The Beginning of the Middle (A One Direction Fan Fiction)

Chapter 2: Getting Settled

After a long, grueling flight, it was a shame that I couldn't sleep at all. My pillow was wadded up behind my back, giving me little comfort, and my blanket was bundled around me tightly, giving me little relief from the cool airplane cabin. Only an hour ago I had seen the White Cliffs of Dover hidden only by a few low hanging clouds. Nonetheless, they were still breathtaking.

Now starting to feel a bit drowsy from the eight hour long flight, I could see green fields dotted with houses for miles. The plane carried on, it's engines roaring.

"Hello passengers. Please fasten your seatbelts. We will be landing at our destination in only a few minutes." The woman's distinctly British voice continued talking, discussing the exiting procedures and ended in, "Thank you for flying British Airlines and have a safe stay!"

Only a few minutes later, the plane began to descend and the top of London became larger and larger until the plane shifted it's wings and took out it's wheels. With a small bump, we landed on the runway and gradually decreased speed until we stopped near the airport.

All at once, the passengers arose to gather up their belongings and make their way out the plane. I was still staring in awe out the window when I heard Emily and her mom, Brenda, get up. (I had chatted with her during the flight and we exchanged names.)

"It was nice meeting you! Good luck at the school you were accepted into! I hate to think this is goodbye, but hopefully we'll see each other again." Brenda said.

"Oh, thank you!" I responded, "It was great meeting you as well. Have a fun and safe trip!"

"Thank you!" Brenda replied swinging her backpack over her shoulder, "Bye!"

"Bye!"

With that she gently grabbed Emily's hand and walked down the aisle. Before they got off, they smiled and waved one last time. I hoped I would be able to see them again, they were both really nice.

Most of the passengers had already left, leaving me and a couple other people. I collected my luggage from the overhead bunk and then rolled it behind me, out the plane, and into the huge London, Heathrow airport.

Many people were scurrying past with their bags while others were enjoying a post-flight snack. It was around eight in the morning, so the fragrant smell of coffee pleased my nose. As inviting as it was, I only had American money and I was pretty sure the little café there would only accept pounds or credit cards. I wasn't too keen about already spending money.

Ignoring the coffee and freshly made breakfast pastries, I made my way to the front door to call a cab. I unzipped a pocket of my suitcase to pull out the address of the flat I was going to stay in. I was rooming with another girl who was a year older than me. She was eighteen and an aspiring musician/singer/songwriter. The headmaster of my new school informed me she was very responsible and, since we were going to the same school, she could answer almost any question I had.

After I hailed down a cab and it took me to my destination, I stood in front of an apartment building. It was a white building with four floors as well as the basement. I checked my notes sheet for the building's number passcode and typed the numbers into the gold colored keypad to the right of the glass double doors. The lock quietly clicked open, and I made my was through the doors to the lobby.

The lobby was relatively small, consisting of four royal blue armchairs with oak end tables beside them. Some magazines and newspapers were laid out on the tables. A nice royal blue, black, and white oriental rug was placed in the middle of the room to match the armchairs and clean white walls.

Sitting in one of the armchairs and doing her homework was, who I guessed to be, my roommate. Her medium brown hair was curled nicely with a thin, white hairband on her head to match her white dress pants and floral, pastel colored blouse. She looked up at me with light brown eyes from her homework, which I now saw was a nearly finished musical composition. I could see some lyrics written under the music, but I couldn't make out the tiny words from that far away.