Leap of Fate

Big Ben

 

After about 4 hour nap, Ella woke up feeling groggy and dazed from the long nap and the time difference since when she fell asleep it was light out and then when she woke up it was also light out. Victoria noticed Ella had woken up and shook her shoulders. “Ella! We’re almost there! The flight attendant said we have about an hour left!” she said in an excited whisper. “Wow, I guess I slept for a long time. I didn’t even realize.” she said sitting up her seat a little bit. “Yeah, are you okay though? You still seem a little out of it after the whole Matt thing?” she asked. There is was again, Matt. That name was driving Ella crazy. “Oh um yeah, I’m fine. I guess I just needed to sleep a little bit. But yeah, I feel a lot better now that I got some sleep and relaxed. Plus we’re almost in there so that’s exciting!” Ella exclaimed. Victoria laughed and then looked over to see if Elizabeth or Kaitlyn were awake. Kaitlyn was knocked out cold and Elizabeth had her headphones in and was sketching in her notebook. Victoria and Ella continued to talk about what they would do when they first got to London and what their reactions would be like once they stepped into their first international airport.

An hour passed and the teacher did another head count before everyone got out of their seats to get off the plane. Once the teacher was done counting, he ordered the students to grab their carryon bags and double check to make sure they had everything. The students grabbed their bags and scooted their way out of the aisles and headed off the plane, through the narrow hallway and stepped into the airport. There was women and men running to catch their flights, little children crying and some very obvious tourists carrying around all their British memorabilia. We found a large section of empty chairs and gathered around the chairs waiting for our teacher to tell us what to do next. Every student immediately pulled out their phones and started calling and texting their parents to tell them that we had made it to England. Victoria, Ella, Elizabeth and Kaitlyn each called their parents and then started checking all their  social media. Ella had about 10 text messages from family and friends and then of course Matt. He had already texted her 4 times saying how much he missed her and telling her to have fun. She ignored the texts and replied to the people that weren’t driving her insane. The teacher got everyone’s attention and directed them to baggage claim to pick up their luggage. Once everyone picked up their luggage we headed out of the airport and to the bus where they would meet our tour guide for the next few days. Everyone filed on to the large couch bus and got an introduction from their tour guide. Ella and Kaitlyn sat next to each other and took millions of pictures out the window, while Elizabeth and Victoria talked about getting matching hats and clothing at these small British clothing shops they had looked up before they left.

They had finally arrived to their hotel and got settled in their rooms and everyone was able to have a little more time to catch up on sleep before breakfast. Ella and Victoria shared a room and then Elizabeth and Kaitlyn shared the room across. The girls each claimed a bed in the room, unpacked their clothes and caught up on some sleep. About 30 minutes later the alarm went off on Ella’s phone, she woke up Victoria and went across the room to make sure Elizabeth and Kaitlyn were awake. They all got dressed and ready for the day. They all met downstairs and went into the dining room that was on the first floor. Over breakfast they all talked about what they were planned to do today and listened to some of the british accents. Breakfast ended and their teacher told them to meet outside the hotel to start exploring London. The tour guide took them the most well known place in London- Big Ben. The girls took what seemed like hundreds of pictures, along with the other kids. As Ella was about to go take another picture and tall, chubbier young boy bumped into her. “Oh darling, I’m so sorry.” he said grabbing her shoulder. He was the most gorgeous boy Ella had ever seen, she was unable to speak so she just stood there staring at him, “Oh um sorry, that was my fault. I guess I was just so excited to see Big Ben.” she said through an embarrassed chuckle. “Haha, I can tell. I’m Andrew, and you are?” he asked, “Ella, Ella Sawyer. I’m here on a school trip.” she said. “Oh wow, for how long?” “12 days, but I’m only in London for 3 days, and then I head to France and Amsterdam.” Ella said. ‘Oh wow, too bad you weren’t here for longer. I would love to spend some time with you.” he said with a grin. “Well, I do have some free time tonight. Meet me here around 8pm?” she said. “Sounds perfect. Here’s my number. I’ll see you late Ella.” Andrew said handing her a small piece of paper. Ella took the piece of paper and stuck it in her wallet and then noticed her school was on the other side of Big Ben. She ran over and caught up with the group. “Where have you been?” Elizabeth asked. “Yeah, we were just going to look for you.” Victoria said. “Sorry, some guy bumped into me and then we got to talking.” Ella said. “Ohhh really? And what was this guys name?” Kaitlyn asked popping into the conversation. “His name was Andrew, I’m actually meeting him here tonight at 8 when we have some free time.” Ella said. “You barely know this guy and you’re going to meet him in a strange city at night? Yeah that sounds totally safe.” Victoria exclaimed. “I think it sounds fun!” Elizabeth said. “Yeah, I don’t know. I’m kinda with Victoria on this one Ella. You don’t know who this guy is at all. All British men seem polite and sweet, but they are just regular guys with an amazing accent.” Kaitlyn explained. “What could a 17 year old British boy do to me in the middle of London? Plus we’ll have some teachers with us while we go out for free time and I can assure you we won’t be the only people in London at night. Plus, I’ll have you guys, that is if you want to come.” Ella said. “I’ll definitely come! It sounds like a lot of fun! Plus a cute British dude.” Elizabeth said. “We’ll come, but we aren’t leaving you alone with him. Wherever you two go, we all go.” Victoria said. “Okay, fine.” Ella said with a sigh.