Finally!!!!
School was out - for the day. The school year would be over in two days, but today was over and that was cause enough to celebrate. Since I was with two of my best friends, Tai and Elle, we made up three-fourths of the backbone of the schools stage crew: The Little Women. Lily, the fourth we were missing, had a family thing to be at so she couldn't come; we missed her, but that didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves.
We were crusing down a back road, blasting random music for the whole world to hear through the open windows. I was driving my beat up old car, Denton (a.k.a. Dent), with my left foot hanging out the window; completely and totally relaxed, with my Venti Chocolaty-Chip Frap in my right hand (the left hand was on the steering wheel). If we weren't the sublime picture of teenaged paradise, I don't know what is.
BAM!
A sound as loud as a gunshot went off just out side my window. I'm pretty sure I screamed, but I know I know I was hyperventilating. I snapped my foot back inside the car, and gripped the steering wheel so tightly that my knuckles turned white. Elle, in the back seat, fell over with a loud and high pitched scream. My car began to rock back and forth, and she began to cry she was laughing so hard. Instinctively, I pulled my car off to the side of the road, and continued to breathe heavily as I tried to shut the over-powering panic in my head down. I looked back toward Elle to make sure that no harm had come to her; thankfully, the only issue seemed to be that she was having trouble breathing through her infectious laugh. I tried, and failed again, to calm my nerves as I turned to check on Tai, who hadn't made a sound. Unsuprisingly, her in-control personality kept her from being able to truly freak out, and she just looked at me with a completely straight face.
"You just blew a tire," she said in her characteristic 'matter-of-fact' tone.
Then the whole world made sense.
Her logic acted as the wrecking-ball to the hard wall of fear my mind had put up, and I felt my head fall forward onto my steering wheel as I broke down in silent laughter.
"We're going to need to change the tire," Tai said slowly, as if I was a little child that didn't fully understand the situation.
"I get it, I get it," I replied between gasps of laughter. "Please tell me one of you knows what to do."
"Do you have a spare?" Elle asked.
I merely shrugged, cars are NOT my area of expertise.
Elle rolled her eyes and opened her door, "Pop the trunk, we'll see."
I pushed the button and watched the trunks lid open in my review mirror. Then I went to join Elle and Tai as they began looking for something I didn't think was there. To my suprise, Elle pulled the bottom layer of the trunk out and revealed a spare tire, thank heaven SHE knew my car.
"Okay, now we need a jack. . ." said Tai looking at me expectantly.
"Thats one of those things that raises the car up right?"
She nodded.
"I don't know where it would be, even if I had one," I replied.
"We're in my ward boundries, let me call my bishop, he lives right there," Elle said pointing as she pulled out her phone.
Tai and I waited, watching the road as she called. Three cops drove by before she got off.
"His daughter is coming with their jack," she reported as another cop drove by.
"You would think that three apparently helpless girls off to the side of the road with an obviously damaged car would be enough to make a cop stop," I said, then looked at Elle, "Thats the fourth one that has passed."
"Are you serious?" she asked shocked.
"Yeup," I said as we watched a flatbeded firetruck drive up behind poor old Dent. "I never liked cops."
Tai instinctively put herself between us and the truck, seeing as we had no idea who was going to get out of it, I was greatful. A tall man jumped out, he had his fireman's uniform on so my inital suspicion died away.
"You girls need some help?" he asked.
Elle stepped forward, careful not to pass Tai, and said, "We blew a tire, and we have a spare, but we don't have a jack."
"Well, I can help you change the tire," he said, "but I don't have a jack on me either."
Honestly! I remember thinking, four cops, none of them stops, then we get a firefighter without a jack! This is JUST my luck.
I fought back a laugh, and Elle said, "We've got someone bringing one. . ."
Right then, a small silver car pulled up next to us, "Elle? You're the one who needed the jack right?" said a females voice from inside the car.
"Yes! Thank you, Trish!" she said running up to the window. "Where is it?"
"In my trunk," she said, "I think."
I fought the urge to smack my head. I couldn't believe this was happening, I hoped that she actually had the jack.
"It's gotta be here," Trish muttered, rummaging in her trunk, and my heart sank.
I glanced at the fireman, it seemed like he was supressing a smirk. Jerk.
"Oh wait! It's in my garage!" Trish exclaimed. "I'll be right back I swear."
Tai, Elle and I made eye contact as she jumped into her car and sped back down the street, and we couldn't hold it in. We busted up again, cluthing our sides as our hiliarity spilled out.
"Shouldn't you three be in school?" the fireman asked.
"It got out early today," I explained. "It's the last week."
"Nice," he said, "I'm going to check for a jack in my car again, just in case."
He went back to his car, and we all busted up all over again.
"It is just my luck that this would happen to us," I said.
"Yeah, gosh Jo, you went and ruined our perfectly good day with your cruddy luck," Elle said.
"It isn't ruined, we still have our Starbucks, right?" Tai said, taking a sip from hers. "Besides, we've laughed more today than any other this week."
"We've laughed?" I asked, teasing. "Elle and I definitly have, all I remember from you is a straight faced 'You just blew a tire,' that sure included a lot of laughing."
"One of us needs to be level headed," Tai argued happily. "You should have seen the look on your face! You were absoloutely terrified!"
"I thought I had just heard a gunshot! And then my car started rocking back and forth, I didn't know what to think!" I cried defensively, which only made Tai laugh harder.
Trish's silver car pulled up next to us again, and she jumped up clutching what must have been the jack.
"Here we are," she said, proudly holding it out as the fireman came back from his truck.
He took one look at it and his brow furrowed slightly. "I don't think you have all of the pieces."
Really?
"It's gonna work though," he said, gently taking it from her and going to work on Dent. We watched, feeling compelely useless as he removed the popped tire and replaced it.
"There you go you guys," he said turning back towards us. He handed Trish the jack.
"Thank you so much, sir," I said, "We would have been here forever if you haddn't stopped."
"I could have done it if you'd had a jack," Tai mumbled under her breath.
I just laughed and waved our helpers off as they drove away. Elle, Tai and I got back into Dent and continued cruising down the road like nothing had happened.
You just gotta love my luck.
