Rose Garden Dreams

Chapter Three: The English Chills

The morning of her plane departure, Selena had gotten up very early. She hadn't been able to sleep the night before since she had been so excited. Selena couldn't remember being this excited about anything before. Maybe when her father took the family to Six Flags but that had been years ago. Her large dark purple suitcase had been packed since two weeks ago and Selena had taken some things out before adding other things several times. Selena hadn't packed a lot of clothes from home since she would be mostly wearing her school uniform. Wearing a school uniform wasn't unusual for Selena since she had gone to Catholic school. It would be weirder for her if she had to pick out her clothes every single day of the week.

Selena saved herself a lot of room in the suitcase without the addition of many of her regular clothes so she filled the suitcase with the things Hogwarts required. The books took up the most room she noticed. Sadly Selena had to leave out her favorite Goosebumps books in favor of her school books but she prayed that the school had a library that contained fictional books. The only fictional book Selena was taking with her was Heidi, a childhood favorite of hers. Selena stuffed some more personal stuff from home into the suitcase like framed pictures of her family, her stuffed unicorn, the Mexican Serape blanket one of her uncles had brought her from Mexico, and a ceramic figurine of Our Lady of Guadalupe that her grandmother had given her for her last birthday. Not to mention all the snacks she had packed inside her suitcase which she sincerely hoped Customs didn't confiscate because Selena didn't know if she could spend a year without Takis and her favorite candy. She also packed a bottle of Tanjin and a bottle of hot sauce because someone told her the British had some fairly bland food and Selena loved spicy food.

"Selena, is everything packed?!" She could hear her mother call from downstairs.

"Yes, Mami! I'll be right there!" Selena called back. The dark haired girl quickly zipped up the large suitcase filled with her robes, books, personal items, and other school materials before pulling out the handle and rolling the suitcase away as she began to walk out of her and Belen's room. Before she walked out of the door, she gave the room one last look. Selena stared at her old movie poster of The Little Mermaid which Selena claimed to of outgrown. She was always telling her parents that she was too old for cartoons now every time they told her to take Belen to a movie. Pictures of Gloria Estefan and Madonna that Sofia had ripped out of magazines were also still plastered on the walls since Selena never bothered to take them down. Her sister's toys were scattered across the floor, the toys that had been passed down from Sofia to Selena and the toys that Selena had passed down to Belen. The nightstand that separated their two beds was cluttered with a Beauty and the Beast coin bank, Our Lady of Guadalupe figurine(much like the one in her suitcase), and a butterfly lamp. Selena took note of all of these things so that she could remember her room in case she got homesick at Hogwarts. With one last sweep of the room, Selena walked out of the room with her suitcase in hand.

When she reached the living room on the first floor she noticed her whole family was there to bid her goodbye. Well, everyone except for Sofia, of course. Even Jorge was there, all the way from College Station, to say goodbye to her. Her parents, Belen, Jorge, Rafael, and her grandmother stood there staring at her with teary eyed looks on their faces. Selena herself couldn't help but feel emotional seeing as she was about to leave them for an extensive amount of time. The longest she had ever been away from her family was during a sleepover at her friends house which only lasted for a weekend. Now it was clear that Selena was going to be away from them for a lot longer than a weekend.

"I can't believe you're leaving me, Mija!" Her mother exclaimed, her throat thick with emotion. Selena smiled sadly before walking over to her mother. Her mother immediately embraced her, holding Selena tight as the young girl closed her eyes and melted in her mother's embrace. She was going to miss her mother's warm hugs. Her father embraced her as well, softly patting her on the back.