Chapter 5

Jonah

       It was official. We were stuck in Meadowcliff for a while. We went to the car impound, but they wouldn't even let us retrieve our belongings in the minivan so there was no way we could pay the fine.

       Every day I didn't pay the fine, it was going to grow. We had to figure out how to get enough money somehow, but I just didn't know if it was possible.

       The worst part was we couldn't get any food since all of our wallets were in the minivan, and we were all starting to get really hungry. We also couldn't even go in our motel room, so we were stuck outside in the heat.

       Linnea, Ezra, Madison, and I were sitting outside of the diner, trying to think of what we could do. Reed took off not too long ago, and I didn't even bother knowing where he was. He was probably back in his own motel room, rubbing it in our faces.

       Ezra wouldn't stop whining that he was hungry, and I was ready to slap him upside the head. He wasn't going to shut up until we got food, which made me even more determined to find out how to get money to pay off the fine.

       Reed suddenly walked over before sitting at the table beside ours since ours could only hold four. I turned away from him because I really wasn't in the mood to talk to him. It was his fault my minivan got towed. He should have told me I was in a no parking zone, regardless of the deal we made.

       "This is hopeless," Madison said. "There's no way we're going to get enough money. What are we supposed to do? Get a job and be paid today? We don't even live here."

       "Well, we better think of something because I need to eat," Ezra said. "I haven't eaten anything for a long time."

       I sighed. "Yeah, we get it. You're hungry. What do you expect us to do? Rob a grocery store?"

       "If that means getting food in my mouth, then yes," Ezra said. "I need to eat something, and who knows how long it will take for us to finally get enough money to pay the fine and get the minivan back?"

       Reed chuckled, which made me look over at him and narrow my eyes. "I'm sorry, does this amuse you?" I asked.

       "Quite frankly, yes, it does," Reed said. "You all still haven't figured out a way to make money?"

       "Of course we haven't," I said. "What can we do? Get a job? Sneak into my minivan even though the car impound is heavily monitored? Collect money we find on the street?"

       "Don't you four go to some fancy pants music academy?" Reed asked.

       "Okay, first off, it's not a fancy pants music academy," I said. "And second, yes, we do."

       "Then use your talents to make money."

       "And how do you expect us to do that?"

       "Must I spell everything out for you? One word. Busk."

       "That... actually isn't a bad idea," Madison said.

       "Exactly why I suggested it," Reed said. "Seriously, I'm surprised none of you thought of that. You're musicians, so use that to your advantage."

       "It's perfect," Linnea said, giving Reed a smile. "Thank you, Reed, for suggesting it."

       Why did my girlfriend have to be so friendly?

       "Well, then let's get busking," Ezra said. "How about we take different parts of the town? Madison and I can take one part, and Jonah and Linnea can take another part. You can even use your guitar, Jonah."

       "Oh, yeah, that sounds perfect," I said sarcastically.

       "Alright, what's with the sarcasm?" Ezra said. "Busking is a lot easier with instruments, and you guitar is the only instrument brought on this road trip."

       "Yes, I know," I said. "Let me just go get my guitar from my minivan. Oh, wait."

       Linnea rolled her eyes. "It's fine. We can try busking without it. Jonah and I will take the beach."

      "Alright," Ezra said. "Madison and I will take the... I don't know, we'll go find a place. Let's get started so we can get money fast and get food."

       We all got up from the table, and Linnea and I started heading to the beach with Reed calling after us, "Have fun!"

       I was tempted to glare at him, but all I did was scoff and roll my eyes instead.

       "Hey, you should be thankful Reed thought of the idea," Linnea said. "Just because you two don't get along, it doesn't mean you can't appreciate him helping out."

       "We wouldn't be in this mess if he told me I parked in a no parking zone," I said.

       "He tried, but you didn't want him to talk to you," Linnea said.

       "I thought you would take my side. You're my girlfriend."

       "Yes, and as your girlfriend, it's my job to tell you when you're in the wrong and right now, you are in the wrong. Let's just forget about the whole situation for now and focus on busking."

       Linnea and I got to the beach and found a place that we could perform and hopefully earn some money in return. 

       Since Linnea was wearing a hat, thankfully, we used that to collect money. I really wished I had my guitar with me, since it would be a lot easier busking with it, but we just had to settle with playing instrumental music from my phone.

       I had some doubt that we wouldn't make any money, or much money, but the doubts soon started to fade after Linnea and I drew up quite the crowd from singing a song together.

       I really loved singing with her, and I wouldn't want to trade it for anything else in the world.

       We sang quite a few songs before we figured it was time to stop since we weren't making anymore money. After texting Ezra and Madison, we decided to meet back at the outside of the diner to count how much money we made.

       And it wasn't enough.

      Once we were all sitting at a table, we started counting the money. "We made thirty-one dollars and twenty-five cents," Linnea said, followed by a sigh.

      "Well, at least you made more than us," Madison said. "We made twenty-six dollars and forty cents."

       "On the bright side, we made more than half of what we need," Ezra said. "Now we need to figure out how to make the rest of the money. How much, exactly, would we need?"

       I pulled out my phone and went to the calculator app. "Forty-two dollars and thirty-five cents. I don't know how we're going to come up with that."

       "We could ask Reed for a loan," Linnea said. "I'm sure he'd help. You three might not think it, but he's actually a really sweet guy."

       "Sweet?" I asked. "By what? Eating food in front of us when he knew we were hungry? Not telling me I was in a no parking zone? He could have said something despite me telling him not to talk to me."

       "Besides, he only has a fifty dollar daily spending limit, and I'm sure he doesn't have much left to spend," Ezra said. "You know, by eating food in front of us. I'm hungry. Can't we just use this money for food and busk again tomorrow?"

       "And who's to say we'll make at least a hundred dollars tomorrow?" I asked. "And where will we sleep? All of our keys of the motel is in the minivan, along with pretty much everything else we need."

       "Who keeps all that stuff in a car when you're at the beach?" Reed suddenly asked, and I looked over to see him standing nearby. "Normal people bring it with them and keep it in a bag. Or at least keep the motel key with their car keys, which you still have."

       "Yeah, we get it, you kept everything with you," I said. "You don't have to rub it in. And by the way, your busking idea failed, so we're still out of ideas."

       "How much did you make?" Reed asked.

       "About fifty-eight dollars," Linnea said. "So, we're still short. Any chance you have enough money from your daily spending limit to help us out?"

       "Nope," Reed said.

       "Great," I said sarcastically. "I knew you wouldn't be any help."

       "Wow, and here I was, thinking I'd help," Reed said. 

       "You can't help," I said. "You don't have enough money."

       "Yeah, within my bank account's spending limit," Reed said. "I never said I didn't have the cash on me." He then dropped his hat he was holding on the table. "That's about fifty dollars."

       "From what?" Ezra asked. "Robbing a bank?"

       "You know, I'm so glad you all think so highly of me," Reed said sarcastically. "By the way, you four aren't the only musicians here. That is from busking. I am tempted to keep the money for myself so you'll have to continue making money."

       "What's stopping you from doing that?" Madison asked.

       "If I did, then you four probably wouldn't be able to get into your motel at night," Reed said. "Normally, I wouldn't care, but that wouldn't be fair for the one of you that's actually being nice to me. So thank Linnea because if it weren't for her, I'd be keeping that money."

       After Reed walked away, Linnea said, "You three are still very unbelievable. Reed actually is very sweet, but you're not giving him a chance."

       "I tried at home," I said. "We just don't get along."

       "Yes, I'm aware of that," Linnea said. "Ezra and Madison, on the other hand, shouldn't have an excuse for treating Reed like that."

       "He crashed the road trip," Ezra said.

      "He doesn't want to be here," Linnea said. "It's not like he forced his way on. Am I the only one seeing how unfair you are all being? You know what? Forget it. I know I won't change your minds. Let's just get to the car impound."

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Reed should have kept the money tbh.

lol I'm treating my other son like crap. Sorry Jonah, but you're being a butt to my baby.

I keep changing Reed's gif in the character preview oops. But the current one is most likely going to be the one to stay.