Character Study (III)

Ragtag Team

Veins practically popping out of her skin, everyone with a set of eyes knew she was a ticking time-bomb. She was ready to get out of the plane, jump out if she could. I mean, really, who wouldn't want to get out after being squished in-between two hormonal teenagers on a 6 hour flight? The girl, brows knitted and mouth set in disdain, stood (albeit clumsily) and practically ran out of there as soon as the plane hit the ground. This is why she hated, eeerrrmm, disliked teenagers sometimes (even though she was basically, kind-of, a teensy-weensy bit a teenager herself). She looked around the gosh forbidden place, scanning for some familiar faces. Smirking when she saw a pair of ragtag group holding embarrassing signs, she shook her head in disbelief. She ran up to them, baggage be damned, and quickly pulled them in a group hug. She hasn't seen them in like months, OK? College be hard like that. They were still the same group of people she loved to hate. Yesenia is the shortest of the bunch, but the girl is a firecracker. She once, get this, ran after a petty thief in order to get back an older lady’s purse. So she was practically hailed a local hero; kudos to her! Then there’s Guadalupe, or Lupita, or Lupe (you get the gist). She’s got a bit of a mother hen syndrome a.k.a “I will smother you with care and love” syndrome. Last but not least, the only guy (that was able to get vacation time), is Jayce or as we fondly like to call him, “Coco.” He’s one of those introverts that love to just stare at things. He’s also pretty short, but that’s all in the genetics yo.

So, we met up for a relaxing spring break. Thank you Yesenia for your genius plans that always manages to skew itself out like an outlier (I did learn something in AP Statistics thank you very much). We were on our way to Yosemite National Park when Jayce’s 10 year old car (dubbed The Dinocar) broke down in the middle of nowhere. It was a literal “middle of nowhere” scenario because, as smart as the group was, they often made not-so-smart choices like take a shortcut that lead them to where they were now: MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. The car gave off its last chortle which resulted in smoke to arise from the hood of the car. Like any sane group of teenagers stuck in their own little Syfy Horror movie, they panicked. A lot. After the river of tears were cried and the prayers called, the teenagers looked at one another. A silent communication between them occurred. One of them had to go outside in order to see what was wrong with the car (or sacrifice themselves to the monster that was obviously lurking out in the dark). Jayce volunteered, was shoved out, to go check. His eyes were wide with fear, beads of sweat dripped from his brows, and his mouth was curled in a grimace. He held a chicken drum on one hand (raised as if to throw on an incoming monster) and a flashlight on the other. Lupe sat stiff on the passenger seat, hands poised on the lock button, ready to press it if matters were to arise. Yesenia, on the other hand, sat poised on an attack. She was gung ho on running over to Jayce in case something did magically pop up in the middle of the road. Unlike the other two, Erica sat with her phone on video, trying to catch a possible internet blowout video.