Chapter 1
"Ella, hurry up or we won't make our flight," an impatient Nico called from a bit farther down the hall. I sat here, struggling to lug my heavy suitcase with my thin arms while also carrying a laptop bag on my shoulder. To top it all off, people were staring.
"It would be nice if you would help me a little bit," I groaned, fidgeting with the strap on my shoulder that was digging into my neck. "After all, that's what we're paying you for, isn't it?"
When I said we, I meant me. My parents died, but in a way it was alright. They were never super close to me, though I knew they loved me, and their inheritance was what helped pay for my cancer treatments. Now I lived with my godmother and godfather; my mom's best friend from high school and her husband. And she was nice, but she was a dental assistant, had two kids of her own and worked long hours, so she didn't have a lot of time for me. I guess that was alright in a way, considering I was never much of a people-person to begin with.
Now, usually I was quite fond of Nico. He was great, in a sort of oh-he's-nice-and-easy-on-the-eyes sort of way. I most certainly didn't have feelings for him, and today was an example of why. Although Nico could be extremely caring, he could also be a royal pain in the ass.
"Come on Ella," Nico said. He walked over to me dramatically and, taking my suitcase in one hand and his in the other, managed to haul our bags to customs. I was left to deal with only the horrid laptop bag, which I now removed from my shoulder and carried in my right hand.
We had just arrived at LAX from Vancouver and I followed Nico like a lost puppy to customs. Once through, we would board a flight from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia.
We approached the customs window and looked up at the guard.
"Nico James Romero?" the 50-something year old guard said, looking up at Nico with the look that tends to accompany higher-up airport/border personnel.
"That's me," Nico replied. The guard humphed in acknowledgement.
"And Ella Marie Anderson?" he said, eyeing my picture and then me, very carefully and suspiciously.
"That's me," I said. The man looked me up and down again, as if he didn't recognize me as the girl in the picture with the long, flowing brown hair.
"I have cancer okay? My hair fell out," I mumbled while looking down at my tan-colored Uggs.
"I'm sorry," he said, and when I looked up I noticed his face had gone tomato-red. After asking the usual questions, he motioned us off by saying, "You're headed to Gate 24, to your right."
"Thank you," Nico said, all but ripping our passports out from the man's hand.
"Have a safe trip," the man said, and something deep inside of me told me that he probably wasn't referring to just our flight.
***
"Airplane food sucks," Nico complained, pushing around pieces of shepherd's pie on his plate.
"Hospital food is worse, and you know it," I grumbled. Nico let out a sigh, clearly for my benefit, and went back to eating his food, or rather playing with it.
"You know Elle, you can be a real pain sometimes. It's a good thing you're paying me for this," he remarked, waving his hands around at everything as if it was insanity. I also noted that he once again called me by the nickname he had given me in the past month of hanging out; Elle.
"Gee, thanks Nico," I said.
Once we finished our food, Nico put his headphones in and drifted off to sleep. I shifted in my seat, reached into my back pocket and pulled out the wrinkled and stained paper that was my bucket list. One quarter of the back of the paper was stained bright blue from rubbing against the denim of my jeans. Slowly I opened it up, the folds of the paper crumpling in protest.
I examined the list.
Number one: travel to Australia - check.
Number two: jump off a pier...I think that could be done in Australia, right? With my fear of the ocean, it was hard to remember why I had even put this on the list. Maybe it was because everyone in books and movies did it, and it looked so hopelessly romantic.
Number three: fall madly in love... I sighed. That one could take awhile. I had only ever dated one guy, in sophomore year, and it wasn't even that we became an item. It was more like we went on two dates, I decided he was a nut and then I didn't talk to him after that.
Number four: get stuck somewhere fun at night. How the hell was I supposed to do that? I just felt like it was something that sounded fun, like that movie where the guy and the girl get stuck in the mall. Shaking my head, I moved onto the next one.
Number five: learn how to ski. Were there mountains in Australia? I didn't think so. The questions that ran through my mind made me laugh. How could I even think that half this list would be possible? But I moved on.
Number six: feel beautiful. Something I had never truly felt before. All my life, I was a Plain Jane, not really standing out in any way. I wasn't ugly, but I wasn't gorgeous either. Now, I was the epitome of bland, ugly, and strange.
Number seven: go for a walk in the rain. That shouldn't be too hard. Because of the cancer I had become so fragile that no one wanted to let me outside – but I wanted to take a legitimate walk in the rain; actually go out willingly when it was raining and take a walk.
Number eight: fold 1000 paper cranes. There was a Japanese saying I once heard, that it you folded a thousand paper cranes you'd get to make a wish. I didn't know what I would wish for. Maybe to get rid of cancer once and for all, but I felt that in a way, that was wasting a wish, because it wasn't like it was really going to happen.
Number nine: spend my entire savings in one day. Being an only child, I got my parents' entire inheritance. I knew when they were alive that we were well off, but when they died I learned the true extent of how far that inheritance could get me. Since my godparents paid for my living and eating, all I was stuck with was my personal needs (clothes, books, etc) and my cancer treatment bills. That aside, I pretty much had enough money to get me through the next eight to ten years. So I figured, hey, why not just blow off my own savings, the money I had made from work pre-cancer, in one day?
Number ten: conquer cancer. I had nothing to think about this one.
Absentmindedly, I picked up my little square dinner napkin and started folding it. A few minutes later, I had made a paper crane. It sat on the tray table staring at me, and I stared back.
"999 more," I said quietly to myself.
***
Baggage claim was a nightmare. People bustled around everywhere, and amongst them was me, getting jostled around in the action.
Nico rushed through the hoards of people and reached onto the baggage carousel to grab my bag, then his immediately after it. Pushing through the crowd once again, he found his way back to me.
"Alright, now where do we go to find your aunt?" Nico asked, whipping his head in every direction to try and find the sign.
"I think it would be over there," I said, pointing to a sign that read Immigrant and family pick up.
Nico shook his head. "Ever the observant one, aren't I?"
"Poor baby. It's okay. Let's go," I said, patting his head before walking in the direction we needed to be going.
Nico followed me by less than two steps as we made our way down the hall towards the pickup area.
I spotted Aunt Jodi in the distance.
"Ella! Oh, look at you," Aunt Jodi exclaimed as she walked briskly toward me, cupping my face in her hands before drawing me into a hug. Great, more sympathy. Just what I needed. One more person feeling bad for me.
"Hey Aunt Jodi," I said, cracking a smile as best as I could.
"Who's this?" my aunt asked, eyeing Nico up and down.
"This is Nico. He's a nurse at the hospital I go to. He's my escort." I said escort in a faux British accent, trying to make it sound fancy.
"Nice to meet you Nico," she said, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. "You can call me Jodi."
"Okay," Nico said, looking embarrassed to be in Aunt Jodi's grasp.
"Well guys, I hate to tell you this, but the car shat out on me. It had to be taken to the shop for repairs, and we're waiting about an hour for a rental. Wanna hit the restaurant over there?" Aunt Jodi said, taking my bag from Nico, leaving a surprised look on his face.
We didn't really have much of a choice. Aunt Jodi led us towards the restaurant anyways, and then went up to the hostess to ask for a table for three.
The hostess led us to a table near the back of the room. The restaurant was packed with people, many of whom carried suitcases and looked extremely tired.
Soon a cute blonde waitress sauntered over to our table to greet us.
"How's everyone doing? My name is Madison and I'll be your server today," she trilled in an Australian accent. Nico looked enthralled by her sea-blue eyes, freckles and wavy blonde hair. I'll never be that girl, I thought to myself. It wasn't the fact that Nico was checking her out – I couldn't care less if Nico found me attractive or not. It was more the fact that clearly she was attractive, and it was quite obvious that people thought so.
"Great!" Aunt Jodi said.
"That's good to hear. Can I start you off with some drinks today?"
"I'll have a rum and Coke," I said, but Aunt Jodi quickly corrected me.
"Oh no you won't. No alcohol for you missy," she said. Madison looked smug. Suddenly, I wasn't all that fond of her.
"Fine. I'll have a Coke," I told her. "Without the rum."
"And for you sir?" she asked Nico, smiling sweetly.
"I'll have a beer, thanks," he stated, completely ignoring what my aunt had said to me.
"I'll have a beer as well," Aunt Jodi said, smiling at Madison. She quickly jotted down our orders before flitting off to get our drinks. I glanced at my aunt and Nico in bewilderment for having betrayed me so.
Madison returned with our drinks, setting them down on the table in front of us. When she left, Aunt Jodi spoke.
"Excuse me guys, but I have to use the washroom," she said, getting up out of her seat and walking off towards the restrooms.
As soon as she was out of sight, Nico leaned into his bag and grabbed a flask.
"Here, quick," he said, grabbing my drink just under the table and sloshing some of the dark liquid into it.
"Thanks," I said, setting my drink back down on the table.
Just in the nick of time too. Aunt Jodi returned to see us smiling to each other, as if concealing some joke she didn't know.
"Did I miss anything good?" she asked, looking back and forth between Nico and I.
"Nope, nothing of any importance," Nico said, shooting me a knowing smile before turning back to Aunt Jodi.
I had a feeling I was going to enjoy myself, very much.
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