Chapter 3

Chapter 3 ~ ‘Today’s The Day!’

“Today’s the day!!!” Emilie jumped out of bed and threw on pair of jeans and a hot pink shirt. “Girls, wake up! We have a lot to do!” 

Katherine groaned and sat up. “You didn’t have to wake me up like that.” She stuck her tongue out at Emilie who grinned back. Katherine gently punched Joy. “Wake up Sleepy head you're the last one up.” 

Joy yawned and stretched. “I’m gonna get you back sometime Katherine.”

“Not a chance,” replied Katherine, pulling on an aquamarine shirt and tan capris. (Sometimes you can combine sentences where someone’s speaking and then does something right after.  You have Katherine speaking, and then putting on some clothes. ) “Emilie, I have no idea how you can wear hot pink, to me it just seems incredibly bright.” 

Emilie giggled, “It helps me stand out better!”

 “You already stand out so much, Emilie, you don’t need the help of a hot pink shirt,” Joy laughed.

    “Girls! breakfast is ready!” Mrs. Cherveaux called from downstairs.

“Coming Mom,” Emilie called back.

After Joy put a pair of jeans on and a turquoise tank top, they followed the smell of waffles into the kitchen. They each grabbed plates with three waffles each and sat down at the big golden-brown table. Emilie grabbed the jug of maple syrup and poured it all over her waffles, drenching them completely.

“Hey! Save some for us!” Katherine grabbed the jug from Emilie and poured her syrup,then passed it on to Joy. “You might want to hide that from Emilie or the rest of her family won’t get any.” Katherine grinned at Emilie who stuck her tongue out at her.

    “Are you ready to leave, girls?” Mrs. Cherveaux looked up from cooking the waffles, Joy, Katherine and Emilie burst out laughing, “Mommy, we just woke up. We’re not ready yet,” Emilie gasped out.

 Mrs. Cherveaux smiled. “Then you girls need to get a move on.” 

The girls giggled. “Yes Ma’am.”

After they finished breakfast they ran upstairs to pack.

~*~

    “Joy, are you ready yet?” Katherine sat on the edge of Emilie’s bed impatiently.

“Not yet, Katherine, honey,” smirked Joy, giggling.

Katherine tapped Emilie on the head with her foot.

“It’s almost one o’clock, at this rate we won’t get there until night time, won’t we Emilie?”

The doorbell rang; Emilie jumped up from her spot on the floor.  “I’ll get it! I bet it’s Adrienne, You better finish packing, Joy!” she called as she ran downstairs to the front door. 

“Hello Adrienne!” Emilie stepped aside to let Adrienne in.

“Are you girls ready?” Adrienne smiled at Emilie and slid her flip flops off and followed Emilie upstairs.

“Adrienne!” Katherine cried out, “You're here!”

Adrienne laughed, “Yes, I am here, is everyone ready?”

Joy put a folded shirt into her small duffel bag. “They’re ready,” Joy nodded to Emilie and Katherine, “but I’m almost done.”

Matthew stuck his head inside the room, “Are y’all ready yet?”

Joy zipped her duffel bag shut and picked it up, “Yeppers I’m ready, so are Emilie and Katherine.” 

    “Good.” Matthew went downstairs. The girls followed him downstairs with their bags; once downstairs Adrienne picked up her bag and followed them out to Matthew’s truck and they put them into them under the back seat. Emilie hurried back inside to say goodbye to her mother and Joy and Katherine each ran to their houses to say goodbye.

    “Bye Mommy! I’m gonna miss you!” Emilie gave her mother a big bear hug, Mrs. Cherveaux hugged her back.

    “I’m going to miss you too Sweetie.” Mrs. Cherveaux hugged Matthew, “You better keep her safe, Matthew.”

Matthew smiled.  “Mom, I promise wholeheartedly that Emilie will not get into any harm at all.”

Mr. Cherveaux came into the room; Emilie rushed to him and hugged him tightly. “Oh Daddy! I’m gonna miss you!”

“Have fun my dear!” Mr. Cherveaux told his daughter cheerfully.

Emilie laughed.  “Oh Daddy, I’m gonna come home with wonderful tales for all of you!” 

Aden came into the room followed by Angelo. “You better or we’ll tickle it out of you!”

Emilie smirked at him. Joy and Katherine came running back in.

“You ready, Emilie?”  Joy asked excitedly. 

Matthew looked at his watch and said, “They’re right, Emilie, let’s go.” With a chorus of goodbyes, the group was soon on the road driving towards the Tehachapi Mountains.

~*~

    “I said remember this moment, In the back of my mind, the time we stood with our shaking hands, the crowds in the stands went wild!!” the girls sang along to the song coming from the speakers. Matthew sat in the driver’s seat thinking. He sat quietly watching the road. I wonder if she likes me? Hmm I hope she does. That would be just awesome!  He glanced over his shoulder to see Adrienne watching him.

    “You okay?” She smiled sweetly.

    “Yeah, just thinking.” He replied looking back at the road.

    “Do you mind if I ask about what?” Adrienne asked him, glancing back at the girls who were bouncing around in their seats. “‘Cause if you have a problem maybe I can help you out.”

 Matthew tensed up.  How did she know? 

    “Uh, hehe, thanks for asking, but that’s alright, I’ll let you know.” S

she smiled at him and then turned back to her book. Emilie tapped him on the shoulder and giggled.

    “Matthew, uh can we stop at a restroom?” 

Matthew glanced back at Emilie.   “Uh, sure. Just a couple minutes, I’ll let you know.”

Emilie sat back and began to whisper with Joy and Katherine.

    “There’s an exit!! And there’s places to stop!!!” Emilie shouted pointing wildly at an exit. Matthew laughed at her and turned onto the off ramp and pulled into a parking lot. Joy, Katherine, and Emilie jumped out of the car and hurried into the restaurant, which left Adrienne and Matthew in the truck alone. Adrienne fingered her shirt awkwardly.

    “So Matthew, what are we going to do to keep theses girls occupied this whole week?” 

    “It shouldn’t take much, but the usual camp activities: fires, smores and hot dogs, hiking, fishing…” Matthew laughed. “We’ll just see once we get there I guess.”

Adrienne nodded and they sat in an awkward silence for a few moments. A shout caught their attention and they looked out the window and saw Katherine waving to them. The two of them climbed out of the car and went into the restaurant and found the three girls staring at a TV that was hanging crookedly on the wall of Dairy Queen. Matthew strode over to them followed by Adrienne.

    “What’s up?” he asked them. Katherine pointed to the screen which showed the weather report for the week.

    “Look!” they looked at the screen and listen to the weatherman.

    “This coming week there is a watch for a snow storm! around the upper Tehachapi Mountain area, so be prepared.” The weatherman announced. Emilie gasped, her face had grown pale.  “Matthew, isn’t that where we are going?”

    “Yes” Matthew grimaced. Joy groaned; Katherine flopped down on a chair and Emilie, much to Matthew’s disgust, burst into tears. Adrienne hugged her tightly,

    “But this can’t happen! This was supposed to be the best week ever in my life! Now a snowstorm is going hit! This can’t be happening, no it can’t!” she sobbed this all out on Adrienne’s shoulder as if  her life had ended.

Adrienne touched Matthew on the shoulder and nodded her head towards the truck; she turned and headed to the truck with Emilie next to her and Joy and Katherine following behind her.  Matthew brought up the rear. Matthew started the truck and they drove off down the highway; the back seat was strangely quiet now compared to earlier when they been bursting with excitement. Matthew looked back at his sister whose face was tear stricken.

    “I’m sorry Emilie, but I’m still taking you up there.” Adrienne turned to look at him surprised, Emilie sat forward.

    “But you told your mother you would keep her safe, and taking her up on the mountain when there’s a snowstorm isn’t keeping her safe.” Adrienne broke in.

    Joy spoke up, “We aren’t going up super high anyways so we won’t be too near it.” Matthew sighed and looked out the window.

    “Actually, that isn’t true, Joy, we’re going up pretty high.” his words sank in and the realized what he meant. Matthew handed Joy his iPhone and told her to look up the weather in the north eastern area of the Tehachapi Mountains. They sped down the highway passing the sandy beaches, the small remote towns, the large fast-paced cities, and the grassy meadows and tall dense mountains of California.

Joy looked up and said, “It doesn’t say if there will be snowstorms; it looks pretty clear right now. Around our campground, the area is pretty wooded and it tends to stay pretty cool. It says that the temperature is usually in the forties.”

Joy handed the iPhone back to Matthew who put it on the dashboard; Emilie sat back and sighed with relief. With that almost tragedy over, what’s next?