Exchange with New Hope Club

Chapter 5

Jade's POV

"Our decent into Manchester will commence in just under 10 minutes so can everyone please return to their seats, place seats back into the neutral position and window shades up. Thank you for flying with Emirates and we wish you a wonderful time in Manchester." When i heard this i was so excited that i couldn't make a full sentence.

"Riley, Riley, we... Manchester... One year... I can't believe it..." I managed, while looking over to Riley who also looked so shocked and excited she didn't care about my mixed up sentence.

"I know, I already feel scared and worried. What if they don't like us?" exclaimed Riley with a scared look on her face.

"Of course you're worried about that, I'm worried they won't like the food i bought them. Also, I hope my guitar is all good and not damaged. It would be bad if it was," i said as now i was worrying whether my guitar would arrive in one piece.

"I'm sweatin' here, Darryl!" I said, in reference to my favourite Australian movie, The Castle.

"All these years and i still haven't seen that movie!" laughed Riley.

A sudden bump and jolt jerked us back to the present.

"Oh my god, holy shit we've landed I am pissing myself," I gasped.

"Jade Meredith Edwards! Watch that language coming out of your mouth!" gasped Riley in mock horror.

I scowled at the use of my middle name; i simply loathed it. "No one here will find out about my middle name, you hear me?!"

In a blur, we got off the plane and made our way to our baggage claim and grabbed our suitcases. My suitcase had a large Deathly Hallows sign on it so it was pretty easy to spot. Riley's suitcase had the iconic Hunger Games mockingjay pin emblem thing on it so that was also pretty easy to spot. And yes, thanks for asking, my guitar came to me in tip top shape.

The airport was not the most luxurious one we had ever been through but it could have been worse. Outside you would see the not so blue sky but at least it was more sunny than it was when we left home. It was a high of 18 degrees when we left but in Manchester we had sunny (ish) skies and 28 degrees.

"We're literally a minute away from meeting our new families!" I said.

"I'm super nervous," exclaimed Riley.

"Farkin' 'ell," I laughed, putting on a British accent of sorts.

"Jade Meredith..." said Riley warningly.

"Using my middle name against me is worse than swearing. Gosh Riley you should be ashamed of yourself!" I scolded.

"Wait, let's go to the bathroom quickly. First impressions last," suggested Riley. I nodded in agreement. We took a sharp left seeing as we were just passing the bathroom.

In the bathroom we brushed our hair and straightened up our clothes that we had been sitting on the plane in.

We surveyed ourselves in the mirror.

"Ready?" I asked.

"Not really but let's go!" laughed Riley.

"Ayee, fist bump!" i said. Riley laughed but obliged.

With our bags and all we marched out together, feeling fresher and more confident.

"I think they're going to be holding up signs or something so we know who they actually are. What's your school called?" said Riley.

"Uhh, Saint Christopher's. Yours?" I replied.

"King's School," she said.

"Ooh, fancy!" I giggled. "Oh my holy oh my god i think I can see them."

Sure enough, two signs were being held up, with our new school names on them. I gulped down a mouthful of air and then promptly started choking. Of course, I was going to make an idiot of myself in front of my new family before i'd even met them.

"Jade, it's just like you to make a semi bad impression before we even see them," laughed Riley. Just as three boys our age and two girls one older, one younger than us came up to greet us.

"Hi you two must be Jade and Riley. We could tell it was you because of the tag on one of your backpacks," said the older girl. She had to be one of their's sister.

"Oh yeah we are. I'm Riley and this is Jade. Wait! I mean I mean i'm Jade and this is Riley!" I said. Bloody hell, i can't get anything right today, not even my own name it seems.

"She sounds like you Reece," said the little girl obviously the guy Reece's younger sister. "Oh and by the way I am Lexi and this is my big brother Reece."

I smiled down at Lexi while also sneaking a look to see which guy was Reece. "G'day Lexi, I'm Jade."

"Are you sure?" she giggled. I ruffled her hair (which she seemed to like) as she hugged my legs and waist. I immediately felt calmer. Even if I didn't get along with Reece, I'd at least have my little mate, Lexi.

"Aww!" said Riley. "See Jade? I told you you'd be fine!"

I smiled appreciatively at her.

"Oh I'm Blake and I'm guessing you're Riley?" said the black haired boy.

"Yeah, hi Blake," smiled Riley.

"Um, would you like me to take one of your bags?" Reece asked me.

"Oh! Um, no it's alright!" I said brightly, balancing all my bags, carry on, suitcase and guitar on top of each other.

"Are you sure? You look like something is going to fall any minute," persisted Reece. Just as he said that I lost control of all my bags and tripped over. Luckily the other guy we still hadn't met somehow caught the bags with the help of Reece while i caught my guitar (while landing on the floor but as long as the guitar was ok, i'm fine with a bruised butt. Nothing was going to happen to my guitar on my watch. Reece helped me up.

"Yeah ok, maybe could you hold the guitar?" i asked, blushing slightly, while Riley was laughing.

"She's always like this our Jade Mer- um, Edwards," said Riley while laughing, almost slipping out my dreaded middle name.

So Reece picked up my guitar and Lexi carried one of the bags. I was introduced to Reece's mum, Lyndsay and Blake's parents and sister who all seemed really sweet.

"Well," I said to Riley as we exited Manchester airport. "I guess this is goodbye for now."

She stepped towards me and hugged me tightly.

"Take care of yourself, Jade! Try not to trip over too much!" she laughed

"Yeah you too, Riles. See you soon mate," I said, squeezing her tighter.

Riley and I let go and she gave me one last wave as she wheeled her bags with her new family.