Separated

Chapter III

HEATH

Music: A Way Out of the Difficulty from Gradius II Arcade

June 13th.

The day of departure.

Luke and I are riding in my mom's car to the airport, which is set to take us to Houston, Texas. From there, we will have a day to go sightseeing before we begin the week-long cruise from the 14th to the 21st.

We spend the car ride either messing around on our phones or chit-chatting about what could happen on the cruise. When we arrive, my mom hops outside of the car with us to tell Luke and I goodbye (parents were not required to sign up for the cruise with us, and none of our parents signed up).

"Be safe, boys. Text me updates throughout the week when you can, Heath," my mom tells me, hugging me tightly.

"I will, Mom," I say, half-serious. With our plane tickets in hand, Luke and I then make a beeline for the airport.

Inside, it takes us about five minutes to find our gate. Sam, Elle, Mia, Mackenzie, Sean, and Shanna are already there.

"This all we got so far?" Luke asks upon greeting them.

"Avery's here, she's just in the bathroom or something, I don't fucking know," Sam says, laughing.

"And Skylar?" I ask.

"No show as of now. She better hurry; our flight leaves in ten minutes," Mackenzie replies.

"I mean, everyone knows you're supposed to be at least 45 minutes early. You never know when your gate number could change," Mia adds.

Skylar arrives roughly three minutes later, with Avery returning at roughly the same time. From there, it's just a bunch of waiting until they begin calling out for groups to board the plane.

Music: Apollon from Gradius IV

"This is the call for all first class flyers, veterans, and handicapped passengers to board the plane," A woman's voice comes over the intercom. None of us apply to any of those (Luke's only a paraplegic, not a handicap), so none of us move.

Then she begins calling group names, starting downwards from 6. The ten of us got pretty lucky; we're all near each other in our groups. Luke, Skylar, Mia, Mackenzie, Sean, and I got group 4, while everyone else got group 3.

"Hell yeah, let's go!" Luke cheers once group 4 is called. At the gate, we show the gate attendants our tickets and then climb aboard.

It doesn't take long for us to find our seats, since they're literally labeled by number for us. Skylar, Luke, and I decide to sit together on the right-wing side of the airplane, with Skylar taking the window seat, Luke taking the aisle seat, and me taking the middle. On the other side, Mackenzie has the window seat, Mia has the middle seat, and Sean has the aisle seat. Sam, Elle, Shanna, and Avery hop on about a minute after we get seated, and Sam and Elle are the ones who sit in front of us.

"Thank God I don't have to sit next to Luke," I hear Avery whisper to herself as she and Shanna take their seats. A chaperone takes the aisle seat for them.

Our plane takes flight around twenty minutes later. People start chatting with each other or putting their earbuds in and falling asleep. Luke, Skylar, and I decide to watch a movie on my phone (at slightly crappy quality, wifi up here sucks).

ELLE

Music: Sky and Sea from Super Mario Sunshine

When our plane reaches cruising altitude, the flight attendant comes on the plane intercom and announces that free roam of the plane is now permitted. Immediately, Sam gets up and says, "Finally. I've been holding in a pee for the last hour."