18 hours

Once they arrived in Joplin they got rooms this time Beth, Quinn and Becca got a room, but Beth had to sleep on the couch. It was 9:30, so everyone went immediately to bed other than Beth, Becca and Quinn. They had grabbed a bottle from the car, and Becca and Beth started to drink.

"My head is going to hurt tomorrow"

Beth laughed

"Same, but I feel like drinking"

Becca added

"Oh what did I get myself into"

Quinn complained

"A night of fun"

Beth whooped. Quinn groaned once again and grabbed herself a glass of water. 20 minutes later, Beth was sitting on the bed crying, Quinn was off somewhere and Becca was still drinking.

"My eyebrows look horrible, I want to get them waxed but my appointment was yesterday, I also had a waxing session yesterday."

Beth cried

"Beth why don't I wax you"

"Wait that's such a good idea"

Beth wiped away her tears and went to her bag where she had some wax strips.

"Ok do my eyebrows first"

Beth advised. Beth gave the stripes to Becca, and Becca started to get ready. Beth lay down on the bed, looking up at Becca. Becca put the hot strips on Beth's forehead and ripped it off. Beth screamed, the windows nearly breaking. Just as Becca pulled the stripes, Quinn walked in the room with some food.

"I'm not even going to ask"

Quinn stated, while putting the food down. Quinn walked past the two girls into the bathroom, Beth and Becca heard the shower turn on. They both shrugged and continued, while still drinking. At 1am all the girls decided to go to sleep.

The next morning at 5:30 Melania knocked on the door, telling the girls to wake up. Quinn was the first one to stand up. She laughed at Beth and Becca who had headaches from the night before.

"Come on girls wake up, I'll give you some aspirin"

Quinn assured. The girls slowly got up. They got ready and 30 minutes later everyone was outside meeting for the day.

"I can't drive, don't think Beth can as well"

Becca murmured

"Love, you look like shit, what's wrong with your eyebrows."

Nathaniel joked. Beth's mouth opened like she wanted to hit back but she restrained.

"I'll drive"

Nathaniel then volunteered. They walked to the car, Quinn sitting next to Nathaniel. Melania and Beth sat right at the back, and the rest sat in the middle. Beth and Becca immediately fell asleep.

"We're going to do one more drive, it's 18 hours. But I'll make sure we get there in 15."

Nathaniel hit the pedal and the car sped off.

"Hey, Nathaniel are you ok"

Quinn asked

"Why you asking"

Nathaniel snapped back

"You seem very pissed and very annoyed"

"Last night some people decided to drink, they were screaming and laughing all night. I think someone even fell down and injured themselves."

Quinn looked embarrassed

"Oh I'm sorry, the girls decided they wanted to get hammered, Beth wasn't feeling her best. And then she decided she should wax her eyebrows, they stopped at that cause I forced them."

Quinn explained what had happened that night.

"Is Beth ok, I've always felt really bad about what happened between us, but I don't know, I can't apologise. I feel emotionless a lot, and I'm horrible at apologizing."

Nathaniel slowly told her

"I get it, but you really hurt her. Maybe you should show that you're sorry not tell"

"I'll try. What do or did you want to be when you're older, you could be a very good therapist"

"Oh, a lawyer, you?"

"I always wanted to be a racecar driver but it's probably never going to happen, so I was going to study business probably"

"Why can't you become a racecar driver?"

"You can't have a criminal record because the teams don't want that"

"That must suck"

"Yeah, that's why I do it illegally"

"How did you learn, I've always wanted to know"

"I had my grandfather so he taught me, I don't really know how other people got started"

"Yeah, I heard about that at school"

"I think everyone knows about my life"

"I think most people here have that problem, I mean we all have rich parents. Some of us have moms as mayors, your grandfather was famous. You have paparazzi following you, I have rich parents but like yours are on another level"

"Paparazzi sucks, they don't even care about your private life, they take something and run with it"

"Yeah I remember you once had a scandal that you like paid people to get your grades, something like that anyway"

"Yeah I remember that, it was because I gave a teacher some money that I had won because they are underpaid and that teacher Mr. Wieberneit's wife was in the hospital due to a sickness and she couldn't have the treatment because they didn't have money"

"Really was that why Mr. Wieberneit wasn't at school for awhile in February and March"

"Yeah, you didn't know"

"I know no one who knows"

"Hey guys"

Quinn turned back

"Did you know Mr. Wieberneit's wife was sick?"

Quinn asked, the replies were all no.

"No one knew"

Quinn announced to Nathaniel

"I found out because, ooooh now I know. Because my parents are on the board, that's why he was so surprised when I told him I'm sorry"

Quinn smirked. Quinn looked back to see how Becca and Beth were.

"They are very tired"

Nathaniel pointed out

"Yeah, they barely slept, like I said they got very drunk. They are like children, toddlers. They were screaming and running around, like babies. So glad I'm not..."

Quinn stopped her sentence

"So glad you're what?"

Nathaniel asked

"Oh I was going to say, so glad I'm not pregnant or have a child but, I'm pregnant"

"How many months?"

"5"

"You're very far for the fact that you just found out"

"I've got a very irregular period"

"I'm not even going to pretend like I know what that is. Are you excited?"

"Yeah I've always wanted kids, it's just a bit early. I found out on Friday and was debating whether or not to just abort it without telling anyone. I was at the place where you get them but I couldn't. I guess it pulled on my heart strings. I was standing outside the clinic for 40 minutes. So do you want kids?"

"No not really, I'm not going to try but if I get someone pregnant and they choose to keep it then yeah I'm going to be a dad. But I would rather not"

"Oh you seem like someone who's a mysterious hot bad boy but has a soft spot for your wife and you get kids, lots. Kinda like the mafia books I read. Yeah like the mafia books."

"I see where you got that from, but that not really me, other then the hot part"

"Oh god you are such a Leo, but you're a Gemini right. Cause if yes I can see it"

"Thanks I guess?"

"Your welcome"

After two hours Beth finally woke up.

"Hey Beth, how was it sleeping on my lap for the past 3 hours"

Melania greeted

"Oh I'm so sorry I was just very tired"

"Nah, it's fine"

"Why were you so tired anyway"

"I was up till like one honestly I can't even remember"

"Nathaniel?"

"What"

"Was it because of Nathaniel?"

"Kinda, I haven't snapped like that in awhile. Plus seeing what Nathaniel thought first hand Kina hurt. We obviously haven't talked about what happened at all. Well at least I know what he kinda thought"

"Yeah, I would have snapped too, why did you punch the screen, my screen anyway"

"I was mad about what my father said, him acting like he cares about me and his fake crying. God I fucking hate him, as if it wasn't his fault I was in that jail anyway, he was the one who made the call"

"Yeah, parents can honestly be the worst"

"I agree. But sometimes they can be amazing"

"Hey it looks like your makeup is coming off in your neck"

"Oh thanks"

Beth thanked, then reached into her bag and pulled out foundation, a beauty blender and a mirror. She proceeded to blend the foundation into her neck, making sure no bruises were visible.

"Why do you have those stuff in your bag"

"For these situations when my makeup is coming off"

"Do you always do this"

"Yeah"

Melania could see that Beth was slowly becoming more uncomfortable so she stopped asking questions

"Have you guys heard anything interesting in the radio"

Beth asked the group.

"Yeah, a while ago they said something about how a sighting of Nathaniel in Seattle was being looked into. Someone who looked like Nathaniel came into a Starbucks, looking nervous and trying to hide their identity."

Sage answered

"Ok, is Becca still sleeping"

Beth continued asking

"Yeah, she's out cold"

Becca answered

"Oh ok, thanks Becca for telling me that Becca is sleeping"

Beth chuckled

"Well since im awake how much time do we have left"

"Umm the car says 13, I say like 12"

Nathaniel answered

"Can we get coffee, I don't know if you guys have already had a cup, but I haven't and I'm dying"

Becca proposed

"You and Beth haven't had coffee because you were sleeping, Nathaniel when you see a coffee shop or gas station go to the shop"

Melania commanded. Nathaniel nodded, and told Quinn to keep an eye out. A few minutes later Nathaniel pulled over and got out of the car.

"What is he doing, there isn't a shop that sells coffee here"

Daniel asked

"There is a strawberry stall, so yeah he's buying strawberries"

Quinn smiled, Nathaniel walked back with seven boxes of strawberries and one box of blueberries. He handed everyone a box of strawberries and the blueberries he gave Beth. Beth at first didn't accept the blueberries, but after him shoving it in her face she accepted.

"This doesn't mean anything"

Beth hissed. Nathaniel got back into his chair and drove away.

"What was that about?"

Melania asked

"Well, when we younger, not even when we were younger but I love blueberries. So when we were younger I was crying because of honestly I don't know. This was at school in 5th grade, and I was crying at school, by the dumpsters and he came over not even knowing I was crying. My hands were like in my knees and my face was in my hands. And he threw a blueberry at me, I threw it back then he threw a strawberry, that's when I screamed at him crying and he gave me a blueberry, like that was going to change anything. Then he did that everytime I was doing or mad, it didn't happen in the big fight. So yeah that's why I said 'this doesn't mean anything' should I go into more detail?"

Beth recounted.

"Kinda makes sense, but also kinda cute"

"Cute, did you just call me, Beth Fletcher and Nathaniel, Nathaniel Williams cute. I'm cracking up, dead. The funniest thing I've heard all year."

Beths fake laugh turned into a real one, as Melania also started laughing. Sage turned around and looked a bit jealous. Beth realised and immediately asked Melania:

"What's with you and Sage, she looked a bit, tiny bit jealous. You're also spending a lot of time with her which isn't bad I mean look at Quinn and Becca, but Sage blushes a lot around you"

Melania blushed a bit

"And you do too apparently"

Beth finished

"Well she's really nice and funny. Super kind, adorable. But I don't know we are very different, she's a very good friend."

Melania explained

"Yeah you seem like very good friends"

Beth laughed to herself

"You know I want to swap seats. Nathaniel stop the car I want to swap with Daniel, Beth is kinda annoying me right now."

Melania told Nathaniel, and he stopped so that Melania and Daniel could swap seats.

"Hi"

Sage blushed

"Hi"

Melania says back.

Daniel looked at Beth questiony

"What did you do"

"What, I didn't do anything"

"Beth?"

"Fine, I may have annoyed her about her relationship with Sage. It's not that bad! Right?"

"It's not that bad, I think she just is conflicted and maybe she wanted an excuse to sit next to Sage."

"Maybe"

Beth snorted

"You've been very quiet this whole... trip, not even trip but like the whole summer"

Beth acknowledged

"I'm just, I, I think, I have. I'm just not feeling too well, Sophia or I don't know honestly I've been just trying to find myself, that's why I think I agreed to come, other than the fact that you were leaving and I can't go to school without you cause I wouldn't survive."

"Oh, thanks for the confidence. Didn't really need it, well I guess my ego did need an inflation"

"You are too full of yourself"

They both laugh with each other

"This car ride is way too long"

Becca complained

"I know right, it's super boring"

Quinn added on

"We can play a game"

Sage suggested

"No"

Everyone told her instantly

"Fine I guess"

"Ok so how long do we have left Nathaniel"

Becca asked

"8"

Nathaniel answered

"Noooooo, so long"

Becca continued groaning

"Becca we've been in longer car rides then 8"

Melania pointed out

"Yeah maybe, but we haven't already been in here for 8 hours."

Becca argued back

"Ok ok point taken."

Melania calmed Becca down.

"Becca why don't we go for a jog once we arrive. I know I need to do a bit more sport"

Daniel told Becca

"Please, I hate sport but please my legs hurt, my whole body hurts, I haven't done any physical activity other than drinking in three days. That was just me dancing, I need sport"

Becca spilled

"I've been jogging at every motel"

Nathaniel added into the conversation

"We get it, you do sport"

Daniel attacked Nathaniel

"Calm down Daniel, he's not worth it, I would know"

Beth whispered to Daniel

"I don't like doing exercise, I would rather read"

Quinn stated

"Same, reading over everything else"

Sage agreed

"I run but that's it, my exercise is running from cops at this point"

Melania added

"My turn to say something about exercise, so I'm a cheerleader, so I have to keep fit, it's horrible 10/10 would not recommend. I would rather eat and be at home, but I can't because I'll get kicked from the team, so I'm not doing any I mean any sport with you guys. I've done enough sport to last me for the next five years"

Beth concluded

"How is the cheer squad anyway, I wanted to join but they rejected me apparently I'm to ugly"

Sage asked

"Umm it's toxic. They control what you eat, weigh you, especially if you're a flyer. The costume will only go up to a certain size. I remember a girl Jasmine didn't fit in the largest costume and they kicked her. The team itself is horrible. The girls I'm talking about last year's team. The girls are mean and will do anything to become the best or up top. One time we were training outside next to the football team and one of the flyers, Christina saw Chad take off his shirt, mid being thrown, it was horrible, half the team got injured. The worst part is the costumes, I find them very short and I feel very uncomfortable in them, this is just how I feel, the girls all rock the costumes, I just don't like them on me. The amount of times I've had teammates come to me to change the costumes because they have been harassed or catcalled the school won't do anything about it. Now the pros. Let me think. So you find a family, may be toxic but you feel like you belong somewhere. Popularity everyone likes and wants to be you or want to be together with you. And you also get fit. Is that a good answer"

Beth threw on everyone

"Ok so now I'm glad I didn't get approved"

Sage concluded

"Good, you should be it's all about looks anyway"

The next four hours were spent with the group talking about cheer, other clubs they were in and also their school lives. Nathaniel and Beth didn't speak one word to each other, but the group still had fun. Beth had at this point eaten the blueberries and strawberries and threw the box at Nathaniel while he was parked to get the car charged. They also had never stopped for coffee, which mad Becca kind of mad. On the radio they had heard a little bit more about the Nathaniel, Seattle situation, the person hadn't been caught and the police were still looking for him. They also had found the car in Las Vegas after it was found out that the garage belongs to Nathaniel Williams, so now the police were looking all through Las Vegas for the group. But after four hours and three long days they had finally made it to their destination: New Hope!