Chapter 11

[Helga]

"Phoebe, how the hell did you manage to do all of this!?" I say in excitement.

I didn't really think we would be able to pull it through, but Pheebs somehow managed. A whole week without school and nothing but the roads and the adventures we will have; this is going to be the best week of my life.

"Well, I'm very persuasive. I told my parents missing school wasn't going to affect my grades as long as I turned them in ahead." Phoebe says

"Wait, so you're telling me, you turned in all of your homework?" I say half shocked.

"Well of course, otherwise this little road trip would not exist."

"That's so you, I haven't even started on mine." I say throwing my feet onto the dashboard as we drive through an empty state highway.

Luckily the weather is nice and we were able to drive with the cover of the car down, Phoebe was able to persuade her parents into borrowing her mom's convertible. I have to say it feels like we are in a movie, with my long blonde hair flowing through the wind as we go into the empty roads. No road trip is complete without awesome sunglasses, so I saved some money to buy a pair of black ray bans for Phoebe and me.

"Do you want to stop at a gas station for some coffee before we find a decent diner for breakfast?" Phoebe asks me.

"Yeah, I could use some caffeine to wake me up. You know because I'm usually sleeping about now, and it's not because it's six in the fucking morning!" I say jokingly

"Did you know an apple wakes you up faster than coffee?"

"No I didn't Pheebs, why didn't you bring apples then?" I retort back.

"I did." She says reaching in the back of her seat. "You should have one." She states, taking a bite of the apple.

"Of course you did." I say grabbing an apple from her hand and biting it. "So what's in the agenda for today?" I ask her.

"If we're lucky we can get to Chicago before 7pm, I have a family member that live outside the city."

"Suburbs peps, where at?" I say curiously.

"Westchester, small quite suburb, I went to visit my cousins two summers ago there. I was thinking of staying at a motel, but we should save some money."

"Good idea." I say thinking of the week to come, "Brainy gave me a list of hangouts we should check out before we leave, and he gave us a little present before we left." I show her two fake I.D's.

"That is totally sweet! We can go into bars and hit the awesome clubs in the downtown area." Phoebe gushes with excitement.

"I know I hope you have some slutty clothes because we are on hard core clubbing mode as of now!" I shout rising up the volume of the car to the single of "Call Me Maybe".

We drive for another hour talking about what we were thinking of doing after high school and our college plans.

"This looks like a nice diner to have breakfast at." Phoebe says as she pulls the car into the parking lot.

"Yes because I'm starving, but before we go in its picture time!" I say pulling Phoebe into the view of the camera. "Say Cheese."

"Cheese" We say in unison

We go into the small diner and order our food.

"So how exactly is this road trip therapeutic for me?" I ask Phoebe

"Well I'm not sure yet, but it will be." She says with confidence.

"If you say so Pheebs." I yawn and stretch my arms and legs from the long ride in the car. "So how have you and Tall hair boy been?" I ask curiously.

"Fine" She says hesitantly.

"Fine?" I question her. "Phoebe you can't lie to me, what's going on?"

"This is between you and me." She says as the waitress comes with our food. "Thanks" Phoebe and I says to the waitress; we take a few bites of our food before Phoebe continues. "Gerald and I connect on an emotional level, I'm very happy with that, but there is so much sexual tension between us its crazy."

I raise my eyebrow in confusion, "So what you're telling me is that you haven't done the deed with tall hair boy?" I question her.

"Yeah, pretty much." She says while she takes a bite from her toast.

"So why don't you do it? Are you not ready?" I ask again

"It's not that simple, there have been moments where it is appropriate to be intimate but for some reason he stops and we do something different." She stutters.

I try to figure out the information she gave me but I'm at a loss of words.

"This is harder to explain." Phoebe says sipping some coffee. "The other day we were at my house and my parents weren't home; we sort of got carried away and then we were half naked. All of a sudden Gerald pats me on my back, turns on the t.v, and puts his clothes on. He was acting very weird afterwards, almost as if he was nervous, he wouldn't even look or touch me." She says exasperated. "What if he's not physically attracted to me?"

I want to laugh at her confusion, because she has everything all wrong.

"What?" She asks confused.

"Phoebe, for being the smartest kid in school you're slow. Don't you see that he loves you?" I explain to her. "If he didn't have control of his body, you two would have been all over each other like gorillas. As cocky as Gerald seems you intimidate him, he knows you are too good for him. What I'm getting at is, he's waiting for the perfect moment for such a perfect girl." I say

Phoebe is taken aback by my response but soon gets her composure back. "Do you really think so?" she asks.

"Do I think so? I know so!" We both smile at each other and finish eating our breakfast. We split the check and I leave a tip to our waitress. I put on my sunglasses as Phoebe and I walk towards the car.

"It's so beautiful right now; I can't wait to get to Chicago and sleep." I say

"We aren't going to drive all the way to Chicago to sleep." Phoebe sneers at me.

"Fine whatever, but we should take a power nap before heading to the night life!" I shout in excitement

We hit the road going northwest towards Chicago; I put my hair down letting the wind go through it. For the last hour Phoebe and I just blast some music signing along with the lyrics and taking pictures of the places we pass.

We pass through some corn fields, small towns when all of a sudden we stop on the side of a bridge.

"Why did we stop?" I ask Phoebe

"I'm hoping you brought your bikini because we are jumping off bridges!" She says gleefully taking of her clothes that reveal her navy blue bikini.

"What do you mean jumping off bridges?" I shout as I catch up to her.

"I found this place on one of the many drives to Chicago; we had a flat tire and pulled on the side. When I was walking around I saw the river that's below the metal bridge. You can't really see it driving by because of all the trees that block the way."

"Holy crap Phoebe, this is so beautiful." I take off my clothes not bothering to change into my bikini; I climb down to the metal bars of the bridge that reveal the crystal clear river.

"What about your bathing suit?" Phoebe asks while we stand on the bottom edge of the bridge

"It's at the bottom of my suitcase; I'm just too lazy to get it." I shrug as I look at the 15 foot fall from the water.

"You're not scared, right Pataki?" Phoebe challenges me.

I take a deep breath and gather all my strength to accept the challenge. "Me, Helga G. Pataki, scared? Never, I accept your challenge." I shout with as much confident as I could.

Phoebe extends her hand in a fist; I raise one eyebrow in confusion.

"Rock, Paper, Scissors. Winner jumps first." She states

I extend a fist as well, while we both count down.

"Alright, 1, 2, 3. Rock, Paper, Scissors." We say together.

"Rock beats Scissors Pataki!" Phoebe shouts.

"Damn it." I curse silently muffling my fear of heights; I try to maintain a cool outer shell while on the inside I'm freaking out.

"Well, whenever you're ready. We can always call it off." Phoebe challenges me.

"Call it off? Never, I'm just preparing myself…so I…uh...don't pull a muscle." I say as convincingly as possible. Without saying another word Phoebe pushes me off the ledge, I struggle to form into a fetus position to avoid injuries; somehow managing I go into the water in a cannon ball. I dive up from the water into the surface and get some air.

"You bitch!" I say in accusation.

"I'm sorry hoe, but you were taking forever. Now watch and learn." Phoebe shouts as she elegantly jumps high into the air making a double turn and dives perfectly with minimum splash. Baffled by the beauty of her dive I wait while she comes up. I start to worry when she doesn't come out of the water, I begin to swim around and call her name as my anxiety accelerates.

"Phoebe, where are you? You better not make me go and fetch you!" I shout to no one.

"Ahhhhh! Scared you Pataki!" Phoebe yells from behind me while jumping on top of me.

"Seriously you gave me a heart attack! I though you got sucked into a whirlpool, transporting you into another dimension or time zone!" I say teasingly

"Yeah well I'm still here, so let's jump one more time before we leave."

"Already? We just got here." I pout.

"We're on a tight schedule, we can be here for maybe 15 more minutes."

"Fine, whatever, race you to the top!" I shout as I'm swimming towards the bridge.

We swim and jump for a few more rounds, trying to see who can make the most turns before hitting the water. I feel so exhausted from climbing and swimming I'm relieved when we finally dry off and get in the car to continue on our voyage. I've never felt more care free without worries in my life, I can't even remember the last time I was this happy. I truly don't deserve Phoebe, she has been with me in my most darkest moments and in my least dark moments, I can't believe she has manage to stay with me after all this years. I might not deserve a friend like her but I sure as hell am glad she stayed with me. Who knows where I would have ended up without her.

After a few hours of driving I break my silence.

"Hey Pheebs?" I ask nervously

"Yes Helga?"

"Ok, don't make fun of me; I'm only saying this because I trust you with my life." I say waiting to see her reaction.

"Just spit it out, I won't laugh." She assures me.

"I'm going all corny on you but, I think this is a special moment and it's appropriate to say this. Anyways I'm so happy that we're friends and I truly and sincerely love you with all my heart, I wouldn't know what to do without you. So I guess what I'm trying to tell you is, I love you and I'm glad we are friends because without you I would be lost." I say trying not to lose my grip with my emotions.

"Oh Helga, that has to be the most beautiful thing you have said to me in a long time. I'm going to cry that was so beautiful." She starts to pull the car over to hug me in a tight bearing hug. "I love you so much too, I'm so happy we are friends!"

"Oh no don't cry, you're going to make me cry, and Helga G. Pataki does not cry. This is why I don't get emotional." I hug her back as we sit for a few minutes embracing and crying in silence.

We both pull back wiping away the evidence of the tears and we both just smile at each other.

"Alright now, How long until we get to our destination?" I ask trying to keep my breath steady.

"Only like 2 more hours, it's already 6:30, so we're a little behind schedule." She confirms

We stay silent for a while, just listening to the music from our iPods, we seem to be in the southern part of Indiana since all I see are corn fields and farms. I'm a bit fascinated by all the animals and vast empty areas; I guess growing up in the city does take all the small pleasures in life away.

My mind starts to wonder off to Hillwood, I start to think of what Arnold, Sid and the gang are doing; Phoebe has however prohibited any communication between them as part of her therapeutic treatment for me. The only people I can call are my parents but it's so weird when they call me every now and then to check on me. I appreciate their efforts but they need to tone it down a bit, for the longest time they never really cared where I went or what I was doing but ever since my accident they have been like crazy concerned.

I close my eyes for a minute just to rest for 5 minutes but before I know it Phoebe is nudging me, telling me to wake up.

"Pataki, the whole world could be crashing down and you wouldn't even know it. Get up we're here you lazy bum." Phoebe exclaimed

"I know I sleep like a rock, don't yell so much." I yawned as I stretched, "I'm coming, I'm coming!" I shout as I get out from the car.

"So this is Westchester?"

"Yes this is it, Chicago is only a 15 minute ride from here, can you believe it? You wouldn't even now if you drove right pass."

It seems like a small town to raise children but big enough to not know everyone's business. To be honest I though all the houses would look the same, but they actually vary from sizes and colors. This would be the perfect place to raise children.

"PHOEBE!" I turn around to see a petite girl with raven black hair running towards Phoebe.

"Alice! It's so good to see you." Phoebe and Alice exchange a warm hug before she turns around to notice me.

"You must be Helga, I heard so much about you darling." She hugs me tightly before I had the chance to respond. "Grab your things and come inside, you must be tired from the long drive." We gathered our things quickly as we follow Alice inside her small 2 bedroom house.

"Wow, you redecorated since the last time I came." The living room looks cozy and warm, with the walls painted a soft yellow that makes the room glow.

"I just painted and changed the curtains, nothing major. Anyways my roommate is on vacation and she said it was ok for you guys to use her room, she has a queen size bed so it's enough room for the two of you."

"That was really nice of her." I state.

"Hey Alice I'm going to go wash up and I'll probably sleep in early, I'm taking Helga early for you know what."

"Where are you taking me Pheebs?"

"I'm not saying, but I suggest you sleep in early because we are leaving at 4:30am tomorrow." She closes the door to the bathroom not giving me the chance to protest.

"What do you feel like having Mexican food or Burgers?" Alice shouts from the kitchen.

"Mexican!"

"Mexican it is, tell Pheebs we are leaving in 10 minutes. There is another bathroom in the basement that you can use if you want."

"Ok thanks, I'll be ready in 5 then."

I tell Phoebe that we are leaving in 10 minutes and I rush to the basement to get ready as well. When I get out of the bathroom they were already waiting for me, I grab my purse as we head to Alice's car. We're in the car for 7 minutes before she parks the car in what look like a Mexican neighborhood.

"Where are we?" I ask

"You wanted Mexican food, what better place than a Mexican barrio, right?" Alice says heading towards the front door of the restaurant.

"To better answer your question Helga, we are in Melrose Park. It used to be an Italian neighborhood but now the majority is Mexicans."

"Oh that's cool, do you think we can walk around after we're done here?"

"Yeah of course darling, you are going to love this place. Their enchiladas are the best!"

After sitting down we continue with our small talk, Alice ask me about my plans and my goals and I ask her what she does and why she moved to Chicago. Phoebe and I share how we became friends and our many adventures we shared back in Hillwood, we talked all throughout our meals. After leaving the restaurant Alice took us to an amazing ice cream place called Dulce Vida, we walked there since it was across the street. I have not had anything more delicious and sweet then a royal cream; it's sort of like a sundae but with a hint of heaven. After devouring our desserts we walked along 19th street as we passed local corner stores and then we walked to a Mexican bakery where I just went crazy and bought everything that I could grab, while Alice and Phoebe just stare at me in awe.

"What I like food." I state

"I don't know how you manage you stay so thin Helga." Phoebe giggles.

It was barely 10:30 and I was already sleeping once we got in the car, Phoebe and Alice had to half carry my ass to the front of the house.

"Damn Helga, you might be thin but you sure are heavy." Alice shouts.

"Way to make me feel better Alice." I walk into the house in a zombie like posture heading straight towards the room. I had enough time to take my shoes before I slowly lost conscious as I entered a deep dreamless sleep.

A/N

I'm so sorry for taking long, but for some reason this chapter has been so hard for me to finish and I had school and I went to the hospital, point is life got in the way. Anyway it's mostly a filler chapter before we get to the good stuff. I wanted the whole road trip to be one chapter but it would be to long of a chapter so I will split it in half. So please review and tell me what you think, pretty please!