My duffle bag was taken away.
Worse than that. I have to sit by people other than Jordan. All they talk about is beauty crap.
But the worst part, I've never flown before.
The plane takes off and I grip the armrests.
"What's wrong with you?" The girl addressed as Amy asked.
"N-nothing..." I say with a fake smile.
"Clearly something is." Patricia, to the other side of me said, "your knuckles are white and you're sweaty..."
"Heh. Heh." I mumble, "never actually flown before..."
Both Amy and Patricia gasp.
"Oh. My. God!" Amy squeals, "first timeeeer."
I look at her uneasily. "Yeah so?"
"Why have you never flown before, girl?" Patricia asks.
I shrug nervously.
"Okay." Amy says, "be that way." She turns and faces the other way.
"Okay." I say as I slightly loosen my grip.
"Hey." Amy says, "do you mind, like, switching places with me? I want the middle seat. And that way I'm closer to a window."
"Yeah." I say, "we can switch. I don't care."
After the horrifying switch I sit still and grip the armrests.
After roughly an hour, both Amy and Patricia are asleep, and by the looks of it, most of the other girls are too.
I sigh and loosen my grip a little.
"Hey... Liz." A quiet voice said.
I look up and see James looking down at me, "you alright?"
I nod.
"Doesn't look like it." He says as he squats down so he's more eye level, "you've flown before, right?"
"No." I say.
"Oh..." James glances down, "well there's nothing to worry about." He says in a calm smooth soothing voice, "the pilots are amazing pilots, and they know what they're doing."
"Okay." I say, "I honestly don't care, but okay."
James chuckles quietly and combs his hair back with his fingers. He has nice dark hair with calm brown eyes.
"So... New flier, ey?" He asks, "story behind that?"
"Meh." I answer, "kinda. But... It doesn't really matter."
"Course it does." James says.
I shrug, "me and my uncle just don't have much money. That's all to be said."
"Oh." James says, "that wasn't too hard, right?"
I break my gaze from floor to his eyes, "well, no. Not if you shorten it the way I did."
James shrugs, "and obviously you didn't tell me for a reason. And I'll respect that reason."
"More people should be more like you." I say with a small smirk.
After a few moments James stands back up, "come to think of it... I've never gotten a compliment in my life." He says, "so... Thanks."
I smile, "who said it was a compliment?"
"C'mon, Liz. Let me have my moment." He says smiling, "I should probably go back up by Bill. Now, everything here is safe, and you can sleep, alright? You have a lot of training ahead of you."
"Training?" I ask.
"You'll see." James says.
Yeah. I was hoping you could tell me for certain.
"Okay." I say.
"And I'm gonna train you, since you're new, so you'll see a lot more of this amazing face?"
I laugh as he smiles and walks away with a small wave. And then it hits me. I haven't actually really laughed since my mom died eleven years ago.
Would my mom be proud I'm taking these changes? My dad wouldn't... My mom was always all about goodness of your heart type of thing.
***
Flashback
I giggle as my mom tickles me on the couch. She'd just gotten back from work, and I'd missed her so much. I was so happy when I saw her car pull in I started bouncing up and down.
