Grace Xiu

Minho managed to get us back on the freeway that will take us all the way to Reno and our hotel.

After what felt like days.

I tried to stay up and see if anything strange will happen, but I fell asleep.

So did everyone else.

But now, we are back on track and it is 5 in the morning. Meaning, we have only 5 more hours until the opening ceremony starts.

We're not going to make it on time because we still have almost 6 more hours until we make it there. Basically, we had to drive back to where we started and go off from there.

I'm not all that sad about missing the opening anymore. Honestly, I just want to be on an actual bed and sleep for days.

"We're stopping at a rest area later." Minho announced. "I really need to go."

We're already going to late to the ceremony, no one really cares about it anymore.

=

Minho pulls into a old rest stop and almost runs out of the van to get to the bathroom.

Ashley, Jasmine, and I stepped out and stretched our arms.

"Oh, sh*t." Ashley gasps out of the blue.

"What?" Jasmine and I brought our attention to her.

"This van, I knew I saw this van somewhere. I remember!" Her eyes were widened as she pointed a finger to the van. "Guys, I think they were-"

"What are you guys talking about?" Jacqueline hops out of the van and approaches us.

Ashley and Jasmine looked at me, signalling me to take the fall for this one.

Wow.

I slowly stepped forward. "U-Um, this girl named Bertha was-was cheating o-on this o-o-"

"Someone named Kyle."

Our heads turned back.

Seokjin stretched his arms above his head and yawned. Once he finished stretching, he walked over with an innocent smile on his flawless face.

"Fertha, Mertha's mother, was really angry with her. Mertha had her phone taken away and Bertha, her sister, made fun of her a lot." Seokjin continued with an arm around me.

He gave me a quick wink and I reddened.

Jasmine and Ashley held back their snorts.

Jacqueline looked confused, but convinced enough.

"Jimin!" She turns around and calls. "Look at the sunrise! Let's go look!"

"I'm sleeping." He groggily yells.

"Jimin! Hurry!"

Jimin, lazily, hopped out of the van and sighed.

His hair was all messy. His eyes were half closed. His cheeks were red and puffy. His lips looked even bigger.

He looked kind of cute.

I mean...

Whatever, he looks cute. Whatever.

I'm not even going to deny.

"What?" He groaned at Jacqueline.

"The sunrise, babe. Let's go for a stroll and take some good pictures, so we can post it!" She squeals and grabs onto Jimin. "We need a good picture of us together."

Jimin cried as he was getting dragged. When he went passed us, he mouthed a "save me" before he disappeared with the weird girl.

"Should we get him?" Seokjin asked.

"No." We immediately said.

"Seokjin, thanks for saving us." Ashley says with a laugh. "Grace was about to blow our cover."

"Cover? You made me make some lame excuse!" I bickered.

"No problem." He shrugs. "Bertha had it coming."

I smacked his chest.

"So, as I was saying..." Ash gathered us close. "Remember the last rest stop we were at before Seokjin got us lost?"

"The one that was super clean?" Jasmine cocked her head.

"No, no, the one with the hot chocolate stand and the flickering street lights. Where Namjoon bought the coffee from the shady hot chocolate stand."

"Ohhhh." We all nodded.

"Seokjin, remember we were checking out the stars behind the bathrooms?" She taps him on the shoulder. "It was far from our bus and-"

"And we saw a huge black van! Oh, my gosh." My boyfriend covered his mouth in shock. "Oh, my goodness gracious."

"What? What? What?" I looked at both of them.

"How did I not recognize?" Seokjin exclaimed. "I cannot believe I didn't see this first. How blind am I?"

"Y'all better spill or I will scream." Jasmine crossed her arms, losing patience.

"While we were waiting for everyone to finish with their business, Seokjin and I went way behind the bathrooms to go look at the stars. We saw this black van that was so hidden in the night and it was parked super far from where all the other cars were." Ashley explained quietly.

Seokjin nodded. "It has to be this van because we were talking about how it looked like what kidnappers use, but at night. And we talked about how long it was compared to how vans usually are. I remember now!"

"It could've been another black van." I shrugged, shaking my head. "We've been to so many rest stops. It could've been other people."

"Maybe. But what if Minho and Jacqueline followed us and waited for something to happen." Seokjin thought with his eyebrows raised. "They're so suspicious. It really could've been them."

"What if Minho or Jacqueline put something into Namjoon's drink that made him pass out?" Jasmine suddenly theorized.

We all snapped our heads to her.

"That's crazy." I scoffed. "We would've recognized them."

"The guy selling the hot chocolate was wearing a huge, black rain coat. It basically covered his face." Jasmine recalled. Her eyes were lighting up by the second.

"No way. That's so crazy, but it could be true." Ashley said.

"What's crazy, but true?"

Our small circle broke and we turned to Minho with fake smiles.

"Turns out, Bertha was dating someone else too and sh-she broke up with both of them to be with...to be with..." I blanked and looked to my friends for help.

"To be with a homeless guy named V-Vertha." Seokjin coughed out. "He's really handsome and smart."

"He could go places." Jasmine quietly added.

Minho just furrowed his brows at us, but left for the van right after.

We huddled up together again.

"Maybe when Namjoon wakes up. We'll ask him, ok?" Jasmine whispers. "I swear to you guys. Those people driving us are lying their asses off. Girl senses never lie and they were going off the second I saw them."

"We have the opening ceremony and the after party. Then we have dinner." I groaned. "There's not much time. We might lose them."

"Skip the opening ceremony." Ashley suggests. "I'm serious. Who cares about that? I'd rather solve crimes than meet people I know I will hate and never see again. I dealt with that during school and I really wanted to STAB ALL THEIR NASTY ASS FACES WITH THEIR OWN PENCILS! I HATED SCHOOL!"

We just nodded, not wanting to trigger her any more.

"Wasn't that fun, sweetie?" Jacqueline's voice could be heard from afar.

Just ahead, Jacqueline and Jimin can be seen walking back. She was holding onto Jimin's arm and he was hunched over in a exhausted way.

"Let's have more dates like that, shall we?" Jacqueline giggled.

Jimin didn't answer and she shook his arm.

"Shall we, Jimin?" She repeated.

"I want to sleep." Jimin replied.

He escaped from her grasp and ran away from her.

He sees us watching him and he runs over.

"Please. Someone switch seats with me. I cannot sit with her any longer." He begged.

"Awh, there's no way she'll let that happen." Jasmine laughed, fake pouting.

"Sorry, bro. I have to watch over Namjoon." Seokjin pats him on the shoulder. "Don't worry. We only have 5 more hours."

"Why don't you sleep with her, then break her heart? Maybe that'll get her to leave. It worked with Grace." Ashley sweetly smiled.

Ouch.

I gasped, but I wasn't offended.

It was true.

Jimin's face softened and he looked at me with an apologetic frown.

I just shook my head.

"Jimin! Come in! I'll give you a foot rub!" Jacqueline was already in the van. "Maybe that'll make you feel a lot better!"

She patted the spot next to her and Jimin turned back to us with glares.

We just laughed it off and took our places back into the van.

"Next stop....RENO!"