As she couldn’t help but watch the shit show currently playing out, Ava remained leaned against the back of Reyna’s car, eying the scene unfolding itself like a crumpled up piece of origami paper half-finished.

Everyone who had seen Val go away with AJ knew that it wasn’t going to last long or that it would be a pretty sight whenever it was made public. Of course, Ava didn’t hear anything they talked about. She would have loved to be in the RV when they talked, but that was Ava just wanting to know the entire tea, not just hear the whistling of the tea kettle going to dangerous levels of hot.

But as Val stormed out like a bat out of hell, like the conversation she had with AJ went exactly as everyone who had half a brain knew it would, attempts, though not all as successful, seemed to be thrown out to try and stop her from leaving. And Ava just stood there, not doing anything, not moving from Reyna’s side. Ava remained still and she remained there laughing at how everyone probably was going to feel one way and she just started cracking up, causing her to miss what Reyna said.

Ava tried to control herself, taking in slow breaths but that only made her laughter leave the comfort of barely audible. This happened in conjunction when Reyna signaled towards Shirtless Leon to stop her. “Wait you actually want--” That was the moment her voice screeched and Ava’s lungs were on fire as she was hunched over, pointing at Leon then to Val and then back to the shirtless boy. “Oh yes, please grab the shrimp! We wouldn’t want her to go away!” Ava’s words came high and filled with this uncontrollable laughter she couldn’t get a handle on.

What was Josie even doing here? The parking lot was busy, filled with familiar friendly and (not so?) friendly faces. Despite the crowd, she could tell certain distinctive folks were missing, and Emilia's question upon stepping into the fray only served to confirm her thoughts.

Josie made sure to wave at friends: Chloe and Ivy were two she aimed to catch the attention of before finally (wo)manning up to face Sami that had been making his rounds.

'Calm the FUCK down, don't be a fucking weirdo.' Josie thought as she released a strained smile. She just needed to... get her last two brain cells back in check. But when rugged Adonis himself was wandering over to her group, she was done for.

”Heya Josie. New hair is gorgeous. Like always”

Ba-dump.

Josie had to fight the urge to swoon after that greeting. That was some good Disney shit right there, and in trying to resist sounding like an absolute dumbass, she couldn't stop a giggle from escaping her lips. "You can have it." Pause. "Er, pink hair. If you want. I'm sure you'd rock it."

Do not-

"You rock everything you do anyway."

What's the point of having a brain cell if you don't listen to it?

Josie luckily did not have to suffer very long, as Sami's attention was soon grabbed by a storming midget and a fallen comrade. Between Katie, Val and Reyna, Josie couldn't help but wonder who would drive AJ to murder first. She held onto Sami's jacket and waved feebly at him as he took off after Val. She turned to Emi shortly afterwards.

"Dibs on not being the one to give Val her drink." Josie muttered immediately. Maybe she was signing Emilia's death warrant, but damn it, Josie had a leather jacket to enjoy. "We should probably check on AJ though, he looks like he's 'boutta check out any moment."

Chris and Katie watched with laughter as Aleks stuffed buns into his mouth as if he’d been starved all his life up until now. Of course, Chris knew that was far from the truth, as he’d seen Aleks put more food away than one could expect for a body his size… and lord help you if you were around him when he got hangry. Everything had been going well, the olive branch had gone swimmingly and Katie turned out to be a pretty cool chick. The conversation had been so easy breezy that Chris had all but forgotten the feuding pair in the RV… right up until their presence was made violently known for all to see.

Val stormed out of the RV followed by an incapacitated AJ tumbling to the ground, clutching his crotch. Jesus Christ, what on earth did he say to her to warrant that? The thought came and went quickly, Chris knew his best friend well enough, AJ had a knack for saying overly harsh shit in the heat of the moment. There was a slight possibility that he might have deserved it… but he also knew Val well, and she could be dramatic as hell. They both could be, which makes it a real miracle that they haven’t killed each other yet in all these years.

The severely out of place punk watched helplessly as AJ crumpled, Val ran, Aleks went to AJ and, instead of anyone going after Val, a few of the peanut gallery members sought it fit to make snarky remarks about her. How helpful. “Ahh...shit…” Chris remarked through a deep sigh. Katie called him Christopher and looked like she was about to head elsewhere as well. “Hold these for a sec, actually, pass em out, please?” He handed the bag of bread and jam to Katie before she flitted away, hoping that she might be able to distract the gawkers with food. Unlikely, but worth a try.

Looking in the direction that Val had darted off, Chris saw Sami taking off after her. Good, at least someone else was being useful. Of course it was Sami, too, that leather-clad saint. Knowing that the latino would catch up to her without much trouble, Chris took the time to glare at Ava and Reyna. “You know, if you guys weren’t going to help, the least you could have done was shut the fuck up.” Ah well, so much for the whole “I’m not an asshole” claim. You can take the kid out of the streets, but… “This is supposed to be a damn vacation, no need to pour gas on the fire, ladies.”

Shaking his head in disappointment, Chris turned and jogged after Sami and Val. He saw that Sami had caught her and had his arms around her. He wondered momentarily if she would be comforted by that, or if Sami would be next in the Sore Nuts Club because of it. Chris waited for them to part, but made his presence known by clearing his throat. “Where you runnin’ to, V?”

“Home!” the girl had immediately shrieked, blinking back the hot tears of fury threatening to roll down her cheeks. Her chubby face was red with anger, lips tightly pressed together in a pout while a deep crease seemed to have etched itself between her eyebrows. If you looked closely enough or were holding her (like Sami obviously was), you could see that her small, petite figure was shaking: that was never a good sign. “I’m not going anywhere with bitches I don’t even like in the first place! And if you guys really cared about me, you wouldn't try to convince me to stay anywhere near them. So don’t bother wasting your breath and just let me go back home!"

“Val..” Saint Sami tightened his hug on the glaring little fireball and placed a chin on top of her head. “You know we can’t let you do that mama.” Cuban (Not Baby) Yoda was not much taller than Val as he only stood 5’9 and was not the bronzed Adonis type that walked around the Beverly Hills High School like it was going out of fashion. He was a compact built bruiser made for fighting, fucking, and cooking, not necessarily in that order. It made him ostracised from day one. Sure, he had AJ, but the Tyler man always had something else going on. It wasn’t until he crossed paths with Valeria in the school parking lot that he made his first true friend.

“If you were to leave-- which you aren’t but if you were-- what am I going to do? There’s only so many times I can deal with Shirtless Leon or a dramatic Nate. What about Chris? My God, what if I have to listen to him drivel on about Aces and his love for her? Shit, can you imagine it when we turn on her show? Waterworks! And who will watch Edenridge with me? I need to know what happens to Lanie and Roddy’s baby? And that’s just the superficial things.” Sami shot a look over to Chris as if to call out: a little help, bro!

Chris shot a glare at Sami the “saint” when he mentioned Aces, while Val let out the first snicker of the morning. That was a sensitive subject. “I don’t—” He couldn’t say that he didn’t love her, the words jammed in his throat like an LA traffic pile up. Love in and of itself was terrifying — but loving a barely recovering drug addict, paired with his own addictive personality: Destructive with a capital D. “Whatever, not the point.” He looked to Val now, his almond eyes soft with affection for his best friend and one time lover. “For real, though, you can’t go home already. I’ve never been able to go on a trip like this… and I might never get to again, and it’s supposed to be a trip with ALL of my best friends. If you leave now, I’m a best friend short, and that’s a whole lotta suck ass. C’mon, don’t think of it as a going with them, you’re going with us.” Chris said, gesturing to Sami and himself — as if they were the most irresistible pair.

Between Sami’s warm embrace, his funny back and forth with Chris, and both boys’ gentle words, the two had made heaps of progress with the once-furious Val. The girl was visibly calmer now: her breath no longer labored, her body no longer shaking and her face no longer scrunched up in anger. Yet, as much as she appreciated their brave efforts, she remained unconvinced that her presence at this road trip was indispensable.

“You can still have fun without me,” Val insisted, still being every bit as bullheaded as only she could be. “I’m just going to be a little party-pooping black cloud anyway. Nobody wants that lingering around, right? Soooooooo, how about you guys just let me go back home? The two of you can join the rest of the group. Just head on out, have fun, and when you all come back my select group of trusted people can all go on our own little adventure somewhere else-- just the few of us. No ugly surprises or half-truths or withholden information. I’ll make sure to plan every detail and keep out the people I don’t like.”

Sami shot Chris a glance and sighed through his nose. Freeing Val from his arms, Papi Sami placed his hands onto his hips. “Val, I’m not coming back,” He didn’t want to have to play this card but he felt like there was little choice at this point.

Wait, what?! The girl's eyes immediately widened in shock, and all previous anger about whatever had happened before took a backseat to this unexpected revelation. “W-what do you mean, 'you're not coming back'?” she asked him, her face a mask of worry while her voice was dripping with concern.

“At least not right away. There’s a lot of shit going on right now and it’s best that I just get outta here. I got some money together and the plan is to just disappear somewhere that I like. So it’s quite simple, hermosa; you’re coming on this damn trip so I can fucking say goodbye. Now suck it up, shut your mouth, wiggle your ass and go drool over the shirtless one or I’m swinging you over my shoulder and tying you up with your favorite pair of yoga pants.”

The brick house of a boy had not revealed his plan to anyone, though that was typical of Sami. He was quiet and resolute; like an old oak tree that stood at the side of the road. You drive past it every day; you forget it’s there but once in a while there’s a storm and you’re reminded how strong it is.

“So are we doing this or not?”

While the girl bit her lip in hesitation, Chris heard Sami’s words but reacted with a bit less surprise than Val. Sami had spent the past week on his living room couch, and then he disappeared in the middle of the night last night. Intuition said that something was up, and Chris knew there was a lot of trouble in Sami’s life, so of course he was going to use this trip as an escape route. Chris nodded in agreement with Sami’s question and looked to Val with a smirk. “You gotta admit, getting tied up sounds kinda fun, don’t it?” He asked her with a quick wink.

“Only if you're the one doing the tying…” the girl said instinctively, mischievously wiggling her eyebrows with a little smirk of her own, and responding in the usual way she would to Chris whenever it was just the two of them making jokes about the one night they spent together. But as soon as she realized what she had said and how it could come across to Sami, she flushed, eyes wide with panic. “Shit, sorry!” Val apologized to her muscled friend, thinking on her feet for a good excuse. “We just, uh, joke around like that sometimes. Right?” she rambled, looking at Chris in a silent plea for assistance.

“Of course, why you blushin’?” Chris responded, playing it much more cool than Val was. He even gave her a friendly fist bump to the shoulder. “You don’t need to hide your secret crush on me. Sami’s not the jealous type, are you, Papi?” Wiggling his eyebrows at Sami with a look in his eyes that begged ‘just go with it’. “There’s enough of Chris to go around for all.” He turned back to face Val, “And the only way to get a slice is if you come along on this trippp.” Puppy dog eyes activated.

The short girl rolled her eyes, momentarily distracted from the worry of her and Chris’ secret being exposed. The few people that really knew Valeria Drake were aware of just how loyal she was to her friends. No matter the time or circumstance, she would always be one of the few people you could count on to have your back through thick and thin regardless of the consequences. Even if she was stubborn, grouchy, moody or whatever else people who didn’t know her might say, she had an undeniable soft spot for those she held close to her very well-guarded heart. And in instances like this, two of those special individuals were taking advantage of that secret chip in the armor. Leave it to her friends to resort to guilt-tripping in order to get her to change her mind.

“You guys know that I know right?” Sami started, while Val's embarrassed eyes immediately shifted to the ground. “Do you two honestly think I wouldn’t figure out that you fucked? Dios mio! I figured it out before you two even got on your backs and did the good thing. I mean for God's sake I put you on the bike! Honestly, it’s like you kids don’t know me at all.” Within the light heartedness there was a twinge of sadness; sometimes Sami did question how well his friends knew him. He knew everything about them, literally everything, yet could even one of them answer the question of what was Sami’s favourite color? There was no doubt, much doubt…

Yet before Val could react with something other than a scarlet blush on her cheeks and a few incomprehensible words, the Latino put his arm around her once again and smiled. “Now come on, let’s go back, get out on that road, and cause some fucking mischief.”

As much as she wanted to be a heartless, selfish bitch and leave, there was no way Valeria would ever turn her back on her friends-- even in something as dumb as a road trip. Sure, she was prideful and arrogant, but she was also aware that if it ever came down to it, Sami and Chris would make the same sacrifice for her as she would be doing for them. And what kind of friend would she be by putting a damper in the plans they had been looking forward to for so long? In the end, it was safe to say that, if they wanted this trip to be a real success, they needed her as much as she needed them.

Fueled by that relentless loyalty, the short girl wrapped her arms around both young men and locked them in a tight, affectionate group hug. “I love you, you assholes,” she muttered, giving each guy a kiss on the cheek before releasing them from the embrace. “Fine: I’ll go. But if I end up tossing Emilia out of a window or throwing hands with Reyna or Ava at any point, don’t say I didn’t warn you both.”

Chris considered the prospect of a good old fashioned girl-on-girl catfight and nodded. “Don’t threaten me with a good time.”

And with a sharp smack against the back of his head, Val confirmed that all was right in the world again.

The likes of Ivy and Chris should know Ava enough by now to know she was only having a little fun. If Val was so emotional and that easily affected by a simple comment, which again Ava was joking, she wasn’t gonna get anywhere in life. There were a lot of people worse than Ava and who would say worse things to the creampuff. Ava wasn’t exactly feeling this whole “poor Val” schtick she was putting on, as if she was any better than anyone else around them. Everyone had a couple of people they didn’t like. It’s not Ava’s fault that Val happens to have more than anyone in their right mind would.

“I swear if they are going to hold her hand like this, the entire trip is going to be a bust.” Ava lamented her frustrations with everyone taking Val’s side to Reyna, who was probably one of the few people here who wouldn’t jump down her throat.

What probably got to her most was Ivy and how quickly she was to jump down Ava’s throat about one little comment. It was early, so maybe Ava wasn’t as in touch with her feminine sensitivity (yeah, like she actually has that), but it was really pissing her off that Val was getting special treatment. Of course she could spare enough sympathy for the girl for having some problem with the entire female species at Beverly Hills High, but come on! To be so childish, she made a whole scene. That was something Ava couldn’t grasp.

“I’ll tell you this now, Rey,” Ava said, leaning closer to the latina, “if this shit keeps up, I’m just going to take the first plane back home. Lord knows I don’t need all this special snowflake B.S.” It was barely even starting and Ava was clearly not having it and that didn’t even include when she saw Nate and Josie together. “But whatever! I’m gonna hitch a ride on the RV. At least I can surround myself with beautiful people to distract me from the morons tagging along.” She forced herself to laugh and grabbed her bags and hoisted them over her shoulder, walking towards the RV.