One More Day in Paradise

"Melissa!"

I woke up from a sound sleep with a jolt, as my idiotic little brother leaped on me.

"Adam!" I shouted, my voice cracking with sleep. "How many times have I told you not to do that?" I flung him over my shoulder and flipped him onto the bed. He was screaming and laughing. "Today is ROAD TRIP DAY!!" he shouted. I stopped mid-tickle.

"Out!" I shouted. He ran out of my room laughing. I ran into the bathroom and turned on the hot water. I quickly slipped off my pajama bottoms and tank top. When the water was warm enough, I stepped in and began to shampoo my hair. Once I was done, I went to get dressed.

I quickly pulled on a pair of plain blue skinny jeans, a black T-shirt and my favorite brown boots. I blow-dried my long brown hair and pulled it back into a ponytail. I swiped on a bit of mascara, and some cherry tinted ChapStick. Then, I walked out into the hallway.

"Melissa, we are flying to Carmel today!" My mother greeted me. I looked at her quizzically. "Go pack your bags! We are going for a week and a half!" Wow, that's a pretty long time to be on vacation. I better pack ASAP, since we're supposed to get to the airport in an hour.

I ran through he kitchen and into the garage, where we store our suitcases. I grabbed my hard blue suitcase with the flowers on it, and then lugged it back through the living room and to my bedroom.

I quickly grabbed 10 pairs of underwear and 7 pairs of socks from a basket of clean clothes that was on my floor. I opened up my closet, and looked at all the shirts hanging there. I selected 10 T-shirts, 3 pairs of jeans, and 4 pairs of shorts.

I don't, t wear a whole lot of makeup. I only packed my Proactive face wash, a BB cream, a mascara and a pallette of eye shadows.

I still needed to pack my carry-on bag! I tossed 3 books for the plane into a red apple-shaped backpack. 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets' '13' by Lauren Myracle and 'Flush' by Carl Hiassen. Then, I grabbed my iPod touch, my earphones, and my cell phone. I would have brought gum, but I have braces so that's a No-No.

Once we were in the car on the way to the airport, I began bombarding my mom with questions. "How much longer?" "How long is the flight?" "Are we there yet?" My mother sighed and shook her head.

"Sweetie, it's a 5 hour flight from here in Arkansas to California. We are going to arrive in LA, where Disneyland is, and then we are flying to Carmel after 4 days in Disneyland."

I sat there, shocked. This was going to be the best family trip ever!! I hugged my mom's shoulders from the back seat, and she just laughed. I suddenly got shivers that meant I was too excited to calm down. I sat back, and listened to Imagine by John Lennon. I was really trying to calm down.

By the time we had gone through the baggage check, boarded the plane, and were sitting in the right seats, it was about 10:00. I was sitting between Adam and my mom, and dad was next to us. I took out my iPod, but the flight attendant immediately asked me to put it away. The plane began moving about 10 minutes later. I watched out the window as the streets, and then the blue sky rolled by.

I read 1½ books in the car, drank 2 cans of cranberry juice, and listened to almost half the playlist on my iPod. I had also discovered that the bathrooms weren't very clean, and they reeked of cigarette smoke. Once the plane landed, I was beyond happy to get off.

We got off the plane, stood at baggage check to get our suitcases, and then left the airport. California is nice. The air is warm, but people seem to be a little less courteous than in Arkansas. We immediately got on a shuttle, and had a very bumpy ride from the airport to a rental car place. We rented a pretty blue Honda with black leather seats, and a very big trunk. We threw all our suitcases in, and began the drive to our hotel.

The hotel was awesome! We had a suite, which meant there was a large living room, and a huge bedroom with 2 king sized beds. Of course, I had to share a bed with Adam, who would probably kick me all night long, but the bed was big, and we might be axle to avoid any kicking.

It was about 8:00pm by the time we got situated in the hotel, but we hadn't eaten anything besides a nasty sandwich on the airplane. Dad decided that we would all go to McDonalds for hamburgers. I ate a gross wilted salad, because I'm a vegetarian.