**Meghan's POV**
"Mum, I don’t care. I don’t want to go! I graduated early, and now I have to go to another country!?" I exclaimed, glaring at her. I didn’t necessarily graduate early, I went through all twelve years of school, but I started early. I started a year older than I should have, and now I’m 17 and a high school graduate.
And now my mum’s telling me that instead of going to college, she had me start school early so that I could take over half a year and visit our extended family. In Ireland.
Like, really? Who has extended family in Ireland, one, and two, why should I go? My mum says it’s a family tradition, but I don’t care. I want to enjoy my summer with my friends and go to college in the fall.
"I’m sorry Meg, but we already told your Aunt and Uncle that you’d be there Saturday," My mom said, looking at me sympathetically. I sighed, leaning back in my chair. "Fine, I’ll go. But I’ll hate every second of it," I told her, glaring before standing up and storming to my room, slamming my door behind me.
*~*~*~*
Three days later I sat on an airplane, half way between my home in America and Ireland. I did say goodbye to my mom and dad, and my little sister Katie. I didn’t let the fact that I didn’t want to go sour my last time seeing my family for six months.
Katie made me promise I’d get some boy band member’s autograph if I bumped into him, and I agreed. The only issue is that I don’t know who he is.
The flight would only last another two or so hours, so I asked the flight attendant for some soda and sat back in my seat. I took out my book and started reading, letting the words consume me as I entered a world entirely different than the one I’m living.
Two and a half hours later I walked out of the plane, and into an airport in Dublin, I think. I sighed, looking around me. My mom had showed me a picture of my aunt, who would be picking me up. I searched for her before I heard my name being called. I turned to see the woman from the pictures.
Tall, blonde hair and blue eyes. She had fair skin and a huge smile on her face. “‘Ey there!” She said, hugging me. I hugged her back, smiling at the sound of her beautiful accent. “Hello,” I said. “Come on, Meg, we need to get home before dinner.” She said, leading me to find my bags, then out of the airport.
It took about forty-five minutes to get to my home for the next six or so months. I got out and looked at the house in front of me. It was nice and basic. Two stories high and it honestly looked like a home, not just a house. I smiled and saw the door open. A man with brown hair and eyes similar to my father’s walked out. “Meg!” He called happily, hugging me. He had a slight American accent mixed with his Irish one, it was nice.
"Hey," I said, smiling at him. "I haven’t seen you since you were a baby," He told me, pulling away and taking a good look at me. "Let’s get you ladies inside," He said, taking my bags from my Aunt and heading into the house.
"Michael!" Aunt Linda called when we got in. "Yeah!?" A younger male voice called out; my cousin. "Your cousin’s here!" She called back to him.
His head peeked out from the stairs and his eyes locked on me. He smiled widely, running down the stairs and hugging me. He looked to be about six. “Will you play with me!?” He asked excitedly.
I laughed a bit, nodding. “Yeah, of course.” I said, smiling at Aunt Linda before following him upstairs. “Show her to her room first, Mike!” She said before turning into another room in the house.
"Your rooms here. Auntie Mae said you like light blue," Mike said. Auntie Mae being my mother. I smiled and nodded. "It’s nice, what do you wanna play? I can’t play for too long, I need to put my things away, but I can play before and after if you want." I told him happily.
He nodded, taking my hand and pulling me out of my room and across the hall into a dark blue room. Action figures and battle trucks scattered the floor. “Mum got me a doll,” He told me, motioning to the beautiful doll that sat on his bed, hair brushed and dress clean.
"She told me that if I take care of her then we can get a dog!" He said excitedly. I giggled, sitting down on the floor and grabbing an action figure.
"Who’s this?" I asked, getting him talking which led straight until dinner.
We just had pasta for dinner. I sat next to My Uncle Jim and across from Mike. “So, tomorrow after church some people are coming over. Sort of a welcoming party, are you alright with that Meg?”
I smiled and nodded, despite the fact that I would probably try to hide in my room. I don’t really like meeting new people.
"We invited a lot of kids your age in the area," Uncle Jim told me. I nodded, taking a bite of my pasta. "There’s Ally and Julie from two streets down, and Niall and Greg, and there’s also…" He said, listing off the people. He trailed off, looking up to his wife who rolled her eyes. "And there’s Nikki." She told him, smiling reassuringly now. I laughed a bit, smiling and nodding.
"Sounds cool," I told them, taking another bite of my pasta. They don’t need to know that I’m not the most social person, do they? Nah, I’ll be fine. I’ll talk with a few of the kids before hiding. Sounds like a plan.
*~*~*~*
