Taking Off

Chapter 23

The excitement was palpable that morning. Figg announced they were spending the whole day at Phillip Island, and would pet koalas and kangaroos, and watch the little penguins waddling out of the water off to their homes. Tia couldn't wait. Neither could Vanessa or Aladdin. The only person who seemed completely unresponsive to the situation was Elijah.

"What's the matter, Elijah?" Vanessa asked, leaning closer to him. "You can tell me." Tia felt a twinge of annoyance in her gut. Why did Vanessa think she could get him to speak up?

"I'm just not feeling all that great," he said, moving away from her.

"Yes, but why? There's always a reason!"

"Can you please drop it?" he said, giving her a glare she decided not to argue with.

The students all filed onto the minibus, and as Elijah took his his usual spot, Vanessa glanced at Tia. Normally, Vanessa sat beside Elijah but the look on her face told Tia she wasn't looking forward to that. Before she even said anything, Tia slid in beside Elijah. He only gave her the briefest of glances, as if this wasn't a completely new occurrence. 'Wow, he must be really down.' Vanessa sat with Aladdin behind them, and the bus was off only moments later.

Tia tried to listen to the music blaring in her headphones, but she couldn't help thinking about Elijah and his sullenness. It didn't help that he had his head on the window, looking like he was in the climax of a coming-of-age movie. "Do you want to listen to some music, Elijah?" she asked. He didn't seem to hear her, but then he cleared his throat, and straightened up.

"No thanks. I have my own." He pulled on his headphones but didn't play anything on his phone before leaning back and closing his eyes.

She wasn't sure what was wrong with him, but she really wanted to know. A part of her really wanted to help him.  But why did she even want to help him? She hated him. He was rude and cruel, and he didn't even remember the way he humiliated her in front of everyone. He was a mean person and there was no reason she should be pitying him.

But... she couldn't help it. She was worried about him.

-

At last, the bus ride came to an end. It was an hour - maybe longer. Everyone felt cramped and sore. When they were out, Aladdin ran up the length of the bus three times to stretch his legs. Vanessa did a down-dog yoga pose in the middle of the road. Elijah sat on the floor.

Figg interrupted their stretching with information. "Okay, here's the plan for today. It's ten to twelve, at the moment. So, we're going to go to this place called 'A Maze n Things.' It's a maze but it's also filled with amazing things, get it?" Figg laughed. The students just blinked at her. "Anyway, we're going there. We'll look around for a bit, learn a little bit maybe. After that, we're going go-karting!" she cheered. That got a bit more of a reaction. "The track isn't very big, but it'll be fun nonetheless. After that, we'll have our lunch – maybe fish and chips – on the beach, of course." Tia already couldn't wait for that. The sun was so warm, she wanted to dive into the ocean right that minute, and it was barely 12pm. "After we relax a little, we'll be going to an animal reserve. We'll see kangaroos, koalas, wallabies. Then, we'll make our way to the Penguin Parade, which will happen at midnight – so, yes, it's going to be a long day," Figg finished off.

It was going to be a long day, but Tia was buzzing with excitement. Elijah had barely heard anything Figg had said so there was nothing for him to be excited about.

-

A Maze n Things truly was amazing. There were optical illusions everywhere, one that made Tia look like she was flying, and another that made her look taller than Elijah somehow. The maze was not very hard to get through, but it was very hot in there. Vanessa almost cried because her skin felt so sticky. Tia didn't blame her.