Jagged Edge

"Can you explain to me again why we're walking around in this hot-as-fucking-hell weather?" I gasped, tugging off my sweatshirt. Jag just laughed and plucked it from my hands. I was stupid to have worn that, along with jeans and a pair of knee-high Converse boots.

"We're going to take Aydin to the airport," he explained.

"Yeah, but why?" I asked.

"I dunno. Donny just told me to get there," Jag shrugged. I shook my head and continued on following Jag. They never properly planned anything! Then again, neither did my friends and I.

Although Aydin's house probably wasn't even 100 feet away, it seemed like it was millions. It was probably in the ninties, which was extremely hot here. Usually, we never had temperatures above eighty.

When we finally made it, the cool air conditioning felt so amazing that I sighed and collapsed onto the ground.

"Get up, silly. You can collapse in Aydin's room," Jag laughed. He stuck his hand out and helped me stand back up. He held it all the way up the stairs and then let go when he opened the door, considering that he had both of his hands full.

The door wasn't even fully opened when suddenly, I was glomped to the floor.

"Oh, my God!" I exclaimed. Zoe laughed her familiar laugh and climbed off of me. For the second time in less than five minutes, I had to be helped off of the floor.

"You guys ready to go?" Abbie asked, jumping up off of Aydin's red-blanketed bed and clapping her hands. There were still half-unpacked boxes tossed in the middle of the room and it smelled of fresh paint.

Jag must have said we were ready because I was pushed outside by our group of giddy, nervous, excited teenagers.

"Have you ever been to an airport? I've never been to an airport."

"No dude, but I hear the food is shitty."

"That's just on the airplane. Airport food basically is fast food."

"Fast food is nasty!"

"They have restaurants, too."

"Sweet! I can't wait!"

"ADVENTURE!"

Of course, Abbie screamed the last word as she made a weird noise and ran to Aydin's mom's van with her arms thrown up in the air. She jumped in the passenger seat because Aydin was driving. Zoe and I raced for the door, both wanting to claim the very back seat for us and our boyfriends. I made it first, but when I yanked on the doorhandle, the door was locked and I fell backwards. Zoe fended me off while Aydin unlocked the rest of our doors, but once she had the door flung wide open, I slipped under her arm and bounded to the backseat.

There were four rows of seats. There was the driver and passenger seats and the two rows after that had bench seats made for two people. The third row was again, a bench seat, but this one could hold four people. I chose the one that was on the left when I looked at it so that I could get up whenever needed. Zoe sat on the polar opposite side of me. Jag came in next and sat next to me, folllowed by Veronica and Donny, who took control of the seat in front of us. Adam sat next to Zoe. Kori and Bryce, the last ones, sat in the seats just behind Aydin.

"Everyone ready to go?" he asked. We all vocalized some form of 'yes' but Abbie shrieked, "I forgot the bags!"

With that, she thrust open the door and sprinted back into the house. Aydin looked at her, confused, and shook his head.

"That girl...she's...amazing," he groaned with a smile. Zoe and I 'awwed' at this cute display of his affection. He blushed and looked down at the steering wheel. Abbie came running back out then, carrying three bags of stuff.

"I packed us a bunch of shit for the ride," Abbie explained. She plopped them down behind her seat after she grabbed an iPod. We all watched as she struggled to plug the iPod into the stereo of the van. She missed the first few times, blaming the "goddamn bumps in this shitty paved road" when really, there weren't any bumps. Then she just gave up. Bryce popped up then and plugged it in a swift motion that made us all clap. Abbie just huffed a thank you and turned on some screamo.

The beginning of the ride was quiet, but then things started to pick up when Jag and Adam traded seats with Zoe and me. As we casually sat there, I would poke Zoe in the side.

"I swear to God, you touch me one more time I'm gonna break your fingers!" she exclaimed. I poked her again.

"Oh, that is it!" She grabbed my fingers and started randomly twisting them around. She eventually settled on cracking them in them most uncomfortable way.

"Ow! Ow!" I whined, trying to wriggle free of her death-grasp.

"You sound like a cat," Veronica said from behind the seat. She was resting her head in Donny's lap, the closest I'd ever seen her get to someone.

"Gimme your other hand," Zoe said, dropping my hand once she'd heard a successful crack.

"Hell no!" I exclaimed, pushing my fingers in the small space between Jag and I. I glared at her accusingly.

Jag had grabbed a water from one of the bags and handed it to me. I took a big swig, then stared at Zoe until she noticed.

"What?" she asked self-conciously.

"What would you do if I splashed some water on you?" I asked.

"I would make Aydin pull over so I can beat your ass!" she exclaimed. I looked at her, then to my water, then back to her and grinned evilly. She gave me her oh-hell-no-you-don't look and opened her mouth as if she was going to say it. I cut her off by dumping a good portion of the water all over her leg.

"Aydin! Pull this fucking car over right now!" she yelled. We weren't quite on the freeway yet, but we were on a deserted road that would eventually take us there. Aydin slowly pulled the car over. Kori opened the door.

"I'd start running," she hissed. I let a smile break out on my face, then I lurched forward and ran out of the van. Zoe followed after me, walking quickly. I started running when she got close, but that was too late. With one swift jump, she had a handful of my hair and a handfull of grass. She tried to shove the grass into my mouth, but I wouldn't let her and kept trying to swat her hand away.

Zoe was a stubborn girl, though, and didn't give up easily. I knew she would get tired out if I just kept giggling and running away and taking her shit.

"Gah! You just make me want to hit you so bad!" she cried in exhaustion, heading back toward the van. I followed her.

"Are you guys all better?" Jag asked, laughing. They had videotaped the whole thing.

"Can someone hand me the bag of food?" Zoe sighed, holding the bridge of her nose.

"Here ya go," Veronica said, throwing the bag to Zoe. I intercepted their pass and knocked the bag to the floor.

"Aha!" I exclaimed happily.

"Jag, what the fuck did you feed her?!" Zoe cried out in exasperation.

"She wanted coffee...I had to give it to her!" Jag tried defending.

"How. Many. Cups." Zoe asked.

"Like, three or four..." Jag trailed off, wincing in preparation for Zoe's next words.

"YOU GAVE HER THREE OR FOUR MOTHERFUCKING CUPS OF COFFEE!?" She screamed, hitting Jag repeatedly.

"I want an orange," I said randomly once Zoe was done hitting Jag and I had finished kissing all his bruises. I picked the bag up off of the floor, but Zoe grabbed it out of my hands and plopped it on her lap. As soon as she unzipped the bag, I reached in, felt around and plucked out an orange.

"Aha!" I laughed, dramatically holding up my orange. Zoe grabbed a yogurt and a straw and started sucking down the yogurt. When she finished, I threw the orange on her lap.

"I don't want it anymore." I stated. It was warm from sitting in my hand. I could feel Jag's body shaking with laughter next to me. Zoe sat, looking like she couldn't decide whether to be pissed off or just not to anything. She huffed and smacked the orange into her leg.

Slowly, I reached out and poked her leg ever so gently.

I moved my hand away, surprised that no one had tried to smack it or hit my arm. That's when I felt a solid object ram into my arm. I looked over to see Zoe inbetween rage and laughter. In her hand was the orange.

"Did you just hit me with a fucking orange?" I asked softly. Everyone in the car must have burst out laughing right then, including Zoe and I.

"Yes, in fact, I did," Zoe said, empasizing each word.

"At first I was like, 'did she punch me?' and then I thought, 'no, that was solid. it was like a rock!' and when I looked at you, I was like 'oh, it was the orange,'" I said, playing back my thoughts. Everyone laughed at my stupidity.

"Take a fucking nap," Zoe sighed. I leaned my head against Jag's arm, not really expecting to actually fall asleep.

__________

"Roxie, wake the hell up! We're at the airport!"