Altitude ~Liam Payne AU~

Chapter 38

~Day 27~

It had been a full week since our first interview and the amount of support Liam and I had received was overwhelming. People from all across Britain were calling on the RAF to take a second look at our cases hailing us as heroes. We did 5 more interviews after the first one, each time being asked about how we were able to survive on the island. It was a major understatement to say I was shocked at how much support we were getting. I had only thought that by reaching out to a few news stations we could get our pictures in the media a bit more. I had fully underestimated just how involved the general public was in our story and how excited they were to see us alive and well.

Due to the sheer amount of publicity Liam and I stayed at home a lot more. James and Henry had just started back in school so I was helping them with their schoolwork to stay occupied. Liam and I had seen each other nearly every day though for the interviews so we were keeping in touch.

It was now about 12 in the afternoon, Liam and I had been asked to speak at the elementary school we both went to as kids. Liam was super excited at the opportunity and was on his way to pick me up. I had found my old curling iron earlier in the morning so I decided to try it out, being the first time I had curled my hair in probably an entire year. I put on my usual makeup and skinny jeans with a nice blouse. I had spent so much time getting ready I had forgotten to eat lunch. Realizing Liam would be here any minute I snatched my purse off my dresser and ran to the kitchen to make something quick to eat. I popped a bagel in the toaster and found some peanut butter in the cabinet. I walked out to grab my coat and as I was putting it on I heard a knock at the door. I quickly spread the peanut butter on the bagel and ran to the front door opening it as I was taking a bite.

"Sorry! I forgot to eat lunch," I said still trying to chew the bite I had just taken with my hand in front of my mouth to cover up for my bad manners. Liam just looked at me with raised eyebrows and his mouth in an 'o' shape. I cocked an eyebrow at him slinging my purse over my shoulder as I shut the door behind me.

"You look amazing," he said reaching out to touch my curled hair. I blushed, realizing he had never seen my hair any other way besides its natural straight style.

"Thank you," I replied with a smile as we brushed shoulders and walked down the steps. As per usual, he walked over to my side of his car and opened the door for me before getting in on his side. "Are you excited to see these kids?" I asked before taking another bite of my bagel.

"Yeah I am, I would've been so excited to see a soldier when I was a kid," but as he said that I could see his face fall making me furrow my eyebrows. "Well I guess we're not soldiers anymore."

"I've thought about that too," I confided in him, realizing I felt an empty hole ever since being discharged. I basically had nothing to my name now. "But, they wanted us to come in and talk about our fight against adversity not sell the RAF." Liam nodded his head in agreement as he began to pull out of my driveway.

We had to drive around 45 minutes to get back to our old elementary school. Upon pulling into the parking lot I was shocked at how it looked like it hadn't changed a bit since I had left. There were kids around the side playing out on the playground for recess making me smile. I loved recess. We got out of the car and walked up to the front of the building, Liam held the door open for me as I walked into the front office. We were greeted by the front desk lady as she had us sign in as visitors. We were each given lanyards and guided down the hallway to the Year 2 classroom. We knocked on the door as a woman with reddish-blonde hair greeted us.

"Ah Cameron and Liam! Thank you so much for coming to speak today we are so excited to have you here!" She said ushering us into the room. The children in the classroom were about 6 or 7 and were scattered all around the room. "Alright students let's please come to the center of the room our guests are here!" She called to her students as they came up to the front of the room and sat on the floor. She directed Liam and I to two chairs she had placed in the front and motioned us to sit. Next thing I knew we were surrounded by 20 young primary students. "Alright class, now as you know we have Liam and Cameron here today to speak about their experience as soldiers in the Royal Air Force." Immediately, all the children said hello to us looking at us with wide interested eyes.