"Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seatbelts; we have started our descent."
Aurora jolted awake at the loud voice, blinking the sleep away from her eyes. The cabin lights undimmed a bit, and she could see other people starting to wake up. A flight attendant made her way down the isle one more time with a trash bag.
To her left, Alex had his head on Schlatt's shoulder, and Schlatt's head was on top of his. The two boys had been friends since they were three, as soon as they had moved to NYC after California and Mexico. As two kids who knew literally no one else, they immediately bonded.
Aurora met the two of them in second grade, and loved how close they were. For awhile, they were her OTP, but eventually she realized that was not possible and gained maybe a tiny crush on Alex.
The Latino was loud and funny and cute, and came from a different country, which was just straight-up fascinating. He always wore beanies, no matter how many times he got dress-coded. And his American accent was so perfect it made her forget sometimes that Spanish was his first language.
Through the crack in the seat, she could see Zak using Darryl's lap as a pillow, the latter not caring in the slightest and reading a book.
"Hey, Dar," she whispered to him. He peeked over the top of the seat. "Isn't that book on our summer reading list?"
He showed her a copy of Wings of Fire: The Lost Princess. "Same author, different book. I read The Menagerie at the beginning of June." He wrinkled his nose, pushing his glasses a bit farther up his nose.
"The Menagerie was so good. I don't even know if I like WoF or it better," Aurora mused.
"You guys got to read The Menagerie??" Clay- Dream, to everyone else- chimed in, looking over his seat too. It was easier for him; he was way taller than Darryl. Aurora and Darryl both nodded. "Ugh. My fifth grade summer reading list consisted entirely of shit like Charles Dickens and Shakespeare."
"Language," Darryl scolded. "Would I be considered lucky to never have read anything from either of those authors?"
Clay considered the question. "The Comedy of Errors was pretty good. Macbeth. It had a lot of violence. A Tale of Two Cities was awesome. But, otherwise, yes."
"What even is A Tale of Two Cities?" Aurora asked. "I've heard about it. But I don't actually know anything."
"French Revolution. Storming the Bastille," Clay said simply.
"Isn't Bastille a singer...?" Zak suddenly yawned, sitting up. His hair was a nightmare.
"Pfft. Sleep through the reading, wake up for the pop culture," Aurora snorted. Zak shrugged sleepily.
"Roraaa," Alex groaned, flopping his head onto her shoulder. "J won't let me sleep on him anymooore."
Aurora looked over at Schlatt, who was also yawning and messing up his hair more than it was to make it look purposeful. "Sorry," he said, not sounding sorry at all. "We have to-"
He was cut off by a massive thump; the plane had touched down and was slowing to a stop.
"Exits are in the front of the plane. Please stay seated and wait your turn to leave the plane, and thank you for flying with us," the voice crackled.
The six of them were towards the front of the plane, so they immediately stood and worked their way past the flight attendants and through the tunnel into the London airport.
