Tiger's Beginning

Chapter 9: Arrival

“Grace…Grace…GRACE!”

My eyes shot open and landed on the face of Kamala, which was hovering above me with an expression on absolute energy.

“Grace, we’re here!”

I rubbed my eyes and shifted in the bed. To say the plane ride was long was an understatement. Everyone mainly kept to themselves, and I hardly saw Raj except for dinner. I asked him where he had been and he replied with a none-answer that he had been very busy.

Kamala dragged me to the window and after my eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight, I was shocked to see miles of forest and green jungle below us. In the distance I saw streams of smoke rising to meet the horizon. 

“Welcome to India Grace.”

Yes, welcome indeed.

Once the pilot announced over the loudspeaker that we were close to landing, everyone made their way to the main cabin. Kelsey gave me an excited grin, Ren asked if I was ok and how the flight was, and Raj completely ignored me. He seemed to be distracted by something on his phone, and made a point of turning away from the conversation.

Ill admit I was a little miffed, but I wasn’t going to let that ruin the fact that I was in India. Via a private jet. With my boss. Life was good.

The truth was I needed to accept that Raj was gorgeous and he probably discovered how weird I am and now wasn’t interested. That’s usually how it goes.

After a smooth landing, I followed Kamala down the steps and walked a little ways to three black jeeps. Kelsey, Kamala and I all got in one while Ren and Raj got in the next. I assumed the last one was for our luggage.

Kelsey smiled at me in the rearview mirror and said,

“I can’t wait for you to see you room. You’re going to love it!”

I returned her smile.

“I’m sure I will love anything that you show me.”

Kamala shifted her long ponytail over her shoulder and turned around to face me from the passenger seat. Kelsey explained, 

“So there isn’t really a schedule for the week, but we do want to show you the culture and amazing scenery that makes India so beautiful. So, we wanted to take you to a festival in town Thursday night, and then early Wednesday we were going zip lining through the jungle. On Friday we are going to see the ruins near our house. Its an old temple for the goddess Durga that we recently excavated. For some reason we didn’t know it was there until a few months ago. So does that sound like too much? If so please tell us; we are used to being here and the energy of it all.”

I reassured her,

“Honestly it sounds like a blast. I’m looking forward to it already.”

They both smiled, and then talked quietly about something so I decided to check my phone for messages; my parents had gotten me an international phone so we could communicate. I saw one unread message:

Kelsey just called to say you landed. Because of the cost we probably wont talk to you until we come over so we hope you have a wonderful time. We can’t wait to join you!

-Mom and Dad

I smiled and then closed my phone, storing in one the millions of pockets in my new travel bag my mom had gotten me. Although it was ridiculous, I had to admit it was handy.

After a couple of hours of aimless chatting and singing loudly and off key to the local pop station, Kelsey announced 

“We’re here!”