Exploring ATL

We burst out of the hotel into the steamy heat of the city. It was almost noon and we had six hours to scare the shit out of every man, woman, and child in Atlanta and still get to Dad's house in one piece. I held Matt's hand as we started towards Junie's mom's car. Or at least where she had parked it. There was a tow truck right next to the parking space and Junie's mom's car was being pulled onto it. Junie and Violet ran over to the tow truck operator, half tripping over their stilettos and yelling the whole way.

"Hey!" Junie yelled. "That's my car!"

"I'm sorry, ma'am," the man said. "I was given orders to tow it."

"Well, can't you just... give me a warning and let us off the hook?" Junie asked using her best I wanna sleep with you voice.

"No, I've got two jobs, a wife, and three kids. I can't do that for you. I'm sorry."

Junie looked as if she was about to have a heart attack. Mrs. Hartley clearly didn't believe in beating a child, but Junie had a lot of stuff that she could get taken away. I mean cool stuff too. She was the only one with her own car, a laptop, and her own TV. I guess the man had a heart because he gave us directions to a place where we could rent a car for a week and also handed her the address for where her mom's minivan was being impounded. Then, the man got into the tow truck and drove Junie's mom's car down the road.

Junie stood dumbfounded, staring at the parking space where her mom's minivan once sat. then, just as fast as her mom's car was driven away, her sly smile reappeared. "You guys ever ridden in a Ferrari?" Violet and I shook our heads no. "Do you want to?"

If Dad wasn't such an asshole, I might've stopped Violet and Junie from making any rash decisions. But, next thing I knew, Matt was riding on my back as we walked to a car dealership down the street and  around the corner from the hotel. No one even seemed surprised that five kids were walking down the street. I guess it was normal in Atlanta to have wanderers because in Monroe, especially in Walston County, a wandering kid was the product of an irresponsible parents.

We walked into a car dealership, called Evolution Auto Sales. It was cool in there and they had chairs. Two great things. I let my brother down and we leaped onto the chairs. Amber sat on one of the chairs as well, stretching her legs. She looked at me and smiled, "This is going to be fun, huh?" I nodded. "I wish we were getting a motorcycle, honestly. Carmen's boyfriend lets me ride his all the time. It's a Harley."

"You know how to ride a motorcycle?" I said. I could feel my eyebrow arching.

"Of course I do. My Uncle Irving has his own Harley Davidson dealership. I've been riding since I was four years old. I broke my skull, my ankle, my wrist, and three of my ribs on the first ride. It was so cool!"

My mouth dropped. Safe little Amber knew how to ride? "Come on. They got the car."

I grabbed Matt, who was jumping from chair to chair, and we went into the dealership. The man with the blue vest handed Violet Dad's credit card and happily showcased the Ferrari. It was silver with suicide doors. The license plates said BADGURL on them and the seats were real leather. Matt and I jumped in the backseat. Junie shook the guys hand and she and Violet got in the front. Amber let Matt sit on her lap and we were off.

As soon as we were off the lot, the top went down and music came blaring through the speaker system. Miley Cyrus's Wrecking Ball was still on the radio after like four months. Typical. We went from zero to sixty in a matter of seconds. My sister had found some cool shades in the glove compartment and there was some AXE under the seat. Whoever had this car before us must've thought he was the shit.

"So, what do you wanna do?" Junie asked us. She had to yell to even be heard.

"I want a splushy!" my brother shouted happily. "Can we get some?"

Junie and Violet nodded. "Yeah. I could go for a chocolate fudge splushy right now," I heard Junie say. They may have been anorexic but they'd still buy all the flavors of Splushies a store had.

Splushies are basically like a blend of frozen ice and sweet syrup. Not to be confused with snow cones, which aren't in a cup. They were best in the summertime because they melted faster and there was less of a chance you would choke on of those little evil ice chips. I loved the orange because they were very sweet and they tasted like pure awesomeness. When we were little and Violet wasn't in the habit of puking up everything, she would get green grape and I would get orange and we would sit outside at the park and drink them so fast that we would get brain freezes.

My sister's friend, who we still trusted to drive somehow, turned the small parking lot of a small Splushy Shop. She parked in the handicapped space and stopped the car. "Really?" I asked. "Have we learned nothing today?"

"What?" Junie asked.

"You got your mom's car towed because of this. You are parked in the handicapped space. We can walk. Move over."

Junie sighed and drove all the way to the back of the parking lot. "There. Was that really necessary?" Junie asked sarcastically.

"Oh shut the hell up and get out already," I told her.

The shop was full despite the empty parking lot. There were couples sharing, kids sword fighting with the straws, and friends using spoons to eat their Splushies. The woman at the counter, named Aimee, smiled politely at us. "Hi there. What can I get you all?"

"What do you have?" I asked eagerly. Splushies brought back great memories for me.

"Well, we've got strawberry swirl, green grape galore, original orange, cherry blast, bursting blue raspberry, peachy peach, mango surprise, and sweet and sour lemon."

"Will you still spike the drinks if I ask you to?"

Aimee winked. "What will it be?"

"Original orange, spiked with a dash of tequila."

Aimee nodded and wrote it down on her notepad. Junie shrugged. "I would like a half and half Splushy with Mango surprise and rum."

Aimee nodded and wrote it down. Violet ordered what Junie was having and Amber and Matty just got regular cherry Splushies. Aimee nodded and went to the back to go fix our order. Violet and Junie laughed at Amber as soon as she was gone. "Come on, Amber! Even the kid is getting alcohol. Why are you being so lame?" Junie asked.

"Say what you want. Someone sober's gotta drive and you three are going to be bouncing off the walls. But at least Vi and Sam come from a family of drinkers and can hold theirs. You'll be pissing all over the backseat in three minutes tops."

"Will not!" Junie said so loudly that all the "responsible parents" looked up from their iPhones to glare at us.

"Could you kindly shut up?" Amber asked Junie. There wasn't even a hint of bitterness in her voice.

"Whatever. At least we are cool enough to drink. You can't even look at a drink."

"I'm a leader not a follower," Amber said proudly. She took her Splushy from Aimee and handed her a five dollar bill. Aimee took it, looked at it in the light, and smiled. She handed Matt and me ours and we went outside to sit on a bench outside.

"You know these aren't spiked, right?" I said.

"Yeah, I know. Junie thinks she's so cool but she does't even know these things," Amber rolled her eyes.

"Why do you hang out with them if you don't even like them?" I asked after a while. I had finally began drinking my Splushy because too many bugs were trying to come and see what was in my cup.

"I didn't say I didn't like them. Violet's like another one of my sisters. I've known her since Pre-K and we are like sisters. You know this. And although Junie is annoying, she's my best friend and I love her as much as I love Violet. They are like my sisters and family fight. But they do some of the dumbest stuff. Like when Junie slept with Theo and thought she had herpes. That was a real treat. Dragged me out of bed and down to her house to stare at a pimple on her thigh for an hour."

"But, why do you hang out with each other?" I asked. It was hard to understand the logic behind this if it wasn't motivated by items or cool parents that let you do whatever you want.

"I just told you. They are my best friends. I mean, I've had other friends. I was devastated when Bridgette died because behind the drugs and sex, she was an awesome person and a great mother no matter what Gail says. And Tess is like my best friend even though we are sisters. Christy was always by my side too. I mean, we played together. She was the best on the soccer team but those two morons in there are my best friends somehow..." she smiled and changed the subject. "So, you and that cute little kid next door. What's up with that?"

I rolled my eyes. "Nothing happened."

"I'm a big girl. I went through that awful Human Reproduction Unit in school too. No need to sugarcoat things for little ole me."

"Nothing happened. Okay, he got a boner and I laughed and he ran out on me."

"Awww," Amber cooed. "That's so adorable."

"Doesn't your boyfriend do that?"

"Run out on me? Only if he's coming back with ice-creme or something else sweet."

"What's having a boyfriend like? I mean Kevin was a douche."

"It's fun. I mean, we aren't those annoying people that are always in each other's arms 24/7 and we aren't crazy about our parents' theory that if they stick us together at a young age, we will be together forever but... It's alright for us to still be virgins even when our friends are all like, 'You will be much happier if you do it. It enhances the love'. Like they know anything about love..." Amber smiled. "Well, we've blown all of twenty minutes and I'm bored again. I'm probably going to drive because they both still believe that they're downing rum right now. Where do you want to go?"

"The mall. There's got to be one close," I said. "I wanna use Dad's money to buy a new dress for the Fourth of July dance in the park. Looking better than everyone else is the best way to get a guy."

"That cutie next door likes you fine. The part that counts is already very intrigued by you."

I giggled. "Ugh! Where are they?"

"Puking. They ordered this huge stack of pancakes and ate the whole thing greedily. I mean. I eat a lot too but they ate like savage animals that have been starved for three years."

"That isn't possible... I wish they weren't anorexic."

"If it helps, they are technically bulimic not anorexic, but I'm with you. I mean, they are taking the easy way to get skinny and it's hurting them," Amber sounded really worried. Now that was a dedicated friend. "Plus, they keep trying to convince me that it's good. I tried it and it made me cry and feel awful. So I didn't do it anymore."

"It makes you cry?"

"Yeah. I mean, it's bad and everyone's always like, 'You are hurting yourself. You could die. You are pretty already.' All that stuff runs though your head when you are gagging yourself. Odd but true."

Violet and Junie came out minutes later. They tossed Amber the keys and slumped in the backseat. Matt climbed eagerly on Violet's lap and I sat in the front seat. Amber turned on the car and turned the radio station from annoying Miley Cyrus (again) to Punk Rock. She waited until everyone had their seat belts and then she drove to the nearest mall, The Perimeter Mall. Upon seeing a mall, my sister and Junie has somehow recovered from their moments of emptiness, sat up, and were being typical Valley Girls.

Amber turned off the car and took Matt's hand. We walked into the most stylish mall I've ever seen. My mouth instantly dropped. There were fountains, plants, and people everywhere. There was a Barnes and Noble, Nordstrom, and Macy's. I had seen all of the stores in smaller scales at the mall everyone went to a county over but in person, the stores looked amazing. I gasped and grabbed Vi's arm for support, which she instantly shook off. This was going to be awesome and Mom wasn't here to threaten to beat me with a Bible every time I picked something up.

"I'll go with them if you want," Amber offered. "I mean, I'm lame anyway."

"Sure, sure. You're on brat duty!" Junie said. "Come on, Violet. There's a tattoo place with your name on it!"

I watched as my sister and her slutty friend strutted away to go do some awful deed. I was too dumbfounded to speak and even if I wasn't, I still wouldn't be on the ground begging my older sister to stay and play Mommy. "So, what do you guys want to do first?"

"Can we go look at the pretty clothes?" Matt asked.

"Yes. Samantha, is that what you want to do?"

"Absolutely!" I said and I ran into the first store I saw, which was Nordstrom.

The store was huge. I turned into a row of rack of dresses and fell on my ass. Ouch! That smarts. The dress I was looking at when I opened my eyes was made of light blue mesh. It was short enough to give my mother a heart attack and was long enough for me not to be a Satan-worshipping slut. Perfect. I grabbed it, not bothering to look at the size and then ran my fingers though the others, picking up the most colorful ones that I could find. I ran into the dressing room and squealed like a little girl.

Okay... so not being picky cost me a lot of the cute ones. Unfortunately, I'm not a size 2 or size 36 (thank god). So, I ended up with two of the most beautiful dresses in the rack out of fourteen. Not the wisest but oh well. Fortunately, the sky blue dress that came just above my knees was a size 4, which was a perfect fit. It was a tight squeeze and I couldn't zip it but when I walked out, my little brother clapped like a mad man and Amber gave me a thumbs up. That one was a go. I was getting that.

The other dress was a green and white summer dress that looked more like a summer dress my mother would be more hesitant about than the blue strapless one. This one was also strapless but if I had put on my white lace cardigan, I would be less dead. It wasn't lined but I didn't quite know how how to put it on. After struggling to get my big head into the dress and the rest of my body to follow, I showcased it to my brother and Amber. They smiled and nodded as well. Well, that one was challenging but it was really pretty. Plus, it actually had a zipper on the side. Which I didn't notice until I had taken it off and was looking for the other elastic strap that would keep my dress up on my breasts. Yay fabricators in China. You got one stupid American.

We went though other stores similarly. For six hours, Amber, Matt, and I ran in and out of various stores, grabbing anything, trying it on, and if it fit, deciding that it was worth wearing. By five o'clock, we had bought everything in seventeen stores, Junie and Vi were drunk out of their minds, and Violet had a new tattoo above her ass that said Juicy in swirly letters. Boy, wouldn't Mom be proud?