Two weeks went by in a flash.
Evan barely slept, both excited about the trip and terrified that his parents would change their minds at the last minute and lock him in his room.
In the end, his worries were in vain, as not only did his parents let him go, but his father drove him to the bus in the morning. It was the first time he had been to Marwell with one of his parents and it was quite strange. Evan wasn't complaining though, it meant he could get a few minutes sleep in the car, and he was sure his dad would wake him up when they got there. And so it was.
The elder Bludd shook his shoulder and Evan blinked in startled surprise before realising where he was.
"Enjoy your trip. I love you." His dad said goodbye and Evan returned the sentiment before jumping out of the car and grabbing a travel bag from the boot.
It was quite heavy as Evan had packed everything he could find into it. He had a lot of clothes that he would never dare wear in front of his parents, so there was no better opportunity to wear them when he was going to be hundreds of miles away from them.
However, when he saw Angie's bag, he realised he might have gone a little overboard.
"I'm so excited," his best friend said as he stood next to her. She looked sleepy, just like him, but that didn't stop her from grinning.
"Me too," Evan joined in her enthusiasm. Although he could feel the tiredness coming over him, he felt like he was sleeping and dreaming at the same time, for he had never even hoped to actually see New York and now he was only a bus ride away from that dream.
"How are my favourite classmates?" Lola joined them soon after and it wasn't long before Aiden showed up. Although the boys had planned to room together and the girls had planned to do the same, on the bus Evan and Angie sat together as they did every day.
After their teachers had checked them in and made sure they were all there, the bus finally moved. Angie automatically pulled a travel pillow out of her backpack and leaned against the window, closing her eyes. "Wake me if it's a life-or-death situation," she said, and Evan chuckled in response.
Evan also leaned back comfortably and put on his headphones to listen to some music, although he wasn't sure if it would give him a headache this early in the morning. But even if it did, Evan knew that nothing could ruin the next few days for him.
With his eyes closed, he began to fantasise about what he was about to encounter. New York was his dream, and though he might have idealised it, he knew it would be a defining point in his life.
Before he knew it, he, like Angie, had drifted off to dreamland. He was woken up by Lola, who shook him by the shoulder and told him that they had stopped at a petrol station. Evan then repeated the gesture and shook Angie's shoulder, and although she was annoyed, she decided she needed to go to the toilet.
Evan decided to join in and then he and Aiden went out for coffee, knowing that the girls would take a little longer. Queues in the ladies' toilets were always unpredictable.
"I don't know how you do it every day," Aiden declared as they stood at the counter, pouring sugar into their cups.
"It's a matter of habit." Evan shrugged. "Besides, it's a much shorter drive."
"Still," Aiden replied, stirring the hot coffee with a plastic mallet. "I felt like my legs were going numb."
"I slept like a baby," Evan chuckled as he took a sip of his sweet coffee. "This is surprisingly good." He looked at the small cup in his hand, which definitely didn't look like it could hold anything so delicious.
"I agree. Do you think we should have taken something for the girls too?" Aiden asked, looking around for the girls in question, and Evan immediately joined him. However, he did not see them anywhere, so he assumed that they were still in the toilet.
"Maybe," Evan replied vaguely. "Although I have a feeling Angie has a plan to sleep through the whole ride."
"You're in luck," Aiden told him. "Lola wanted to talk the whole time. Not that it was too bad, but I couldn't do it for long. Luckily I brought my headphones and Devin and Joey are sitting behind us."
Evan laughed, knowing exactly what that must have looked like. Lola always had a lot of energy and didn't care if it was too early for other people.
"There they are." Angie and Lola must have thought they had already left because they went out the other exit, the boys watching them through the glass wall.
"Huh. We waited for them for nothing." Both suddenly stopped leaning on the counter and went to the door, trying to catch up with their friends.
"Ang! LoLo!" Aiden shouted at them and the girls, who had been deep in conversation, turned at the sound of their names.
Angie shaded her eyes with her hand as the sun shone into them, then motioned for the boys to join them. They still had a few minutes to stretch their muscles before they had to settle back into their seats, and obviously, everyone wanted to make the most of it while they could.
"You'd think I'd be used to it, but I hate buses," Angie said dramatically, drawing laughter from the others.
"You weren't awake for a second," Evan reminded her.
"It doesn't matter. My bones say I slept in the most uncomfortable place in the world," she countered with a curled lip.
"Agreed," Aiden replied, touching a hand to his back which was obviously stiff from his stance.
Immediately after that, their teacher's voice called them back to the bus. "And back to hell," Angie retorted almost instantly, but she headed in the right direction and the others followed.
"How angry will you be if I lie on your lap?" Angie asked him, and before he could answer, she decided to demonstrate. She put her travel pillow on his lap and then curled up into a ball on the small surface, lying partly on her seat and partly on her best friend.
Evan sighed but did nothing to move her. Instead, he took his headphones out of his pocket again and pulled out a table in front of Angie's seat, placing his coffee and a packet of M&M's on it. He didn't want to risk spilling it on her, and he didn't want to rustle the paper next to her ear.
"You're the best," Angie murmured as she watched his movements with a half-closed eye.
"I know," Evan assured her, closing his eyes and leaning his head back on the seat, his hands placed so that he and Angie didn't bother each other.
The next few hours were pretty much the same. They stopped twice more, shared snacks, went to the toilet, and then found different positions to sit or lie down so that they were both comfortable. Later they even switched places, and Evan took the window seat. Unlike Angie, he didn't have a pillow, so he tucked his hoodie under his head.
Time flew faster with his eyes closed and before Evan knew it, it was getting dark outside, and they were finally at their destination.
There were grumpy and excited murmurs on the bus, everyone was tired from the journey but happy to see a new city flashing past the windows.
Evan, too, was almost glued to the window to get a better view of the surrounding buildings and couldn't help the smile that appeared on his face.
"It's amazing, isn't it?" Angie leaned in next to him, sounding as excited as he felt.
"Yeah," he agreed. "I can't believe we're here."
A few minutes later, the bus pulled up to the hotel and everyone started to get off. The first thing Evan did was text Ryan to let him know they had arrived, and his boyfriend immediately texted him back to enjoy the trip.
Evan smiled to himself and thanked him, promising to call back later.
Mrs Simons then started waving her hands to get everyone's attention and waited until they all came to her. The four friends stayed close together and waited for further instructions.
"Everybody! Listen!" Mrs Simons clapped to attract attention. "We are going to stay in this hotel for four days. There will be two students in each room. I don't think I need to say that boys and girls will sleep separately," she gave the basic instructions before pausing to look for something in her pocket.
Then she took out the folded paper and began to open it. When she had done so, she cleared her throat and began to speak again. "Now I'm going to get the keys and you're going to decide who you're going to stay with. But before I do that, I'd like to tell you that you have the rest of the day off. That however doesn't mean you can wander all over New York. You will stay in groups and always keep your phones on so that we can contact you. Understood?"
The whole group agreed loudly, and as soon as the teacher disappeared into the hotel, everyone started talking excitedly to each other, planning what to do with their free evening.
"Pipe down! The whole of New York doesn't need to know that the Marwell students have arrived!" shouted Mr Hodge, the science teacher who had joined the trip as a chaperone. Surprisingly, the students obeyed, but Evan put this down to the fact that they were all tired from the long journey and lacked the energy to protest.
Mrs Simons appeared in the entranceway soon after. She waved to them and decided to hand out them the keys in the lobby so they wouldn't block the exit. Right away she began to name the students in alphabetical order, and each of them had to tell her their roommate before she handed them the keys. Since Evan was on the list before Aiden, he was the one who got the keys to their room.
There were 48 students on the trip, so it took a while for everyone to get their keys.
Luckily, Mrs Simons arranged it quickly and after a while, Evan, Angie, Lola, and Aiden were standing in front of the lifts with other students who were staying in the same part of the hotel. Everyone waiting for the lift was on the same floor, so Evan and Aiden's room and Lola and Angie's room were only separated by three more doors.
As soon as they reached the fourth floor, everyone ran to their assigned rooms. Aiden immediately took the bed by the window, which didn't bother Evan in the least, and the two quickly agreed to get some rest before making a plan for the rest of the day.
"Would it be silly if we stayed here for the rest of the evening and just slept?" Aiden muttered, barely audible as he faced the mattress.
"Mhmmm," Evan murmured in response. "I'm beginning to think that's a good idea."
"The girls are going to kill us," Aiden replied.
"They are," Evan agreed with a laugh, rolling onto his back. "And they'd probably be right."
"I think I'll call Ryan." Evan decided and sat up. Since Aiden still wasn't moving, he went into the bathroom so as not to disturb him and then dialled his boyfriend's number.
His mate answered the call immediately and greeted him enthusiastically. "Hi, love. How's New York?"
"Tiring so far," Evan joked, but then quickly added, "I still can't believe I'm here."
Ryan chuckled, and Evan suddenly felt a little more awake.
"I hope you will enjoy it to the fullest," Ryan said. "You deserve it and I expect a million pictures."
"I'm sure Angie will provide you with them in the group chat," Evan said with a laugh. "I promise to tell you every single detail."
"First of all, enjoy it," he reminded him. "You have to find all the cool places to show me when we're together at NYU." Together at NYU. Evan still couldn't believe that he and Ryan were planning a future together.
"I promise I'll find a place that makes the best decaffeinated coffee and maybe a cafe where you can pet cats," he promised.
"That would be amazing," his mate cheered immediately, just as Evan had expected.
"I love you. I miss you already," he admitted, leaning against the wall next to him.
"I love you too. We'll be together before you know it," Ryan promised him. "Until then, enjoy your dream."
"I will," he promised.
"What are you doing for the rest of the evening?" Ryan asked him.
"I don't know yet," he admitted honestly. "Aiden and I were going to sleep, but I'm sure Lola and Angie will change that plan very quickly."
"I have no doubt," Ryan laughed. Right after that, there was a loud bang on the door, as if it was on purpose.
"And here it is," Evan spoke into the phone and quickly bid Ryan goodbye, promising to call back later.
Coming out of the bathroom he found Aiden still lying on the bed and ignoring the pounding on the door, so he went straight to it to open it himself. He almost got a smack in the nose with a fist as the girls were not expecting it.
"You can't be serious," Angie stated as she peered over his shoulder into the room. "We're in New York. We have to make the most of the city." Right after that, she slipped past him into the room and jumped on the bed next to Aiden.
"Let's party in New York!" Lola shouted suddenly and ran to the bed, quickly grabbing Evan's hand and pulling him with her.
The four of them ended up on top of each other, and while the girls couldn't stop laughing, Aiden wasn't happy about their crash on him. However, the charms of New York quickly won him over and he joined in their excitement, although they did change his plans.
"Let's party in New York," he echoed Lola's line, though not as enthusiastically as she did.