Lost in the city of lights

Chapter 1

Altitude and Attitude

Determination fuels my legs as I run down the hallway to my terminal. Somehow I got lost in the huge Orlando International airport, and now I’m going to be late. I see it up ahead—Gate C25. I can see my entire 8th grade class standing in a line about to board the plane. I spot my friends Macy and Gabi waving at me from the back of the line. I start to run faster, my heavy suitcase and backpack slowing me down. I don’t stop running until my teacher spots me.

“Stella, you made it just in time, we’re about to start boarding.” Mrs. Comingore, my old and grumpy science teacher, says with a smile plastered on her face even though I could see the stress in her eyes. I sigh with relief and walk over to where Macy and Gabi are standing in line.

“I thought you weren’t gonna make it for a second there,” Gabi says with her classic goofy smile.

“So did I” I replied and leaned up against the window to catch my breath.

“How’s your mom?” Gabi asked, a somber look on her face.

“She’s not doing so well,” I said, fighting back tears. No matter how hard I tried, a few tears still managed to slip down my cheeks.

“It’s going to be ok,” Macy said, putting her hand on my shoulder.

I leaned my head up against the warm glass and looked out at our plane. The plane outside is bright blue with Delta written on each side. The airplane mechanics seem to be making last minute adjustments to make sure the plane works properly and so that we, you know, don’t die.

“Gate C25 now boarding the flight to Paris, France. Again, now boarding C25” We all hear over the loudspeaker.

I look over at Macy and Gabi and I know we all are thinking the same thing—this trip is going to be amazing.

When it’s my turn to scan my boarding pass, I put the QR code under the red light, causing it to make a ding noise and turn green. The man who scanned my ticket waved me through and I got onto the sky bridge. Macy and Gabi were waiting for me at the bottom of the sky bridge right next to where you get on the plane.

“You ready?” Macy asks her voice full of enthusiasm

“Heck yea!” Gabi says, and she and Macy get onto the plane.

I take one last look out the window, and stare into the sky. The next sky I’ll see will be in the city of lights.

As Macy and Gabi look for an open row, I look at all the people on the plane. There are lots of people dressed in fancy dresses and perfectly pressed suits. There’s also the occasional mother with screaming kids wrestling around in their seats.

Macy and Gabi finally find an open row toward the back of the plane. Since I was the last to get there, I get the aisle seat. I mustered all my strength, hoisted my shiny pink suitcase up into the overhead compartment, and sank down into my seat.

As I sink into the worn down blue leather of the seats, the seat creaks under me. I slipped my backpack under the seat in front of me and pulled my phone out of my pocket. I shoot my parents a quick text to tell them I made it to the plane and that I was okay.

I fiddle with the seatbelt, adjusting it to fit snug around my waist. I look over in the row next to us to see a row full of boys, great.

The boy closest to me is Luke, the Luke. Gabi has had a major crush on this boy since like forever. I personally have never felt anything more than annoyance towards him. All he is, is a stuck up brat. I remember one time in the 5th grade Gabi caught Luke looking at me. We got in this big fight but in the end, I told her, and myself really, that he probably was just looking at me so it didn’t look like he was looking at her.

Luke’s voice pulled me back to reality, “You admiring my good looks, I get it I’m amazing” He said this flexing his biceps, and—wow. “Of course I wasn’t,” I said as coolly as I could even though my voice was shaking, “I was just looking under your seat to make sure you have a life jacket. Oh, looks like you’re good.” I said my face flushing. I quickly turned my head back towards Macy and Gabi, they were who I had to worry about, not stuck up Luke.

“What was that all about?” Gabi said, shooting me with a death stare.

“I swear nothing weird, I was just looking that way not at Luke, like I would ever look at Luke” I said, my voice quivering more than I would’ve liked.

“Okay” Gabi said, but I could see the unsureness in her eyes. When Gabi and Macy were both fawning over something on Macy’s phone, I snuck a glance back at Luke. I was only for a split second but I was still able to see all his beautiful features. His tall frame with his beautiful brunette hair in it’s usual messy style, but somehow it was still hot. His big brown eyes had little flecks of gold in them making them stunning. And then his lips... they look so soft. No, stop it! What am I thinking? Luke is a jerk, not my crush. Also he’s completely stuck up. There’s no way I would date someone as insufferable as him! Even if there are small feelings for him, it’s nothing big, at all, I promise.