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DING! DING! DING! DING!
The school bell rang for the end of the term, finally the school holidays would begin!
Jack and John entered out of the school building, each thinking up the things they could do in the next couple of weeks.
?Come over to my house and we'll have a barbecue!?
?Let's have a water fight! I have plenty of water guns at home!?
?Maybe let's-?
They reached John's house.
?Nevermind,? smiled Jack, ?we'll discuss this later.?
Over tea, John's family were discussing their summer holiday plans.
Mom seemed extra happy while we were taking guesses.
?I've decided that we should go on a road trip! You know, out on the open road!? smiled mom.
?But Jack's coming,? was the first response, which was of course, by John.
?Okay, I'll speak with his mother,? smiled mom in one of those not-so-confident ways.
She also said ?mother' in a very loud voice.
?Where are we going?? asked Flynn, John's older brother.
Mom went out of the room and then came back with a map of the area.
?Here were are now,? mom started pointing to a dot near some hills, ?we'll go up here to Arizona.?
?That'll take 2-3 days,? started Dad, ?we could stop at this leisure center right outside of town.?
So, it was arranged. They were going on a road trip.
It was the day later, the sun was out, the birds were twirp-ing, the clock ran for 9 o'clock.
John had finished his breakfast and skateboar-ded to Jack's house.
He lost crashed into Jack's prickly hedge and the rubbish bin had tipped all over him.
Jack came out of his house, ?Oh, THERE you are!?
John stood up, pulled up his trousers and removed the very-old banana peel from his head.
?I'll come!? Jack said excitedly.
?Your mom just called, and my mom said that we can all go on the road trip together!?
?YES!? John exclaimed as they high-fived each other.
So, it was arranged. They were going with Jack on the road trip.
Jack was in John's room while they were packing their bags.
?I think we should take this bow and arrow, that'll come in handy,? said John. Jack agreed.
They got into their car and started driving.
It was a very long drive, until they reached their first destination.
They parked in the leisure center car park and got out, their goggled already on their forehead, towels in their arms, they were ready.
They went into the changing-rooms and got changed.
John looked around, there were a lot of babish-looking slides.
He looked at a high diving board.
That was something that he was going to do!
Meanwhile, Flynn looked around.
?WAVE TIME!? came a boom from the speakers.
By this time, Flynn was already entering the pool's deep end.
John started climbing up the ladder to the diving board, his hands firmly holding onto the ladder's bars. He finally reached the top, looked down and around.
He was going to jump.
Jack went onto the big twirly slide.
He shouted in his loudest, deepest voice.
?HERE I GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!?
Flynn was swimming towards the deep end when a wave hit him.
Flynn screamed, but his voice was muffled under the water.
The large sign at the end of the pool read out: WAVE POOL.
More and more waved kept hitting him, until he wad drowning.
A lifeguard spotted him and jumped into the water to rescue him,
?CANNONBALL!? came a voice from above, which was indeed John cannonballing from the diving board he went so fast that he hit the lifeguard in the middle of the pool, knocking them both out cold.
Jack got out of the slide, ?that was fun!? he smiled as he walked over to John's mom, ?where's John?? asked Jack, ?I sure hope he's having a fun time!?
They were all in the car, shivering with cold. They got changed.
?Jeez, this road trip is off to a bad start,? muttered Dad, ?I hope our luck changes!?
To be honest, it didn't.
It looked like a newly-built hotel, not one of those cracked-old ones.
They walked into the reception, it was weirdly empty.
It looked more like a fancy hotel.
?Where are all the people?? asked Dad.
They all went to their room, ?378?
It was late by now, they all fell asleep.
?AGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?
They woke up at 6:00 when Jack screamed.
Mom rushed over and saw that there was a cockroach on the bed.
John walked over and immediately fell sick all over the cockroach, and Jack.
?YUCK!? screamed Jack.
This was total chaos and ended up them driving away before 7 o'clock in the morning.
?Now that I look at star-gaze motel on the internet,? said John, ?it seems they have a 1-star review for their ?invasion of the cockroaches'?
?Maybe we should turn round and end this whole nightmare,? Suggested Flynn.
?W-?
Just then the car started making weird noises, and then stopped.
?DAMN IT! The car broke down!? Yelled Dad,? ?AND WE SEEM TO BE IN THE MIDDLE OF NO-WHERE!?
They were in the middle of No-where.
Premise: it's my first first-person story. Any suggestions are much appreciated!
***
The summer heat arrived all at once, like every year. I've always had trouble to swift from the winter cosy sweater to shorts and flip flop; and every year, I'm totally blindsided. This time was no different: in the middle of June, I'm still wearing my pink slippers and my leggings are on, but that day was terribly hot, something like 38 degrees Celsius. ?Ok, now I'm gonna take a shower and change these clothes??, that's what I thought when I opened my bedroom's window and the heat hit my face violently.
The suitcase watched me, neatly placed in front of the door, waiting for me; «Yeah, yeah, I know. It's late». I'm always talk to my stuff like a crazy person, but hey! That's me.
The first hour and a half was nothing special: fields everywhere all around me, but Sacramento wasn't near the sea so it was kinda obvious. My first stop was San Francisco: the big beautiful city that I only saw passing through when I came to Sacramento two years ago. ?Two years?, I thought. So many things changed in just two years. Sacramento was my very first city so far away from home; I remembered how scared I was when I got on the plane. I had never made an intercontinental trip before: I was never left my home country, Italy.
I'm trying my best to say my goodbyes, I think it's time to go?Dean Lewis words let me think about why I decided to leave, and my eyes filled with tears, even now after two years. «Oh, please stop Dean! I get it!». I tried to change the song but Dean decided to continue singing and my anger almost made me go off the road, so I decided to inspire and expire, like my yoga teacher taught me. Then I realized that the San Francisco Bay Bridge was right in front of me: I was entering the bridge, following all the cars ahead me, surrounded by the smell of the sea and the heat of the sun. My excitement returned and I started to sing at the top of my lungs.
And there is it: the skyline of San Francisco just in front of me. The closer I got, the bigger the skyscrapers became; all the bad thoughts were magically gone.
The next stop of my summer road trip was the famous Big Sur: my expectations were very high, about all the stuff I've read online. Truth is, the two hours in the car from San Francisco to the Big Sur coastline were brutal. Maybe it was the summer heat, maybe because I decided to not turn on the AC, but when I finally saw the ocean, I was so relieved! I had booked a little B&B in a small city, and I was so glad I did it. My legs really needed to be stretched, for once.
Carmel-by-the-sea was a beautiful little town near the ocean, full with small restaurants and shops of any kind. My B&B was literally two-steps from the sea and I was so happy about that. I've always thought of myself like a more mountain person, but the truth is I love the sea: the smell of it, the sound of the waves, the sand in my toes. In Italy I didn't have many opportunities to go to the beach, for various reasons: the people around me didn't like to go there, and I always thought, what's the point of going there alone? In two years all by myself, I learned a lot: first of all how to stay alone and never count on others. Because, seriously, if you don't know how to stay alone with yourself, how can you pretend to know to have healthy relationships with other people? And to be honest, being alone is just amazing. You can do everything you want, talk to everybody or to nobody, because no one cares. All that matter is you.
The stretch of fine sand in front of me seemed endless: I took off my sandals and put one foot in it. I was so excited! The signs around me screamed ?WARNING! LIFE-THREATING WAVES AND CURRENTS? but I just wanted to feel the ocean in my feet. In two years in California, that was the first time I had the opportunity to really touch the ocean. Unbelievable, uh? But, you know, learn how to be alone is a long process. It takes time, but it's worth it in the end.
The water was so calm, little waves arrived in the water edge and gently touched my feet: it was fresh, not too hot and not too cold. In the meantime, the sun was about to go down: it was a magical moment, pure perfection. The beach was mostly empty, except for a few couples and other three alone person like me. Everybody was focus on the sunset, that was pretty amazing: the sun's rays coloured the clouds of a light red and the sky was more and more orange, creating a mystical light all around us. When the last ray of sunshine disappeared behind the horizon, I decided to go back to the B&B and explore a little bit the town. Even though I was very tired, I was too curious to see Carmel-by-the-sea. The main street was full of bars and restaurants, most of them Italian; the tables were full of people, but everyone was so relaxed. «Hey there! You hungry?», asked a young boy outside one of the many restaurants. His accent was so strong that I immediately understood that he was Italian. «Si, grazie!», I answered in Italian. His eyes lit up and we started chatting in our mother tongue. «I arrived six months ago and I love this little town», he confessed me. I was happy to had the chance to talk to someone who understand how beautiful and difficult was the journey of leaving home and go somewhere so different. His name was Giovanni, but everybody called him Joe there, and he was only 19 years old. «Wow, you are very brave to be here at your age. I'm ten years older than you and I decided to leave only two years ago», I admitted. It was the truth: at 19, my first thought in the morning was what to wear for university. It never crossed my mind to leave my hometown and go so far away, at that age. «Better late than never, right?», he answered me with a big smile. The dinner was delicious: I had finally found a place where the pizza was made in the very Italian, Neapolitan style.
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