The next week was absolute chaos. Tia was so busy running around getting everything ready for this trip that was so suddenly sprung on her, she barely noticed the looks Elijah's friends were giving her – particularly the girls. That's not to say she didn't notice them at all for they were very hard to ignore, seeing as they were around every corner. They were livid. They would literally kill to have this opportunity and she had it. What was worse was she told anyone she could that she loathed Elijah – this made them even angrier, to Tia's satisfaction. She had this chance to spend two weeks in his company and she didn't even appreciate it! Preposterous!
On the other hand, Elijah was rather enjoying this torture his friends were putting Tia through. It seemed to be stressing her out and he didn't mind that at all. He was the instigator of most of the hate and constantly kept adding wood to the fire. After all, it was highly entertaining. His female friends stayed extra close to him to make sure he wasn't with her at all the entire week. Being stuck with her for two weeks was punishment enough. They felt like they had to keep her away to keep him sane. Elijah, of course, didn't mind so much, although he almost missed Tia yelling at him.
On top of all that, each time Principal Andrews passed one of them, he'd chant 'Australia! Australia!' This didn't really excite either of them, at all. The two tried avoiding him the entire week, which proved to be difficult because he seemed to be looking for them, hoping they had questions to ask him. Tia couldn't wait for the trip to come, so it would be over already.
-
"Okay, mum. I'm leaving," Tia called down the hallway the Saturday afternoon of the flight to Australia. Her mother peeked out of her bedroom door, speaking on the phone.
"Yeah, hold on a sec, would you?" she spoke. She took the phone away from her ear and looked at Tia. "You're going to the airport?" she asked. Tia nodded. "Okay then. Have fun." And with that, she put the phone to her ear and disappeared behind the door again.
"Uh...thanks. I'll – I'll call you when I get there," Tia said. "If you ever get off your phone," she mumbled to herself. She made herself forget about it and dragged her suitcase out of the door with her. She closed the door, then pulled out a list from her pocket. She had to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything. Seeing all the things crossed off, she walked to the car, stashed her things in the boot and started the car. Looking at the house one last time, she heard her mother's angry voice ring out from inside. Tia rolled her eyes as the car rolled out of the driveway.
After ten minutes, she arrived at Lindy's house, who was sitting outside with Eliza.
"Tia! Hey! I can't believe you're leaving already. This week went by in a nanosecond," Eliza said, as she got into the backseat.
"I know. It sucks," Tia replied, still a little disorientated about her mother. "Thanks for keeping my car while I'm gone, Lindy."
"That's alright," Lindy smiled.
"It's just, I know my mum will drive it if I left it at home – and abuse it," Tia sighed.
"Hey, it's okay," Eliza said, patting her shoulder.
-
"Goodbye, sweetie. I'll miss you," Beth said to her son that same afternoon, as he sat beside her squeezing her hand tightly, as though he'd forget her touch as soon as he left.
"Not as much as I'll miss you," he replied, smiling softly. "I'll call you as much as I can when I'm there, okay?" Elijah assured her, kissing her forehead. "I love you, mum." He stood up, making way for a man in scrubs checking on her vitals. He kept his eyes trained on hers, until he saw her blink slowly, and then fall into a quiet sleep.
"Mr. Jones. It's time to go," said a bulky man in a black suit and hat at the doorway. Elijah turned to face him and nodded.
"Oh, of course. Just give me a sec," Elijah replied. He bent down and took out a thick envelope from his bag. Turning to the nurse he asked, "Can you make sure she reads this every morning please?"
The man took the envelope. "Of course." He wrote a memo down on his notebook and nodded. Elijah looked back at his mother one last time and walked out of the door behind the big man. He really wished he could just stay there instead of having to go on this trip with this girl who hated everything about him. Ah well...