Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
SOMETIMES YOU have to accept the fact that certain things will never go back to how they used to be. There marks a certain point in life where you cannot go back, you cannot change it, and no matter how hard you try, you cannot make it what it once was. Believe her, Lonnie has tried many times to try and get things back to normal. But there was too much missing, too much had changed and Lonnie was left with nothing but the memories of what once was. Before he had gone back in time to live a life with Peggy Carter, Steve had given Lonnie one last piece of advice. "Sometimes it's okay if the only thing you did today was breathe." And for those words, Lonnie was grateful. Those words gave her comfort knowing that for the time being it was okay if she was unable to try and fix things, if she was unable to fix herself.
Walking into the hotel they'd be staying at, Lonnie found it easy to forget about Paris. Sure she was bummed out about it, but if it was what they had to sacrifice to stay a few nights here, Lonnie would accept it. The places was set up very elegantly from the gold trimmed furniture to the marble tables and the extravagant plants potted around the room. Even a soft subtle tune was playing from the piano near corner of the huge room.
"Wow, this place is so classy." Betty said as she looked around in awe.
"Yeah, so why are we here?" One guy joked.
"Speak for yourself." Flash scoffed, a smile growing on his face as he looked around. "I'm home."
"I have never been in anything like this before." MJ said as she looked around. She kept her hands dug in her pockets and a straight face but Lonnie could see the small glimmer of excitement in her eyes.
"What can I say? The squeaky wheel gets the upgrade grease." Mr. Harrington joked. "Alright, everyone get settled, rest up because tonight, big surprise is Prague's annual Carnival of Lights."
"Yeah." One kid cheered.
"That should be fun." Lonnie said as she looked over to MJ.
"Well the good news is, we've all got our own rooms." Mr. Harrington said as he handed everyone keys.
"It's about time." Flash muttered as everyone broke into a small cheer.
"Everyone be ready in two hours!" Mr. Harrington called as the group of students slowly dispersed after grabbing their keys.
"Come on, I have the best idea for what to wear." Lonnie spoke excitedly as she practically dragged MJ towards the stairs to walk up to the rooms.
──────── ∘°❉°∘ ────────
The students all sat around a table in the lobby. Many of them wore glow sticks whether it be on their neck or on their head and sometimes both. Some of them even had glow stick glasses. Needless to say, they were all ready for the carnival. Even Lonnie who normal wasn't too excited about these things was very excited.
"Good news." Mr. Harrington smiled as he stared at the students before him. "We're going to the opera."
Lonnie couldn't help her shoulders from slumping at the words. "You're kidding me." Flash scoffed as they all broke out in a whine. The last thing Lonnie wanted to go to was the opera, especially when there was a huge, fun carnival happening right outside.
"Don't look at me." Mr. Dell defended.
"What happened to the carnival?" MJ asked.
"This is upgrade living guys." Mr. Harrington reassured.
"This sounds like such a downgrade." Lonnie muttered as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Oh, come on." Mr. Harrington tried to reason. "The tour company just gave us these tickets. For free! Do you have any idea how much opera tickets cost?"
"No." Flash bluntly answered. "Because none of us have ever wanted to go to the opera, ever."
"Like ever, ever." Lonnie agreed.
"Uh...I think this is gonna be a culturally enriching for us." Ned suddenly spoke, causing everyone, including Lonnie, to shoot him a look.
While Ned's sudden interest in the opera after being one of the people to utterly despised the idea was completely out of the blue, Lonnie figured it had something to do with the fact that Peter looked like a nervous wreck. His fingers were tapping on the armrest of the chair and his eyes frantically jumped around the room. Lonnie didn't know why Peter looked like that and honestly the hypothesis she was forming in her head seemed rather absurd since the touring company bought the tickets. But something in Lonnie's mind told her that Peter Parker had something to do with the sudden switch of the nightly schedule.
"Thank you, Ned." Mr. Harrington smiled as he pointed a finger at him. "Everyone, this is gonna be, maybe, the best four hours of our whole trip."
Lonnie's gears stopped spinning at the mention of the time stamp. Any thought that was running through her head was cut immediately as she stared at Mr. Harrington with wide eyes. "Four hours?" Everyone asked in unison.
"I fucking hate this trip." Lonnie muttered under her breath.
"Guys, I think this is gonna be really fun." Ned tried to reason with all of them. "Seriously."
"I've never wanted to kill myself more than I do right now." Lonnie grumbled as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Alright everyone get changed and we'll meet back here in fifteen minutes." Mr. Harrington announced.
──────── ∘°❉°∘ ────────
"I bet you're all happy I had you pick a nice outfit." Mr. Harrington yelled over the commotion of the people around them as they all walked through the carnival and towards the theater.
"Yeah, because we'd much rather go to a four hour opera instead of the biggest party in the world." Flash spat, sarcasm lacing his words.
"Again, don't look at me." Mr. Dell reminded.
"This is so stupid." MJ said as they all walked into the theater.
"Tell me about it." Lonnie said as they followed Mr. Harrington towards the seats.
"Oh look, we beat the rush." Mr. Harrington joked but he received no laughs. "Lucky for us, we got the best seats in the house."
"I'm going to the bathroom before this all starts." Lonnie said as she looked back in the direction of where they came from.
"Alright. I'll save you a seat."
In truth, Lonnie was going to go to the bathroom and then just walk back into the theater. When she first walked off she had no intention of actually leaving the building. That is until she noticed Peter Parker running out of the building carrying a black duffle bag Lonnie swore he didn't have before.
