United | In Real Life

Chapter 20

Michael's POV

      When we pull up to the airport, I get a sick feeling in my stomach. I don't want to go home. That just means school, and reminders, and everything just piled on top of each other. In a perfect world, I wouldn't go back. I'd still see my family, but I wouldn't go back there. The area itself is so boring and bland, and a lot of the people there are nasty too. Plus, it just reminds me of what I want to forget.

      "You don't have to leave," Kayla tells me quietly as the van gets closer to our airlines. Her, Lily, and Lauren all came with us even though they aren't getting out of the van. We thought it would be easier if they didn't come in with us. We could travel faster and attract less attention.

      "But I do. My parents would be mad if I didn't come home, and part of me misses my siblings. They're all coming out next time, so you can meet them," I tell her softly, her hand resting in mine.

     "It's going to seem like an even longer time without you here because I'm looking forward to it more now," she tells me, and I smile a little.

     "I'll text you when we land," I give her a quick kiss right before the van pulls to a stop.

     "I'll see you soon Michael," she quickly kisses me again one more time.

      "I'll see you soon Kayla," all of our luggage is quickly taken out of the trunk, and I wave to Kayla as the van drives away. I sigh as the seven of us (Courtney and Alex are with us) walk into the airport. We already printed out our boarding passes, and we don't need to check any of our bags, so we just hop into the security line.

     "It gets easier each time man," Sergio sighs, patting my back.

     "I'm going to have to get used to it. Why not start getting used to it now?" I ask the rhetorical question. The line seems to go unbelievably slow, but we are in LAX, so it's expected to take eternities. Once we get to the front, it's time to get our boarding passes scanned. Chance is first, and the rest of us form a line behind him, so we only use one scanner.

     "Michael, wait!" the sound of her voice makes me go rigid. I turn around and Bella is trying to get through the line to get up to me. She can't get past security because she doesn't have a boarding pass, so if I just get a little further, there's no way she can get to me.

     "Hey Brady, can I get I get in front of you?" Brady is in front of me, and the further up I am, the less of a chance of her getting up here.

      "You can go in front of me Michael," Sergio offers. He's in the very front, so I quickly thank him, and slide in front of him. They scan my boarding pass, and I'm able to go to the metal detector.

      "Michael please! I don't want you to leave thinking this way of me!" she yells as if I'm being irrational, but I'm not. If only the videos got out, I wouldn't be as upset, but she didn't have to bring Abby into this, especially in the way she did.

     "Too late," I call back as I walk through the metal detector. I'm in the clear, so I grab my bag from where it had just been scanned and wait for the rest of the guys. Chance, Alex, and Drew are already through, so I go over near them. Alex and Chance are right next to each other, and Drew is kind of off to the side.

     "Hey man," I rest my arm on his shoulder (even though it doesn't work that well since we're close to the same height).

     "We're sitting next to each other, right?" he asks. I nod.

     "Yeah. We have one row of three, and two of two. I'm sitting with you, Brady with his girlfriend, and the others are all sitting together, just like when we flew out here last time," it's reached the point where our parents trust us enough to stay in a hotel room for a couple of days, so they don't need to come with us.