"Found it!" I shouted to my dad as I picked up the leather wallet containing his and my mums passports. They always leave these things to the last minute.
"Thanks Amber" He took it from my hands as he walked past me, disappearing through the front door. I followed him out into the front drive.
"Now, don’t forget to lock up when you go out and don't leave the-" My mum went on at me as soon as I stepped out of the house.
"Mum! I do know how to survive without you" I interrupted her with an amused smile.
"I know you do. Just humour me, you know I worry about you when we leave" She sighed, looking at me with apologetic eyes.
"And how many times have you left me home alone? I'm still alive and the house hasn’t caught fire yet, so stop worrying"
" I know" She breathed with a smile.
"Now come on, you’re going to miss your flight at this rate" I gently nudged her towards the car, gesturing for her to get going.
" We'll see you soon sweetie, behave yourself!" She hugged me tightly before pulling away, giving me a stern look.
"Yeah yeah, see you soon. Bye Dad!" I shouted to him, he was packing bags into the boot of the car.
"Bye love, no parties!" He shouted in reply. I rolled my eyes at him and watched as they both climbed into the car. My mum waved out of the window as they pulled away, her expression torn between excitement for the trip ahead and concern for me being left alone. I waved back with a smile, watching them disappear into the distance. If only they knew. I pulled out my phone, dialling Violets number. She picked up almost immediately.
"Are they gone?!" She said with anticipation.
"Yeah! My house is officially a parent free zone" I answered excitedly
"I can't believe we're actually doing this!" My parents were flying to Spain as they always did at this time of year. They were meeting up with the same people they do every year, some old friends from university. These old friends happened to be the parents of my four best friends, one of which was Violet. This year was to be different. All four of us were doing the most rebellious thing we have ever done, something we would never have dreamed of doing before. Whilst our parents were off living it up in Spain, we were flying out to America to spend our summer. Probably to be the best summer of our lives, that was the plan anyway. We'd all been saving up for a while, waiting for the perfect opportunity. Obviously our parents were blissfully unaware. They would kill us if they ever found out, so we made a pact to never breathe a word about it to anyone.
"Neither can I, can you imagine what they would say if they found out that we'd been planning this?!"
"I don’t want to think about that" Violet laughed.
"Neither do I! Have you spoken to the other two yet?"
"Yeah, I called Sky about 10 minutes ago, she said Lola was on her way up to Sky's house"
"Awesome, when should I head up to yours?"
"Whenever you want, parents left half an hour ago" A grin widened across my face, it was only starting to sink in.
"Okay, I'll finish packing and lock up then I'll make my way to yours"
"Well hurry your ass up!" She shouted. My grin widened, it was rare to hear Violet so excited about something, she was usually so quiet. I liked it.
"I will be as quick as I can, in a bit!"
"Bye!" She said before hanging up. I finished up any packing I needed to do, packing the things I hadn't been able to without my parents noticing. I grabbed my passport and the airline tickets from the drawer I had hidden them and slipped them into one of my bags. I double checked all the windows were closed and locked before calling a taxi. We had all agreed that I would go to Violets house, as she lived a little over an hour away, and Lola would go to Sky's. In the morning we would meet at the airport before our flight. After a taxi ride that seemed like forever, I arrived at Violets house, by this time it was pretty late. I paid the driver and struggled up the pathway to her door with all of my bags. I didn’t even knock the door before it swung open, revealing a very excited violet.
"Amber!" She squealed, throwing her arms around me.
"Hey!" I hugged her tightly, just as pleased to see her as she was to see me. It had been a long time since I saw her last. She was just as tiny and cute.
"So good to see you!" She said warmly into my shoulder. She pulled away with a grin, turning her gaze to the pile of bags behind me.
"Let me help you with those" She said as she walked past me, grabbing my suitcase.
"No no, it's-" I began to protest.
"I wasn't asking you" She interrupted me with a smirk. I just nodded, smiling back. I picked up the remaining bags and followed her inside. Her house had always been immaculate and unusually tidy. I followed her up the stairs and into her bedroom.
"You don’t mind sharing the bed do you?" She asked me as she eyed her double bed with a worried look, obviously the sleeping arrangements had only just occurred to her.
"Of course not" I reply with a smile.
"Didn't think you would, just put your bags anywhere" She sighed with relief. I did what she said, placing them by the side of her bed and folded myself down on the edge of it. She copied me, laying down on her front and propping her head up with her arms.
"So I was thinking, do you have any idea what we're actually going to do once we're out there?" Violet asked, looking at me attentively.
"Nope. The only things that are booked are the hotel room and the flights"
"Oh wow. So you haven't planned anything? I bet that makes you feel uncomfortable" She grinned cheekily. Admittedly I usually planned everything in advance, so it was pretty difficult for me not to have control of everything. But I was going to try and be a little more relaxed this summer.
"A little. I guess we will just have to see what there is to do near the hotel, I'm sure there will be loads to do… I hope. We'll have to go with the flow"
"Yeah, and I don’t think that anyone's that bothered about what we do anyway" Violet shrugged. She was right, everyone else was pretty laid back. I thought everyone would just be happy getting away from everything for a while. As I looked around her room, I spotted a massive pile of books and wads of paper stacked up by her wardrobe. On the wall above it was a very extensive and complicated looking table.
"What's all that?" I frowned at her, gesturing with my head. She turned to look at it.
"Oh, my parents made me do it. It's just college work"
"Shit Vi, they've got you working like a machine" I said wide eyed. Violets parents were fairly hard on her when it came to most things, but especially with college. Both of her parents had been worked hard by their parents and had gotten a good education and good jobs. They expected as much from Violet.
"I know it’s a nightmare, but I guess they’ve only got my best interests in mind" She shrugged, looking down at her hands.
"Are you trying to convince me or you?" I said quietly.
"Just count yourself lucky that your parents aren't like mine" She laughed gently once without humour.
"Well, you can forget about them for now. I'm sure Lola will be glad to get away too" I said, trying to make her feel better. But bringing up Lola's parents darkened the mood further.
"I worry for her so much sometimes" Violet said quietly. Lola's dad had a really controlling mentality and a hell of a temper. 80% of the time he kept it under control, but there had been a few incidents where Lola had been in the firing line. You would never suspect anything if you met her. She was the most lively and happy person I knew, she was rarely negative about things and never brought up her family life. But it didn’t stop us worrying about her immensely. It was worse as she lived so far away from me, if she needed me there was no guarantee I could be there. But at least Sky was nearer to her.
"There's not much we can do right now. When we're all old enough we'll be able to look after ourselves and each other, without parents" I assured Violet, briefly rubbing her arm.
"Promise me we will never lose touch, none of us?" She looked up at me, the worry in her eyes had not completely gone. I held out my little finger.
"I promise" I said. She smiled at me, wrapping her little finger around mine. She nodded once before letting go. The silence was broken by my phone, ringing loudly. Me and Violet looked at each other in a panic. Being found out was still a very real risk.
"Who is it?" She asked me as I picked up my phone, looking down at the screen with a frown.
"Sophie, should I ignore it?"
"No, she might think that something's up" I nodded I agreement, pressing the accept call button. I hesitantly put the phone to my ear, shooting Violet a worried look. I had no idea what I was going to say.
"Hello?" Violet was leaning in, listening to the conversation.
"Hey Amber, its Sophie" She said cheerfully.
"Oh hey Sophie"
"What are you up to tomorrow?" I looked at Violet wide eyed. She shook her head apologetically, telling me she had no ideas.
"Uhh…. This and that, you know" It would be a miracle if she bought this.
"Well I'm having a party tomorrow night and I want you to come"
"Well… I'll probably have to get back to you on that. Not sure if I'll make it" I tried to keep it as vague as possible.
"How come?" She pressed for an answer.
"Seeing family, you know how it is" I lied as coolly as possible. Violet put her thumbs up with a smile which I replicated.
"Okay, give me a call as soon as you know"
"I will, thanks Sophie. Bye" I hung up and exhaled deeply, lying back on the bed.
"That. Was close" Violet laughed with relief.
"How the hell am I going to manage if any of my family call?" I put my hand across my eyes, closing them.
"We'll have to work out some cover stories tomorrow" She suggested.
"Definitely" I agreed as I sat up. I glanced over at the clock on Violets bedroom wall.
"I guess we'd better get some sleep, we've got an early start tomorrow" I said yawning, feeling very tired all of a sudden.
"Yeah, you’re probably right. Let’s hope Lola and Sky do the same, Sky gets so grumpy when she's tired" Violet giggled. I laughed with her. We both pulled ourselves up from the bed and changed into our pjs. I pulled my hair up into a ponytail and set the alarm for 5 tomorrow morning. I groaned, realising how little sleep we were going to have before we had to get up. I climbed into bed, snuggling down under the covers. Violet turned off the light and climbed in next to me with a yawn.
"Night Vi" I said sleepily.
"Night Amber" She replied quietly. It didn’t take long for me to go under.

Notes

Hey guys! Sorry, this is the longest chapter i have ever written, the next probably won't be so damn long (:
I will be updating everything else too, i just wanted to start a new one!
Comments would be amazing, let me know if you guys like it. I know it's pretty slow moving right now, i just want you to get a feel of the characters (:
Comment, rate, subscribe <3
Thankyouuuuuuu!