Taking Off

Chapter 10

Back in the lobby, half the students went to their rooms because they wanted to do their homework. The other half sat in the cafe, chatting and eating cakes and biscuits. Aladdin, Vanessa, Elijah and Tia sat at a table for four in the hotel cafe drinking coffees and eating cake. Tia wasn't feeling very social, especially after Elijah basically yelled at her, but she didn't want to spend the night on her own in her bedroom and she definitely didn't want to look at her homework yet. Elijah felt the same. He didn't want to be sitting across from Tia, but he'd rather be sitting there with at least two nice people than upstairs in a room alone, with the guilt of having homework and not doing it baring down on him. So, there they sat, the tension between them quite obvious but the other two pretended they didn't notice.

"You know what's funny?" Aladdin asked. The others shook their heads. "We're literally on the other side of the world right now. Literally." Tia laughed.

"I know! That's so weird! Australia is so far away from everywhere else, I love it," she commented.

"Yeah it's great. But it's a little sad, don't you think?" Vanessa asked.

"What do you mean 'sad'?" Tia asked, sipping her drink.

"The fact that they're so far away from everything here. Must be so expensive to go to anywhere else in the world. It'd be a little annoying," she explained.

"That's true. I mean, in Europe, you take a train for a couple hours and you're in a new country," Elijah agreed. "But here, you take a bus for a couple hours, you're in a new state but still in the same country."

"I guess that makes sense. Plus, there isn't much to see in this country," Vanessa added. "I mean, the countries in Europe are amazing – Italy, France, Spain."

"Stop being such downers! Honestly," Tia said. "Australia's amazing and beautiful. I'd rather travel all over Australia than Europe."

"Why do you think Australia's so great? Sure, it's beautiful and different, but there aren't that many sights to see. I'm finding it difficult to come up with things we're going to be doing here," Elijah said.

Tia didn't say anything. She just looked at him. She stared until he looked away, uncomfortable. Then she turned to Aladdin.

"So, do you like your cake?" she asked, completely casual-like.

Elijah looked back at her, incredulously. "She is the weirdest person I've ever met," he thought.

"Uh, yeah. It's alright I guess. Want some?" Aladdin asked. She shook her head.

"Oh, hey, want to hear a joke?" Elijah asked, shaking Tia off. Vanessa and Aladdin nodded, smiling. Tia just took another bite of her cake. "Okay. What is the difference between yogurt and Australia?" he asked, looking at them all. After they didn't reply, he continued, "Yogurt has some culture!"

He watched to see the effect. Aladdin and Vanessa laughed for quite a while. Tia didn't want to laugh, and she didn't plan to. But the way he came out with the punch line – she couldn't help it. She snickered but quickly covered it with a cough. Unfortunately, she couldn't hide her smile. Elijah didn't miss it, either. He put his hand to his cheek, leaned forward and looked at her.

"And now you're laughing at my joke," he commented. She avoided his gaze.

"I was not laughing at your joke. I just ... remembered something funny," she replied, unconvincingly.

He rolled his eyes. "That's completely believable." She gave him a scathing look then looked up at the clock.

"It's almost midnight. Figg said we're leaving at ten tomorrow," Tia pointed out.

"Yeah. I'm getting pretty sleepy anyway. We should get upstairs," Aladdin agreed.

-

Elijah and Tia said goodbye to Aladdin and Vanessa at their room door and walked down the hall to their own. Out of nowhere, Tia became very dizzy.

"Whoa," she said, stopping and holding her head on either side.

"What's the matter now?" Elijah asked, unconcerned.

"N-nothing," she replied, blinking away the dizziness. She walked on but could feel an itchy pain in her throat. "Oh great! I'm getting sick," she thought, depressed. She unlocked their room door just as a great coughing fit began. Elijah watched her cough.

"Uh, are you okay?" he asked, a little scared. She nodded, through teary eyes. She pulled a bottle of water from the mini fridge - charges be damned - and gulped it down. The coughs were gone but her throat still itched a lot. "Well, I'm going to bed. Night," he said, not taking a second look at her. She grumbled in reply and walked to her room.

"I really hope this sickness doesn't live to see the light of tomorrow," she thought before putting her head on the pillow and dozing off instantly.