Chapter Text
Mischa gets into the car at around 7:30 am the next morning. Then he takes a quick moment to plan his route- Noel's house is first, about twenty minutes away; and then there's the very short, five minute drive to get Constance; then they'll take the fastest route to Ocean's house, which is about ten minutes from Constance's, and force her to sit in the middle because of Ricky (the middle seat of Mischa's car is abnormally small); then Ricky lives fifteen minutes away from her; and then Penny's house, which is the longest part of the drive because she lives on the edge of town, is about a half-hour's drive from Ricky's place; they'd get there by nine o'clock. By the time he starts the car for the first part of the route, it's about 7:35. The first twenty minutes are boring, since Mischa is alone, so he just blasts his rap music in the car as he goes, getting a few angry honks from the boomers who live along the way. Ew, Mischa thinks to himself, before driving away again.
He gets to Noel's just five minutes short of eight o'clock. The boy is already waiting outside. Mischa opens the trunk, where Noel throws in an full, overpacked suitcase. Really, poet? He wanted to say, This is only for a day. Then the poet climbs into the passenger seat, fist-bumping Mischa on the way in. "You're early." He says, smiling. "You say that," Mischa rambles, but he returns the smile, "But you are outside, waiting." Noel grins wider. "You're never on-time," he explains, "You're either early, or you're late." To this Mischa chuckles. "Poet..." he says, and they start the short drive for Constance.
Constance isn't outside of her house, but when Mischa knocks, she comes out almost immediately. "Mischa!" She greets him happily. "Hi!" Her bag is a bit larger than his backpack, but a lot smaller than Noel's suitcase. "Constance," Mischa says back, "Hello." He opens the trunk to his car. "Your bags go in back. Come" Constance nods, following Mischa to the car. The girl throws her bag into the back as Mischa opens one of the back doors and climbs back into the driver's seat. "Hiii~" Noel turns back and waves into the back. The nicest girl in town obviously returns the greeting. "Hey!" She addresses the the driver, "Where to next?" Mischa squints to remember. "We go to orphan a-hole." He smirks, turning to Noel. His face lights up. "What are we doing to carrot top?" He asks. As Mischa explains the plan to make Ocean uncomfortable for almost an hour, two pairs of eyes flash to the middle-back seat, and all three of them share a laugh.
As they reach their choir president's house, they see a figure with bright orange hair sprint out of sight through the window. Mischa pulls up on the road right in front of her house and opens the trunk. A moment later, Ocean sprints out of her house, hauling along a suitcase similarly-sized to Noel's. She places hers neatly, pressed in the corner of Mischa's small trunk. Almost instantly Mischa can smell the incense and marijuana. "She opens the door that Constance isn't sitting besides. "Hey Ocean, can you sit in the middle?" The shorter girl asks kindly. "We have Ricky coming and it would be best if he sat on a side. Ocean agrees, clearly not aware how far the drive is to Penny's house is. She climbs into the middle, buckles her seatbelt, and then they take off to Ricky's place.
Ricky's mom helps him to the car when the choir gets to his house, and Mischa jumps out to help Ms. Potts with the bag. It's sized closely to Constance's bag, maybe a little bigger. But Ricky needs a lot of that stuff, so Mischa places it gently in front of everyone else's stuff. Ricky's crutches are lain along the floor of the back seats. "Your communicator?" Ocean asks. "It's in the bag." He signs back. Ocean makes a confused face. "It's in the bag," Constance translates, getting a nod from Ricky. "ASL," She smiles, "It's very handy." The faint trace of a smile plays on Ricky's lips. His mom gives the OK to drive off, and Mischa does so, starting the very long drive to their final destination.
It's clear to see how uncomfortable Ocean is the entire ride there. She speaks like normal Ocean, loud and snobby and conceited, but the frequent "oof" escaping her mouth makes the front row laugh. "Hey!" She scolds them, finally. "It's not funny!" "We can drop you off right here." Noel said, getting her to shut up. "Hey!" Constance gets everyone's attention. "How many times have you been to a sleepover before?" Ricky shakes his hand and signs "None." "Mischa," Noel asks, "You ever been to one?" Mischa shakes his head. The others have been to a few, but not many. That's the conclusion they get to before they pull up in front of one of the biggest houses in town- The Lamb residence.