Chapter One

The rain poured onto the windshield of the family minivan. I watched as, drop by drop, it drizzled down to the bottom of the glass then rolled all the way off.

“Are we there yet?” whined my little brother, Jessie.

“No,” I said.

“No,” said my mom.

“No,” said my dad.

“Not yet,” said my little sister, Amara.

“We’re about 20 miles away from our destination,” said Dad.

“TWENTY MILES?” screamed Amara.

The tire wheels screeched. My head lurched forward. If my seat belt were any looser, I would have cracked my skull. Jessie gasped. Amara screamed (as usual.) Mom just stayed quiet in shock.

“What is it?” I asked loudly.

“A car gave us a fender-bender! And it wasn’t really one because it hit the hood, damaging the engine!” Dad gasped.

“I told you we should’ve bought the sports car!” Jessie squealed.

“That was too expensive!” shrieked Amara.

“Amara! Quit screaming!” I scolded.

“Scold yourself, Raina!” Amara mimicked then stuck her tongue out.

“Amara,” said Mom, peering through the side view mirror. “Don’t stick your tongue out at people, Amara. Especially your sister!”

“But, Mama… but, Mama, she scolded me! I didn’t do anything!” Amara said in her Mama’s little baby voice.

“Ahem. Miss Amara, I heard and saw the whole thing. Right now, we’re in a crisis, and you just looked at your loving, caring sister and stuck your little tongue out!” yelled Dad.

That was enough for my sister. Her arm started twitching rapidly. I covered my ears. So did Jessie. We all knew what she was about to do. A full blown-out, screaming, shrieking, little girl tantrum.

“Amara, save the baby tantrum. We’re in the middle of an Arizona rainstorm, and all you’re doing now is about to start screeching,” Mom said gently.

That didn’t stop her. Obviously. Amara started shrieking. Tears poured from her eyes as she clenched her fists and whipped them around like a human helicopter. Jessie got hit, and he started bawling.

“IT WAS RAINA’S FAULT! SHE RUINED ME! SHE SCOLDED ME ABOUT WHO I AM!” she shrieked.

“RAINAAAA!!!” Amara screamed and unbuckled her seat belt.

She leaped from her booster seat and onto me, hissing like a wild animal.

“MOM! DAD! STOP HER! SHE’S CRAZY!” I screamed.

“Amara Lincoln Telegimer!” Dad yelled.

Mom grabbed Amara before she could maul me. I had a few scratches, and one on my knee was bleeding a bit, but if Amara kept it up, I would be done.

“You have taken it too far, missy,” Mom growled.

Mom put her into her booster seat as Amara continued screaming and Jessie continued crying.

“You don’t love me!” wailed Amara.

“I do, honey. But sometimes you do things I hate!” Mom growled and gave her a good spanking.

On the outside of me, I was staring in shock. My mom never spanked a child, grabbed a child, or said  “hate” around her children! Especially not to them! But on the inside, I was crying for joy. My sister totally deserved that!

“You are grounded for a month, young lady,” Dad said sternly.

I couldn’t help it, I grinned and let out a snort. Neither Mom or Dad heard it, but Amara did.

“Wipe that smile off your face you dirty, lying, cheating, filthy, jerkwad, idiot of a sister!” she said and strained against the locked in place seat belt to grab me and strangle me if she could.

“No dessert, Amara. For the rest of the year. No more PG movies,” Mom said as Dad called a tow truck.

The whiniest seven-year-old began to cry. “But, Mama, I just started watching them!” she wailed.

“And now you will wait another year. You don’t call people names,” she said.

“Wahh!” she screamed.

“Sorry to interrupt on this, uh, interesting conversation, but the tow truck is on its way. It will be here in about five hours,” Dad said.

Jessie stopped crying and rubbed the red bump on his cheek where he got it by Amara. “And then can we go to the Grand Canyon?” he asked.

“Yes. But it’s going to be a while. It’s about six o’clock, so it’ll be here ‘bout eleven,” Dad said.

“I’m texting Sean and Jessica,” I said and pulled out my iPhone 6S that I got from my mom for Christmas.

That was enough to break the ice for Amara. She stopped crying and became her teasy-little-girl self again.

“Ooooh! Raina’s texting her boyfriend!” said Amara obnoxiously.

I felt my face getting hot. I did kinda like Sean, and the last thing I wanted was for Amara to get all into my private biz.

“He’s not my boyfriend!” I snapped.

“Yes he is!” Amara said.

“Oooooooo!” Jessie said.

“You have a boyfriend, sweetie?” Mom asked.

“Moo-om! Shut up! Amara’s just being an annoying, little sister!” I groaned and slapped my face in embarrassment.

“Amara, don’t embarrass your sister,” Dad said.

“Thank you!” I sighed.

“Mom, how come I can’t have a phone?” whined Amara.

“Because you’re not old enough,” Mom said.

“But I’m almost Raina’s age!”

“No, you are not. Raina’s fourteen. You’re seven. You two are seven years apart! Amara, you’re not even close,” Dad said.

I snickered as Amara kept on giving Mom and Dad reasons why she should have a phone. I clicked the button to text my BFF, Jessica.

Raina: Hey Bestie! What’s up?

Jessica: I dunno. Anything happening?

Raina: Well, I’m in Arizona. We’re stranded. Our engine broke, and we’re stuck.

Jessica: OMG, Sean and I are in the Grand Canyon. I’ll tell him.

Raina: Okay. I’ll try to get to you. But I hope that doesn’t result into sneaking out.

Jessica: No, Raina, that’s a great plan!

Raina: TTYL!

Jessica: TTYL!

I looked up. Mom was doing work emails. Amara was doodling. I peered over, and I gagged. She was drawing a picture of two stick figures holding hands.

“This one’s you,” Amara giggled, pointing to the one with long, wavy hair. “And that one’s your boyfriend!” she laughed, pointing to the other bald one.

She started laughing hysterically and couldn’t stop.

“Sean is not my boyfriend!” I yelled.

“Shush! Jessie’s sleeping,” Mom said, pointing to Jessie who was in the middle of a nap.

“I’m about to go onto a work call, kids. I don’t want any noise. Kapeesh?” Dad asked.

“Kapeesh,” Amara and I said.

Amara went back to her stupid drawings of Sean, and I decided to plan and escape. I pulled out my phone to text Sean.

Raina: Hey, Sean. I’m planning an escape.

Sean: Oh yeah, my sister told me.

Raina: Any ideas?

Sean: Sure. Tell your mom you really have to go potty.

Raina: WHAT?!

Sean: Get out of the car and wait till they’re not looking.

Raina: Then run?

Sean: Then run.

Raina: But my parents are so protective! They’d never take their eyes off me!

Sean: Your sister is a master at tantrums.

Raina: What do you mean?

Sean: Make her do one.

Raina: Oh, I see. Smart. Very smart.

Sean: THX

Raina: But it’s pouring!

Sean: No. It’s actually not…

Raina: What? OH! It isn’t!

Sean: It stopped a couple of minutes ago.

Raina:Thanks alot! :)                                                  

Sean: Told ya!

Raina: TTYL :)

Sean: TTYL Raina :)

“Sean is genius!” I said under my breath. I turned to Mom. “Hey, Mom, I really need to use the restroom. Real bad!” I whined and put my hands over my crotch to make it look believable.

“But there is no bathrooms out here!” Mom said in concern.

I pointed to a big, fluffy bush. “I can go there! No one is here! They can’t see me!” I said, bouncing in my seat.

“Let her go. That’s one less person to worry about in my work call,” Dad said.

“Thank you!” I huffed and unbuckled my seatbelt and dashed outside.

I hid behind the bush. I looked up. Amara was watching me. I stuck my tongue out and did a funky dance that always made her scream.

That was perfect. Amara started to twitch. She started shrieking. All eyes went to her as she was hitting and kicking and crying and screaming. I did a quick 360 and ran off.