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Chapter 9-


A week after the seven amigos decided that they wanted to go to LA, about ten adults had converged into Rachel’s living room. Ryan’s dad, Brendon’s mom and dad, Spencer’s mom, Jon’s mom, Lilly’s dad, Brenda’s mom, and both of Rachel’s parents were now sitting in assorted chairs and couches while the seven teenagers stood in the kitchen getting ready to do their speeches.

“I feel like I’m about to give a speech to the president or something.” Lilly said nervously. Ryan put his hand on her shoulder comfortingly and said, “Don’t worry, they are too soft to be critical.”

“Remind me again, why do we have to dress up like this?” Brendon asked, pulling at his shirt collar. Rachel pulled his hand away from his collar and readjusted his tie. “Because we have to give them a good impression if we want to go to LA.”

“But c’mon, ties?” he whined. “It’s not like they are criticizing us on our outfits.”

“I didn’t even know I owned these!” Jon exclaimed, sticking out his shiny black shoe. “Well, it’s a good thing Brenda raided your closet then, huh?” Rachel asked.

“Next time you want me to raid his closet, give me a can of air freshener…it sticks so bad.” Brenda said, reorganizing the papers in her hand. “Ok, I think we’re ready.” Rachel whispered.

“Does everyone remember the plan?” Lilly asked the small group. “Yeah yeah yeah, let’s just get this over with.” Brendon said. The seven teens waked into the room while their parents watched. They were all very curious as to why their kids arranged this meeting which was supposedly very important.

They stood in a line before their parents and Spencer made a quick introduction. “Umm, hi I’m Spencer, and that’s Rachel, Brendon, Lilly, Ryan, Brenda, and Jon.” he called out the names in the order they stood. “We have called to all here because we have a proposition that we want to share with you all.”

“Before you say anything,” Rachel added, “We would very much appreciate it if you would listen to our plan. And also, remember the we are in our final year in high school and are all 18 years old, therefore we technically speaking we are all adults which gives us the right to make our own decisions. But, since you are our parents and want us to be safe, we have decided to share our thoughts with you all. Do you all agree to these points?”

Their parents nodded and they heard Mrs. Walker whisper to Mrs. Smith, “Uh oh, this can’t be good.”

Brendon cleared his throat and began addressing the adults. “A few days ago, my friends and I, “she pointed to everyone around the group, “have began discussing an idea about going out of town the first weekend of Thanksgiving break.”

“Our plan was to go to Los Angeles, California and spend a weekend in the city.” Lilly said. Many eyebrows went up and a few parents, including Brenda’s mom and both of Brendon’s parents looked ready to say ‘no’.

“Lots of kids at our school are allowed to go out-of-state without parents at our school, and we think that we are good candidates to go because we never get in trouble at school, we don’t do drugs or smoke, and five of us already have our licenses to drive and no one has gotten pulled over by a police officer before.” Ryan said confidently.

Brenda began, “We know you are already probably reluctant to letting us go because of the past time we escaped to California without permission, which is a difference to this time, where we are asking. As our parents, you all have a say to whether we go or not, so we are asking if don’t wish to let us go, maybe you could give us conditions or rules that we have to abide to before we go.”

“All we are asking is for one weekend in Los Angeles to give us a chance to explore and get to know the city, since we don’t really get to go out of town very often.” Jon said, “We are truly sorry for going to LA last time, but we have seen our mistake and we hope you could trust us enough to let us go.”

The room was silent for a minute as the adults thought about their speech. Then, Mr. Ross said, “LA is a huge city, it’s very easy to get lost in it.”

“We all know how to read a map.” Ryan stated. Mrs. Johnson asked, “How are you all planning to get there?”

“We were thinking that we could take either Rachel’s, Jon’s or Ryan’s car. Although we’re leaning toward Ryan’s since his could fit all of us and we could take turns driving since its about a full days’ drive.” Brendon answered.

“Where are you planning to go once you get to Los Angeles?” Mrs. Smith asked. “Actually we were planning on going to a concert that’s scheduled for that weekend and this cool teen club we saw on the internet.” Lilly said.

“You guys want to stay overnight?” Mrs. Walker asked, raising her eyebrows curiously. “Yeah, we have a few hundred dollars saved up and we could stay at a hotel.” Spencer said, tapping his fingers against his pants nervously.

“There are a lot of crooks and bad people in that city, I’m not sure if you are all old enough to wander through Los Angeles by yourselves. For all you know, you could get kidnapped or something.” Mr. Ross said, a few parents nodded their heads in agreement.

“Mr. Ross, sir, may I remind you that we are all fairly good at self-defense and we won’t be separated at anytime. We’ll all be together when we go somewhere.” Rachel said.

A few tension-filled moments later, Brenda’s mom spoke up and said, “I think that we should discuss this, then we can tell you kids what we think.” Rachel’s mom said, “Let’s go into the kitchen, you stay here.” she said to the seven teenagers. All of the adults stood up and walked into the kitchen, closing the door behind them. Jon ran his hands through his hair and said, “God, that was torture.”

“I’ve never been more nervous in my life.” Brenda agreed. They stood in silence and listened to the adults deliberating behind the kitchen door. No and then, they caught a few words such as irresponsible, kids, and way too risky.

“It doesn’t look too good for us.” Spencer sighed sadly after hearing another string of words that included dangerous, crooks, and they’re just kids. “We are not just kids mom.” Rachel said after recognizing the voice as her mother’s. After a few hectic minutes, the parents finally came out and motioned for their kids to take a seat. “Ok, we’ve talked it through and decided that you kids have a point.” Mrs. Smith said. “You’re not as young as you used to be and since you already know the way to LA, we’re letting you go.”

Rachel, Spencer, Brendon, Brenda, Lilly, Jon, and Ryan all said, “Yes!” and looked at each other in excitement. “But,” Mrs. Urie said, interrupting their excitement, “there are a few rules you have to agree to.”

They listened carefully as Brenda’s mom said, “The day before you plan to go, report card come out at your school…” Rachel’s face fell as she visualized the C- she had received n her progress report a few days earlier, “-if you all get nothing under Bs, you’ll be allowed to go.”

Brendon’s smile became a sad face, Rachel knew it was because he had two Ds on his progress report in Math and English. “You have two and a half weeks to bring up any low grades,” Mrs. Urie said, looking at Brendon, “so you all had better work hard.”

“We will.” the seven teens said at the same time. Rachel’s head raced at what they had just heard. Yes, they’d be able to go, unless they raised their grades in school, which meant even less free time and more study time for Rachel, Ryan, Lilly, Spencer, and especially Brendon.