“I’ll take the couch,” I offer, as the obvious solution.
“You can have the room, maybe,” Darius discreetly whispers to me with a shrug. He hurries ahead onto the bus. From the windows, I see him take a seat next to Jess, the girls’ soccer team captain he’s been seeing lately.
“Woo!” Jess cheers, along with a couple other girls sitting nearby, eager to get this show on the road.
About a third of the senior class is here, as well as a handful of juniors. It’s going to be tight on the bus, probably with a couple people having to squeeze three to a seat. It’s not limited to just the upper classes, but since it’s an overnight without too much supervision, that’s usually how it shakes out.
I gesture for Ellie to climb onto the bus ahead of me. As the last one to board, I’m not rushed up the steps. Yet I wobble and grab the rail, ignoring a suspicious look from the driver, who definitely thinks I pregamed or something.
Ellie grabs us an empty row in the front, right behind the teacher chaperones, since the back of the bus is already full. The driver closes the doors, and there’s a smattering of hoots and cheers as we drive off. I take a deep breath to steady myself, but I’m already dreading all the potholes and winding roads we’ll hit along the way.
“I’m glad you decided to come with,” I say to Ellie, but she tilts her head. I try something else. “This should be a fun trip.”
She shakes her head. “I’m sorry; it’s impossible to hear you right now.”
“Oh, right.” Between the roar of the bus on the highway and the chatter of everyone behind us, that doesn’t surprise me. “That’s fine. I kind of need a nap anyway.”
Ellie’s watching my lips carefully. “Nap?”
I shrug. “Long day.”
She furrows her brow but nods, probably regretting her decision to come. She looks out the window, hitting ignore on an incoming call, then typing out a long message. After sending it, she turns her phone over.
I close my eyes, but that doesn’t really help with the movement. I put my elbows on my duffel bag that’s in my lap and rest my face in the palm of my hand. We could text or something, to avoid talking over all the noise, but I don’t think I could handle looking at a screen right now. I’m not a fun person to be around these days.
And on that miserable note, I fight to fall asleep, hoping it’ll pass by the time this long drive is over.
Later, a warm hand gently taps my knee, waking me up. Ellie’s peering at me. I immediately stretch out and sit upright.
“You actually fell asleep,” she says, pointing toward my chin. “And kind of drooled a bit.”
I turn my head toward the aisle and wipe it away with the back of my hand. It’s gotten dark outside.
“Are we here?” I ask groggily. It’s quieter. We must be off the highway, at least.
“They just made some sort of announcement, so I think so.”
Sure enough, we pull into a hotel parking lot. This place is supposed to only be a ten-minute walk to the Buckeye Jr. Sports Complex, where the game is played.
We are the first ones off the bus, and thus, at the front of the check-in line inside the lobby. It’s a bare-bones setup here, with only a few chairs in the lobby across from the elevators. There’s a plate of cookies sitting on the counter, but they vanish as soon as the rest of the bus starts filing in.
“Excuse me!” Darius hurries past others to join Ellie and me since the room is under his name.
“And me, and me, and me!” Jess says as the crowd swells to cut her off from the path Darius just made. She makes it to the counter beside him to check in for her reservation, as well.
My cousin hands me the spare room key and his bag so he and Jess can hurry up to join some of the soccer guys before heading over to the stadium.
Ellie and I aren’t in any rush in the hotel room. I hope none of this comes across as presumptuous of me. There are the standard two queen-sized beds, one of which I throw Darius’s bag on.
“You can take that one,” I offer, motioning for Ellie to claim the other, while I put my duffel on the table and take on the couch. “This has to pull out somehow,” I say to myself, taking the cushions off the top, and, sure enough, there’s the handle. This should be a quick motion.
Nope, it’s stuck.
I try again, this time placing my foot at the edge of the couch frame. No dice. And, embarrassingly, this seems to have knocked the wind out of me a little bit.
“Having trouble?” Ellie asks, watching over my shoulder. “Let me help.”
She leans forward and places a hand beside mine. With a nod, we pull it together, giving a solid attempt. But it still won’t budge. I losemy footing, taking an extra step or two back, and steady myself against the bed.
