Kruppo

Chapter 19
The next two weeks passed quickly, and no one was more thankful for this than me. For the whole two weeks, I said my goodbyes to George Mason as I finished up my final exams, and scrambled around with the rest of Juggernaut looking for someone who could lend us a trailer or something to carry our gear in.
Mainly, this involved me and Jake spending half the nighttime calling people, anyone who might possibly own a trailer or know someone who did. But luck was on our side when Jessie’s father contacted me to let me know that his company had a spare trailer that could be used. “It’s a bit old, and we’re not using it anymore.” Mr. Portwood had told me. “Go ahead. At least somebody’s putting it to good use then.”
Getting the trailer had been the hard part of the beginning of our trip. Getting a car that could tow it was another thing. Fortunately, this problem too was taken care of rather easily. Brian and Ty convinced their parents to let them use the family Landcruiser to take the trip out to Virginia Beach, provided that Jake, David, Jessie, and I all paid for the gas along with Ty and Brian.
Jessie was being brought along as a roadie and emotional support; at least, that was our joke when we told him that he was coming along for the ride. Otherwise the poor fool would’ve been spending his time at home trying to hang out with Janice and other high schoolers, having no other friends to hang out with.
“What do we need him for?” Brian had protested it at first, but as usual, the rest of the band overruled him. David and Jessie had hit it off right away, and David was the one that told Brian to deal with it in the end.
“He’s coming along for the hell of it,” I told Brian. “And besides, he’s pretty good at fixing things. If something’s wrong with our gear, he’ll take care of it.”
And so, Jessie had been brought on. The final day before we left we spent packing the trailer and the Landcruiser with personal stuff. We all went back home to say goodbye to the folks. My farewell to Grant and Marvin went smoothly, and for a change, I was happy to be able to have a peaceful goodbye.
Grant and I slapped hands, and he went back into his room. Marvin on the other hand followed me out to the Landcruiser, where the rest of the lads were waiting. Marvin faced me, smiling, in a good mood.
“Well,” He started. “Be smart. Don’t get lost, and don’t blow your cash on other things besides the gas and important things like that.”
“Trust me, this is strictly gas money.” I promised him. I held out a hand, but he pulled me into a hug anyway.
“Stay safe, Chad.” He said. “And have fun. I’ll be calling later to make sure you’re on track and not lost.”
“Much obliged.” I picked my bags up and tossed them in the back of the Landcruiser and got the shotgun seat. Everyone else piled in; Ty took the driver seat, planning on driving the whole thing. Brian sat behind me, and he passed me the directions.
“Simple route, really.” He said.
I studied the directions and had to agree with him. “Let’s do it.” I said to Ty.
And so began the trip. It didn’t seem so bad the first hour; I had brought along my CD collection and stuffed Jimi Hendrix into the stereo. Everyone was cracking jokes, screwing around, and generally enjoying himself. The sun was starting to climb into the sky, and the day looked very, very bright and alive. Everyone wore sunglasses except Ty and Jake, and Jessie and I both smoked while David sat in the back of the Landcruiser, still concentrating on writing lyrics for the songs we were planning on playing. He had claimed that he’d finished most of them earlier, but now he was going over them again with a fine-toothed comb, to make sure they worked and were perfect.
He hadn’t spoken much for the past two weeks. Maybe a word or two about the band, or the trip, and how cool the whole thing was. Besides that, however, David had been reserved and calm the entire time. Although he’d been a quiet kid in class in high school as well, I’d never seen him this quiet. Usually he was a part of every conversation, even if he only spoke a little bit. He had completely detached himself from Juggernaut for the moment.
Part of me worried that I was to blame. David and I hadn’t spoken much either; what had happened between me and Rachel at the party had always come to my mind, and I felt awkward even being in David’s presence. My only hope was that Rachel hadn’t breathed a word about the incident. However, this hope was small, and I was fairly sure that David knew. Even if he didn’t, I still felt horrible about the entire thing.
I was grateful to be sitting up front, with the rest of the guys, where the good humor flocked in waves, and the energy was intense, and the spirits were high. Everyone was pumped, and it felt good to finally be doing something with Juggernaut.
Jessie and I both got a pack of cigarettes, and were going to town on them. Driving and smoking was something I rarely did, and I only did it when I was sitting in a passenger seat. There was something satisfying about doing it this time. It just felt right, with the window down, leaning out the window, taking in the scenery as we flew down the highway. Things couldn’t have been better.
The hours wore on, and we were getting closer. David was still quiet, although he’d asked me what time it was, and how close we were. Jessie, Jake, and Brian had all mysteriously passed out. Jessie’s head was resting on Jake’s shoulder.
“Cute,” Ty had snickered. “You know, they’d make a good couple.”
I rolled my eyes. “And you said my humor sucks.”
“I’ve been driving for almost four straight hours. My humor’s off the mark by a bit,” he replied. “But dude, this is awesome; you’re gonna like my uncle, man. He’s completely tight.”
“Yeah? What does he do besides run the shop?”
Ty shrugged. “Sometimes he throws beach parties and invites all the neighbors. That could be another place where we could perform.”
“Maybe,” I wasn’t really thinking about it. The club that Ty’s uncle wanted us to play at was sounding much more like my type of thing, as it were. “But I say we take this thing one step at a time. Let’s just get there first and see what he wants.”
“True, dat.” Ty smirked.
I had to roll my eye once more. “Don’t ever say that in my presence again. That sounded pathetic.”
“You’re just jealous that you can’t make it work.” Ty grinned cheekily.
“Whatever, man, whatever.” I let him get back to driving.
Driving into Norfolk at the beginning of summer was an interesting thing. Lots of cars swarmed around us on the road, and we dove through some spots as well. The atmosphere here was incredible; the place was getting all of its returners and tourists in a single, glorious swoop.
“How far is the house?” I asked Ty.
“Not more than twenty minutes.” He said. “Relax man. We’ll be there real soon. This is pretty cool. I haven’t been up here in a year or so.”

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I'm so post-rock I shit sad birds