The Day That Never Ended

I just had to deal with the day that would never end. It was a rather interesting day, considering that my life is pretty boring. But I was, at least, called responsible enough to drive to the music festival with my friends, Calliope and Natasha. I don’t think I was ready, though. I’m only sixteen. Here’s how it all started.

June 21st

 I woke up at eight o’clock with a smile. I usually never wake up like that. Waking up that early felt really good. I made some breakfast, but it was not successful.

I was too focused on my toast to check on the eggs on the burner. It started a fire and I almost fainted from the smell of smoke. I didn’t know what to do, so I threw my favorite robe on it to put it out in an attempt. It was saving my life, but it didn’t do so well for the robe. Dad came down into the kitchen. 

“Alexia, what are you doing?”

 “Good morning, Dad,” I said in an uncomfortable voice and chuckled. “I have to get prepared for the music festival. Calliope and Natasha will be here any minute.” 

I grabbed the dishrag and wiped it down the counter. I tried to help clean up a bit. Dad stopped me before I started to wash the pan of over-easy eggs. “Alexia, don’t worry about cleaning, I will do that. Plus, you need to stay out of the kitchen for a while. I trust you more with driving the car to Roseville than I do cooking in the kitchen.”

He’s right. I can’t even cook, but he trusts me enough to drive to Roseville. I can live with that. I went into my room to put my music shirt on. Nothing. I couldn’t find it in my drawers or my closet. Great. On the one day, I needed it, it’s gone. I looked around for it and yet, I saw it on the floor. I looked at it and just threw it in the hamper because it had food stains. No way I was wearing that out to the festival. If I had any pajamas that matched, I would’ve had a proper shirt to wear that revolves around music but I guess not today. I had to find something to wear. I don’t have a proper sense of fashion, but I’ll whip something up. I found a plaid blue skirt and my pink shirt with music notes. It looked okay, but I really wanted to match with my best friends. I’ll be the odd girl out of course. The doorbell rang. That must’ve been Calliope and Natasha. It was them at the door with their matching twin music shirts while I looked as the odd one out.

“Lexie, where is your matching music shirt?” asked Calli. “And it’s the one day we’re going to the festival, too!”

I shrugged. “Are you girls ready to hit the road?”

Natasha nodded excitedly. 

“All right, let’s go then!”

We cheered through the door and I started my car. I didn’t realize what I was forgetting. I knew I was forgetting something, but at that moment, what was I forgetting? It wasn’t until we were fifteen minutes into the car ride to Roseville that I forgot the thing I needed most.

“My suitcase!” I shouted. “I forgot my suitcase!”

“But we can’t go back now,” Natasha whined. “We were just starting the journey there.”

Luckily for us, there was a pit stop, so I could get a toothbrush and toothpaste. I hope we also get to go to a thrift store for clothing since everything I need to survive is in my suitcase at home. I also realized that I needed to eat. “Anyone else hungry?” I asked. “I burned my breakfast this morning and Dad forbade me from the kitchen.”

Calli looked at the map. “I guess we could get a bite to eat. A diner is five minutes from here.”

I turned into the parking lot of the diner. It doesn’t look too bad. Plus, I had diner food before. What could go wrong? Everything. That diner had very bad service. Severely Bad lack of waitresses and waiters, long waiting times, bathrooms are filthy, and the food tasted like plastic. Never go back into that diner, Lexie. No matter how hungry you are. Just keep it moving on the road.

“This place looks pretty cool,” I said when I didn’t know any better. “I can’t wait to know what the food is like here.”

We sat down. I looked around the diner. There was a lack of service there. Only one waiter was serving and we had to wait ten whole minutes. Finally, someone came and showed us our table, but then, no one came in less than two minutes. In fact, it was longer than two minutes. Way longer. “Ugh, we’ve been here, forever, and no one has taken our orders, yet!” exclaimed Natasha. “Bad service if you ask me.”

“Come on, Natasha. It could be worse. I mean, he’s working and he’s trying his best.”

“Ladies,” he said, eyeing me. “I’m Grant, and I can see that y’all ladies ain’t happy.”

Natasha scoffed. “Of course not, we’re practically dying here! Can you please take our order?”

Grant took out his pen and paper. Then we told him our orders. He was very friendly and very generous. I have never met a sweeter young man than that. The food came pretty fast. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as delicious as it looked on the menu. My eggs weren’t fully cooked and they were too overeasy. The bacon was difficult to chop on. Calli didn’t like her pancakes, either, or Natasha, with her breakfast sandwich.

“This food is disgusting,” Calliope whispered. “Wanna get out of here?”

“I have to use the restroom, first,” I said. “It’ll only take a second.”

When I went in there, it was the most unsanitary bathroom that I went to, in public! This place was really old, so I can see why. They could at least clean it. People have no decency. I felt like hurling. I saw a mouse on the floor. When I saw it, I freaked out and ran quickly out of the bathroom. “Come on, girls, we’re leaving!” I shouted with anger. We all went back into my car and thought, what else could go wrong? We started driving. The gas tank happened to be almost on E.

“Ugh, Lex-”

“Quiet, Calli, I’m driving.”

“But-”

I took a quick look at the fuel tank and it was empty. We came to a sudden stop. In the middle of nowhere. “What are we going to do? I don’t have any spare gas with me.”

It was almost noon and we were barely making our destination. I felt like giving up. But I didn’t.

“We should push the car,” I said, suggesting an idea.

“To what? The next pit stop is like three miles away?” Natasha thought it sounded crazy. Calliope, on the other hand, was on board. It was two against one. Natasha had no choice but to join us. The more, the merrier, they say! Maybe the car will move on its own down the hill and we can get help from a tow truck. We opened the doors, which we’ll soonly hop in as fast as we can. With enough effort, all of us were able to get the car moving. Moving so fast that Natasha had to actually sit on the back of the car to ride it.

“This is the best day ever!” she shouted. “Lex, you are so wild, girl!”

Well. It was fun. It was like the python roller coaster we rode on last year at the State Fair. When the car came to a sudden stop, Natasha fell off with scrapes and scars on her face. She didn’t care. It was pretty reckless. So fun though. “I wish we could do that again!” said Natasha, with a huge burst of energy inside of her.

“Get in the car, so we can call a tow truck,” said Calli. “We need to get this car fixed, so we can make our way to the festival. We aren’t even halfway there, yet, and it’s already noon.”

A jerk came speeding by and busted through the door. It was broken. “And that, too.”

Police came through.

“Excuse me, Miss, I couldn’t help, but notice that the side of your car is missing.”

“Yes, it is missing, but-”

“I don’t want to hear it,” he interrupted. “Do you want your friend to fall out of the door? Just to kill her?”

“No, of course not,” I said. “What are you, crazy?”

“I’m afraid that that’s a ticket,” he said, writing on a ticket card. “And we will be taking custody of your car.”

“But what about the music festival?” asked Calli. “We only have three more hours to drive and we’re barely one hour in.”

“Well, I guess you’ll have to hoof it, Ginger hair. Now beat it.”

He kicked us to the curb. The tow truck guy had to take it to the car shop. We were forced to walk on the sidewalk for most of the way there. It didn’t help and of course, it was scorning hot. We were literally being baked. Obviously sick of walking. After some time passed, there was a green bench with no one sitting on it. We sat on it, waiting for the bus. The bus didn’t come back for us. We had to wait an hour, which turned into two hours. I started to cry a little.

“Don’t cry, Lexie,” said Natasha. “We’ll get there in time.”

“But what if we don’t? We have until sundown and it’s two forty-five! Not to mention, it takes three hours to get there. The car ran out of gas, that jerk broke my door, and the cop took the car!”

“We can always take the bus,” suggested Calliope. “If it comes.”

“It’ll come, don’t worry!” I tried to stay positive and it worked. The bus finally came for us. 

“Where to, hon?” she asked, with her back turned to us.

“Roseville!” I exclaimed. “We need to go to Roseville.”

She closed the doors and started driving. I hope she understood what we mean. Nobody was talking. We all sat there quietly on our phones or sleeping. We were almost two hours away from the festival. Not so far from Roseville though. Things were looking up. Then I saw the Roseville sign. A huge smile spread across my face. The bus came to a sudden stop. Calli woke up in a flash.

“Why’d you stop?” I asked.

“Well, this is Roseville, sweetheart. You didn’t tell me a specific place here.”

“Can you go to Saint Claire’s? That’s where the festival is.” I suggested. “Now I gave you a specific place.”

The bus driver laughed and agreed. She was on board. It wasn’t until we hit another road bump. One of the tires popped while she was driving. This bus driver was bold though. She kept on moving. Pushing through the thick and the thin. The bus started to jump and dance all around. We all laughed as we walked around the bus. It came to a stop, suddenly. We all got out.

“Well, the wheel is busted. There’s nothing I can do. What time is it?”

I looked at my watch. “It’s three o’clock.”

The bus driver sat in the long grass. “Well, I guess we’ll have to wait for a tow truck.” Too late. I heard police sirens again. Great. Just what we needed. I wanted them to just take me to my cell. This day couldn’t get any less interesting.

“Hey, didn’t I see you girls earlier today?” he asked. I hated that cop. “Isn’t this a turn of events? You know, ladies, you rode an unsafe ride down a road hill in your car with your doors open, and now you ride a bus with a scratched-up wheel without stopping?” He laughed evilly. “Now, ladies, that’s very reckless. You’re all going to juvie.”

This was the point where I finally wanted to give up. I had my head down and felt like there was no hope. Juvie wasn’t where I’d belong. It was chasing my dreams at the music festival, but I guess that's not going to happen since we’re locked up and only two hours away. Why did this happen to me? I looked at my watch since they took our phones. Almost seven forty-five. We were here together for four hours. “Girls, someone’s here to bail you out.”

We looked up. It was Grant! “Grant?”

“Hi girls!” he said, excited. “Aunt Miriam.”

“Grant, how did you have enough to bail us out?” the bus driver asked. “Did you use your saved money?”

Grant nodded. “Only 1,000 dollars. I have to save for college, you know. What do you ladies say and let’s get out of here to go to the music festival?”

We all left with him. We didn’t have any transportation. A nearby farm lets us ride their horses. I always wanted to ride a horse and I always wanted to go horseback riding. I looked at my watch. Eight pm.

“We only have an hour before sundown!” I exclaimed. “Pick it up, Buttercup!”

Buttercup ran with speed and all of the other horses followed. Panic was rising in me, but I felt like we were making it. A train was in our way.

“Lexie, what are we going to do?” Natasha worried. “This train is in our way and we only have five more minutes!”

Buttercup stepped back and ran like the wind. She hopped over the train and we flew in the air. Everyone watched in amazement. All of the other horses did the same. They went to the bushes which lead us to the festival. I’m glad we made it, but it was too late. Nine o’clock on the dot. Everyone was packing up. I got on my knees. “So close. We could’ve made it. But we missed it.”

“But at least we didn’t miss this beautiful sunset.”

It was beautiful and it was a blessing because I thought this day would never end.

End of Journal

Well, that was the craziest first day of summer that I ever had. I rode horses, went on a roller coaster in my car, went to Juvie for the first time, and met new people along the way. Now, that was truly a journey.