Cearra's mom had bought her an international calling card to only be used for calling her and emergencies. If I even thought about making a call from my cell phone, I'd be broke. Besides, the chance of me missing a phone call from my mom was -0%. "Girls! Are you really going to let the boys beat us?" Oma called out to us, pointing at the guys ahead of us, "We're letting them have all the fun!" She revved her engine and drove faster to catch up to them. Cearra and I followed suite. I pressed down on the pedal and lowered my head, to avoid wind and sand flying into my face. We raced over sand chasing a clear blue sky on the horizon. Eternally impossible to reach. I saw Luke on his quad bike at the top of a dune. His shape created a long shadow in the sand. I saw him slow down and turn his head towards my bike. Then he drove fast down towards me. He swerved so we were driving in parallel and called out, "Do you know where the break is?" "Why do you always think I can't drive?" I called out back, hitting the bike's limit. "Because you can't!" Luke yelled back. The wind whipped against my ears, making it hard to hear. Without realizing, we found ourselves at the front of the competition. It was reckless to be yelling at Luke while driving at the maximum speed. But he was insulting my driving – again. We were going downhill now. "Don't press the front brake hard or you'll flip over," Luke called out. OK, I'll admit I didn't know that. My hands were vibrating over the handles as we drove so fast down it. I was too scared to press any brakes now. "Luke!" I yelled out, losing a bit of control, "I think I'm going to slow down now." I very slowly pressed the brakes, turning my quad bike a little to create more friction. "Brake in a straight line!" he yelled out, "Or you'll skid." OK, I didn't know that either. I turned the wheels back to facing the front. Luke kept looking over at me, worried, and I tried to at least look in control. I just needed to count down the seconds – we were so close to finishing. "Lean back," Luke warned me. I did as he said, pushing my body backwards so I balanced out the weight on the bike – and reduced the risk of flipping over the handlebars when it finally stops. We crossed the finish line within seconds of Chad, Oma and Austin. Chad stood up on his bike and yelled out victory. Luke took his helmet off and came directly towards me, "Did you know where the break was?" "Yes! It's here," I pointed at what I seriously hoped was the brake. "Then why didn't you slow down?!" I like it when he's scared for me. He gets angry like this and I think it's adorable. Obviously, I would never tell him that. "I did in the end!" I replied, getting off my bike too. Luke helped take my helmet off, "You're crazy, Minnie." "You were right there with me!" He smirked, "At least we now agree on who's the good driver." My hair tumbled out of its squished ponytail. I grabbed my hairband before it fell. I saw his eyes flicker to my hair before locking with my eyes again. "Quad bikes don't count," I argued, "I'm still a good driver of actual cars." "Are you? Name one time you-" "I saved a raccoon!" He paused and looked down at the sand. "I should've seen that one coming." ** The instructor held Oma's camera in his hand. Our bikes were lined up, side by side with a backdrop of a sand dune behind us. I was standing on the back of Luke's bike, pressing one hand down on his shoulder for stability. The other hand was raised in a peace sign. Cearra was beside me, doing the same behind Austin. "Smile for the camera!" And that was it. We quad biked over sand dunes on new year's eve. ** The ride back was long but nice. I sat in the back of the van with Luke and had my head resting on his shoulder. We were dirty from the sand but that didn't bother me anymore. My hand was lazily resting on his knee and his hand was over mine. His head rested on mine and his beautiful blue eyes were closed. Water was passed around to rehydrate ourselves. "Luke, what's your playlist?" Chad called out from the front of the van. Luke opened his eyes and spoke in a low voice, "Let Millie pick." "Me?" I asked, as if there was another Millie here. I know Luke and I play our music together, but that's personal and this was putting me on the spot. I guess this was part of the whole self confidence thing we talked about. Luke handed me his phone to choose the next song. It was already connected via Bluetooth to the stereo. "Um..." I looked down at it and stared at the song choices. "Choose anything," Luke told me, "Don't think about what they want to listen to." DJ's are under such pressure to bring the mood. I clicked the search bar and typed in a song. After a few seconds, it started to play. Sun-EL Musician - Sonini feat. Simmy & Lelo Kamau The chill track relaxed me, and I could tell it had the same effect on the others. It didn't look like they knew the song but seemed to enjoy it. Oma turned around in her seat to look at me, "You listen to this?" "Yes," I nodded. "Why?" She raised her eyebrows and turned back to face the front, "Nothing. I just didn't expect it." ** We arrived back at Chad's villa in the mid-afternoon. We were dusty and dirty, but there was palpable excitement in the air. A morning in the desert had rejuvenated us and we were excited for where the evening would take us. This was New Year's Eve and it had started off incredibly. I entered the villa hungry. I wanted to take a shower and a nap and all my needs dissolved when I saw her... Bianca was standing in a sundress in the middle of the entryway. Like a horror movie. "Welcome back," she greeted us, "I think it's time we all have a little chat." The front door closed behind us. I whispered, "Does she want to kill us?"