The Time I Got Left Behind At A Truck Stop In Kankakee, IL, For Half an Hour

Yesterday I got up at 5 AM to attend a Scholastic Bowl college tournament in Champaign, IL. The 2008 EFT Mirror, which is an OK tournament. It sucked. It sucked for a few reasons:

• I started missing all the people that weren't there with me.
• I was ranked 82 out of 86 participants.
• I did not answer a single tossup.
• My teammates and the coach forgot me at a truck stop in Kankakee, and left me there for half a frigging hour.

Yes. If there is one place it is worse for a 15 year old girl to be than alone at a truck stop in Kankakee, IL, on the night of the Homecoming dance, I would like to know where the hell it is. No, sub-Saharan Africa does not fucking count. This is very high on the list of first world problems but I have to say it scared the shit out of me. Kind of a lot. There were three other players on the team, and our coach, who were now rolling down the highway without me, like the bastards they are. Well, they're not that bad. But I still kind of hate them.

On the way back we stopped at a Subway attached to a BP around 8:30. I went into the facilities after a little too much Diet Pepsi, and when I came out they were gone. It took me about five seconds to run around the parking lot, realize I was alone, and flip the fuck out. I had my cell, my mp3 player, about US$15 and a very sad feeling in my stomach. Did I have the numbers of anyone in the car?

Don't be stupid. That would be *practical.* Instead, I went and called someone who I knew had the numbers of all three people, and talked to him instead. He finally gave me the numbers, and it took 15 minutes for someone to pick up and be like "Oh! Oh! Dude!" at which point it took another ten for them to come find me.

And then I screamed at them.

Until we got home. I still wish I'd gone to homecoming.