My neck hurts so bad. I rub it and move it in a circle as I wait for our aisle to leave.
I follow my friends out and we all meet back at the lobby.
I walk up the the windows and tilt my head.
"Where the hell is Paris?" Some kid asks.
"This is just an airport in France. Paris is still about an hour away. We have to take a train, it'll take about fifty minutes," Madame Monet explains.
All the kids groan.
"I know, I know," she mimics.
Mr. Thomas counts all the kids before guiding us to the baggage claim.
We wait our turn and everyone slowly grabs hold of their luggage sooner or later.
"There's a railway station between Terminals 2C, 2D, 2E, and 2F. Keep an eye out," Madame Monet speaks.
We all follow the teachers as we look around. I'm not looking for anything specific though, I just love to people-watch.
"Found it!" Harper yells.
We head down the escalator and wait for a train to arrive.
I lean against one of the signs and dig in my purse for headphones. As I put one in my ear, Harper's phone comes into my view with a picture.
I squint my eyes. "What is that."
"You and Elijah sleeping together on the bus," she says proudly.
I snatch her phone and zoom in. "That didn't happen."
"Yes, because my editing skills are top-tier."
"Exactly."
Harper scoffs. "It happened. I saw it with my own eyeballs."
I shrug. "It doesn't mean anything."
"I didn't say it did. It seems like you are though."
"No," I deny.
She groans and strangles the air, pretending it's me.
"Kids, the bus is coming. Please line up so I can count correctly and hand you your ticket," Mr. Thomas orders.
He counts and hands us a paper as we walk on the train.
"Try your best to stay together. At least with one person. Use the buddy system!" Madame Monet hustles. "Check your phones often! I will be texting you all the instructions."
Harper guides me over to the back and we take a seat with a table between us. "I am so excited." She bites her bottom lip.
I smile. "I can tell. It's going to be fun."
I look behind me and watch as Sage, Elijah, Lynn, and Theo sit in the six-seater next to us.
The whole train loads and begins to move.
I pull out my book and start the music in my ear.
I can't focus. I keep looking at Elijah stupid Rivera. The way he's mindlessly scrolling on his phone with a little smile is making me upset. Who even is he?
"You're staring," Harper sings, touching up her makeup.
"No, I'm not. Mind your business," I grumble and bury my face in my book.
But yet again, my eyes go right back to him. Now he's talking and smiling with Lynn. I really find it hard to believe they don't like each other at least a little bit.
"You kissed Lynn, right? How's that going?" I ask Harper, still staring at my other friends.
"Eh. We agreed to talk about it after Paris. You know, keeping our options open for the trip. Why?"
"No reason."
Faye and Colton walk over and take up the extra two seats after passing out water bottles for them all.
I observe as Faye talks to Elijah. They have some serious eye contact going on. No way they haven't hooked up, right?
So what if they did, I do not care.
It's Elijah, I do not care what he does or who he does for that matter. I shouldn't. I can't.
"Have a piece of gum and read your book, Mama. You're stressing yourself out," Harper accuses, sliding me a piece.
I take it and shove the gum into my mouth, moving my entire body to look out the window.
An hour later, the bus stops and we all stand up, waiting for our turn to get off.
We meet in the lobby. Once the teacher triple-counts the students, we all walk up the stairs and into the open city.
The collective sentence of "Holy shit" flies around everyone's mouths.
Buildings are everywhere and people walking around the street.
I'm in a different country. I'm in Europe! Paris, France!
"Alright, alright. We'll see more of it very soon but now we must get to our hotel and claim our rooms. Get ready for walking."
We all follow the teachers as we look around. Probably unsafe since we have no idea where we are but it feels too good to be true.
We finally arrive at our hotel and we wait in the lobby as Mr. Thomas grabs our keys.
He comes back and collectively hands everyone their room keys. "Remember, you have about forty-five minutes to rest. Be down here by 10:30 or there will be consequences."
Everyone grumbles before running away to find their rooms.
Harper grabs my hand and yanks me in the elevator. "This is literally so exciting," she squeals. "Our room is 312. Hopefully, Lynn and Faye find it. Where even are they?"
"Probably with Elijah and my brother." I scoff.
"Is that jealousy I hear?" Harper takes out the room key and taps it on the keypad. It unlocks and we walk in.
"There is nothing to be jealous of," I remark. I pick the bed farthest away from the door and set my suitcase on top of it. I throw myself on the white bedsheets and let out a loud groan.
A couple of minutes later, Faye and Lynn enter the room. "Wow, this is nice," Faye drags.
I bet you think Elijah is nice. Just wait until you find out what a total dick he is.
"Well, I'm gonna change and then explore the hotel. Do you guys wanna come with? I'm too excited to sleep," Lynn offers.
"Yes!" Harper shouts.
"I'll go," I add. I force myself up and find the nice outfit I packed for the Lourve.
I throw on a black mini skirt with a slit on the leg, along with a black tight long-sleeve shirt, and a cropped black cardigan. I then slide on some tights and my black platform oxford shoes I always wear with fancy clothing.
When Madame Monet said appropriate and sophisticated, for some reason all black popped into my mind.
"Done." Harper walks out of the bathroom in a black floral cami dress.
"Harper, it's going to be cold," I note.
"I spent good money on this at that fancy champagne store. I will not let it go to waste," she argues.
"If you get cold let me know then, I'll give you my sweater."
I know to wear layers because I get so cold easily it's crazy.
"Faye, you coming?"
"Oh yeah, I've been ready." I look over and take note of her outfit. She's wearing a tight black long sleeve and a jean miniskirt.
Lynn walks out of the bathroom next. She's dressed in a green floral midi thigh-split skirt and a cropped white long-sleeve ruched bust tee.
She always looks so good in green.
I love my gorgeous friends.
"I'll text Elijah and ask if he wants to come with his friends," Faye exclaims and my eye twitches subconsciously.
I can not be jealous. I do not care.
I pick at my tights, sitting at the edge of the bed.
"He said yes! He'll meet us in the hallway."
I subconsciously roll my eyes as I follow them out the door. Just as I shut it behind me, Elijah walks out the door right across.
"You've got to be kidding me," I grumble.
"Paired next to you guys? Alright!" Sage claps.
I groan.
Harper throws her arm around my shoulders. "C'mon, let's go downstairs and explore."
We all walk to the end of the hallway and wait for the elevator after Sage pushes the button.
"How's your room?" Theo comes up behind me.
I turn to look at him. "Probably the same as yours," I joke.
The elevator bell dings and we all stare at the open doors in confusion.
"Um— it's smaller than I remember," Harper says.
The four guys go first and squeeze into the back corners which already takes up half the space.
"I'm not taking two trips. Girls, squeeze in," Harper demands and pushes us each in.
I end up between Elijah and Sage, of course.
The doors shut and it slowly begins to move down.
"There's gotta be a weight limit on this thing," Sage accuses.
"Shut up, Sage. Don't say that," Harper snaps back making them start an argument.
I feel fingers tuck my hair behind my ear and subtly caress down my neck. "You look nice," Elijah whispers close from behind me.
For some reason, my lips part as my heart speeds up and my face burns.
"You always say the stupidest shit in the worse situations, Sage." My best friend and brother continue to fight.
The elevator door opens and Harper immediately runs out. My brother laughs at her as he walks out. She slaps his chest. "I hate you," she grumbles.
I follow them to the lobby. Why would Elijah say that to me? He just doesn't know when to stop.
The hotel is gorgeous. The floor is covered in gray shiny tile and a beautiful cream-colored dome ceiling. White and brown chairs and couches are in every corner.
Right in the middle of the lobby is a stunning chandelier and wooden table with a rose bouquet on top.
"Have you guys learned all your French?" Faye asks.
"I'm already fluent," Colton adds.
We all stop and stare at him.
"What? I grew up in France."
"I grew up in Columbia! We're going to be great friends. We're just alike!"
"Two different things, honey," I reassure Harper.
"We have twenty minutes to explore," Lynn explains.
The hotel isn't that big, so there's not really much to explore.
Everyone starts walking and I distantly follow behind them, looking at my own pace.
"I'm so excited to see the paintings," Faye talks from ahead.
I stare out the windows as we pass by them. I can't wait for free time when I can look through the city. I still can't believe I'm in a whole other country. I even survived the eleven-hour plane ride.
"I really hope I don't mix up my Spanish with French again, that'll be so embarrassing."
-
There wasn't really much to explore so we just sat and waited for everyone else to arrive downstairs.
Elijah takes a seat diagonal from me and I watch as he adjusts his hips in the chair.
My breath hitches and I look at my lap, rubbing my sweaty palms on my thighs.
I must be like in heat or something.
I slowly look back over to see him staring at my thighs before he meets my eyes.
Elijah tilts his head and I furrow my brows. It's like we're having a conversation with our eyes. I don't think either of us knows what it's about but I think we're on the same page in some way.
I narrow my eyes to tell him to stop. He bites the inside of his cheek and half smiles.
I cross my legs which brings Elijah's attention to them. I straighten out my skirt and glance at the ceiling.
"Oh, good! You kids are already down here," Madame Monet points out as she shoves stuff in her purse
I look back to see Mr. Thomas walking towards us as well. "Thank you all for dressing appropriately. Though, Faye—"
"What? This covers up more than my cheerleading uniform, Sir," she snaps, taking a seat next to Elijah. Harper nods in agreement.
Soon enough, the rest of the kids arrive downstairs. The teachers do a headcount about five times and Elijah makes his way over to me.
"Enough," I warn.
He puts his hands up in defense. "What did I do?"
"I don't know what you're doing but it's not right. Knock it off."
He glances behind me and gives a smug smile. "You're losing the group, sweetheart."
I turn around to see everyone heading out the door. I follow them but not before glaring at Mr. Know-it-all.
"We're going to walk there. That way you can look for your surroundings and see where you want to go next by yourselves."
I don't mind, I can't wait to see stuff anyways. However, there are a couple of distant groans.
We're walking in a group and I do what I do best, people-watch. French people are so aesthetically pretty.
There are cafes and boutiques in almost every corner it's insane. I'll have to check those out as well.
It smells like freshly baked bread in certain areas but in others, it doesn't smell too good actually.
The architecture looks so fancy from the outside. I can hear distant French speaking all around making me smile. I love learning and listening to new languages.
I feel a hand on my shoulder. "I already made a list of like five things we can look at. Make sure you keep notes because I want to do what you want as well," Harper mentions and I nod.
Soon enough after a lot of walking, we wait in line. Madame Monet hands us all our tickets. Good thing she purchased tickets before because that other line looks like it would take forever.
"I brought my camera," Harper speaks.
"I'm surprised you kids aren't more jet-lagged," Mr. Thomas laughs.
Finally, inside, the teachers give us instructions on the buddy system, be safe, when to meet back, etcetera.
I'm so excited.
———
A/N:
I AM SO SO SORRY. I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN A FREAKING MONTH. THANK YOU FOR THOSE WHO ARE PATIENT.
COMPETITION SZN IS COMING UP SO IT IS PRACTICE AFTER PRACTICE.
THIS CHAPTER MIGHT GET EDITED! I JUST REALLY NEEDED TO POST SOMETHING! 💗💗
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