Actions Have Consequences

Chapter 7

"Flight KS179 to New York, John F. Kennedy International Airport is now boarding. Flight KS179 to New York, John F. Kennedy International Airport is now boarding," the speakerphone boomed.

It was ten in the morning. I was at the airport. Away to head off to England. Great.

I groaned as I picked up my hand luggage. I'd barely even looked at my parents since my Mom had spoken to me the other day in the kitchen when John had hit me, and I didn't plan to talk to them any time soon. So, like I'd been doing the whole morning, I just tagged behind them to gate six. I showed the woman at the gate my passport, and followed my parents through the tunnel that connected to the plane.

I groaned again at the size of it. There looked to be about twenty rows, with two seats at either side. We squished our way down the aisle and found our seats. My parents sat at the left side of the plane, and I sat at the right on my own, on the seat next to window. I slouched down in my chair, stuffed my earphones into my ears and prepared for the non-stop six hour flight to New York. And then, after we'd landed in New York, we'd set off on another non-stop, seven and a half hour flight to London.

"Get those earplugs out of your ears," John hissed across the aisle. I hadn't turned on the music yet, so I could hear him perfectly fine, but I pretended the music was playing and that I couldn't hear a thing. I even nodded my head and closed my eyes just to make it look believable. I jumped when the earphones were ripped from my ears.

"Gah, what the fu-"

John was leaning across the aisle, dangling the earphones from his hand. "I said, get those earplugs out of your ears."

"They're earphones, John, not earplugs."

"Do I look like I give a shit?" he whispered, just in case anyone heard him.

"Yeah, you do actually," I said sharply.

He threw the earphones at me and slumped back into his chair, taking a deep breath.

I stuffed the earphones back into my ears and started stabbing the screen of my iPod touch, trying to find a depressing song to fit my mood. It vibrated. Well that was just fantastic, low battery was all I needed. I sighed, pulling out the earphones and winding them around the screen.

"Thank you," John said calmly.

"I never did it for your benefit. The battery died," I muttered.

He ignored me and started conversation with my Mom.

I screwed my face up at this lady that walked down the aisle. Her clothes were hideous. They looked like they'd been bought from a dollar store! She wore fat, clunky, brown boots; bright pink, thick tights; a knee-length denim skirt; and a pink buttoned shirt. Her greasy black hair was thrown into a pony tail and I prayed that she wasn't seated next to me. I was in luck. She walked right past my row while I sighed in relief. I would have gagged the whole flight!

The next person I noticed was on his own too. He was extremely attractive, so attractive, it caused me to sit up in my seat and stare curiously. He had mahogany colored hair, bright green eyes, dimples, and seemed remotely familiar. And then our eyes locked. He smiled and I felt dizzy. The next thing I knew, I had a body next to me. This was the fricken life. Pity we only met on a flight that was taking me to boarding school.

I had the urge to start flirting away to him, but I remembered my parents were sitting across the aisle and I thought better just to keep quiet. I forced my mind to go back to watching those who walked past. As a group of girls around my age walked past giggling and chatting, I instantly felt upset. I hadn't really gathered the fact that I wasn't going to see any of my friends for who knows how long, and it had all suddenly hit me with such a force, I felt myself tearing up. How was I to cope? No midnight calls, no daily gossip, no parties, no shopping sprees... I remembered all of my memories with Ruby over the past eleven years. Yeah, that's right, we'd been friends since we were six. It all tugged at my heart and for once, I sobbed quietly on behalf of my friends. The image of their faces when I told them that I was off to England stayed in my mind during the whole take-off.