Lifes An Adventure

Chapter 2

After finding their seats on board the plane, Lily once again began munching through her box of chicken nuggets, “Excuse me Miss but I’m going to have to ask you to put your em nuggets away until we are up in the air and the seatbelt sign has been turned off.” A dyed blonde airhostess was flashing a fake smile at all the Smallfields.

“Well Miss,” Late in the evening and very early in the morning Lily could be very sarcastic and sassy towards people if they looked the wrong way at her, “As this is not my first flight I am very aware of the safety precautions that are in place on this plane to ensure that I safely arrive at my destination. As you can see my tray is in the upright position,” She gestures to the chair in front of her, “My seat is also in the correct position and my bag is safety sorted under the seat in front of me – all this information is available in the pamphlet in this pocket here,” Lily leans forward and removes the frayed laminated card from the pocket and turns to face the now angry airhostess, “But if you are able to point out on this important piece of paper, where it says I cannot eat chicken nuggets out of my lap, then I shall place them back into my bag and continue to eat them when the seatbelt sign is turned off.” Lily had now extended her arm so that the airhostess could take the card.

“I hope you know young lady that I could have you kicked off this plan for harassing a member of staff!” The women’s face had become flushed with anger and embarrassment as other passengers had now turned their attention to the scene which was enfolding in front of them.

“And I hope that you know that I could get you suspend for making up rules and denying me my eating privileges!” This caused the women to flush an even darker shade of red, contrasting the whiteness of her blonde hair. 

“Well I have never seen such a misbehave child in my life!” She turned to walk away but stopped in her stride as several voices called after her.

“The girl is right she was doing everything the information told her. Nothing here about not eating until lift off.”

“I was behind her while we were queuing to get onto the plane and she was very polite!”

“She’s hardly a child! She’s looks like she’s 18!”

“Miss, I do apologise for my daughter’s behaviour but yours was also very unprofessional.” Jan called after the hostess, “Lily really we haven’t gone anywhere and your making trouble!!” Her mother unbuckled her seat to see if she could clear up the mishap with the staff. Her father however turned around to Lily who had started singing, "I wish that I was 18, to do all the things you read in a magazine." Her father had a smug grin across his face, “That has to be the best thing that has ever happened on a flight before – I didn’t know you had it in you! Here, how many nuggets have you got? It’s like a never ending box of goodness!” 

“Well father – good girls are bad girls that haven’t been caught. And this is a 24 nugget share box, which I’m not sharing.” Lily replied nestling into her seat as her mother returned with a disapproving but slightly amused face just as the captain’s voice came through on the speakers.

‘This is your Captain speaking. After a slight delay we will now be taking off for the warm lands of Australia.’

***

After a long and movie filled flight Lily was ready to get her feet back onto the ground where they belong. Her parents had moved several hours ago to vacant rows to lie down and sleep before they had to take the long drive from the airport to their new home. 

‘Hello folks. We shall be arriving at the airport in just over an hour. Temperatures are reaching 20ᵒ and the skies are clear. We hope you have had an enjoyable flight and hope to see you aboard in the near future.’

“I don’t think they’ll welcome you back on with open arms.” A boy with cooper brown hair had appeared beside Lily in the vacant seats.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH when? How? What? How long have you been sitting there for??” Lily tried to sit up properly nearly slipping the remaining nuggets on the floor.

“Haha that is why you are supposed to sit properly on a plane.” He patted the fastened buckle that was around his waist, “Don’t worry I have only been sitting here for ten minutes.” He had a distinct LA accent with a hint of Australian, implying that the boy lived in Oz and perfectly tanned skin. 

“I can sit however the hell I want the seat belt sign isn’t on.” She pointed towards the roof, to which the boy raised his eyebrow causing Lily to look up at the glowing red seat belt sign.

"Okay well maybe I can’t sit the way I want and can I help you with something....?"

"I just wanted to say I was impressed with the drama between you and airhostess."

"Well you are welcome random stranger I have never met before that I have made this an enjoyable flight for you."

"My names Manson, not Random Stranger."

"Lily." Extending her right arm towards Manson, and bring her water bottle up to her lips with her left.

"Can I have your number?" At this point Lily had just taken a drink of her water and had to stop herself spitting it all over Manson.

"Wait what?!"

"I want your number. And you can’t tell me you’re only visiting as I heard your parents talking earlier, and you are moving to Australia to live - which is where I live." He shrugged his shoulders like it was a typical thing to hit on girls on an airplane, which was due to land in less than half an hour. 

"Em okay you can have my number," a smile started to spread across Manson's face, "but only because I know no one and have no friends at the moment."

As Lily reached down for her phone from inside her bag, she straightened up and turned to Manson, "Australia is a big place how do you know we're going to be living in the same vicinity?"

"Well eh I don’t...I hadn't thought of that."
"Okay, so where do you live?"

"In Sydney itself! Hence why I’m on this flight."

"Sorry to disappoint but I'll be living in the Melbourne area."

"Ah well that is very inconvenient.....how about you give me your number so any time you’re in Sydney call me up and I can show you around?"

"That would be great, thanks Manson." 

"Anything for a pretty girl."

Feeling her face grow warm Lily turned her head and rummaged for her bag until she felt her face cool down. Handing her phone over to Manson she glanced out the window to the now approaching ground.

After Manson returned Lily’s phone, her attention was now completely focused on the ground. The long flight had proved be very uncomfortable and meant that no sleep was achievable, so the 9 hour drive to their new home would hopefully be full of sleep and not car sickness.

With a bump and a decrease of speed Lily had finally made the final flight to Sydney. 

Gathering all the family belongings, Lily quickly descended the steps into the warm air and jumped the last two steps; unfortunately Lily managed to jump into the path of the blonde airhostess who didn't seem happy to see her again and quickly walked the other way. Once inside the airport beside her parents Lily immediately connected to the Wi-Fi and messaged Charles, 'I think you’re really gonna like it here.'