“For the third time,” Georgie began, brushing her hand through her short, brown hair, “yes.”
“Georgianna,” Pamela said, a warning note in her voice, “do not sass me.” It was almost as if she was daring her daughter to argue with her. Instead of waiting, however, she turned to the other half of the teenage pair, “What about you, Kassidy? Do you have your toothbrush? You never know where you might be able to buy one over there.” There, of course, did not apply to her home of England, but rather, referred to the other three countries they were planning to visit.
Kass nodded, “Yes, Mrs. Kyteler,” she smiled, “And don’t worry. I’m sure we will be able to find toothbrushes in the UK, in the event that one of us did forget.” Kass was not about to admit that, when asked, she had reviewed and realized she had forgotten her toothbrush. And hair brush. And pajamas.
“Well…” Georgie’s mother paused, reviewing her own list of items to ask about. The toothbrush, she believed, was the last. The girls had assured her of toothbrush and toothpaste, hairbrush, emergency money, emergency phone card, and all their contact information. They had custom approved snacks for the flight, and, much to her surprise, the girls had even remembered to call their hotel and confirm their check in and rooms.
"Fine." She said at last, pulling Georgie in for a quick, grab-and-release hug. "Have a good time- but remember your manners.” Pamela was not one for displays of affection, and this was as close as she would come to breaking down in public. She looked her daughter over and approved of her appearance- except for the hair but that was a different battle. Kassidy… she focused an extra moment as she looked over her daughter’s best friends. There was little doubt in her mind that the rather relaxed Kassidy would be most likely to get the pair into trouble.
Pamela knew that her daughter, at least, had been properly raised and brought up with a high level of respect for her elders and held good, well established manners. Kassidy… well. One never knew about those who did not have such a proper upbringing.
"Do not," she emphasized, glaring at both girls equally, "get into trouble, or take unnecessary risks."
‘Or have any fun,’ Kassed added in her head, snorting out loud. Now, however, was not the time to joke. Kass forced herself to remember that and bight her tongue. Had her father been present at that moment, it may have been appropriate. There would have been someone there to appreciate it. He wasn’t there, though. When she had insisted on following through on the trip, her father had refused to wish her luck, and hadn’t even said good bye to her before she had left. They had been stuck asking Georgie’s mother to take them to the airport.
Perhaps it was even a good thing he hadn’t come. There was all sorts of trouble one could make in an airport, and Kass might even have decided not to go, last minute. Perhaps the fact that he hadn’t talked to her in over two days was a blessing to her trip. Who knew…
“We will be fine, mom.” Georgie encourages with a remarkable ability to mask her impatience. She was nearly as frustrated as Kass at their lack of movement. In truth, she was even more enthusiastic than her friend at the prospect of getting away from her over-bearing mother. “I promise, we’ll call you when we land in Wales.”
Never prone to shirking her motherly responsibilities, Pamela nodded and moved to the entire point of her drop off routine. "Good." She said, adding: "If you don't call me by 4:00, you are going to make me regret allowing you to go on this trip..." she allowed her sentence to trail off, and an abyss to open in, filled with unsaid threats.
Never one to shirk her motherly responsibilities, she nodded and went straight for the entire point of her drop off routine. “If you don’t call by 4:00, you are going to make me regret allowing you to go on this trip…” she let her sentence trail off, and left in the abyss what seemed like an unknown threat.
“No worries, Mrs. Kyeteller,” Kass butted in, “We don’t want that to happen. I’ll make sure she calls.”
“Don’t worry,” Georgie said, her assurance meaning much more to Pamela than Kassidy’s ever would, “We’ll be fine.” Deciding it was now or never, Georgie grabbed her purple suitcase and started to back away.
As soon as they were out of earshot, Kass gave in to her more sarcastic self. “We’ll be more than fine,” she muttered, “once we get off this leash.”
Kass had never flown anywhere before and the anxiety of going to a foreign country, even if it was her dream, was starting to get to her. She would be an ocean away from everyone she knew, at a school where she knew no one.
“Hey, it's gonna be okay.” Georgie tried to relax Kass. “Millions of people fly all the time. It's really simple, trust me.”
“I'm not worried- I'm excited. I have a new beginning,” Kass wrapped her arms around herself. “there's nothing for me to worry about.”
“Ya, okay. I can tell you're freaking out. You haven't stopped rubbing your arms since we got in the car. And when my mom was talking to us you kept tapping your foot. I know my mom annoys you, but not usually this much.”
"It's not that," she said, smiling a little, as she shook her head, "I just... it's weird. I just need to jump, but sometimes I've learned to regret when I jump," Kass said, giving a small laugh. "Doesn't help Dad hasn't talked to me in three days," she added, shivering a little bit. She's always been that way. When she was upset, she lost body heat, so she wound up shivering and rubbing at her arms.
"Yeah I guess, look that'll change a bit once you've been away. You know he'll miss you like mad." Georgie couldn't help but envy that a little. The only thing her parents were going to miss was having her under their complete influence.
"Yeah," Kass said, forcing herself to relax and dropping her arms, "You're probably right. Even if you're not I'll be just as far away. I might not even think about them once I'm gone." There was a small snort added onto the end of that statement, but neither commented on it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for flying Air America with non-stop service to Cardiff, Wales. Please turn your attention to the flight attendant nearest you for our safety demonstration...”
“Ugh, this is my least favourite part about flying.” Georgie whined, reaching for her book. “I mean we're not idiots. I think we can figure out what to do if the plane crashes.”
“Shh, I've never flown before,” Kass was rubbing her arms again. “I need to hear this.”
“No you don't.” Georgie turned to Kass, “Calm down. If the plane crashes, there's a life vest under your seat. If something goes wrong, oxygen masks shoot from the ceiling. Don't unbuckle when that light is lit up. That's it. Unless you're going to puke, and you better not.”
“I don't think I will.” Kass wrapped herself in the airplane's blanket, “Man, it gets cold in here.”
“Yup.” Georgie was already engrossed in her book and didn't bother with more of an answer.
“Are you just going to read the whole flight? What am I supposed to do?"
“Whatever you want.” Georgie replied not looking up. “I told you to bring a book or two.”
“Well...” Kass took a deep breath. “I put them in my suitcase.”
“How smart of you.” Georgie grabbed her bag. “It's a good thing I know you, and that you're so forgetful. Here read this.”
The book Georgie tossed to Kass was an autobiography of a humanitarian aid worker. That seemed to be all Georgie read these days, books about people making a difference in the world.
Georgie hoped that one day she too would be written about, that one day people would admire what she did to change the world. That was why she was going to become a doctor. Her parents had been encouraging her for years to go to medical school and to become a surgeon. Her mother wanted Georgie to become a doctor so she could brag to her friends about her two daughers, one a lawyer and the other a doctor.
Kass on the other hand wanted to study Cultures, she wanted to learn all about people.
Her mother had left when she was only seven and now her father wasn't talking to her. He didn't understand that she needed to make this journey, that she needed to see her mother's homeland and to start fresh.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kass was jolted awake when the lights suddenly turned on and a voice once again came over the PA.
“Welcome to Wales everyone. The current time is 3:30 in the afternoon and it's a beautiful day out...”
“Hey, sleepy head.” Georgie looked wide awake and totally relaxed. “How'd you find your very first flight?”
“It wasn't so bad. Once they turned off the lights I fell asleep.” Kass slid up the window shield and looked below. “Wow, you can see the airport!”
Georgie burst into laughter, and a few others turned and smiled. Their anxiety was practically gone now that they were actually here. It felt real now that they were going to spend the summer travelling, they didn't have to worry about parents, school or anything at all.
The next two weeks would be spent exploring Wales, seeing castles, cathedrals and visiting musuems. The next two weeks would be spent in England, the palace, Westminster abbey and little country cottages. Scotland was what Georgie was most excited for, the rolling highlands, the vicious ocean and gorgeous land. The final two weeks would probably be the hardest for Ireland was where they would part.
Kass was literally sitting on the edge of her seat now, pressing her face against the window to watch as the scenery went by. This made Georgie think of the first time she was on a plane, flying to Tanzania where she spent two weeks volunteering at an orphanage. She had been the same way, pressed against the window, shaking with excitement.
“Alright, here goes nothing.” Georgie said with a wink as the plane started to descend.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“There's only one thing to do now,” Georgie stated as they walked out of the airport and into the sun.
“Find our hostel.” Kass replied dropping her bags and turning in a circle to look at everything. “And then we can explore.”
“Nope.” Georgie contradicted with a grin. “We must give thanks to the earth.”
And with that Georgie knelt to the ground and kissed the grass. There's not many opportunities to kiss another continent and Georgie planned on kissing the soil of every country they went to.
“Before we find our hostel I need to find some kind of pawn shop.” Georgie said as she stood up, grabbed her suitcase and started walking.
“Why do we need a pawn shop?” Kass inquired, placing her hiking bag on her back and following after.
“You don't really think I'm going to take this giant, perfect condition, purple suitcase to backpack across the country?”
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