chapter three:

There was an unspoken rule of the seats when the seniors returned on to the bus. Though some wished they were farther in the back, and others wished to trade, the rule of unassigned assigned seats stayed true. Both of the dogs took their spots neatly, not taking up any more space than they were long. Though none of the occupants cared, just moving their bags that they wouldn't be kicked on accident.

They all took their seats and Mark Smith started up his van once more. "Alright, to our second stop." He announced over the PA system, though it wasn't hard for any of them to hear his actual voice through the plastic sheet that separated them. 

Relaxing, the group watched as the brick house that Ezra resided in disappeared, the road beneath them faster than their eyes could catch. While none of them knew where their next stop was, with the exception of Saros, excitement ran through their body. 

Many of them had not left Bando in the span of their life, the rest had been as far as the neighboring town for sports competitions. The only chance they would have to get out of Bando was college if they choose to pay out of state tuition cost. Few could get the scholarships they needed but they did try. 

A majority of Bando students ended up going to the University of Bando, a small community college in the center of the town. The giant UB was visible from at least ten miles from the school. After you graduated there, it was easier to get out of the town, if you had the money that is. 

It was quiet for a while as if they were all taking it in. In just a few minutes, they would be passing the city line and eventually the state line, but that would be much farther into the day.

"Alright let's play." 

They started the game of Padiddle, all of them agreeing that their point would be cars with busted out windows as their thing. Of course, there wasn't a bunch of cars like that so there was a lot of time of them not doing anything but looking out the window.

"Tyyyy," Saros started, dragging out his name, "I'm bored of Padiddle." 

They had been playing the game for an hour off and on, only seeing a couple of handfuls of cars that matched what they were looking for. Every so often, someone would drop out and go back to their own thing, and soon it was only Ty, Saros, Azurite, and Taj playing. 

"You're only bored because you keep losing. So what do you want to play then, Princess?" He teased, throwing his arm over her shoulder once more. While she didn't move, Saros gave him a jokingly annoyed look.  

"What about twenty-one questions? We should use this time to get to know each other." Saros raised her voice, trying to get the attention of the others again. 

Those without their headphones in, or that had managed to hear Saros's loud voice over their music, debated to join in. 

It was a good idea for them to get to know each other better. They would be traveling together for the next three weeks, the soon they got comfortable with each other, the more fun they could have. 

But then again, some of them wanted peace and quiet to do their own thing.  

"How bout tonight Saro? When we reach wherever we're sleeping?" Loki offered, noticing the two different moods of her and the majority of the others, "We are stopping to sleep right?"

Saros nodded, "We'll be in a hotel the majority of the nights, but some of the other's we'll have to sleep in the van." 

Being the ball of energy that she was, of course, she really wanted them to play. She wanted to see them become friends as quickly as possible so that the rest of the trip could be between friends and not strangers. 

But she also knew that she couldn't force anyone. It might be easier to play a game like that when they were able to sit together in one room rather than in rows of a bus. 

"You're right, you're right. I'm pushing too much for us to do something." Saros mumbled, a frown picking at her mouth. 

"Don't feel bad though Saro. You're just being you, and you want us all to get along. I just don't think they're ready yet. Let them get used to everything first." Taj offered, setting his hand on her shoulder with a caring smile. He pulled out a deck of black and gold cards from his bag. "Let's see how this trip is going to go why don't we?"

Saros nodded her head up and down as if she was a little child being offered candy. "I didn't think you would bring them along." 

"Of course I would. It's essential that we check what the cards are saying." He fanned out the deck in front of her with his hands and as usual, Saros took three of them in her hands.

-----

The bus stopped with a jerk. Anyone who was fast asleep was now awake and those that were already awake were scrambling to keep their stuff in their laps and not flying through the length of the bus. Jaxton barked a couple of times; Ezra rubbing his neck to calm him down. 

It had been a couple of hours since they had stopped for food and rest at a local fast-food restaurant, but they had still been in California when they had done so. It wasn't as exciting as they thought it would have been but the smell of hot fries and cool milkshakes was enough to keep them at bay. 

Through the windows poured out the burning rays of the setting sun. It was getting close to night time but they all knew that the sun would be awake for another hour or so. There were trees and bushes that they had never seen before surrounding the parking lot.

Shuffling and putting stuff back into their bags, the group got off of the bus, taking in the different environment that a lot of them had magically woken up in.

"Don't forget your suitcases." The bus driver grumbled as he made sure that the doors were locked three times. He walked around to the other side of the bus, pulling on the handles that released the compartment doors and each of them took their time getting their suitcases out. "I'm not coming back out to the van tonight, so if you forget anything, that's your own fault. You'll have to wait till morning." 

"Where are we?"  Adalyne asked, yawning, and stretching out her arms from the nap that she had taken. 

"Primm, Nevada. Eight hours from Bandos." Saros informed, letting her braids down from the ponytail they had been in the entire journey, "And this is our hotel for the night." 

Behind her stood a giant orangish-brown building. It was only a couple of floors high and on the top, glass surrounded the perimeter. There were bushes everywhere and the highway roared to the left of them. 

"I hope y'all don't mind too much. I was only able to book two rooms, so we'll be separated by gender. There are only two beds in each, but they're king size." She added sheepishly, "Actually it's like that for the rest of the trip. There's a pull-out couch in a couple of the hotels though. So that's like a whole other bed." 

" So we're all bunking together?" Elowyn asked quietly as if she was unsure about the idea itself. 

"It's perfect trust me, Winnie. Just us girls. That's how we learn more about each other. It'll be like a giant sleepover every night." 

There was grumbles from all over the group, but nobody spoke out against it. It wasn't like they could do anything about it, to begin with. 

A quick walk through the waiting room revealed that it was a fair nice hotel room. Saros spoke with the receptionist, and with a look of an unnamed emotion, she slid the room keys across the counter that separated them.

The Korean-black girl squealed excitement, leading the group to the elevator where they stuffed themselves into, instead of taking two. 

"So you may be wondering why I've gathered you all here today." Jeremy joked, ridding the elevator of its silence. Some laughed, others rolled their eyes. They fell out of the elevator and separated into their bedrooms without another question. 

Before the sun went down too low, Skye mentioned wanting to go swimming. Originally, she had said it for herself, needed to stretch out her legs from the ride but as her words caught the ears of the other girls that she shared the room with, they all decided to go check out the rooftop pool. 

"I'll let the boys know then," Skye offered, though she wasn't sure what room the boys would be sleeping in.

As she went through her backpack looking for her swimsuit, Saros noticed the look Skye gave as if she was trying to figure it out herself. "They're down the hall, 472. Yell if they start getting annoying." Her voice was joking but all of the girls knew there was some truth behind her words. 

Skye nodded, making the journey down the hallway. When she found the room she was on a quest for, she knocked loudly, making sure that she would be heard over the noise in the room. 

The door flew open and a smile greeted her. "What's up sexy?" The boy asked her, leaning against the frame of the door. It was Ty, and his flirty ways were no stranger to any of the girls, despite them not really knowing each other.

Taken back, Skye scooting just slightly into the hallway. "W-we're all going swimming. Us girl's anyway.. Umm..yeah." She turned around to head back to her own room. 

"I guess I'll be seeing you there." He winked though she didn't see it. 

"Bruh, shut up Ty. You scared her away." Another boy's voice called out jokingly, "How are we supposed to pick up any females if you actin like this?"

The boys made it up to the roof before the girls. Specifically, because all they had to do was slip on some pants. Half of them didn't bother putting their clothes from earlier back in their suitcases and the room had quickly become a mess despite them only occupying it for less than half an hour. 

Jeremy had on a pair of soft blue and pink two-toned shorts, pushing up his sunglasses with his finger. Ty donned trunks that were too short and too tight for him. He already knew this but still continued to wear the pineapple print without care. For the longest, he had a running joke about the shorts and wouldn't trade them for his life. 

Ezra wore dark shorts with lines all over. If someone looked close enough, they would see that the lines were actually sharks and usually it resulted in him cracking some jokes. He messed with Jaxton, who seemed more excited to swim than his owner did. Noah also wore a dark pair of trunks, instead, flaunting pink flamingos all over it, and a white tank top that he planned on taking off right before getting in. 

Azurite tossed a plastic beach ball in between his hands, with black NBA swim trunks on. Where he had managed to get either was a mystery to them all for the NBA didn't sell swim gear and the beach ball was not present in the hotel room that they all shared. Loki had on a pair of striped shorts and a surfer type wet shirt on top. He was messing with Nana, trying to keep her on her leash as she jumped around, matching Jaxton's energy. 

A pair of floral print swim shorts hung on to Taj's waist, ones that he had just recently bought online. His fingers fiddled with the drawstring, internally debating whether or not to tie them or let them just exist untied. 

"Yo. This pool tight as hell. She didn't waste no time getting a good ass place." Azurite mentioned in astonishment. He had been one of those that had rarely left Bando. The farthest he had been was to the Siskiyou for basketball once a year, yet he had been farther than the rest of them. 

"I'm glad you like it big head. It was so hard to find this place with a pool." 

Pushing through the doors, the girls examined the pool and the glass enclosure that kept them from swimming out and into the street down below. 

Elowyn had on a swimsuit that looked vaguely inspired by the 1940's with the halter top that covered a majority of her upper torso. It was a deep yellow just like her skirt and flip flops were. Addy messed with the premade bow in front of her striped top nervously. It wasn't as if she was nervous about swimming, no she loved swimming, it was the imaginary comments from the guys that she had conjured up that worried her. Saros threw her arm over the girl's shoulder, rocking a deep blue tube top and high waisted shorts on her own body.

Emma was dressed in a white one-piece that had only one strap and a majority of the side missing. It was her favorite and she wore a giant floppy straw hat on top of her head. Usually, Skye would have worn her swimming uniform, the boring blue one piece but she decided against it. Borrowing one from Emma, who had brought multiple ones, she now wore a simple beige bikini that showed off every ounce of muscle she had spent the majority of her life carving away in swimming.

Cordelia also wore a bikini as many as the girls did, but hers was covered in roses. Her fingers itched to have the mini guitar in her hands, as she could play on the edge but she decided to take some time to get in the water. Beatrice wore her swimsuit underneath a purple coverup, looking as interested in the pool as she did to be in class, which was little. 

They waste no time getting to where they wanted to be. Only a few stayed out of the pool, but throughout they got in. Beatrice spent most of her time sitting in the pool chairs, playing a mission game with the hood of her swimsuit coverup on her head. 

"Let's play volleyball." Those who wanted to play separated into two teams. 

On one team was Noah, who had finally discarded his tank top to the side, Ezra, Taj, Elowyn, who could barely touch in the deep end and ended up switching teams, Skye, Saros, and Emma. 

The other team consisted of Jeremy, Loki, Azurite, Cordelia, Ty, who had made multiple comments on how he wanted to be on the same side was Skye, and Addy. 

" First to fifteen gets first pick at dinner tonight." Ezra wagered as he knew that he was already done with his. 

Both Nana and Jaxton ran around the edge of the pool, barking and yapping when people jumped in. They helped push the ball back into the water when it flew out doe to a false hit and they whined anytime someone jumped in.

---

Each girl ran through their showers, washing away the chlorine and the dirt from that day's drive. Unlike the boys, the clothes were put away in suitcases and after they were all done, the swimsuits were hung up in the bathroom to hopefully dry enough before the morning. 

"I'm bored," Emma exclaimed, running a brush through her blonde hair in front fo the floor-length mirror. While she did that, the girls were all doing their own thing within the room two king size bed room. 

On one bed, Cordelia sat near the pillows, retuning her ukelele ever so softly. Beatrice laid on her back as she played a game on another gaming deceive. Elowyn held a book in her hands but occasionally she would look over to see where Beatrice was playing. 

On the other bed, Saros looked through her set of papers with the plans for the next day, holding a pen to her mouth as she read. Addy flipped through the Polaroids that Saros had taken throughout the day. A bunch of them were off guards but they didn't make anyone look bad. Skye laid on her side, watching the Olympic diving reruns on the hotel TV. 

"What about we invite the boys over and we can play a game?" Saros offered, tapping the pen on her lip in deep thought, "Like truth or dare or something. Something super cliche. I'm only saying that because the boys are outside." 

Emma rolled her eyes, unlocking the door since she was the closest to it, "Don't come in here being loud. It's late." 

"Yeah, yeah. Don't worry we won't be." 

The boys wasted no time coming into the room, finding spots where they could. Some of the bolder ones, Azurite and Ty, took spots on the bed next to Saros, Addy, and Skye. Ezra and Jeremy shared an ottoman, pulling it closer to the rest of them. Noah sat in the aisle between the two beds while Taj sat on the trunk at the end of the other bed. Loki laid out on the couch, Nana lying on the floor underneath the couch. 

" So are we going to play a game or we gonna look at each other like we dumb all night?"