It's the end of high school graduation, and everyone has been looking forward to an awesome summer vacation before they travel to the colleges they were accepted too. And to cheer up a heartbroken friend, three girls agree to help her get back on he...
Waiting patiently in the airport for her friends to show up, Lucinda sat down in one of the most uncomfortable pieces of furniture.
She wasn't quite sure how she ended up choosing it out of all the seats in the waiting area, but it was vacant and no one was there to bother her.
What the distraught teenager chose was a concrete chair; one that was gray in color, and had two arms built for its toughness. With its rock-solid durability, Lucinda believed it was the exact way she felt; stubbornasa mule. And it was what Lucinda wanted as she needed to loosen up from being uptight.
As she closed her eyes to meditate, she sighed.
Peace at last! Two whole weeks with my friends in Hawaii!
As Lucinda told this to herself, she wondered why she still felt a rumble in her stomach as there shouldn't be anything to feel guilty about.
She was still worn out after how her ex messed her last week's of Senior year of High School, but thankfully she passed her exams. Yet, in some cases, she swore she saw Vince lingering nearby as if he were stalking her. Lucinda assured herself that it was only a hallucination. Vince didn't even know she was leaving for Hawaii with Iris. Or did he? The answer to that rhetorical question lingered in her mind.
----
Earlier, Lucinda's excitement towards the trip was ruined by her parents' constant lectures during breakfast. They were deeply worried about their only child leaving ' their nest'. since they also knew that Luci was getting over a heartbreak. They believed that Lucinda wasn't quite ready to hear their bickering as angry remarks were passed across the table.
Mr. and Mrs. Appleton thought it was too soon to let her go on her own. But they finally decided that it was Lucinda's choice as she was about to become a young adult. Lastly they kept asking their daughter if she needed a ride to the airport, when her daughter kept reminding her that Mrs. Carlson and her daughters were going to pick her up.
"Luci, we want you to stay with your friends at all times! Who knows what would happen if you steer away from them. Have you heard of those who have gone missing on trips and how those poor souls were never found again? And we don't want you drinking! We don't want to end up hearing that you were treated in a hospital!"
Lucinda assured them that they didn't need to worry. She wanted to tune out as the conversation was rather repetitive. Lucinda felt they kept treating her like a baby, even though she was going to turn eighteen in October. But they were her parents and knew they were only looking out for her. Thus, in the end, she didn't have any other choice but to hug them.
"Mom, Dad, don't worry about me. I assure you that I won't wander off and Mrs. Carlson will be with us girls. I'll write to you as soon as I get there too."
All her parents knew was that once Ilene Carlson, Iris and Heather's mother, contacted them, she would be the teenagers' chaperone on the trip.
At the time, the Appletons obliged, but now they were having second thoughts.
Even though they knew Ilene since their daughters became best friends in elementary school, Lucinda's parents didn't trust her all the time.
----
Once, they allowed Lucinda to shop with her friends when she was younger. However, after two hours they received a call that their daughter was caught shoplifting by a security guard. Once her parent's arrived at the mall, Lucinda explained that it all started as a misunderstanding with Iris wanting an expensive blouse, but couldn't afford it. Her sister told her to wait till it gets on sale but since Antonia interfered, she bribed the handsome sales clerk to lower the price. Antonia insisted that by the time a sale would occur, the blouse would be gone. One thing led to another and soon as Lucinda walked into the shop herself, the merchandise was handed off to her. Thus, the beeping noise that indicated that a merchandise was stolen alarmed.
It was a case of being at the wrong place, at the wrong time.
The girls had a difficult time explaining this scenario to the security guard, and since Antonia was known to be a flirt, she got banned from the mall all together. Mr. and Mrs. Appleton didn't punish their daughter that day, but they started to suspect that her friends might not be so innocent after all. They talked with the other parents once this case was resolved, but in the end, all they heard was the comment that "teenagers will need to learn these consequences on their own. So let them be."
- - - -
Lucinda's friends asked her to fly to Hawaii with them during their summer trip. The Carlson sisters were going to visit their aunt before they would leave for college in the Fall. Thus a get-together for two weeks was what the had planned. Furthermore, they told Lucinda that it might help her to forget about her former boyfriend and his new fling. Reluctantly, Lucinda agreed as she didn't have anything better to do that summer but mope around. And being trapped with her parents wasn't ideal either.
Since they arrived early for their morning flight, Iris, her sister and their mother were getting coffee from the airport's cafe, while Antonia and her mother phoned in to inform them that they were arriving late since they were caught in traffic. Thus, Lucinda's sweaty palms held on tight to the chair, since anxiety sprang in the air.
Yesterday, she was quite confident that nothing would go wrong as her friends assured her, yet, Lucinda no longer felt that way.
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Iris came back to the waiting area, holding two coffees and a bag full of pastries. Seeing her friend's dull facial expressions, she sat next to her.
"Cheer up, Luci! Aren't you the least excited to visit sunny Hawaii for a while! We're going to stay at a beach house! It's owned by my Aunt Lelani. My mom is going to stay at her sister's place, so we four girls have the beach house all to ourselves!"
Yippe! I'm jumping for joy!
Lucinda tried to be happy but all that she could think about was being sarcatic.
Yet, Iris managed to make Lucinda grin due to her bubbly comments. Unfortunately, it didn't last long as Lucinda bit into a tasteless bran muffin.
----
Waiting to be called by the gate agent to board their airplane, the five women finished their pastries and coffee. Not wanting to be fined for bringing extra food along, they all ate at a fast pace and once they were finished Mrs. Carlson went to the nearest bin to throw the items away.
Lucinda's nerves started to pound again, once she heard the first announcement through the speakers. She did not have a fear of flying; it was more of the waiting and anticipation that Lucinda hated.
"We would now like to pre-board those passengers requiring special assistance."
It will just be a minute or two when it will be our turn.
Biting her fingers, Lucinda hoped the plane ride would go as smoothly as possible.
