NaNoWriMo Snippets

I have no time to write an actual post this week, so here are a few snippets of things I've already written!

My NaNo project is currently titled "The All-Gender-Inclusive Scouts of America." It's subject to change. It's an LGBT apocalyptic mess that probably fits best into general YA. It's been fun to write. I started the month with no plot and still have no coherent plot, so if I finish it it'll need lots of rewrites.

Anyway! Snippets!

♡♡♡

There were cracks, deep ones that made the road too rough to drive, running all the way down the road as far as Laurel could see. There wasn't a car in sight, not even parked in the lot at the restaurant across the street, not even crushed and flipped by a terrible storm.

“I could lay down in the middle of the road right now,” he whimpered. “And I wouldn't feel afraid.”

Jenna turned her head slowly to look at him.

“Do it,” she said quietly and looked down again. He took four strides out to the center of the four lanes. He laid down and stared at the sky. The sky was so pretty, so perfect and blue with cartoon clouds floating through it. It was always the pretty days when things went wrong. Here he was, laying in the middle of a four lane highway, and yet there wasn't even an engine roar in earshot.

♡♡♡

When the sun went down, they stopped walking. Their feet hurt and their legs ached. Jenna estimated that they must have been walking for six hours or so. Mavis unzipped the suitcases and laid out the hotel bedclothes on the pavement. As reluctant as they had been to take these things, they were glad to have them now. The four of them laid down side by side and stared at the sky, the muggy Florida air clinging to their skin.

“This is something I never imagined I would do,” Mavis said. “Sleeping on a highway. Who'd have thought?”

“How long will this even take?” Laurel wondered. “We could be sleeping like this for weeks.”

No one answered because no one knew.

♡♡♡

“One lap around the edge!” Mavis shouted. "Remember that!”

“You guys are going DOWN!” Jenna yelled back at them. They were only about four feet ahead, but it counted as a victory already. “Think about losing. Flat tires! Gasoline fires!”

Laurel bent over his cart to whisper something in Mavis's ear. A smirk spread across Mavis's face.

“Yeah, but I'm making the rules!” they shouted. “And I say we can do this!” Laurel sped up and cut across a row of parking spaces. Cole skidded his cart around the corner of the lot, now in last place.

“That's cheating!” he yelled.

“Not when you make the rules!” Mavis yelled smugly. “Have fun losing!”

He took a deep breath and put on an extra burst of speed, but he couldn't catch up. He kept running, wind whistling through his hair and Jenna shouting encouragement at the top of her lungs.

Just before Laurel's team could reach the finish line, the cart wheel hit a rock. The cart swerved and spilled Mavis onto the pavement.

“Crap!” Laurel shouted, struggling to right the cart as fast as he could. Cole seized the opportunity to pull ahead, and he had won by the time Laurel and Mavis were back on their feet.

“Karma,” Jenna said, grinning.

“You suck,” Laurel retaliated.

“Losers push us through the store,” Cole said with a smile, poking Mavis until they got out of the cart.

♡♡♡

“I wish giving up was an option,” Mavis said, smoothing down the faux fur on their skirt. “But we can't. Not here, not after this long.”

“I can't take you seriously in that,” Jenna said. “You're like Cruella De Vil.” She put her shoulders back and her nose in the air in an impression of a snobbish person. “I want to give up!” she said haughtily. “I murder dalmatians!”

“Stop insulting my choices,” Mavis fired back. “I love dogs.”

“We should get a dog,” Laurel added. “I wonder if we could find one in the next city?”

♡♡♡

Laurel couldn't sleep because he felt like crying. Here was a family, together through it all. Here was a little girl with two parents. He had three best friends, and his moms were in Europe somewhere, maybe trying to carry on without him, maybe falling apart completely. These months of not knowing were tearing him apart, just making him want to scream out in frustration. He missed the smell of Mama's hair when she hugged him goodbye before school. The constant noise from the hospital dramas Mom always had on the TV. He missed Destiny sleeping on the bunk bed above him and waking him up every morning.

Whenever he closed his eyes, he imagined that he was back in his bed at home, staring up at the lattice holding up Destiny's mattress. What wouldn't he give to be home again?

♡♡♡

These have been a few of my favorite scenes to write so far, without giving away too much. :) I hope you enjoyed reading these. I'll hopefully have my content back to normal next week? Maybe?