Trouble Times Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Monday

It's the second of January.

I need to leave for the airport soon but I'm stressed as fuck.

Donovan and I haven't spent any time together since boxing day and I was not looking forward to travelling with him.

He and I were on different flights to our classmates depending on what we could collectively afford but all of our classmates would be in Alaska by the seventh latest, where we would then join the school on the eighth.

Some very key teachers were coming with us, and some important non-teachers also.

The faculty leader of the English department and the deputy leaders for the Science and Social Science department were taking a semester hiatus at our school in South Dakota to be in Alaska.

A lot of staff members who were there to generally upkeep and look after students were coming along and the most significant members of that group were Dr. Howlett, the guidance counsellor but actual qualified psychologist and Mayan Lerata, a security officer and admin worker.

Mayan was funny and loved us all, no matter how much we pissed her off. Donovan did a pretty good job at that.

I finally eat my breakfast and take my suitcases and backpack next door, making sure I haven't forgotten anything.

I wait there and Jess finally gets back from wherever she was and comes and hugs me.

"Oh my God, the traffic was brutal, you and Shepherd need to leave soon. I had a nightmare trying to get here." She says and I just hug her again.

"Are you ready?" Donovan shouts and I nod. He seems less ready than me but that's probably because of the party he went to last night.

It was all over social media, the party. I definitely saw Donovan in more than a few snaps.

Arthur showed me everything from last night when he came over this morning.

It was a 'farewell party' for those going on the exchange. It was just another excuse to get drunk and high.

I could tell he was hungover from the glasses he was sporting on his face.

We get all our stuff together and Paisley insists we all take pictures and I don't want to argue with her. She's like a stand-in mother, much like Aunt Tara, and I know she'd love these photos for years to come.

Speaking of, Aunt Tara and Uncle Carl pull up and I hug them. Arthur's luggage is with them, along with Delaney, Carter, Dacre and Maisie who came separately.

"Oh Pais, you got pictures? Good, let's take a few more." Everyone takes so much more.

Aunt Tara may be half latina but she was a white woman through and through. That's what happened when you spent your whole life in a town as white as this.

I was 3/4 Latina and born in Mexico.

A lot of people used to attribute my anger to me being latino but my parents never ever let that be the reason. They made sure I knew and understood that I was different, but it wasn't my fault and that I was a good girl.

Their good girl. I was their daughter, and they loved me, despite all my fucking flaws.

I so wish other people thought that. I wish that people saw the good in me. Instead of the anger.

They finally stop with the pictures, and I'm finally taken out of my trance and get into the car.

Everyone says bye to us again before Carter and Dacre take us to the airport.

I'm silent the whole ride while the two boys ip front talk like they've never spoken before, they're excited about everything but they can tell that Donovan, Arthur and I are not up for speaking and thankfully, don't include us. We're all tired.

When we get there, after a long journey because of the traffic, they park in the parking lot and we all load our stuff on the suitcase trolleys.

Eventually we need to leave them because we've checked our luggage in. Carter gives me a big hug and then Dacre does so too.

Carter gives Arthur a massive hug too, and kisses his forehead. That elicits a groan from Arthur, and a giggle from me. Carter's just worried for his little brother at the end of the day.

Arthur and Carter were the only boys, so Carter made sure he always looked after him in ways the other girls couldn't. It's part of the reason Arthur didn't go batshit insane when he started hanging with the wrong crowd.

They make sure we're fine and then we go through security, go through the whole laborious process.

I try to stay calm, but this is giving me flashbacks and I have to take a moment.

"What's wrong with you?" Donovan says as he watches me walk away for a second.

"Nothing." I snap as Arthur and I get ready for the scanners.

"Your belt Gia, take it off." Arthur says, and I thank him.

We all go through security and as we're getting our stuff back, a kid throws his toy and it hits me in the face.

I don't get annoyed, nor does it hurt but my nose starts gushing like a fountain.

"Oh my God! Tyreese! Say sorry right now!" The probable mother of the kid says, but honestly she looks so young she might be as well be his sister.

"I'm sorry." He's so scared and I crouch down and reassure him.

"It's okay, I've gotten worse injuries and it doesn't hurt. Do you have a tissue though?" He nods and rummages in his pocket and hands me a whole packet.

I take a few and hand it back and thank him before leaving.

I wipe my nose and Arthur and comes back with a waterbottle and all three of us go to the disabled toilet to get access to the sink.

We take our hand luggage with us because we don't want to lose it. We also didn't trust Donovan with it, because he would probably run off if he got the chance. So he was in here with us.

I flip down my septum piercing and rinse it off. It was far too sore to take it out so I'd have to dry it with it still in.

"You have a septum?" Donovan asks and I nod. "Is that what caused the bleeding?"

I shake my head. I clean some more.

"It's because she's broken her nose a couple of times." Arthur says as he hands me more tissues.

"How?"

"None of your business." I respond.

Donovan always pushes boundaries.