Chapter 2: No Plan, No Problem

Erica had no plan. Not even the beginning of one.

The second the words "real-world experience" left her mouth, she realized she'd locked herself into something with no clear exit strategy. But she couldn't back out now, not with aunt Marian looking at her like she'd just hung the stars and the twins staring at her like she was leading them to the promised land.

So she did what any responsible, quick-thinking adult would do: bought herself time. "Alright, first things first—pack for all situations. Hot, cold, rain, snow, desert, tundra, ocean, apocalypse—whatever you can think of. I'll pick you up in three days."

Sydney and Sid looked at each other, eyes gleaming.

"Wait, really?" Sydney asked, skeptical but hopeful.

"Three days," Erica repeated with a sharp nod, already inching toward the door before anyone could question her further. "Be ready."

She spent the entire drive home racking her brain for a destination, only to come up with absolutely nothing.

A road trip? Maybe. But where? National parks? No, Sydney would try to get them killed on a mountainside. A city? Too predictable. Backpacking? That required effort. A foreign country? Absolutely not—she barely scraped by managing her own passport renewal last year.

She needed to sleep on it. Or, more accurately, sleep through it.

For the next two and a half days, Erica laid in bed, accomplishing nothing. Occasionally, she considered standing up and forming an actual itinerary, but then she'd roll over and decide Future Erica would handle it. Future Erica, however, had very little time left.

By the time she checked the clock and realized she had only a few hours before she needed to leave, she entered full-blown panic mode. In a whirlwind of regret and poorly folded clothing, she packed her own bags in record time, grabbed her keys, and sprinted to her car.

And that was when she had her brilliant idea:

They can figure it out.

She pulled up to aunt Marian's house with all the confidence of someone who hadn't just made up their entire plan in the last thirty minutes. The twins were already waiting on the porch, suitcases at their sides.

Sydney grinned. "Where to first?"

Erica rested her arms on the steering wheel. "That's up to you."

Sydney's face lit up. Sid tilted his head.

"Elaborate?" he asked.

"Simple," Erica said, hoping her nonchalance masked the fact that she was improvising at the highest level. "This is your journey. I'm just the chaperone. Wherever you want to go, whatever you want to do—we'll figure it out as we go."

Sydney gasped like she'd just been handed a winning lottery ticket. "I wanna go hiking in the mountains!"

"No," Erica said immediately.

"Why not?"

"Because you want to go hiking in the mountains."

Sydney groaned dramatically and turned to Sid. "Back me up, please."

Sid, being the wise young man he was, studied the ground intently as if it were the most interesting thing he'd ever seen.

"Sid," Erica said, turning to him for support. "Help me."

Sid coughed. "I mean, it could be...fun?"

"Coward." Erica whispered, betrayal seeping into her voice.

Sydney clapped her hands together. "Okay, majority rules, we're going hiking."

"That is not how democracy works, and you know it."

Sydney was already grabbing her bag. "Better get your hiking boots, Erica."

Erica groaned, realizing she had just impulsively signed herself up for misery. Future Erica was going to hate her past self.

She already did.