Pestilence

One- Meeting Noah At The Airport

"Girls!" I hear my best friend's mum Tracy call up to us.

"Tegan, will he recognise me even if I dress though I don't dress like I did seven years ago?" Beth complains through her bedroom door. I laugh at her.

"Beth, you're not an alien, he'll know you and he'll know me. Just pick a bloody jumper already." I groan in desperation.

"Hurry up girls, we have to get to the airport before Noah's plane lands!" Mrs Winchester shouts. I shrug, I'm not the one causing us to run late.

"Tegan, is this to provocative for seeing my cousin?" Beth asks, opening her bedroom door. My best friend Beth is wearing a slightly translucent white jumper and pink jeans with black Doc Martens. I shrug, despite having a rich crimson pixie haircut, Beth has never stopped loving the colour pink. Never. I smile at her.

"If you put on a lack vest top then you'll be fine Beth." I encourage, I know that she's cautious about seeing Noah again, I am too. We haven't seen him in seven years, when he and his family jetted off to New Zealand to have a change of scenery. Beth rushes back into her room, slamming the door and changes outfits again. I sigh.

"Beth! Tegan! Do you hear me! We have to go like now!" Tracy shouts, slightly agitated.

"Yes, sorry Mrs Winchester, Beth is just changing her top." I apologise.

"Okay Tegan, thank you sweetie." Tracy replies graciously.

"Beth, move your butt!" I whine, knocking on her door.

"I'm ready. I'm ready. Sheesh!" she groans, pulling the door open. I smile at my friend.

"Have you got the camera?" she asks me. I nod.

"Have you got enough printer ink?" I tease.

"Of course, we bought a new cartrage and everything. " Beth laughs as we walk downstars.

"Finally girls. Please tell me you got some snacks from the shops on your way home from school because we don't have any time to buy anything on the way to the airport." Tracy reprimands. We bow our heads.

Thankfully for us, Beth and I were only late to her house because we went to the shops and left with two bulging carrier bags of junk food, with pizza money to spare. It was a very successful trip, however that resulted in a mission to get handbags big enough to fit all of the food and drinks into them. And then having to re-clean Beth's spare room, also known as the fort of handbags.

"We have got some snacks mum." Beth replies. That is the bigest litotis I have ever heard come from Beth's mouth!

"Okay then. Let's go and get Noah." Tracy enthuses. Like any aunt, she's missed her nephew and wants to see him just as much as Beth and I do, she says that she misses Noah more than we do. To be honest, I doubt that.

The car ride was supprisingly quick. We just sat there singing along to The Beatles, Queen and the occassional bit of Green Day. Beth and I had made sure to put all of the best songs on this CD so we could all have a corny family sing along, though technically I have no blood relation to the Winchester family, though I'm viewed like a niece by Tracy. Maybe that's why I was allowed to come with Beth to come and pick Noah up.

As Holiday starts to play and Beth begins to headbang, I peer aout of the Volvo's window and let out a sigh. I wish that the whole gang was together again, puberty tore us all apart. The descovery of new emotions made our whole group shift in it's ways. And of course family moves destroyed us too.

My mind wanders back to a time when we were children, before life changed everything. We were a very tight group of kids. I sigh. Why did life get so complicated? Before we turned ten everything was blissful. Hilary Watts was climbing up the archery circut and making steady progress. Beth, Harry, Noah and I never missed a competition and always supported Hilary. Just like when Beth was in dance competitions, we would all be there, no reluctance whatsoever. Whenever we would go out, we would go out together. In fact a few times, our small group went into Merchant's wood and played in Thomas Merchant's rich boy tree house. It was two storeys tall with glass in the windows that had shutters, every door could be locked and there was even a 'chimney' which in fact had a fireman pole that you could shimmey up and down. The tree house even had a slide! It was incredble and since it was built on public property the only person we got into trouble with for playing in it was the Merchant family.