The Rise and Fall of Aspen Dawn

t w o

Wednesday at 4 in the morning I rolled out of bed and looked in the mirror. Wow, I was a mess. Not even a hot mess, just a mess.

Of course I'd put off packing for the trip until the last night, and I had to stay up until 2 am to finish, we were going to be in London for a month, then to Ireland for a week, then back to London for a few days, and then to America for a couple weeks and the job was done.

When I called my mother to tell her, she didn't believe me. It took me half an hour to convince her and then she started crying. But I'm an adult now and she can't make me stay.

I didn't even bother getting dressed, I was wearing leggings and a t-shirt, my hair was up and I still had makeup on from last night. I slipped on sandals and grabbed my suitcase and left my apartment. I wasn't going to be back in my own bed for more than 2 months.

When I got to the airport the whole team was there, Mr. Reynolds, Cassandra, a few tech guys, and me.

We checked our bags and did the security thing and got on the plane. I was sitting in the window seat next to Cassandra. She put on a sleeping mask and didn't say anything to me.

Before we even took off, my stomach started growling, I hadn't grabbed any breakfast on the way out this morning. I grabbed it and looked at Cassandra, who had lifted her eye mask and was glaring at me.

"Sorry, I forgot to eat this morning." She scoffed and put her mask back on.

"I hope it's not like that the whole flight, or I'll request to move." I sunk in my seat.

"Sorry..." I mumbled. Someone's cranky, she scared me. I can
safely say I don't think me and Cassandra are going to be best friends anytime soon.

I thought that maybe I could sleep the hunger off but I was so hungry I couldn't sleep! I clutched my pillow to my stomach to try and quiet it but it wouldn't work. My stomach was embarrassingly loud.

I stopped a flight attendant on her way down the aisle.

"Hi um, do you think we could get some snacks going, literally anything to shush my stomach." I flashed a smile.

"You see, we can't serve food until we take off and are stable in the air, so it's going to be another half hour or so." She smiled back, her teeth were blinding white. She started to walk away but I grabbed her shirt sleeve.

"Okay no I don't think you understand. This," I pointed at my stomach, "is a monster. Can't we just get some peanuts up in here or something?" She sighed, then leaned down to whisper to me through gritted teeth.

"Fine, but nothing else until we're up in the air." So she brought me a packet of salted peanuts, and I devoured it in seconds. I was still hungry but at least I shushed my tummy.

Cassandra was snoring next to me, and when I finally got a sandwich and I was full, I fell asleep for the rest of the flight.

When I woke up, it was dark outside and we were landing. It took us awhile to get all our baggage and hop in the limo, that's right, limo, to get to the hotel. I was going to be sharing a hotel room with Cassandra, as she was the only other girl on the trip. Seriously, a whole month with Cassandra? When he gave us our assignments, she rolled her eyes and clicked her little heels away. At least I was mature about it. Geez, could this be any more like high school?

I got to our room after her, she already chose the bed by the window. I set my suitcase down on the end of my bed and started pulling out clothes. It was 2 in the freaking morning in London, but only 6 in California, which meant dinner time.

"I'm hungry." I stated, Cassandra said in a not-so-subtly annoyed tone,

"You're always hungry." I frowned.