The two hours went by slowly. I mean, it was great having Clem there, but I'm really anxious about he airplane. I made sure to use the bathroom because I heard the bathrooms on planes are terrifying and I want to avoid using it as much as I can.
I see a girl who looks like she works at the airport, walk to the counter by the gate. She turns on a microphone going to a few speaker around us and the gate. "Flight 227 is now boarding. Boarding starts with customers needing extra assistance, then first class, frequent fliers and passengers with rewards credit cards. Then floodgates open for the main cabin passengers, boarding the plane from the rear to the front. Last to board should be basic economy customers." Everyone stands up and Clem and I follow. We find Ms Reece and Clem's teacher and we wait in line.
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Soon enough us four, along with the other students and staff are walking through the tube that leads to the plane. Before I step foot on the plane I touch a small white part of the outside I see. It's crazy how this thing goes so high in the sky, and yet I can still touch it.
I follow Clem and a flight attendant helps us find our seats. We walk to the row and I see that we're sitting next to a window. "Do you want to sit next to the window?" Clem turns around to say to me. She says this with a little bit of fear. I guess she's a bit scared too. I gulp but nod. We pack our things in the cabinets above our seats. I slide in and sit down. Right away I buckle my seat belt and tighten it as much as I can. Clem and I try to calm each other down by talking about old Barbie games we used to play as kids. It was really random, but it helped.
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About half an hour passed until the door closes and the screens in front of us turned on. I plug in my headphones and listen to what it's telling us. I watch and listen closely to everything that the man on the screen says because I'm not dying. Not today.
I look out the window and I see that the wing is behind us. I feel the engine turn on. I grab my seat handle tightly before we start moving. My breathing picks up. I take my headphones out of my ears so I can focus more on breathing.
Suddenly we stop and nothing's happening. I feel at ease.
Then out of no where the engine goes crazy and starts speeding up. We move forward and we're going faster than anything I've ever been in. Clem puts a comforting hand on me and I feel a bit better. I give her a anxious smile.
I look out the window. I don't know why I'm doing this cause it makes me feel worse, but at the same time it's awesome.
The airplane lifts off the ground and it's the weirdest feeling ever. My eyes widen so much and I'm breathing so fast, but it's quiet because I don't want anyone to realize.
I feel the plane move sideways and we start to go through the clouds. The airplane feels like it starts to fall out of the sky. It didn't though? I turn to Clem for reassurance. "We just hit an air pocket we're perfectly fine." She says. I can tell she's keeping it calm to keep me calm. I look back out the window and suddenly there's no more clouds and it's just blue sky. "See? We're in the sky now and we'll be at this level for quite a while. Usually there's barely any bumps up here." I take a deep breath in and my breathing starts to regulate.
"Thank you. And sorry for freaking out." I say, but it kind of hurts because my throat is so dry.
"Don't be! You said before it's your first time on an airplane. It's totally fine!" She says pulling something out of a little purse she kept with her. She pulls out a small plastic bag with a bottle of melatonin. I recognize the brand. They're sleeping pills and I've used them before. "If you want, you can use one of these later so you can sleep through the rest of the flight." She says showing the bottle.
"Oh yeah that'd be awesome. Thank you." I trust this because I know what the pills look like plus, I don't think she would be able to get anything else on a plane.
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A few minutes later, a flight attendant walks by with a cart full of drinks and snacks. She walks to up Clem and I and she asks us what we want. Clem asks for a soda and some peanuts. I ask for some pretzels and some orange juice. The juice feels really nice on my dry throat. I put in one headphone so that I could still have some conversations with Clem. I look through the tv shows that the airplane has. I finally decide to watch some Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
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About two hours pass and Clem and I have ended out conversations. I turn to her. "Hey, could i have a sleeping pill now?" She jumps as if she forgot something.
"Oh yeah! Here you go." She pours out two pills and give one to me and swallows the other one. I pop the pill in my mouth and I drink the last of my orange juice. I go back to watching the show. The plane ride is about 11 hours, so I hope I sleep for most of it.
It takes about an hour before the pill fully kicks and I and fall asleep.
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I wake up and look to my right where Clem. Everything's really dark on the plane because everyone, including me, has the blind closed. It's kind of peaceful. I scroll through the tv in front of me and I find a tab that tells us how long we have left. Apparently I was asleep for 6 hours because we have exactly 3 hours left. I shrug. That's cool, I'm okay with that.
I try to get comfy for the last few hours. I decide to watch a movie instead of a show because I feel like it would make time pass quicker. I find Princess and the Frog. I think of Ethan. I miss him already. I click on it and begin to watch the film.
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After I finish Princess and the Frog and another movie called Identity Thief, Clem wakes up. We have nice conversations for the rest of the plane ride. I start to listen to music instead of watching anything.
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Finally I feel the plane start to change direction. "We're beginning to land!" Clem says, excitedly. I push my window up and I look outside. It's super sunny outside and I see a ton of beautiful buildings and conveniently the song that beings to play as we see all of this is On Top of The World by Imagine Dragons. It puts me in a good mood for the landing.
Weirdly enough the landing isn't as bad. No clouds, barely any bumps, and I'm really happy soon be off of this metal tube. I feel a slight bump as the plane touches ground. The plane slows down and rolls into an empty slot and we have to wait a few minutes before leaving the plane.
Clem and I find Ms Reece and Clems teacher. Clems teacher introduces her self as 'Ms Flatly'. We follow each other and go through everything we need to before fully entering the state. We meet up with the rest of the 30 people outside of a Forever 21 in the airport.
A feeling of happiness floods over me. I'm finally here.
YOU ARE READING
Camp Chenoa
RomanceOne student is picked from 15 different schools across the UK to have work experience during the summer in America at a summer camp in the state of California called Camp Chenoa.
