A world to discover/ Un monde à découvrir

Chapter 5

"Breathe in . Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe ..."

Not even an hour before her train departure, Kelsey was in the waiting room, trying to hide her  nervousness to her family, who all went to the station to tell her goodbye, and to all of the other teenagers, with whom she will spend the next six weeks.

They have already met the boy her family will host while she was away. Andy and Max were thrilled to have another boy in the house, so was Alfred, their dad, but Kelsey's mom, Donna, was a little bit disappointed. For 6 weeks long, she knew she would lose all the family votes, because girls usually take one side, and boys take the other.

"Okay. Kelsey, I am very sorry we can't wait with you, but we have to go. Max is almost doing an epileptic crisis because he is hungry, Andy is getting bored, and you know how badly things end  when he is bored, and Alfred is already traumatizing the new one. I am going to give you a big hug." says really fastly her mom.

"Sure, okay."

As they leave, Kelsey watch them walk away. She sees that Andy and the new one, as he is now called by her mother, are already chatting excitedly about something. Probably baseball or videogames, knowing Andy.

She quickly calmed herself, and turned towards everybody else. She went, and approached the place where was standing Nicholas, the guy she remarqued at the reunion. She kind of slowed down a few metres away from him, but he had already noticed her coming towards him, so she couldn't turn around and go back to her place. Fortunately for her, he started the conversation:

"Hi there! How are you on this exciting, though a little bit frightening, day?" he asks energyful.

"Hi" she manages to answer. She wanted to say so much more, but couldn't manage to formule a complete sentence. She decided to keep quiet rather than say something uncomprehensible.

He sensed her timidity, and continued talking, alowing her to stay quiet, and she was grateful for that.

"You are Kelsey, right? I heard your name at our reunion. I wanted to come by after, by couldn't find you. I am sure we will become friends very fast. After all, we think the same way! Happy to meet you, finally!"

"Happy to meet you, too." she mumbles to her shoes.

"How is your host familly? Mine is vegetarian. It is a good thing I love tofu and vegetables!"

What if my family is vegetarian? I don't like vegetables, at all! I won't survive six weeks without meat." she starts to panic. But then, she remembers the power point presentation they sent her. It said their favorite meal is spaghetti with meatballs.

"Everything is fine, then. I won't die"

Even if she was not listening for a few seconds, Nicholas had continued talking.

He was suddenly cut by a call for their train in the speaker. They look at each other, and smile. The adventure really starts now, they both realised. They took all their bags, and followed the mass of people being led by a tall woman waving a YMCA shirt, making clear they all had to follow her.

When they finally arrived in their wagon, they realized they were seated beside each other. They finally met their coordinator, the one they will call in Blainville, if anything goes wrong. Her name was Camille. She was a student in psychology at the university. She was very open minded and was interested in everyone. Kelsey liked her right away.

They also met their other team mates. Other then Nicholas, Kelsey's group was composed of 3 other boys: Aidan, Mike and Sebastian. The girls were: Alyson, Jane, Emma, Devarshi and Aubrey.

"Okay guys! Since it is the first time we are all reunited, I planned some games for us, to start knowing everyone in our group." starts Camille. "For the first one, I would like everyone to say their names and one thing you really like. One thing cannot be said twice, so pay attention! I will go first: my name is Camille, and I really like to cook.

Nicholas went second, since he was right at her side.

"My name is Nicholas, and I really like to draw."

"My name is Seb, and I really like playing guitarre."

"My name is Jane, and I really like shoes."

"My name is Alyson, and I really like to sing."

"My name is Devarshi, and I really spicy food."

"My name is Emma, and I like children."

"My name is Aidan, and I really like to skateboard."

"My name is Aubrey,and I really like to dance."

It was now kelsey's turn, and she knew exactly what she was going to say:

"My name is Kelsey, and I really like to take photos."

"Do you like to take pictures of pretty things, pretty girl?"

Kelsey needed a few seconds to realise the guy was talking to her. He was the only one who did not present himself yet. She answer truthfully:

"Yes, I do."

"Then maybe I will let you take pictures of me, one time."

Kelsey's face turned instantly red, and once more, she wondered why she was so shy with other guys, but not with her brothers. She could always put them back in their places, but she always seems to freeze when it was somebody else.

"Okay." says Camille. " Could you tell us who you are, and what you like, please?"

"Sure." he says with a cocky smile. "You can call me Handsome, and the one thing I really like is gorgeous girls.

"But then, if I call you handsome, it would be like mocking you, since usually you say that to handsome boys." answers right away Devarshi.

Everyone at a hering distance start to laugh. Devarshi looked really proud of herself for that come back. The boy, on the other hand, did not look please at all.

"Everyone, please!" shouts Camille, trying to restore the peace in the wagon, even though she was trying to hide a smile.

In the five hours that lasted the trip from Toronto to Montréal, they all had fun, and had a good time. They shared a snack, because everyone had brought something. They had chips and candies and cookies and everything unhealthy they packed without their parents noticing.

Kelsey was happy of her gang, even of the cocky guy, who turned out to be called Mike. They were all very different of each other, but it was promising a very eventful summer. She couldn't wait!