You're All I Need - Nishimura Riki

Chapter 30 : The Trip Part 1

My alarm goes off earlier than usual because today is Friday, the day we leave for the trip.

I packed all my bags and showered last night so I don't have as much to do this morning. I get dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a regular white T-shirt. I also do a simple fishtail braid on the side. As I'm checking my outfit in the mirror, I also fix my purple necklace to be visible.

My mom enters my room quietly.

"Oh, Hana. You're up already?" She asks me. "I usually have to wake you up for trips like this."

"Yeah. I just set my alarm earlier," I say, putting a pair of small silver hoop earrings in.

"Okay, what creature took over my daughter's body?" she jokes.

"Maturity," I laugh.

"You're getting too mature for my liking. You're my baby banana and you're acting all grown up," she says, putting her hands on the sides of my arms, looking at me.

"I'm just growing up, Mom..." I say and hug her. "That doesn't mean I don't need you anymore."

"I know... I just remember when you were tiny and you used to steal my camera and take pictures of yourself. And when you always made your hair stick straight up in the bath using soap. And when-"

"Okay, Mom! That's enough of exposing my cringy childhood memories," I say. "I should probably be going now." I grab my suitcase and backpack.

"Okay, I'll drive you to the school," she says and takes my suitcase from me.

We walk down the stairs, heading to the front door and I hear Jay and Jake shouting from the basement. They must've woken up when my mom woke up.

"Jay! I'm leaving to take Hana to school for her trip!" I hear the yelling stop and feet start running up the stairs.

"Bye, Hana. Have fun on the trip!" Jay says as he hugs me. Jake hugs me too.

"Hopefully I'll see you when I get back," I say.

"You will. We'll probably be here for two more weeks at the least. I love you, Hana," he says and kisses the top of my head.

"I love you too, Jay. Bye Jake," I wave to him. He waves back with a smile and then my mom helps me load my stuff into the car.

The ride to the school is quick and quiet. When we get there, I see lots of other cars and students.

My mom and I get out of the car and stand in the line to the registration table. My mom has to sign another paper this morning before I can go, once again just stating that she knows where I'm going and all that stuff. Ari walks away from the table with her mom and they stop to stand by me.

"Mom, you can go home now. I'll be fine until we leave," she says.

"Are you sure?" Her mom asks.

"Yeah. I'll be with Hana. Go ahead, Mom. I'll text you when we leave," Ari says.

"Okay. Have fun," she says and hugs Ari. Ari's mom then leaves.

"You should've gotten here earlier. The line was super short like 30 minutes ago," Ari says.

"I didn't think that there would be a line this long," I say.

"There wouldn't have been if you would've come earlier," Ari says, hitting my shoulder with her arm and laughing.

"Okay, I get it, Ari. Should've come earlier..." I say in a teasing tone. She laughs at my response and lays her head on my shoulder.

"I'm going to sleep on your shoulder on the bus..." Ari says while yawning.

We finally reach the front of the line and the lady sitting at the table hands my mom a paper and a pen.

My mom spends a few minutes filling out the paper and the lady takes it back and says I can go ahead and go to my classroom before we leave.

"I guess this is when I leave. Be safe, Hana," my mom says and hugs me one last time.

"I will, Mom. I love you," I reply.

"Love you too, Hana." My mom leaves and I grab my suitcase that my mom was holding and Ari and I walk into the school to see some students running through the halls, going to other classrooms and the bathroom like usual.

Ari and I walk until we reach Mr. Kang's class and we enter. Almost the whole class is in the classroom already. They all have their suitcases and are sitting and talking to their friends. Sunoo is at his desk already and when he sees us, he runs over to us.

"Finally! You guys took forever," he says dramatically.

"It hasn't been that long, don't be dramatic," Ari says.

"Well, it felt like forever..." Sunoo says and we sit back down.

"Sunoo, your suitcase is adorable," I say and point at the black suitcase with little yellow smiley faces on it.

"Oh, thank you. My mom said it matches my personality," he says and smiles like the faces on the suitcase.

We wait a few more minutes and once everyone is in the classroom, Mr. Kang calls for our attention.

"Class! I know you're all really excited, but I have an announcement to make before we leave campus," he says. The class goes completely silent and he continues speaking. "I have to tell you who your partners and groups are for the trip." He opens a packet and puts his glasses on to read it.

"So we're going to have the class split into groups for the days that we go exploring and sightseeing. You have a choice. You can either go with just your specific partner or with the rest of your group. Some activities may require only 2 people, so that is when you'll have to be in partners. There may be people from other classes in your group also, but you should know the people that you're in a group with. I made sure of that when I put the groups together. Now, I'll announce the groups that I came up with," he says and says the first 4 groups but he hasn't called my name yet.

"Okay, and the last group will be Jungwon and Ari, Sunoo and Yena, Heeseung and Bahiyyih, and Ni-ki and Hana. Any questions?" He asks. The class responds with a "No" and goes back to talking with their groups.

Right then, I realize that Mr. Kang paired Ni-ki and I up as partners. So we'll have to do some of the things together. Why, of all people, did he have to pair me up with Ni-ki? I still haven't talked to him since... what happened.

I look over at Ni-ki and see he's looking at me. He looks back at his desk immediately once we make eye contact and I see his cheeks go red.

"Are you all ready to leave?" Mr. Kang asks us. Of course, the class says yes and we all get up and grab our bags and follow Mr. Kang out to the buses.

(A/N : I hope this makes you excited for the rest of the trip hehe. Feel free to leave your predictions in the comments here, I would love to hear what you think will happen next :) Remember to vote if you enjoyed and have an amazing day/night! <3)