DON'T

Chapter 1: Milking It

"The world is not in your books and maps. It's out there." ~J.R. Tolkein
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Oh my God, I am about to end my History teacher.

Addy takes a deep breath, leans back in her uncomfortable, scratchy plane seat, glares over at her overweight teacher who is currently impersonating a panda giving birth, and wonders what would happen if she crammed her sock into his mouth to make him shut the hell up.

Murder is a sin, Addy, she tells herself as she takes deep, steadying breaths to try and calm down. Thou shall not kill. It's in the bible!

But Mr. B lets out another earth-shaking snore/wheeze/roar, and she wants to strangle him all over again. She doesn't think about how she's been up since four in the morning, or how it's the first day of summer vacation, or how she's dreamed of this moment for years and how it's finally coming true, or how this is her first plane ride, ever, and B is totally ruining it with the horror-movie sounds. No. Addy Todd is tranquil, peaceful, totally zen calm, because Addy Todd doesn't freak.

Most of the time- some of the time? Okay, like, fifty-three-percent of the time she's not freaking out- and that's on a good day? But still. Neurotic, OCD control-freak or not, she is currently extremely calm and not-freaking-out.

Addy forces herself (again) to take a deep breath, digs through her leather backpack with the world map print on it (present from Mom for her birthday- which happens to be today, actually) and pulls out a striped phone. Her nails click across the screen until she pulls up the group message she's looking for, and B snorts. Addy glares at him again.

Addy: I am this close to shoving my foot up B's ass

A second later Addy's phone dings. She plugs in her headphones and tries to pretend that she can't hear B's snores over the music she's playing at full volume.

Elena: um wow... Language... Any reason?

Three seats in front and to the left of Addy is extremely sweet, extremely tall, and extremely Mormon Elena Dennett. The two blondes have been best friends since the first day of sixth grade, and even though they aren't quite as close anymore, they're still close enough to sign up for a two-month backpacking trip across Europe together.

Elena glances at Kimmy Mae, her seat-partner, who is scowling, and types a second message: You're very violent today.

Of course I'm violent today, Addy wants to scream across the plane at her. I didn't get any sleep at all last night because I was so excited for today, and now that it's finally here I'm about to crap a castle because I can't sleep because B sounds like a tiger roaring mixed with Godzilla taking a shit!

She doesn't say that though, because she's pretty sure everyone on the flight already hates them enough. (Mr. B apparently has really bad acrophobia and screamed for almost a full hour after take off and also puked all over the seat in between him and Addy that Addy is trying very hard to avoid because the flight attendant cleaned it up but didn't do a very good job of it. Addy thinks that flight attendants are very good at holding grudges and reminds herself to never piss one off, especially on a four-hour flight like this one.)

Bianca: Yes Addy! Violence is good! Embrace your inner Hulk!

Addy glances two seats behind her and isn't very surprised when she sees Bianca French squeezed between Jay Patel and Eduardo Ramirez, watching the in-flight movie which just so happens to be The Avengers. Addy wishes she could watch it, too (it's one of her favorite movies) but B is snoring so loud that it would be pointless to try.