On The Road Again - Chapter 38

“No,” was all Jill could manage to get out with the shock, but her surprise soon turned to anger as she realized what had happened. “No. No, I’m not going.”

“Jill. Don’t make a scene; let’s just go,” Carmen replied.

“No, that's bullshit! I’m not going!” Jill continued.

“Jill, seriously…” Kennedy said, looking around at the eyes they were attracting from the hotel staff and guests.

“No, and fuck you, Kennedy. Fuck you for making me think you might actually help me out for once. That you might actually be a good sister and have my back. That clearly wasn’t true because as soon as it became a nuisance, you tried to dump me off to her!” Jill was fuming, squeezing Isla’s hand tighter and tighter.

“Your sister did the right thing by calling me. Now we can get you back on the right path,” Carmen started, gradually matching Jill’s tone.

“Right path? What the fuck does that even mean?”

“Back home. Back enrolling into schools. Back not wearing….” Carmen looked down at Jill’s crotch. Jill gasped and shook her head, realizing her mother wasn’t lying when she said Kennedy told her everything.

“This is so fucked up,” Jill continued.

“Jill, let’s go. The girls want to finish their trip-” Carmen started, which was just the phrase to set Isla into gear to respond.

“I don’t,” Isla said, silencing the rest. Kennedy and Heather looked up finally, shocked to hear Isla’s soft voice so firm. “I don’t want to finish the trip without Jill.”

“Isla, stay out of this, please. I think you’ve done enough,” Carmen urged.

“Or what? Are you gonna run and tell my mom? I’m an adult now, Carmen; this isn’t like grade school where that threat might scare me,” Isla snapped.

Carmen quickly closed the gap between her and the two girls and whispered. “I’ll tell her about what you’re wearing.”

“Oh, so you would shame me for having an embarrassing medical issue?” Isla fibbed loudly, and Carmen blushed.

“It’s not a-” Carmen started.

“You’re saying I’m lying to you about my issues?” Isla held her ground. Carmen looked around, embarrassed, and Kennedy facepalmed.

“Look, Jill just needs to come home. It’s better for everyone if-”

“It’s only better for you!” Jill interrupted.

“No, it’s better for everyone,” Kennedy replied, finally stepping up beside her mom. “I thought having you along was doing the right thing, but I was wrong. You need to sort your life out, and I was honestly just delaying that. And Isla, maybe this is selfish, but this week was important to me. I wanted to spend it together; you, me, Heather. Like it’s always been. And with her here… I feel like I’ve hardly spent time with you.”

“All you’ve wanted to do was fuck somebody!” Isla blurted out, her rage bubbling to the top of her throat. Carmen dashed a judging, shocked glance towards Kennedy, asking, ‘is that true?’ Kennedy scowled.

“You didn’t even want her here to start; you were just being polite!” She snapped. Isla shuttered, knowing it to be accurate but not wanting Jill to get the wrong idea.

“Don’t try to make her feel bad. I know I was an unwanted addition. At least Isla put in the effort to ensure I was having a good time. You just wanted to humiliate me and make me piss myself!” Jill pointed at Kennedy coldly.

“Okay. It’s time to go,” Carmen said, grabbing Jill’s free wrist and pulling away. Isla planted her feet and held onto Jill with all her strength.

“Let go of me!” Jill screamed.

“Isla, let her go!” Kennedy grabbed Isla’s hand and tried to pull her away.

“Stop!” Isla replied.

“Enough!” Carmen shouted. “Jill, you have two choices. Come with me willingly, now, and we sort you out, or you stay here. But if you stay here, do not expect to come home to anything. All your stuff will be gone, thrown away—all your clothes, all your books, all your jewelry, gone. And you will never, ever be accepted into my house again. Do you hear me?”

Jill stood still, scowling at her mother and attempting to determine if she was bluffing. Isla’s shoulders fell, and she knew what she needed to do.

“It’s okay,” Isla whispered, releasing her hand from Jill’s. “We’ll figure it out.”

“What?” Jill said, stunned.

“We’ll figure it out,” Isla repeated. “It’s not worth it.”

“Isla, I can’t go,” Jill teared up. “I can’t go back.”

“Don’t worry,” Isla said softly, trying to catch Jill’s eyes. When Jill finally met Isla’s gaze, she suddenly felt her panic lessen. Isla’s eyes said it would be fine and that she’d figure it out. That was all Jill needed to see.

Jill straightened her back and sniffed back some tears. “Let’s go.”

Carmen glared at Isla, put her hand on Jill’s back, turned her around, and urged her towards the hotel entrance. Isla, Heather and Kennedy watched as they walked to the car, and just before she got into the front passenger seat, Jill directed one last worried gaze toward Isla. Isla nodded, smiled, and pulled out her phone. She typed quickly and sent a text to Jill. Jill opened it immediately, and once she read it, she got into the car.

Isla: I have a plan.

As they drove away, Isla’s soft, supportive expression soured as she turned to Heather and Kennedy. Isla marched up to Kennedy, pulled back her hand, and slapped Kennedy across the face.

“How dare you?” Isla asked.

“Ow! Geez, what’s gotten into you!” Kennedy nursed her cheek.

“What do you think? That was such a betrayal of her trust! And mine!” Isla replied, then turned her gaze towards the silent Heather. “And you. You went along with it? Willingly?”

“I just want us to go on our trip, Isla, that’s all. It’s our last one. Sorry I didn’t want to be on the run the whole time,” Heather replied snarkily.

“Well, I don’t want to go anymore. I want to go home. Tonight,” Isla crossed her arms and planted her feet.

“We’re not going anywhere tonight,” Kennedy rolled her eyes.

“I don’t think you understand. Tonight, tomorrow; I’m not going anywhere with you unless it’s back home!” Isla replied.

“Isla, please, can’t we just see the rest of the trip through? I mean, Kennedy put in so much effort, we’re booked, we’ve paid, and-” Heather started, but Isla cut her off.

“I don’t care how much money we’ve spent! I don’t want to spend another minute with you two,” Isla spat.

“Then find your own way!” Kennedy replied spitefully. “Heather and I are going forward. You can come if you want, but if you want to go home, you’ll have to find your own way.”

“Kennedy, chill out, okay?” Heather said. “We’re not going anywhere without Isla, and we’re not abandoning her here either.”

“Why not? It’s my car!” Kennedy argued. “It’s not my fault if the diaper babe doesn’t want to come.”

“Wow, really? Diaper babe?” Isla scoffed.

“I mean, you’re wearing one right now, aren’t you? I can literally tell,” Kennedy pointed to Isla’s puffed-up crotch. Isla just shook her head in disbelief.

“What’s happened to you?” she asked.

“What do you mean?” Kennedy replied.

“You used to be fun. Kind. Not such a bitch,” Isla said. “Now…you’re just a monster.”

“Okay, why don’t we sleep it off before we say something we all regret, yeah?” Heather stepped between Isla and Kennedy. “In the morning, if you still want to go home, we’ll drive you. Deal?”

The two girls stared at each other, both tempting to have the final word, but finally, Isla turned her back, grabbed her bags, and entered the elevator. She never realized how quiet the elevator was, but now that Jill was gone, it was deafeningly silent. Isla walked quickly to her room, opened the door, and flopped into the bed.

She wanted to cry, but she felt numb and laid silently. Her phone buzzed and brought her out of it. It was Jill.

Jill: You gonna tell me the plan?

Isla smiled sadly and replied.

Isla: I’ll keep you updated.

Isla switched to another conversation and started typing. Her plan was thin and relied heavily on the next words to appear on her screen.

Isla: Hey, are you up? I know we’ve only just met, but I need a huge favour.

She stared at the screen, praying when the three bubbles popped up.

Peter: What do you need?