To Begin Anew {A 5SOS Fanfic}

Chapter 3

Thankfully, the drive to the airport wasn't as long as I anticipated but I was not looking forward to the twenty hour flight that lay ahead of me. We got a space close to the main terminal and still had about three hours before we boarded our plane. Cheryl had given the car to my uncle Aaron since we no longer had a use for it. I assumed he was coming to pick it up later but I never asked. The airport was surprisingly quiet due to the fact that not many people left Texas during the blistering time of year that was summer. I fanned myself with the pages of my book and we made our way to the check-in desk. The lady at the desk took our bags and I felt sorry for her as I could see that she was clearly dying under the tight suit she wore.

The next two hours consisted of Cheryl doing a lot of planning, organising and me nodding every so often as she asked me questions I had no interest in. I finished my book just as she nudged me and pointed to the electronic board above our heads which indicated that our flight was ready to board. I tried to cram as many things as possible into my backpack so my boredom would be kept at bay. The contents mostly consisted of snacks and drinks. We walked the long distance to the boarding gate and I let out a sigh of relief when I saw that the airplane had what resembled a small bed for each passenger.

I took my seat and we were up in the air in no time. As the seat belt sign went off I decided to flick through the movies they were showing and spotted ‘The Wizard of Oz’. Not the best movie but I watched it nonetheless and sang along to every musical number. I hadn't realised how loud I was singing until I caught the woman in the seat across giving me strange looks. Soon after that I felt my eyes closing and knew my body was telling me to sleep.

After sleeping for what seemed like 2 days I was woken up by a poke in the back. It was Cheryl.

‘’We’re landing soon’’, she said quietly as I rubbed my eyes and had that ‘I just woke, what’s going on?’ look on my face.

I moved over to the window, looked out and saw nothing but buildings and beaches. I widened my eyes and looked over at Cheryl who had the biggest smile on her face. The seat belt sign flashed and I sat upright, preparing for the landing. 

We landed in Sydney at 11am and it was raining. That was when I realised that Australian seasons were completely different to American ones. I didn’t stand out which comforted me but as we made our way over to the baggage claim belts I saw a guy who definitely did. Over by one of the vending machines I saw a guy with neon pink hair and when I say neon, I mean neon. I laughed to myself and thought that anyone with that colour hair clearly wants to be noticed. I turned to find Cheryl and saw her waving at me, standing beside who I assumed was her sister Carol and her husband. I hurried over to them and could see the resemblance between them straight away.

‘'G’day Mate!’', she said putting out her hand.

A confused look came across my face but she then assured me that she was kidding and pulled me in for a hug. They seemed like pretty nice people and I was relieved but as I turned, stood beside me was the guy with the pink hair that I saw standing at the vending machine.

‘'Hi, I’m Michael!’' he said cheerily.

I stared at him, at his hair and then back at him.

‘'It’s not permanent, don’t worry'’.

I let out a nervous laugh and shook his hand.

'‘I’m Hazel, but I’m guessing you knew that already’'.

He smiled and looked to his parents.

‘'Are we ready to go?’', and off we went.

We got into the car and Michael sat next to me.

‘'Great’', I thought to myself.

He seemed a little too punk rock for my liking or at least he was trying to be. I had this feeling that I wasn't going to like him very much but I decided to give him a chance. He asked me so many questions on the way home. I wasn't even paying attention to him so I just replied with one word sentences to shut him up.

"We're here", Carol announced from the front.

I looked out the window and saw a fabulous, white 3 story building with a huge garage.

''This can't be it'', I thought.

It was way too big but then I looked around and saw that all the houses were the exact same. I got out of the car and took my bags from the trunk.

"I can take those for you", Michael said.

"Um.. I'm ok thanks, I've got them."

I went inside and it was so homely, I instantly loved it!

"Michael", his father called.

"Will you carry Hazel’s bags upstairs and show her to her room?".

He nodded and I followed him up to my room and saw that it wasn't huge, but it wasn't small. I guess you could say it was just perfect. There was a bookshelf for my books, the walls were painted cream and the bed was in the corner of the room. It was an old victorian style double bed which I thought would be a change from the tiny single bed that I had back home.

"Where's the wardrobe for me to put my clothes into?", I asked Michael.

"It's in here", he said opening the other door in my room.

The door opened into a walk in wardrobe complete with vanity unit. I was amazed, this was so surreal! I had just expected a little box room with a small squeaky bed but this exceeded my expectations.

My thoughts were interrupted by Michael’s phone ringing.

"Luke, what’s up?", he said into the receiver.

"Yeah sure, I'll be there in 20. Can you tell Ashton to pick me up?.. Ok cool I'll see you soon".

"I've got to go", he said to me and just walked out.

I sat down on the floor of my new room and began to remove the stuff from my bags. This is it, i'm really here! I was determined to give life in Australia a chance and began putting my photos on the locker beside my bed.