracles, it didn’t come. I only heard a thud on the truck. I took a peek through my hair that hid my face and saw that Spencer’s face was only inches from me. He was bent over, so that he was at my eye level. His black as his heart hair swung forward to brush my forehead. His cheeks still has a brush of pink. He was staring at me intently. I can feel my face get real hot and know that I was getting redder by second. And who wouldn’t, Spencer’s deep dark hair was getting blown from all direction by the wind. His crystal blue eyes were glistening, I don’t know why though, and they were also gazing at my own eyes like he was searching some answer I don’t know about in it. It was the first that I saw him seem vulnerable, in fact, if I ever said that Spencer actually gave me the puppy dog look they would not, never believe me, ME! For craziness’s sake! I tried to back away from him. I stepped my right foot backwards and was about to take another when he dipped his head towards me, that stopped my foot in mid step. He didn’t kiss me or anything but he was closer now than ever. If seconds ago he was inches from me, now a little nudge from the back and... And... Shit! He’s blowing lightly, teasing, his breath tickled my lips and it parted slightly open. My gaze went from his eyes to stare at his perfect, slightly wide mouth. To my horror, while I stared

at his lips, a smirk lifted the corner of his lips, and then it started to shape words. I was so focused at how he was so close to me that I tuned out the rest of my senses. I realized it and refocused my hearing and where my gaze was heading, and it was heading downward. “You want me, don’t you?” He repeated to me when he noticed that I was not listening when I suddenly dragged my eyes back to his like I was abruptly wakened up from a dream. I was so taken by surprise by his teasing question that I quickly answered NO, though I didn’t mean to shout it to his face. And he took it as an opening. He struck his tongue in my mouth real hard and kissed me fiercely, long and hard. His hand was anchoring me to him. It felt like the time stopped. I don’t know how much time have passed but the second I heard Shane scream behind Spencer everything came back to focus. Spencer’s kiss stilled abruptly. I could feel his tension rise. I hear some engines rumbling behind him. I wanted to take a peek if it was Mico who have got the truck running but before I got the chance to, everything went black. i heard Spencer call my name. Seemed to me that he was in pain and that I wanted to go to him and come to his rescue. But I can’t even see anything, let alone help him when I can feel, well, not feel anything anymore. I can feel myself losing consciousness and slipping to oblivion... Then it was dark.