Two weeks later I was driving with Carly, Kayla, Flora, Hayden, James, and Bryan to our plane that we would be boarding. I couldn't believe it! We were going to a week long camp in the Grand Canyon while missing school that we wouldn't have to make up! And to top it all off we got to fly on a private jet! I looked out the window and saw a plane in the distance. We had boarded a bus at our school that took us to a private airstrip. I couldn't wait to get there!
"I think this must be a really rich school if it can afford to bring kids in, on private jets, for a week long camp and not have them pay any sort of admission!" Carly said to us.
"I don't care how rich the school is," James replied grabbing her hand. "As long as your there too."
Carly gave a little "ahh!" to that and cuddled closer to him. I rolled my eyes at Kayla and Flora and they laughed. It was still kind of strange for us now that two of our best friends had started dating. I glanced over at Bryan, he had been acting really strange ever since James and Carly had declared themselves boyfriend and girlfriend, and sure enough he was glaring daggers at them.
We will be reaching the airstrip in about 5 minutes. Please gather your luggage and be ready to get off when we get there.
We looked up at the intercom a little startled. Then hurriedly went for our bags.
* * *
20 minutes later were sitting in our seats, on the jet, talking ,when the seat belt sign lit up. We all buckled up and a few minutes later the plane started moving. I gripped the armrests on my seat. I've never flown on an airplane before and didn't know what to expect. And honestly I thought that we would probably crash just because that was my luck.
"Calm down Tessa!" Kayla laughed. "You'll be fine!"
I looked at her. "You can't possibly tell me you weren't nervous the first time you flew in an airplane. And is it anyone else's first time flying?"
"Mine," Hayden said from behind me. I turned in my seat and saw him staring out the window looking down at the shrinking airstrip. He didn't look very nervous at all. So maybe I was overreacting a bit.
No one else replied and I noticed that they had all turned to their own things. Carly was resting her head on James's shoulder while he stroked her hair and they talked to each other quietly. Flora was listening to her iPod absorbed in her own little world and Bryan was sitting staring out the window the same as Hayden. Except Bryan didn't seem to be actually seeing the landscape he just looked more like he was staring off into space. Kayla was looking bored so we started talking about all kinds of things. And this was how we stayed for about an hour which was when the Grand Canyon came into view.
"Whooooah!" Bryan shouted, still looking out the window. We all rushed over to the window to look. And we realized that that's all there was to be said. The Grand Canyon was huge! And absolutely amazing! Deep chasms zig-zagged every direction and at the bottom you could see a river. It was the most breathtaking view I had ever seen. Even if I only saw it for a moment.
Suddenly, the plane banked hard the right, throwing us all to the left side of the plane. Which, unfortunately, was the other side of the plane. I ended up lying across a few seats with Flora on top of my legs. My glasses were being pressed into the side of my face by the back of the chair, and my head throbbed from where it had hit the window. When Flora got off me I sat up and looked around. Kayla had ended up by the cockpit, James was already up and making his way to where Carly and Bryan had landed on top of each other. Hayden was sitting in the aisle looking confused. But everyone appeared unharmed.
"Uh," Hayden started. "What was th-" he was cut short as the plane lurched throwing us into the seats again. James was the first to recover and he ran to the window.
"Is there supposed to be smoke coming off the wing?"
"What?" Kayla asked trying to get over to him as the plane wobbled, almost knocking them off their feet.
"There is a bunch of smoke coming from the right wing!"
"Guys!" I yelled. "How about we buckle up like that stupid light suggests!" I pointed at the sign that had come on a few minutes ago. They immediately complied and buckled into their seats along with the rest of us. And not a minute too soon. Because the plane started jolting back and forth until we suddenly dropped a few hundred feet before going into a steep dive.
"There goes the left wing too!" Flora said glancing out her window. "At least I think it's the wing. There too much smoke at my window I really can't tell."
I looked out my window and could barely saw the Grand Canyon. That beautiful landscape was now hurling towards us, well we were hurling towards it, and getting closer by the second.
The next few moments went by in a blur. I felt a huge impact like a rollercoaster suddenly stopping on a gravel pit with the cart subsequently falling apart and heard something that sounded like a branch breaking. Someone screamed, (though it might have been me) and my entire body felt like it was on fire. And then I felt nothing, like everything was numb. I saw the blue sky and I swear I saw blond hair in the corner of my eye. But then everything went black and I lay there, seeing nothing and wondering where my friends were, until my consciousness drifted away.
