The Road Trip

Chapter 1 - A Birthday to Remember

Chapter 1

A Birthday to Remember

Everyone has a place they feel safe and secure. A safe haven, if you will. A place where they go if they feel sad, stressed, or annoyed. A place that seems to wrap them in a hug and comfort them. For me, was my own personal Dreamland. The place where I could go to escape the horrors of life and just dream up the craziest stories. Okay, I'll admit it. I, Addison Knight, was addicted to sleeping. It was my drug. When I wasn’t at school, doing homework, or spending time with my boyfriend, Holden, you would have found me curled up in my bed dreaming about aliens and unicorns.

On that oh so horrible morning, I awoke to cold feeling in my stomach. My eyes flew open as I drew in a shaky breath. Bombarded with the morning light, I slapped my hands over my eyes and groaned. Someone had opened the curtains! The rustling of my silk sheets alerted me I was not alone. Slowly, ever so slowly, I opened my eyes. There, peeking out of my purple bed sheets, were pair of small, piercing blue eyes.

"Dear Jesus!" I shrieked, rearing back. As luck would have it, I flew back so far I went tumbling to the floor. My white walls swirled around me as I rolled, banging my head on the ground every few seconds. When I finally stopped, I rolled over on my back. My heart was beating in overdrive as I stared at the ceiling, taking deep breaths.

The infuriating laughter coming from two different directions made me clench my fists. What the heck were they doing here?! It was the first day of summer! Couldn’t I have just one morning of peace? I should've been used to it by now, but no. I just had to fantasize about sleeping in for once. After all, it was my birthday. Oh, sweet, sweet seventeen. Joy.

"Happy birthday!" Alex, the blue eyes in my bed, shrieked, jumping from his perch and landing on top of me. I grunted from the impact, hugging his chubby body tightly.

"Thanks, buddy." I managed to croak out, ruffling his blond curls. He gave me a smile, practically melting my heart. His huge blue eyes were just too cute! He hopped off of me, promptly running from my room yelling something about the birthday cake.

'Happy birthday, Addie!'Luke cheered with his hands, stepping out of my closet. 'I’m sure that was a killer scream this time, by the way.' He gave me a thumbs up before holding a hand down to help me up.

'Not funny.’ I signed, taking his hand. He quickly pulled me up, brown eyes sparkling, 'One of these days I really am going to have a heart attack.' Sign language was something I had picked up quickly when Luke was born deaf. He was one of my best friends. I learned sign language as I learned English. In the seventeen years, I had known him, sign language had just become a second language to me.

The Daniels boys lived next door. Our parents were best friends, so naturally, we had grown up together. Since my birthday was always around the first day of summer, the boys had taken it upon themselves to prank me every single year. They’re exactly how I imagined my own brother. If he was evil, that is.

"You say that," A voice said from behind me, making me jump, "But it has yet to happen. I, for one, am waiting for the day." I narrowed my eyes at Trent, attempting to break his blue gaze. His short brown hair was slightly messy but combed nevertheless. His effortless beauty was a gift from the gods, but he was the devil. I was fully convinced.

"Ha. Ha." I said humorlessly, speaking and signing at the same time so Luke could understand. He was good at reading lips, but I never forced him to. "Thanks for saying happy birthday, I really appreciate it." Luke chuckled behind me, patting me on the back. I loved Luke, he was my favorite Daniels boy. We were friends against all odds, unlike Trent and I. We had a hate...hate sort of relationship.

Trent smirked, walking towards me. "I'm sorry, Addison." He laughed, opening his arms. My eyes widened in shock as he wrapped me in a bone-crushing hug. That was the first time Trent Daniels had ever hugged me. Ever. I was so shocked I didn't try to get out of it, nor did I return the gesture. I just stood there with limp arms, completely frozen.

"Where's the birthday girl?" Trent immediately dropped his arms, taking five huge steps away from me. I turned around slowly, smiling at Mrs. Daniels. Her blonde hair fell over her shoulders in a mess of curls. Her bright blue eyes were always sparkling, just like her sons’. She was my second mother; I had even called her mom when I was little. When she saw me, her face fell. "What did these boys do to you now?!"

I laughed at her enraged face. Paisley got mad easily but was just as quickly calmed down. In just a few seconds she would be back to normal. This time, her wrath turned on Luke. Her face flamed red as she started signing furiously.

I thought we talked about this! We agreed that if she was asleep you would leave her that way! And here she is looking like you dragged her out of hell! What the heck is wrong with you boys?!' Well, that wasn’t offensive at all. Surely, I didn’t look that bad! She sighed, rubbing a hand over her face, "I'm really sorry, Addie." Luke nodded, dipping his head shamefully. It would’ve been cute if he didn’t look so embarrassed.

"It's fine really, no harm-"

"I'm not." Trent scoffed behind me, cutting me off. I tensed ever so slightly, turning my head to him. "I'm not sorry. That was the funniest thing I've seen since yesterday." Paisley frowned, giving him the 'shut-up-now' look. "What mom? We all know she doesn't care."

'Well,’ Luke used big hand motions, obviously trying to get our attention before a fight broke out. 'I think Mrs. Knight has a big breakfast planned, so why don't we go downstairs?' Trent didn't reply, he just stalked out of my room, stomping his feet like a two-year-old. Well someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Luke smiled, giving me a quick hug before following his big brother.

"Again, I'm sorry." Mrs. Daniels sighed, squeezing my shoulders, "I tried, I really did." She looked really upset, which surprised me. Usually, she didn't try to rein in the boy's wildness. She embraced it and took their antics with a grain of salt. That day, however, she looked exceptionally tired. For the first time ever I was starting to notice some wrinkles around her eyes and lips.

"Again, it's fine." I laughed, "I'm going to take a quick shower. Tell my mom I'll be down in a minute?" She nodded, swiftly scurrying out the door so I could bathe. I sighed, running a hand through my knotted hair and hurrying into my bathroom. I stripped from my pink tank top and gray shorts and quickly jumped into my white, tiled shower.

The previous year, when my older brother moved away to college, I got his room. Which was awesome because it had the little ensuite bathroom. In my old room, I had to walk all the way down the hall just to pee.

Scrubbing my hair with my raspberry shampoo, I flicked on my shower radio. Adele's someone like you came blasting through the speakers, making me smile. That was some of my favorite songs.

“Never mind I’ll find, someone like you!” I belted out the lyrics, grabbing my conditioner bottle to use as a microphone. Some of my best performances happened while I was in the bath; I was convinced they were better than Beyonce's. Vaguely, I was aware that everyone downstairs could probably hear my horrible screeching, but I didn’t really care. Preserving my ego was not a priority.

When I was all clean, I hopped out and wrapped my purple robe around my naked body. A crash was heard from downstairs, followed by a series of yells. Ugh, the Daniels'. What did they break this time? Another lamp? It seemed like every time they were over they broke something. The last time it was my mother's favorite vase. Let's just say some serious ass whooping went down.

You see, since the boys were like my brothers, my mother was more than happy to yell at them. She sometimes even hit them upside the head. If only we weren't next door neighbors, then I wouldn't have grown up with all these practically-blood-related-but-not-really brothers. My mom and Paisley grew up together and we're determined to buy houses together when they grew up. And that's exactly what they did.

Mrs. Daniels had more children, though. Four to be exact. All of them boys. Have I mentioned I hate genetics? If only there was a girl in the bunch, maybe then it wouldn't have been as bad.

They all had dark, chocolate colored brown hair that they got from their father and these beautiful, ocean blue eyes that they got from their mother. Every girl at school chased after them, and in Trent's case, got them. Luke was more reserved and had yet to have a girlfriend. Chris, the oldest, was away at college, but I’m sure he was having lots of fun. Alex, the surprise baby, was the only one with blonde hair, like his mother.

Shaking my head, I wrapped my blonde hair into a towel. Then I quickly brushed my teeth, making sure to get every inch. I hated the feeling of dirty teeth. With a mental sigh, I tied my robe shut, preparing myself for my hectic morning breakfast. I had about twenty minutes left before I had to leave for dance rehearsal, so I pulled my wet hair into a messy bun and headed to my closet.

A little shriek left my mouth when saw who was laying on my bed. His hair was slightly longer than the last time I saw him, but he still had the same cheeky smirk. The freckles on his face had gotten slightly darker, probably because he had been spending so much time in the California sun, where he went to college.

"Liam!" I yelled, flinging myself at my brother. He chuckled, wrapping me in a bone-crushing hug. It had been almost a year since the last time I saw him. I had missed him so much!

"Hey Addie,” He said, his low voice booming, "Happy birthday!" I buried my head in my chest, inhaling his smell of clean laundry. I know, it's weird, but it's what he smelt like.

Liam and I had always been close for some strange reason. We had never had a single fight, even if we did get annoyed with each other sometimes. He had kept all the boys away when I was younger, including the ones I had been interested in. But that’s okay because when he was cheating on his girlfriend, I made sure to tell her. We called it even and forgot about it.

"Oh, my God, when did you get here?!" I smiled, pulling away and skipping to my walk-in closet. Even if we were close, I didn’t exactly feel comfortable around him in a bathrobe.

"Just a few minutes ago." He laughed, putting his arms behind his head and sighing, "I came up to say happy birthday...And tell you I won't be able to come on your road trip." My smile fell, heart, dropping all the way to my toes. That was not what I wanted to hear!

My road trip. The one I had been planning since like, eighth grade. The one I had spent years convincing my parents to let me go on without them. They had only agreed on the condition that Liam went to keep an eye on me and my friends. If he wasn’t going, it would ruin everything!

"You promised, Liam!" I pouted, sticking out my bottom lip. "That was going to be one of the only times I get to see you this summer!" Not to mention the fact that now my parents would insist on going. We were supposed to be going from Texas to Oklahoma, and then to Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California, and then we were going to take a flight to Hawaii for the rest of the summer.

Sounds extravagant, right? Well, I had wanted this trip since I was nine and had been saving, along with my parents, since then. The year of my seventeenth birthday was the year we finally had enough money, and I was super excited. Now, it looked like that was changing.

"I'm really sorry, Addie!" He sighed, running a hand through his long hair, "I am, but Nia needs me." Nia. I hated her. She was Liam's very beautiful, very pregnant, girlfriend. The baby, however, had not been planned. Let's just say they are both forgetful while drunk. "She isn't doing as well as the doctors hoped and they say that Sara might come early."

Sara, the name of my unborn niece, was ruining everything. I already hated her. Was that wrong? I sighed but nodded, closing my closet doors, locking myself inside. Fighting back tears, I quickly grabbed a blue tank top and my workout shorts. Addison, don’t be mad at me!”

“I’m not,” I yelled, hating myself when my voice cracked with emotion. I quickly slipped into a sports bra, pulled on my tank and shorts, tied my tennis shoes, and grabbed my dance bag off it's hook.

When I left my closet, Liam was gone. He was probably downstairs with everyone else, so I hurried out of my room. By that time, I only had ten minutes before I had to head out, so I was in a bit of a hurry.

"Happy birthday!" Everyone chorused, throwing confetti at me. I laughed, taking in the sight before me. The table was full of all my favorite breakfast foods - waffles, pancakes, bacon, sausage, and toast - and in the center was a huge birthday cake that said 'happy 17th Addie!'

"Oh, my God!" I gasped when I saw Alex. He had on a little, purple party hat, his blond curls stuck out on each side. His pudgy cheeks were bright red. Even though I was in no mood to celebrate, I couldn’t help but smile at his adorableness. He gave me a lopsided smile, revealing his tiny teeth. "You guys shouldn't have." I made sure to sign as well for Luke, who was heading towards me with outstretched arms.

"We didn't,” Trent said, grabbing a piece of bacon and shoving it in his mouth, "Your mom did, we're just here for the food." I shot him a glare before embracing Luke, squeezing him tight. He pulled back, looking my face over carefully.

'Whatever Trent said, forget it.' He sighed, rolling his eyes. Wow, he knew me so well. He couldn't even hear or see Trent and he knew his comment was rude. 'He's just a jerk.'

I laughed, 'Yeah, you'd think he could be nice for my birthday, but no. He has to be his usual jerk-ish self.'

"Okay guys,” My dad said, shooting us a look, "Enough of your Addie and Luke conversations, come here and celebrate with us!" I laughed, signing what my dad said so Luke would know. No matter how hard my dad had tried he had never been able to pick up sign language. Only simple signs, like please and thank you, had stuck in his forty-eight-year-old mind.

"Crap!" I hissed, glancing at the microwave clock, "I'm so late! I'll see you guys later!" I gave Luke one last hug, grabbed a piece of toast, and started running towards the door. I finally broke loose of my family after giving everyone, except for Trent, a hug. I loved them, but it seriously felt like I was fighting through a battlefield just to get out the door. Thankfully, I made it to class on time. Otherwise, my teacher would've killed me.