Untouchable

Alfie

*Song for this chapter- Kids in America by Kim Wilde*

"SHOTGUN!!!!!!!!" Caspar yelled, as the car we had hired was driven round to the front. It was more amazing than I thought it would be, a deep blue VW beetle convertible. Before the car rental worker could even hoist the handbrake on, Caspar had smoothly jumped into the passenger seat, not even stopping to open the door, earning a glare from the worker.
"Ha!!! Joe, I got shotgun, not you!!" he called, clearly pleased with himself. We all stopped and stared at him like he was mad.
"Caspar," Joe said quietly, lowering himself to Caspar's level in the car, "I don't care, because I'M DRIVING, REMEMBER?" he shouted the last bit and we all burst out laughing. Caspar's face, slightly confused said "oh yeah, well still, I got shotgun. Ha to all you losers who are trailing backseat!"

Chuckling to myself I slung my case in the boot and then lifted in Zoe's for her. Marcus had thrown himself into the backseat, less elegantly than Caspar it had to be said. Joe sensibly opened the door and climbed into the driver's seat, leaving just Zoe and I outside the car.
"Where would you like to sit Zo?" I asked, giving her the option.
"Well, I usually like a seat on the edge but I'll sit in the middle. Will give you more room," she smiled, clambering into the middle seat next to Marcus. I followed and noticed it was quite a comfy squeeze.
"God I felt the car go down when you jumped in Alfie!" Joe joked, looking at me in the rear view mirror.
"Shut up," I shot back, laughing too. Joe mocked my laugh loudly, something he loves to do, and everyone followed.
"God, I wish I hadn't invited Zoe now. Now I've not got just one Sugg to deal with but two," I complained, but squeezed her hand to let her know I was joking. She grinned back.

Joe pulled out into the freeway and suddenly we were off. The sun was roasting, beaming down on us, but the wind cooled us down. Once we had travelled a few miles the road opened up and the Pacific Ocean appeared, brilliantly blue and sparkling. I yanked my vlogging camera out, not wanting to miss this moment and Zoe did the same, although the wind would probably ruin the sound quality.

"I've created a specialist playlist for this part of our holiday," Caspar announced from the front and we all groaned, knowing what Caspar's idea of good music was.
"Oh God, we're obviously all in for a bit of classic Susan Boyle then," Marcus quipped, making us all laugh.

Caspar plugged his phone into the car jack and a pounding musical beat resounded around the car; it was familiar, but I couldn't quite place it. Once the female singer began we all laughed and Marcus put his head in his hand.
"Caspar, trust you to be so corny!" he groaned, although I knew he secretly loved it. Despite our protests, by the chorus we were all singing along loudly.
"WE'RE THE KIDS IN AMERICA!!"

The car sped down the freeway and, with the sun high in the sky surrounded by my friends I couldn't have been any happier.
"How's Kimmi?" Zoe asked me quietly.
"I'm not sure," I replied truthfully. "I think we've had a bit of a disagreement but I'm not completely sure." It sounded mad but it was the truth. Since the Skype call where Marcus had shown her the Zalfie picture, I hadn't been able to contact her, nor had she contacted me. It had only been two days so I wasn't overly worried, but it was strange all the same.

I noticed Zoe looking at me intently, so I just shrugged to let her know I was OK.
"Talk to me if you need anything, OK? I owe you after what you did for me." Her lips were so close to my ear I felt a shiver run through me.

Luckily, the billowing wind around us was a good disguise for the goose pimples on my arm.