warning: i've never been to the places in this chapter so bear with me...i just thought it would be nice to go to this place so i chose it :)
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I wake up extra early two days after Calum's phone call with Maxine, adrenaline and excitement coursing through my veins. Luke wakes up at my sudden movements as I clambor off the bed to make sure I have all of my things packed, and he follows my actions. In this kind of situation you don't know what exactly you would need, so we kind of just threw our bags together and hoped it would get us through the trip.
"I'm kind of excited." I smile, shrugging on a zip-up hoodie to cover my tee shirt I slept in. "I mean, I know that when you look at the entire situation it seems bad, but look on the bright side - we're going on an all-expenses-paid trip."
"I just really want to know where we're going." Luke chuckles, tossing an extra pair of shoes into his suitcase before zipping it back up. "Like, we're getting on a plane to go to a mysterious location. What if we end up at Iceland?"
"Iceland is nice, Luke." I say, glancing at him as I do so.
"It's icy and cold as hell, Mere."
"No, you're thinking of Greenl- nevermind, it doesn't matter. Maxine wouldn't send us to somewhere we'd hate, that wouldn't make our situation any better." I shake my head and stand up from my crouching position on the floor.
"You've got it backwards, Greenland is the warm one." Luke states matter-of-factly.
"Someone obviously didn't take geography in high school." I mutter, annoyed.
Calum walks into the room with his suitcase in hand and a duffel bag slung over his back, a huge smile on his face. "A cab is on its way, it should be here in ten minutes."
"Thanks babe." Luke blows Calum a kiss and smirks, earning a loud laugh from the dark-haired boy.
Calum exits in a blur and leaves me and Luke to gather our things and get out.
Everyone in the house gathers in the living room, mixed feelings of anxiety and excitement swirling around. Of course everyone is excited to go on a trip together to some mysterious location that is still disclosed information, but at the same time the reasoning behind the trip manages to creep its way back into our minds and destroy whatever happiness we find on the bright side of things.
"Are we just supposed to wait here until someone shows up?" Lily asks, plopping down onto the couch beside Michael. Calum takes a seat in the armchair opposite her, leaving quite the distance between them.
"Maxine will let us know when the cab is here, she's coming with." Calum rolls his eyes and crosses his legs as he speaks, obviously ticked off about something.
"Coming with as in, like, coming with?" Luke groans, his nose crinkling. "That'll be a huge buzzkill."
"No, she's coming to the airport, dumbass."
"You're the dumbass."
"Shut up, Luke, you're an asshat."
"Both of you shut up. We're sitting in complete silence until the cab gets here." I snap, becoming impatient with them. Calum snickers and Luke frowns.
The silence becomes too much, and after a minute Ashton asks, "What ever happened to Alicia?"
"We kind of got in a fight. I haven't heard from her in weeks." Lily shrugs, her arms crossing over her chest.
"It's kind of weird that this happened while the whole 'Jess and Nick taking over our lives' thing is happening, don't you think?" Michael sneers, a sarcastic laugh following.
