The New American Dream

Part Four: Amsterdam | Chapter Twenty-Seven

"Well, that was fun," Cassie said, her voice still groggy. She sat on the edge of her bed now, yawning and combing through her coily hair with her fingers. Her makeup was smeared under her eyes and I didn't want to know what I looked like.

I laughed. "I think so too, it was worth trying it out."

"Absolutely. Hey, we both look like zombies, we should get ready."

"Probably. And we should definitely wash the tattoos," I said as I finally pulled the plastic wrap off my arms and hand. The sweat and blood had dried now and it was more than gross.

"You you're right. Can you help me with my shoulder?"

First I washed my tattoos and moisturized them, then I helped Cassie with hers. That alone made me feel better but it took a thorough makeup removal and face cleansing and a very quick shower for me to feel properly good again.

"Much better," I said as I stepped out of the bathroom, braiding my hair back.

"My turn," Cassie said and immediately slipped into the bathroom while I tried to decide what to wear.

Truthfully I hadn't taken many clothes with me because I had planned on going shopping here, I didn't want to be restricted in that by anything else than my money. I figured my money would still last me to get food everyday and maybe two shopping trips. The concert tickets had already been paid for back home.

When I thought of the concert my stomach immediately started churning with excitement, a familiar feeling by now. But it also made realize I should take my travel medication and my regular medication. When I was done with that I finally picked out clothes.

I decided on black shorts, similar to the ones Cassie had been wearing, and my favorite ripped Nirvana shirt. As I felt like it was too warm for anything else I just put on my Vans.

I wasn't really in the mood so my makeup was a little less elaborate than the day before, after all I would have to redo it for the concert later that day. As I waited for Cassie to get ready I finally caught up with all the notifications on my phone, then we finally headed down for breakfast. The boys weren't anywhere to be seen yet, but we started without them.

The buffet stood in one corner of the big dining area of the foyer. All kinds of breakfast you could think of were spread on several tables. Different kinds of cereal, bread buns, toasts and croissants, cheese and cold cuts to put on your bread buns, fresh fruit and yogurt, several types of juice, coffee and teas, cooked and scrambled eggs and more. We seemed to be some of the first people at breakfast as the queue was pretty short still.

I got myself a small bowl of cereal with milk and a croissant for breakfast, I also picked a chamomile tea to calm my stomach down.

Throughout the rest of the dining area several tables were spread, some were already occupied. When we sat down at one of the tables, one at the wall, Mrs Holland came up to us.

"Morning girls," she said friendly and with a smile.

"Morning Mrs Holland," we both greeted her.

"Ms West are you feeling better?" she asked me.

I hoped she didn't notice that our eyes were still a bit red from the weed the day before, more importantly I hoped we didn't smell of any weed. She could see our tattoos alright but the weed was another thing.

"Better than yesterday, absolutely. Still not good, but I don't think that will change until we're back home, I always get travel sick. I just try to enjoy myself as much as possible," I told her with a smile, hoping she would leave again. Not that I didn't like her, quite the contrary actually. But I was honestly very worried she would somehow notice we had smoked weed.

"Well, that's good to hear. If you need anything then just tell any of us teachers, yes?"

"I will. But don't worry, I'm on my medication so I don't think it will be too bad," I explained with a smile.

Mrs Holland turned to Cassie. "You should all watch out for her, can you promise me that?"

Cassie nodded seriously. "I promise. One of us will always be with her, we're not planning on letting anyone down here," she said and it made me smile.

Realizing just how much your friends cared about you was always a very lovely feeling.

Mrs Holland smiled again. "That's good to hear. Well, enjoy your breakfast ladies."

"You too."

Mrs Holland was leaving and promptly Jace and Nate appeared, plates with breakfast in hand as well as cups of coffee. Cassie scooted to the side of the bench she was sitting on to make space for her brother, Nate sat down on the chair next to me.

"Morning, how are we feeling?" I asked them as I started nibbling on my croissant.

We chatted as we ate, I was barely able to get anything down but forced myself anyway.

While my mental state was getting better I still ate very sparsely. To be fair it was already a step up from not eating for days last summer, but you couldn't necessarily call it a healthy eating habit. That combined with my upset stomach made it hard to eat anything. But I knew I had to eat something, I didn't want to collapse again just because my body didn't have enough nutrients in it.

One after another the other boys arrived. Dan grabbed a chair and sat down at our table, the four remaining boys got a table of their own. I managed to finish my cereal and my tea, but more than half of my croissant was still uneaten and I definitely was more than full.

Dan pointed at the croissant. "Come on, you need to eat something."

"I don't get how you people can just eat I'm still feeling like throwing up," I countered.

"Did you take your medication?" Nate asked.

I nodded. "Yes, but that only helps to an extend," I told him. "And I did eat something," I said to Dan, turning towards him.

"So you don't wanna finish it?"

"Knock yourself out, darling."

Dan finished it for me.