Born to Perform

Epilogue

My eyes flicker open as I hear a disembodied voice accompanied by some strange droning sounds. My arms prickle at the cold air being blasted all around me but my head is resting on something warm and comfortable.

"Hey, you're finally awake," a voice says next to me and I instantly smile. I look up to see two bright blue eyes staring back into mine that soften with affection as soon as he sees me.

"God, I totally forgot where I was for a second," I laugh to Sam, looking around the airplane cabin to re-familiarise myself with my surroundings. Cassie and Diego are also asleep on each other's shoulders in the seats behind us while Scott and Sienna are sitting across from us, sharing an iPod and miming along to the song lyrics way too enthusiastically. I swear those two have infinite amounts of energy.

"I think we're landing in a few minutes," Sam tells me, lacing his fingers with mine. "Woah, you're freezing. Here, take my jacket." He pulls his hoodie off and wraps it around my shoulders. I am about to protest but the soft material and familiar smell lull me back into a dream-state and my head drops back onto his shoulder.

"Thanks," I mumble, settling back down to sleep again. Suddenly the plane jerks downwards and my eyes snap open in fright. Sam's hand tightens around mine instinctively. "Well I'm totally awake now," I groan, propping myself back up in my seat ready for the landing while Sam laughs at my sullen expression.

"Are we there yet?" Cassie's drowsy voice floats forward to us. I turn around to see her and Diego both rubbing their eyes and peering out the window to check our progress.

"Yeah, we're just landing," Sam explains.

"Oh my god, I can't believe we're in California!" Sienna squeals across the aisle, having taken out one earphone to hear our conversation.

"How the hell are you two still awake?" Cassie asks incredulously.

"We had four coffees...each," Sienna explains, her eyes twinkling.

"Oh god, this is going to be like babysitting two hyperactive five year olds," Cassie says, rolling her eyes as we all laugh.

Half an hour later we are on the ground and making our way through security. It feels like just yesterday that I was arriving here feeling anxious and excited about my film role - if only I'd known exactly what I was getting into.

"Have you texted Jenna to let her know we're here?" Sam asks me as we pick up our bags from the carousel.

"Yeah, although she's probably really busy getting ready for the ceremony. She grew up on film sets so she's used to having a whole hair and makeup team," I explain, laughing at the memory of her calling me up every few hours to ask me questions like why people got mad at her when she asked them to bring her coffee, or why it wasn't normal to take three hours just to get ready for school, or if it was normal for every guy in her entire school to be constantly hitting on her. The answer to the last one was pretty easy - yes, it's normal when you're a super hot seventeen year old billionaire movie star.

"Uh, Sam? Can you help us out here?" Sienna calls out from a few metres away. We turn around to see her and Scott practically drowning in the number of bags and cases she has brought with her - and even more of them are slowly drifting away on the conveyer belt. Sam rushes over to help them out while I find Cassie and Diego.

"So what do we do now?" Diego asks.

"Apparently Jenna's aunt has sent us a car that'll meet us outside the airport and then we can go back to her house to get ready for the graduation at 11," I explain and the others nod.

We walk out into the blazing sunshine with our cases trailing behind us and I scan the parking lot for any car that matches the description Jenna gave me. I check the text again and roll my eyes: 'the car is big and black'. Thanks, Jenna, real specific. I can see at least a hundred cars that could easily be hers but none of them look like they're for us.