“Come on, Kahtea, it’s time to go!” yells my mom. I pull my jeans up, putting on my chestnut Ugg Moccasins and fixing my striped pullover, the only long sleeve clothing I had, other than a few jackets hidden on one of these thousands of boxes.
“Coming!” I yell back down the stairs, grabbing my phone and stuffing it in my pocket, since I JUST woke up, even though I wasn’t supposed to be sleeping in order to get adjusted to the 14-hour time difference. I run down the stairs and meet my parents in the hallway right as they open the door into the pouring rain, I grab an umbrella and run out to the Mercedes and hop into the back seat.
“All ready?” my parents ask as they get in the front of the car. I nod and pull out my phone and look at the time: 7:50. I start to text my best friend, Peyton, since she is an early- riser, but then remember that I only get one text and one 5-minute call to Australia because of the long- distance fee. I decide to save it for a VERY important time, so I delete the words I just typed and silently sit, looking out the window.
After five minutes had passed, we finally reached the restaurant and I quickly got out and ran to under the tarp that was set up on top of the un- occupied outside tables, probably closed because they were getting soaked. I wait for my parents as they slowly get out of the car and come under the tarp, removing their hoods and opening the door. We were here five minutes early, but we automatically saw Mrs. Castronovo sitting at a large table, obviously for us, but not only that, there were a bunch of boys there too.
“Ah, Jackie, Chris, Kahtea, how are you?” Mrs. Castronovo asks as she gets up to come and hug us and do all that cheek- kissing stuff adults do. I look over at our table to see Vinny in deep conversation with one of the other guys, but Mrs. Castronovo changed that.
“Vincent, time for the guys to go home now.” Mrs. Castronovo says, making Vinny and the others whip around to look at us. When the other guys see me, they, of course, start to check me out. God, I hate when guys do that; it’s like they think that I can’t tell that they’re checking me out, when I really can.
“Sorry Mrs. Castronovo, we’ll see you later Vinny. Have fun.” The oldest- looking one says as he gets up and starts to do a secret handshake with Vinny, obviously directing the ‘have fun’ over to me. Vinny just smiles and shoots a stern look over at one of the guys and whispering, “Remember what I just told you. It’s all golden.” Before doing the handshake with him too.
‘Please, please, sit down.” Mrs. Castronovo says, gesturing towards the open seats. The guys all get up and leave and I sit next to my mom, feeling my drowsiness flare up again. Just as I sit down and lean forward onto the table, I feel the seat next to me dip down.
“Hey, are you okay?” I hear a familiar voice ask. I look up to see Vinny looking at me with genuine concern in his eyes.
“Yeah, this whole 14- hour time is making me bodgy.” I reply, earning a confused look from him. Oh, right, he doesn’t understand Australian slang. “Oh, um, it’s making me really tires, I guess. Sorry, forgot you weren’t an Aussie.” I say again.
“Wow, 14 hours? Good luck getting adjusted with THAT time difference.” He says, making me laugh a little.
“Yeah, well, if I stop talking or I look cactus, don’t be worried. I just feel stuffed.” I say back to him, earning a confused look from him, yet again.
“But we haven’t eaten yet? And how would you turn into a cactus?” he asks, looking more confused than ever.
“Oh, no, that’s not what I meant at all. If I say I feel stuffed, that means I’m tired. And by cactus I mean dead, sorry.” I say back. I seriously have to stop using the Australian lingo.
“Oh, that makes more sense.” he say, smiling.
“Yeah, sorry. Okay, if I start to fall asleep, you have to wake me up, ‘cause I have my first day of school on Monday and I have to beat this jet lag.” I tell him and he just nods.
“So, what school are you going to? And why are you going when there’s only, like, a month left?” he asks me.
“Oh, I’m going to Millstone Township Middle School, and then over to high school.” I respond.
“No way, I go there to, and then going over to Allentown High School!” he says excitedly.
“No way, I’m going over to Allentown too! So, I guess I won’t be completely alone on Monday.” I say, feeling relieved.
“Yeah, Madison goes there too, so now you know two people.” he responds, smiling.
“Who?” I ask, looking confused.
“Oh, right, you haven’t met the guys yet. Madison’s the one that looks older then me, but really is younger than I am. You know, the one that said ‘have fun’ before he left.” He says, looking down and looking slightly awkward.
“Oh, yeah, him. All right, so now I know two people!” I respond cheerfully, trying to lighten the mood and make it less awkward. “So, is the school nice, or is it a crack house?” I ask, making him laugh a little.
“It’s not a crack house, it’s full of crack heads, but it’s okay, I guess.” He says, making me laugh.
“You still owe me a trip to that ICON Dance Complex place, remember?” I tease him.
“Oh, yeah, how about after school on Monday, we’ll walk down there since I have to go there anyways for our ABDC audition rehearsal.” Vinny replies.
“Sure, that sounds good. So, are you guys even allowed to audition since you’re so young, and one of those boys looked like they were ten.” I say curiously.
“Yeah, we checked and they said that it doesn’t matter what age we are, so we’re going for it.” He says with an excited look on his face.
“Oh, cool. Well, I’ll be back at home cheering for you guys when you make it.” I say, smiling. He smiles too and we go to looking at the menu for what we want to eat and drink. As the night grows older, I start to feel my eyelids get impossibly heavy, and as hard as I try not to, I fall asleep.
