This is a part of the thing

Rita was laying on the ground. Her eyes were closed, and the sun splashed across her already tan face. Her orange shirt clashed with the deep green grass upon which she was currently reclining, and her ratty jeans were covered in stains from the afore-mentioned grass.
"Golf greens," she announced with an air of deep thought, "Are probably the most comfortable place to sleep. Trees sound nice, but they aren't usually very sensible in practice." She sighed.
"Golf greens aren't very sensible in practice, either. You could get hit, you know." Rita rolled her eyes, though no one could have seen the act of disrespect, considering her eyes were closed. "Pegs, you are SUCH a worrywart. Like someone wouldn't notice a couple of girls sitting here? Come on!" Rita opened her grey eyes suddenly. "I'm tired of this."
"Tired of what?" Peggie picked pieces of grass from between her toes. "A couple seconds ago you were happily singing praises to the grass. Now what?"
"I'm tired of just being here. We're 18. Practically adults. We should be doing something!" She sat up, not bothering to brush the grass out of her hair. Peggie pulled her brown shirt down a little, and puffed out her chest.
"I," she said grandly, "am doing something. I happen to have a job, and several potential scholarships lined up. Just because you don't have one-"
Rita waved a hand grandly and cut her friend off. "That isn't what I was talking about. We need to get out and explore the globe! I want to go to Africa! I want to go to Paris!" She stood up, and flung her arms out, looking up at the bright blue sky and spinning wildly. "Today is the first day of the rest of our lives!" Rita laughed loudly.
"That is so cheesy I don't even want to comment. Let's go get some coffee or something. We only graduated yesterday. It's not like we're running out of time. Besides, you have to plan stuff like that. It's not just a road trip."
Rita stopped spinning abruptly, and looked at Peggie incrediously. "Of course it's not a road trip! It's an adventure. We could go. I know you got a ton of money at your graduation party. I did, too. Plus you have your money from every other special occasion in your life. I don't think you've bought anything in years." She put her hands on her hips.
"That simply isn't true. I bought a cola yesterday." Peggie's chin was jutting out, and she pushed her dark red hair back furiously. It was slightly humid, and her loopy curls wouldn't stay in place for more than a few seconds.
"I'll bet it was a generic brand."
"Yeah. So? That doesn't mean anything." She tossed her head, undoing any calming of hair she had managed thus far.
"How much do you actually have?" Rita's eyes lit up.
"That's for me to know," the redhead said smugly. Rita squealed.
"Tell me! C'mon! We probably have enough to go to Italy or China or someplace!"
Peggie relented. "Let's go back to my house and see how much some tickets would cost. Then MAYBE we could possibly look into thinking about taking a small trip someplace if I feel like it. Which I won't." This ambiguous answer was enough for Rita.
"Oooh!" She jumped up and squeezed Peggie tightly in a one armed hug. "Thank you thank you thank you, Peggie-pie! You're the best!" She ran barefoot across the green. A golfball landed squarely where she had been standing.
"Fore!" Someone shouted. Peggie scooped up the golfball, hurled it back and plodded after her impetuous friend.

"Please, oh, please Daddy? It will be a learning experience. I'll grow more mature. It'll look great on my resume. I could even get a job while I'm there." Rita was kneeling in front of her father, white carpet sticking up between her toes. He sat in a leather armchair, holding a glass of Coke and looking at his daughter as if she were from some other planet.
"Where exactly will you be, darling?" he asked, rubbing his balding head. "I can't just let you run off to some other country without even knowing where you are. Have you spoken with your mother about this?" He was humoring her, but Rita was used to that.
Rita looked sheepish. "No. Not really." Her father rumpled her blonde hair affectionately, but a little harder than he usually did.
"You go get her, and we'll all talk this over." It was obvious from the set of his shoulders and the way he looked back at the television that he wasn't taking his daughter seriously.
"Yes, sir. " She got up, and left the room, her shoulders drooping ridiculously, her arms nearly touching the floor. Her lip stuck out so far she could almost touch her nose with it. She found her mother in the kitchen. Aromatic smells filled the air, and Rita took a deep breath.
"Mmm. Fresh bread."
"Yes, Button. It'll be done in a few minutes. What did you need?"
"Oh!" Rita quickly reassumed her woeful expression. "Daddy wants to call a family meeting. It's about me. Please just say yes?" Rita's mother laughed, but looked slightly worried.
"I'll say yes once I hear the proposition." Rita opened her mouth eagerly. Her mom put a carefully manicured finger over her daughter's mouth. "Which I won't listen to until we are all together. Be patient." Rita resigned herself to her fate, which she showed by squaring her shoulders comically and marching out of the room. She heard her mother say just loudly enough to hear, "That girl is a card." The card in question poked her head back in the kitchen.
"I take umbrage at that! I happen to be an entire deck, thank you very much!" She plopped down on the couch, and absent-mindedly braided her hair, and unbraided it. Braid, unbraid, braid, unbraid. She started to whistle. Her father didn't look up from his newspaper. She whistled more loudly. No response. She decided to sing.
"Rain drops are fallin' on my head. But that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turnin' red! Cryin's not for me! Cuz I'm never gonna stop the rain by complainin'. Because I'm free. Nothin's worryin' me." The finished of the verse with a flourish, belting the song out with little or no consideration to pitch. Her father sniffed, and turned the page.
"If I were in France, someone would have picked me out for a great talent," Rita sighed. Her father snorted.
"I told you, dear," her mother's voice glided forth from the kitchen. "You aren't going to be an actress, and you certainly aren't going to France." There was a metalic ping, and Rita heard the oven door squeak. "The bread is done. I'll be in as soon as soon as I butter it."
"Did you tell your daughter about your new client?" Rita's father called.
"No, Edward, it slipped my mind. Rita, I'm going to be making bread for the centennial celebration of our little city! Hampton has been around for a full hundred years, and I get to make the bread to celebrate the event! Isn't that wonderful?"
"Yeah, Mom. That's great. Eloise's Bakery is getting more and more popular every day." Eloise bustled in with a steaming, gleaming loaf of bread on a decorated plate. Rita's mouth watered.
"Go get us some drinks, dear. I'd like a diet. Would you like another Coke, darling?" She brushed her silvery-blond hair away from her face, and looked at her husband.
"No thank you, sugar. This is fine." He smiled at his wife.
"Alright. One diet, coming up." Rita skidded into the white and blue kitchen, grabbed two cans of pop out of the fridge, and rushed back into the living room. She carefully handed over one can, grimacing at the thought of the diet taste her mother loved, and opened her own root beer with a hiss. A trickle of root beer leaked over her arm and onto the brown leather couch.
"Don't let is touch the carpet!" Eloise said loudly. "I'll grab a towel." The words had scarcely left her lips before she was out of the room and back again with an old washcloth. "You must have shaken it up. Why can't you be a little more careful, dear?" Rita held still while Eloise mopped off her hand and the couch. When her mother sat down next to her, Rita took a long drink, and opened her mouth to speak.
"Rita," Edward interupted, although, to his credit, he didn't know he was interrupting. "We know you're at a time in your life when you want to get out and do reckless things, but your mother and I feel that you should attend a college, possibly Stanford or Harvard, or some other Ivy league school, and then you can travel. Perhaps with a husband, when you'll be safer." He seemed to think that this was the end of the discussion, and settled into his chair.
"Puh-leez, Daddy. I'm not going to college right now. Even if I was, I wouldn't marry anyone right away. I don't even have a boyfriend right now. And there is no way I'm going to some stuffy school. I'm going to be an actress. I'm going to a performing arts school." Rita could feel her chin jutting out, and she thought of Peggy. A smile played across her lips, thinking of her stubborn best friend.
"You most certainly are not!" Eloise said sharply. Her lips were not smiling; they were pressed firmly together. "If this meeting is about that ridiculous idea, I am leaving. We've been over this time and time again, Rita Marie, and I've told you no. You can do so much more with your life than throw it away to a life on the stage." She turned away.
"No, Mama, it's about something else. I want to travel."
"Darling, I-" her father started to say, but was cut off by his wife.
"Where do you want to go, dear?" Her mother's features softened again, and Rita felt she might have a chance.
"Anywhere! I just want to experience the world." A light came into her eyes, and she smiled widely. Eloise's eyes were sparkling as well. Her husband looked at her in asonishment and she clapped her hands together in ecstacy.
"Why, Button," she said, her voice catching in her throat. "That's simply marvolous! Think how good it will look on your resume! Just get a few of your friends together, and we can go!"
"What?!" Edward and Rita both exclaimed at the same time.
"It was that easy?" Rita said softly, wiping her forehead. "I've gotta call Peggie right away!" She ran up to her room, leaving her father and mother having a "discussion" downstairs. She listened to the low rumble of her father's voice, and the sharply cut-off tinkling laughter of her mother and felt a rock in her stomach. Her parents didn't fight often, but she hated to have caused the fight, pleased as she was that her mother was behind her. Daddy may put up a fuss, she thought, but Mom'll win. She looked up at her pink canopy with butterflies and flowers sewed to the netting, and wondered if she really wanted to have an adventure. Would it really be so terribly awful to attend a nice, tame college, and marry a nice, tame man, and live a nice, tame life? Yes. It most certainly would be terribly awful. And what did Mom mean by we'll go? She shook off the last worrying thought with a shrug. Her mother had been known to say strange things that didn't make any sense from time to time. Rita picked up her clear pink phone, and dialed Peggie's number. She twisted the cord around her finger, just because it was the typical teen girl thing to do.
"Hello?" Twiddle, twiddle. "Is Peggie there? Oh, yeah. Hi, Pegs. Guess what! No. The cat is fine. No! Why would I call you if my house was smashed?" She adopted a posh, British accent. "Mother dear, surprise of surprises, is actually behind this mad venture of ours. Hm-hm." She dropped the accent. "That burns, Pegs, especially when I've heard you try to be Irish. Fine. I'll be over in five. Buh-bye." She hung up the phone, and threw on a pair of flip flops. It was getting dark out, and Rita really didn't feel the urge to step on a broken bottle and get stitches and possibly die.
She raced down the stairs, nearly tripping over her flowered flip-flop. It is not easy to run down stairs in flip flops. "I'm going to Peggie's house! I'll be back before 12. Maybe. I might spend the night, actually." She rushed out the door without waiting for an answer. Peggie lived only a few blocks away, so if her mother wanted her back, she could come and get her.

"Wow, Peggie. Welcome to the Den of Torture. When did you repaint your room?" Rita looked around the gloomy and poster strewn interior of her friend's room.
"Yesterday, actually." She shoved a pile of clothes, books, CDs, and a beanie baby off the bed. She carefully removed the electric guitar and placed it with something akin to awe on its stand.
"Hey, you still have this?" Rita dove off the bed, and swooped on the beanie baby Peggie had tried in vain to cover with music magazines. Peggie groaned.
"Yes, I still have it." She snatched it out of Rita's hand, and her eyebrows knit together. "I just, I don't need it or anything. I just kind of don't want anything to happen to her. I mean, it." She held the stuffed horse in her hand and petted it absently before restoring it to the bed. She turned to Rita. "So, what's new?" Rita was still looking at the horse.
"Do you still sleep with it?" she asked curiously. "I haven't seen it when you come to my house to spend the night. You used to not go anywhere without it, do you remember?" Rita smiled at the memory.
"Of course I remember," Peggie sniffed condesendingly. "And she's not an it, she's a she." She folded her arms. "Besides, I keep her in my backpack. Just because I have her doesn't mean I have to take her out, or anything."
"You mean you still keep her with you? Did you take her to school?" Rita's eyes were wide with disbelief. Peggie looked slightly proud.
"Of course I took her. I never told you I stopped, did I? Why would I? Where are we going to go first? We need to get down to buisness, Rita. How much will we need, how long will we be gone, who are we taking-"
"Taking? What? I thought it would just be you and me. We can go by ourselves." Rita straightened up with resolve. "We aren't taking any adults, that's for sure."
"Um, Rita, we are adults, practically. Are we supposed to stay behind while we go out and have adventures?" Peggie raised a thin eyebrow.
"No. We're leaving behind our grown-upness and embracing the last chance of freedom we're going to have for a long time. Youth! Youth!" she threw her hands up in the air with each cry. "Onward!" Peggie patted Rita's head.
"You're insane. But I think we should have more than just us two going. For safety, you know. We could get Theodore to come." Peggie was wearing a sly grin.
"No. I told you. I don't even like Theo. He's just a guy that I hang out with." Contrary to her words, a slight blush crept over her features.
"Yeah, and I was never in love with Leonardo D'caprio. Much as we'd both hate to admit thse things are true, they are."
"I'm not inviting Theo. I don't even know him that well." Rita ran a hand over the black bedsheets. "Geez, Peggie, are you goth now, or something? If so, you're creeping me out."
"No, I'm not goth. I'm a musician. I got into a band."
"Are you serious? What's it called?" Rita knew how much Peggie had wanted to be in an official band, and clapped for her friend. Peggie looked sheepish.
"I'm not sure I'm going to say yes. They kind of asked me to join, I didn't try out or anything. Remember at that place last month, with the band?"
"You mean the one with the guy? Who had the hair?"
Peggie slipped into Rita's game through habit. "Yeah!" she squeaked excitedly, and waved her hands around. "And the road-"
Rita threw her head back "Oooh, and the curve!" They both squealed with laughter at some pretended memory before Peggie stopped the charade abruptly.
"No. you moron. I'm talking about the coffehouse we went to, Coffee Anon, and they were having a battle of the bands. Remember how I got up and played a solo, just for fun?" Peggie twisted her hands together, and her eyes shone.
"Yeah, when you kicked butt." Rita scratched her arm absently. Ever since she'd gotten into the poison ivy a few months ago she couldn't stop scratching, even though the rash was gone.
"I did not," Peggie reproached. "It was awful. But aparently it wasn't too bad, because one of the bands needs a new guitarist, and I fit the bill."
"Which band was it?" Rita had a feeling it wasn't one of teh best bands, because Peggie looked like she didn't want to tell.
"Death and the Angels."
"What?! They were the winners! What do you mean you aren't sure you're going to accept?! You have to!"
"They might not need my help by the time we get back. It's not that important. I can get into some other band." She looked down at her feet, and began to unlace her hightops. "Take off your shoes. You're gettting dirt all over my nice, clean bed."
"Clean!" Rita snorted. I can't even see the floor of your room, and the bed still has junk all over it. I can't even see the walls of your room thanks to all the posters. I don't even know who any of these people are." She got off the bed, slipping her shoes off, and peered into the faces of the depicted personages. "Is that a guy or a girl?"
"They're small bands. Small bands are cooler. I like small bands, so I am cool. Basically."
"That isn't even good reasoning. There's a name for that. Circles, or something. Anyway, why is he," she placed a finger on a pale man's forehead, "wearing that shade of lipstick? It doesn't suit him at all. He needs to get a better makeup artist."
"Look, I have to look like a musician if I'm going to be one. Even if I don't actually like Puke your Guts Out," she pointed to a poster, "I have to at least know who they are, or I won't get any respect."
"I thought you said they were small bands. If no one knows who they are, how on earth will you lose respect?" Rita scratched her head, and wrinkled her nose. Peggie threw her hands up.
"You don't understand. They're small bands, but they're the small bands everyone knows about. If nobody knew who they were, it wouldn't be any fun to talk about them. Since everybody does, it's fun to be in the in group of people who have diverse tastes." Her voice grew haughty.
"These people all look the same to me. Anyway, you could tell the band to only get a temporary person until you get back. If they came after you, they probably won't mind waiting a bit." She nudged her friend. "You could have told me, you know. I would have liked to have heard about this right away."
"How can I tell you when I only found out about it three days ago? I practically am telling you about it right away."
"Three days," Rita said huffily "is a longo tello." She stretched.
"You don't even know what that means. Do you know what longo tello means?"
"Um, long time? I only saw Star Wars once. It's not like Jar-Jar Binks made a whole lotta sense, anyway."
"You are a heathen. I can't believe you only saw the new ones once! It means long TALE not time. Nazi."
"I am not a heathen. Or a Nazi. I think it's more fun to say longo tello than long time. In my language it means long time. Because it was a long time."
"Whatever. We need to get on task. Is it just going to be us?" She leaned down to scoop up a notebook and pencil off the ground. Rita pursed her lips, and seemed to come to a decision.
"Just us and anyone we meet along the way. We could get like, a group of young travelers! All out to expand their horizons!" Peggie pretended to take notes.
"Mm-hmm, anyone and everyone we meet. I'm sure that will work perfectly. Look, sister, this ain't the 20s, it's the 21st century!" She doodled and scribbled all over the page. "We can't just pick random people up off the streets."
"Of course not. Only respectable people."
"Which will be so easy to tell." Peggie's arms were crossed, and her eyes narrowed. "Are you really THAT stupid?"
"No. I read this book, and they did it."
"Was it true? You can't believe everything you read."
"Yes, it was true. It was about this guy, and he went all these places and just met people who were cool, and they went with him, and he had a jolly good time."
"Yeah, yeah. When was this, anyway? I'm sceptical."
"Erm, um, well," she muttered something, eyes downcast.
"What?"
"1921."
"See? You can't just do that anymore. You have to have a plan." She poked her friend in the stomach. "I'm going online to check out plane tickets, you nut job." She left the room with Rita at her heels.
"Where are we going first?" Rita didn't notice the disarray Peggie's father's office was in, but Peggie sniffed.
"He really should take care of his papers. Look, Mickey drew all over this paper, and it's probably important." Rita took the paper while Peggie sighed. "Little siblings are such a pain. I've got one terrible two, one screaming six, one terrifying ten, and one mutinous fourteen." She ground her teeth.
"Fourteen doesn't start with m. Or mutinous doesn't start with f. Funny does. Fidgety. Frazzled, frappiccino, Fredrick. They all start with f. Not mutinous. Let's go get a frappiccino. Just saying that made me feel happy. By the way, this paper looks rather important. It has a bunch of numbers on it, at any rate. And a squiggle that Mikey didn't draw. Maybe it's supposed to be a name. I don't know how a line with one curve is a name, but whatever. Why don't they just sign X? It's the same thing."
"I don't know, Rita." Peggie's pale face was illumitated by the bluish screen of the computer. Keys rattled away as she logged on and replied to a few emails. Rita looked over her shoulder.
"Stay on task, eh?" She pulled the errant girl's hair. "I'm going to go paint my nails. Where's your nail polish?" She was already out the door. She tripped over a teddy bear, and nearly fell, bracing herself against the doorway. "Holy cow!" she shouted theatrically, "I'm about to be killed by a rabid bear!" Just as she'd hoped, several children peeked out one of the doorways. She grabbed hold of the bear, clutching it to her chest and pretending to pull it away, all the while thrashing on the ground. Her hair picked up bits of green fluff from the carpet, and white scraps of paper, but she didn't notice. She was too busy putting on a show for the little kids. A shadow fell over her. She opened her eyes, which had been tightly shut (to keep the bear from popping them out) and saw Theo, standing above her. He grabbed the teddy bear, acting as if it were turning on him, and threw it into the living room with a huge grunt. The children, Mickey the scribbler, who was two, and Diana, the six year old, clapped wildly. A tousel-haired boy peeked out of his room.
"Do you mind?" He moaned. "I'm trying to take a nap, and you're ruining it, little punks!" He threw a pillow, but couldn't hide the smile that revealed he actually loved his siblings. He glanced over at Rita, and rolled his eyes. "No wonder they're so loud. Rita the Entertainer's here. I should have known." He made a huge show of rolling his eyes and clutching his heart. "I don't think I can stand one more minute of you, Rita. My eyes are going to bleed. You're like Medusa!" "Yeah, little geek. I don't see you with a girlfriend, yet. You're too busy playing video games to be able to handle a real girl." She struck a pose.
"Oh, you really wound me," she said, before shutting the door. A radioactive sign rattled against the wood, and Rita caught a faint whiff of stale pizza.
"Well, that was pleasant," Rita said, turning to Theo. "Um, if you don't mind my being frank, why exactly are you here?" She looked at him, and was slightly in awe, as she always was, when she saw how very green his eyes were. Deep green. She was so busy looking into his eyes, she missed his answer. "Um, what? I wasn't paying attention to anything you just said. Sorry." She didn't look very sorry. She looked impish, truth be told. Theo's flashy smile didn't show any disapproval, though.
"Peggie called about ten minutes ago. She said you guys were doing something spontainious, and that I should come. I drove over. Didn't she say anything?" He paused, seeing that Rita didn't look pleased. "I mean, if you want me to leave, I'll go. I just thought it would be fun to hang out. I'll get my coat." He turned.
"You don't even have a coat, you silly boy." Rita composed her face into a smile. I'm going to kill Peggie. I told her it was just going to be us! If we bring him... Rita contemplated that this wouldn't be the worst thing that could happen. In fact, she imagined some delightful situations involving herself and Theo, and how sweet he would be, and how he would think her so cute, and- I can't think like that. Theo is only a friend. Besides, if he came along, we'd have to find some guy for him to travel with. We can't have him alone all the time, and he's not rooming with us. "Peggie's in here." She pulled Theo into the room.
"Oh," the evil plotter said innocently. "I didn't hear you knock."
"Yeah, Elliot let me in. He was, um, wearing a Batman costume," he said lightly. A wisp of curly black hair fell over his eye. He didn't brush it aside, and it gave him a lopsided, cocky look. Rita was admiring the effect when he looked at her. She hastily looked away from the lock of hair, and pretended she had been reading the poster on the wall. There was a penguin hopping along, and big blue bubble letters underneath read, "If you try your best, everything you do wil be for the best."
"So, what's up? What's this wacky, adorable and spontainious thing you guys are doing? I want to know." He put his hands in his jean pockets, and glanced from one girl to ther other. Rita took this opportunity to shoot Peggie a look that said something to the effect of Peggie Anderson, you will die. Peggie simply smiled sweetly, and shot back something that seemed to mean Looking forward to it, dearest Rita, now watch while I blow your life out of the water.
"We're just planning a trip, and thought our parents would be a little more receptive to the idea if we were taking a couple of strong, virtuous men along. And I never said this was adorable, only wacky and spontainious." She kicked aside a phone book.
"I know. But anything that involves Rita Malone has to be adorable." He smiled, and Rita noticed that he only had one dimple, and that further added to his allure. She smiled dreamily, and started to twist her hair around her finger, which is what she always did while day dreaming. Peggie snapped her fingers in front of Rita's face.
"Wake up. You look like you're about to go into a coma. So, Theo, do you know of anyone who would be interested in joining us? We only want men of character and virtue. No drunks or football players, do you understand?" She shook a finger in his face, and backed up a few steps. Peggie grinned evilly, and gestured to one of the desk chairs. Theo sat down.
"Where are you guys going?" He winced, and pulled a Luke Skywalker action figure out from under him, closely followed by Buzz Lightyear and a Kelly doll.
"Um...Italy is looking good at the moment," Rita said lightly, looking at the computer screen. Theo coughed loudly, and snorted. "What? Italy? You've got to be kidding me. I thought you meant a road trip!"
Rita ignored him completely. "Only (low price here) for tickets, and I'll bet we could find a nice enough hotel for cheap."
"I mean, you guys can't seriously want to travel that far without any adults. Can you?"
"Ooh, looky here! I was right!" she exclaimed, after typing something hesitantly into the search engine.
"I can't let you go off on your own, without any real experience of the world!"
"Yup yup! Italy it is!" Rita shouted gleefully, seemingly deaf to the world, or at least to Theo's comments and suggestions.
"Gee, Theodore, you're so learned and mature. I'm sure you could help us so much, since you've traveled all over the world. Golly, do you think you could come along and help two innocent young gals have a jolly time globe trotting?" Peggie simpered. "You have just as much expirience as we do. Maybe less. You just act out life, not live it."
"I take offence at that. You don't know how much traveling I've done, and I do much more than act. And what do you mean 'just act?' I'll have you know, acting is really great. Rita knows that, too." Rita had noticed the comment about acting from Peggie, and was looking decidedly pink in the cheeks.
"Hello? Acting is my life. That's what I want to do. I won't have you insulting my future carreer." She barely stopped herself from adding "Or my future spouse." Just friends, Rita. Remember. Only friends.