Airborne

Chapter 2 - The Class Trip

"Wake up, Jack!" Aiden cried out as he shook his older brother awake. Jack's eyes snapped open. Shit, he slept in; his History essay wasn't finished yet.

"What time is it?" Jack asked in a slurred voice as his eyes slid open.

"It's six o'clock!" Aiden replied. "We're supposed to be in school in an hour! Y'know, so we can go to the ai-"

"I know!" Jack interrupted, motioning Aiden out of his room by flicking his hand again. Aiden jumped off his brother's bed and dashed off, leaving Jack to his own devices.

Jack sat up and brushed his blonde hair out of his eyes. He couldn't believe this had happened. He slept in and now his essay wasn't finished. He'd have to scrape the bottom of the barrel to find time to work on it while he was in Bangkok. He sighed as he flustered with rage, punching the bed to help ease his stress, one could almost see steam hissing out of his ears.

"God damnit." He muttered to himself as he slid out of bed to back his macbook and his tower of history notes and textbooks. To make matters worse about the essay, he'd now have to bring all of his notes with him, adding at least five kilograms in mass to his bag. He then threw on his school uniform, a white polo shirt with the school logo on the breast-pocket and tan khaki pants. Jack had no idea why he had to wear his school uniform on the plane, some bullshit about "representing the school".

Jack lumbered downstairs where Aiden was waiting with his packed bags and his ironed uniform. He was definitely "representing the school" with his neatly combed hair and his innocent face shining a bright future ahead of him. Jack, on the other hand, was looking like he was mere days away from dropping out with his messy hair and wrinkled uniform and the lilac coloured bags under his drowsy cobalt eyes.

Then, the two boy's mother stumbled downstairs, wearing a white bathrobe. Their dad had already left for work most likely.

"Leaving already?" the boys' mother asked with a yawn.

"Yea mom." Aiden responded cheerfully with a warm smile.

"I'm gonna miss you two so much!" The mother said as she gave Aiden a big hug, squeezing his body tightly before moving on to Jack, giving him a hug too, but not as tightly as Aiden.

"You've gotten so big Jackie.." His mother said 

"I can't hug you as tightly as before." She said as she kissed Jack on the forehead. Jack rolled his eyes, he hated it when she did that, this time he let is slide because he was leaving for a week for the conference.

Jack's mom then began to talk more quietly, so Aiden won't hear her.

"Jack, please take care of Aiden, it's his first time abroad without his parents." She asked Jack.

"Mom, he can take care of himself." Jack groaned as he rolled his eyes again.

"I know, but you never know whats going to happen. Bangkok can be pretty dangerous." She warned Jack.

"Nothing will go wrong, we'll both be fine I swear." Jack said as he hugged his mom again. Jack then turned to leave, he and Aiden waving goodbye to their mother as they stepped out of their apartment and approached the elevator lobby.

"Bye!" She called at them as the elevator dinged and the doors opened. Aiden happily waved to his mother again while Jack just walked in silently.

Jack and Aiden walked down the empty streets of early morning Singapore, besides the occasional taxi and bus. The school they attended was only a few blocks from their house, so they didn't have to worry about being late as they lumbered down the street, carrying their heavy bags along with them.