Italian Adventure

Chapter 1

A combination of melodies and lyrics blast through my headphones as I continuously people watch. I don't see anything better to do while waiting for my friends to return with food. I hear others chattering all throughout the concourse. Right as I look up again, I see my friends Marly and Christina coming my way.

"Hope you like McD's 'cause man that was one hell of a line to get through!" Marly bursts out while planting a seat next to me with Christina on the other side of her.

Christina glares at Marly, "Marly! Language!"

"Sorry Christy." Marly apologizes insincerely.

Christina hands me a breakfast sausage sandwich receiving my starving vibe. "Are you hungry Tay?" She asks me.

I give her an 'Are you for real?' look as I take a bite into my breakfast. I continue eating until it's completely gone, which doesn't take more than ten minutes. Looking up, I realize how many more classmates of ours have arrived.

Our school, Chismary High, has received the unbelievable opportunity for our music department. We've been given the chance to visit six cities for performances and tours. It's still a surreal feeling. Our music department is constructed of over 400 students and roughly 75 have made the decision to come on this trip. Not a lot of my friends are coming due to the expenses but I promised them countless pictures.

Our rival school, Pantherma High, is traveling to Italy during this Spring Break as well. Although, we won't run into them: 1) because Italy is a good sized country and 2) while we will be traveling North to South, they will be traveling South to North. Don't go assuming anything. Neither schools would've started anything while visiting a different country.

"I thought Aspen was going to hang with us." Marly states.

"She is." I'm confused.

"Then why is she over there with some boy?" Christina points out. I look in their direction.

"Aspen!" I holler as the two of them turn around. I have to admit the boy is pretty cute. "Come sit with us!"

"Oh! Hey Taylor! I didn't see you there at first!" She grabs her things and motions for the boy to follow. She sits in the farthest seat from me while the boy grabs a seat between us.

He's taller than me but then again most guys are. His eyes are a deep seagreen, and his hair is about a few shades darker than my natural hair. He smiles at me and holy crap it's perfect. "Hey, I'm Jake."

"I'm Taylor," I respond, returning the favor of smiling. I think to myself, 'Oh God! I look horrible! Taylor why didn't you put makeup on this morning.' 'Cause you're traveling for 24 hours stupid!' 'Ugh he's so freaking cute!'

"Nice to meet you." He carries on the conversation.

"Same to you! Are you a Junior like Aspen and I?"

"Nah! I wish. I'm only a Sophomore." Jake sighs sarcastically. Aspen gets up to go to the bathroom while Jake and I continue to get to know each other. He checks his unprotected phone for the time. "An hour 'til we board." He states.

"That's not too bad." I state.

We continue makingÏ small talk for the remainder of the hour. He is so sweet and funny. I could never see myself with a Sophomore but Jake and I have a connection. I don't know to what degree but we clicked instantaneously. He has a pure essence about himself. Jake is a goalie on his competitive hockey team. I like myself some hockey players and he is quite the catch. The longer we talk the closer he lingers in my direction. I told him about myself a bit to which he seemed captivated, hanging on to my every word. I couldn't help but smile at him.

Come to find out, he plays the viola in our orchestra while I'm an alto in the choir. Ironic huh? "Alright! We're boarding; let's go everyone!" Hollers the instrumental director, Mr. Kenyard.

All of the students, along with many of the parents, lined up anxiously awaiting to board the plane.

Once everyone had taken their seats, I found out that I wasn't seated by any of my friends. Although, I was seated between my parents; which made the experience better. However, after being seated, Aspen motioned to me indicating a seat change with her mom and me. The making of this decision was perfect. Our parents, who have always gotten along with, sat together while I sat between Aspen and Jake.

Once the thorough announcements had finished, Aspen and I began watching our favorite movie. Poor Jake was blocked out. He resorted to watching a form of entertainment on his phone. I paid no attention as to what it was. About an hour goes by and Aspen and I begin to get emotional. I was teary eyed yet no tear streamed down my face. Jake could hear me sniffling. He placed a hand on my shoulder to check if I was alright. It was a kind gesture. Although, I didn't acknowledge that in the moment. I nodded and turned back around to continue the movie.

For the rest of the flight to New Jersey, I preoccupied myself while Jake and Aspen did the same. The time would soon come for a two hour lay-over, but until then, I enjoyed the time I got in the noisy silence.

The time had finally come for the busyness of the Newark Airport. It was roughly mid-afternoon when the anticipation for Italy set in on my brain. I have to admit, I was a tad nervous. I, along with many others hadn't been over seas before. The fact of the matter is that I wasn't scared, I didn't know what to expect. Nervous energy was bottled up inside every passenger.

A few hours pass by when the flight marshal announces the time to board the plane. I'm not so fortunate with the seating arrangements this time around. It wouldn't be possible for me to be seated with Aspen and Jake this time. I spent the entire flight watching movies since I don't sleep well on airplanes at all. I knew it would catch up to me in forms of Jet lag. I was fine about it though. As I look up, Jake is sound asleep in his chair while Aspen is reading a book as usual.

I see Jake waking up and I look away. I probably appear to be a total stalker but I feel fine about it. He is just so damn cute. He turns around and smiles at me. I smile back at him feeling my heart melting as we hold eye contact. The contact drops within a few minutes but it was nice while it lasted.

As the plane makes its landing, windows are propped open along with pictures being taken. We are officially in Italy!

Stepping off of the terminal, the air smells like the country. The aroma is sweet with a hint of Italian food: given that the food court wasn't far off. Every sign was written in Italian which was intriguing and entirely confusing. Nobody minded it as we awaited a seemingly endless line for our luggage.

Our party had about half an hour until our buses arrived which gave the students just enough time to eat and accomplish some sort of exploration.

Because of the high standards I set for myself, I didn't want to be walking around Italy where a cute boy would see me in sweats. Given that the cute boy I liked in the moment, yet I didn't know this at the time, had already seen me in sweats and no makeup. I dragged Aspen to the bathroom, making Jake sit outside. I changed into a cute blouse and capris. Looking back on that, I don't have the foggiest idea why since there weren't any cute Italian boys where we went. Being the materialistic girl I can be, I put contacts in for the attempt of being cute. I was lucky if they stayed in for an hour.

As the students, parents, and faculty of Chismary awaited our bus, the excitement factor rose. Shortly thereafter, four big buses came to a halt outside the sliding glass doors.

With my luggage in hand and friends around, our seven day-long Italian adventure was about to begin.