Olga Calleron: Madness in Mahabalipuram

On the plane

I frowned at my suitcase, which Mom was holding in her hand. "C'mon, Olga, baby, it's only for a FEW months!" she said pleadingly. I sighed. We were standing in the airport in South California. I was a sixteen-year-old girl who moved from Boston five years ago. My BFF Kirsten had moved at the end of 2016, so I was kinda on my own. I knew Mom and Dad had been fighting, and so she'd moved out with my 9-year-old sister Elizabeth (Ezzie for short) and we moved here. I made new friends, met cute boys, and tried to go unnoticed. But that NEVER works when it comes to me. Mom tried to push the suitcase in my hand, but I wouldn't budge. Finally, grumbling something about how moms were the worst, I took the suitcase out of her hands forcefully and flounced off. Mom caught up with me and put her hands on my shoulders. "It's ALL gon' be OKAY. Plus you have Great- Aunt Winna!" she said, making that last bit sing-songy. Great-Aunt Winna lived in Fisherman's Cove, Chennai since she created some restaurant called Bayview, and also she found India 'exotic' as she put it in her old-school voice. I thought India was weird, cause this one goddess, Kali, FREAKED me out when I was younger. I didn't like her skin color, or how she stuck her tongue out like a rock star or something, but the part that freaked me out the most was her EYES. Our neighbors were Indian, so they had this HUGE statue of her with enormous staring eyes. I couldn't sleep for five weeks. "Flight 596 is about to leave for Chennai, I repeat, Flight 596." A voice rang out on the speakerphone. Mom gave me a quick hug, her curls bouncing on my back. "Enjoy, babykins! I wish you all the love an' hugs for you, my sweet potato!" Mom said, giving me two big wet kisses on both my cheeks. Waving bye, she hurried out of the airport. "I'll meet you there in two months with Ezzie!" she shouted, running out in her Sketchers. I ran to the gate, while a lady with red-hot lipstick and a creepy Annabelle smile accepted my ticket while I walked to the plane. After finding seat A34, I settled in and began reading my already worn-out copy of Love and Gelato. "Hello!" said a voice in the seat behind me, making me jump out of my skin hours later.  A freckle-faced boy was looking at me. A lot. "Um..." I began to say, then realized it was pointless. He looked at me weirdly and went back to his comic. So I quickly turned my back on him and started reading furiously. "Greetings, passengers. We have arrived in Chennai." the pilots said.  I was perplexed. Time had passed that fast? I looked at the seven books I'd already finished, and the nearly-finished The Upside Of Falling novel I had in my hands. Becca and Brett had made up and they were kissing now. I hurriedly ran out of the plane, my helter-skelter hair flying behind me.  Soon I saw an old woman waving at me, along with someone ELSE. Oh no.