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"Mindy, Cindy, Lindy, and Wendy are in row thirty-one, seats A, B, C, and D," Mrs. Peters said, handing out the boarding passes to the six students. "Conner, Bree, you are in row thirty-two, seats A and B."
Bree took her boarding pass, with a hint of a smile on her face-- she was going to sit next to Conner for the next 10 hours. This was going to be fun.
The other four girls, after glaring at Conner, began high fiving. The inseparable group of best friends would be sitting next to each other, after all. Not that Bree cared that much, she was more focused on her seating arrangement.
"Well there, Conner," Bree grinned, putting her bracelet-covered arm around him, "Seems like we're stuck together for half of the day."
"Uhh, y-yeah, that sounds fun," he stuttered turning bright red. It looked like he was going to combust any moment.
Bree smirked, removing her hand. Everyone walked over to the check-in counter with Mrs. Peters, placing their bags on the stand to weigh them. Thankfully, all of their luggage was in the acceptable weight-range, and they were shortly loaded on the conveyor belt, slowly disappearing into a silvery-grey metal tunnel. Eventually, the group of seven made their way through security, and at the gate, where they rested for an hour, before their flight was scheduled to depart
She spent that time looking around the area near the gate, occasionally browsing through a bunch of stores, though she didn't find much that interested her. Glancing at her watch, she realized it was close to their boarding time. Grabbing a small coffee, she returned to the gate.
Entering the plane, she was thankful she was wearing her purple beanie, which covered most of her head, though her bangs, dyed with streaks of pink and blue were sticking out. It was freezing in the plane.
Mrs. Peters separated from the group shortly after boarding, as her seat was in first class, while the others were in economy. Bree couldn't even be mad: she'd been teaching for years, no wonder she wanted at least a few hours away from the students and their drama. The six moved further back in the plane, settling in their respective rows and seats. Sitting in seat A, Conner got the window seat, while Bree got the aisle. It appeared that their row had less seats compared to the others, as there was a bathroom behind it.
"Are you enjoying the window seat?" Conner asked abruptly.
"You're sitting in the window seat," Bree pointed out, flicking her long, blond, hair off her shoulders.
"Ah...right...um, what I meant, was that do you want to sit in the window," Conner stammered, ears turning red. "I don't, I don't mind switching."
"That's nice of you, but I'm fine here," Bree smiled politely. "I'm planning on reading throughout the flight."
She pointed to her bag, which was filled to the brim with murder-mystery novels.
"So, Mrs. Peter said you like writing stories too," said Conner, slightly fidgeting with his fingers.
"Yeah, I mostly write short stories," said Bree. "I've actually read some of yours last year, when I was the teacher's assistant for Mrs. York."
Conner's looked completely dumbfounded. "You've...read, my stories?"
"Yeah, they're great. I really like The Curvy Tree and The Walking Fish."
Despite being a hard-core murder mystery reader, there was something about Conner's stories that intrigued her. His stories had a unique, creative, and most importantly, there was something about them which made the reader feel as if they were living in it--almost as if it were real. That charm would surely draw anyone in into his stories.
"So, what stories do you write?"
"I just finished one called Cemetery of The Undead. I think that's rather self-explanatory."
"Ah, I see. That's cool," Conner began rambling. "You know, I was thinking of changing my genre. Thought it'd be fun to write something darker, for a change. Werewolves, vampires...no love triangles though, I know everyone hates those--"
"Conner, I'm terribly sorry to interrupt you. I actually meant to ask you this earlier, but..." Bree took in a breath, decided to get straight to the point. "Do you like...have a crush on me, or something?"
She carefully analyzed Conner's face, as it became an unnatural shade of read.
"Wha-what, of course not!" Conner barely got the words out, sputtering madly. "Why would you even, why would you even think that."
"You always turn bright red around me. Oh, and not to mention the constant rambling. I don't mind, of course, but..." Bree trailed off.
"Oh, that," Conner said, letting out an obviously fake laugh. "That's my sodium allergy. It causes me to go bright red and ramble."
To say that his statement was the most outlandish lie of the century, would be an understatement. Being an avid murder mystery reader, Bree was quite confident that she knew of every gruesome death or allergy. She had never heard of a sodium one. Either way, Conner's reaction proved her theory. He did have a crush on her.
"Right..." Bree said, unconvinced. "I figured I should ask because we're sitting next to each other for like the next 12 hours."
"I'm glad you felt comfortable enough asking me," said Conner, nervously. "Just imagine how weird this flight would've been, sitting for hours, one of us crushing on the other...glad that's not the case."
Bree let out a sigh, deciding to drop the topic, sensing his embarrassment. In all honesty, she also had feelings for him. It'd started the previous year, when the two were in the same Creative Writing class. They'd been paired together for a project. She'd somewhat known Conner beforehand, especially his class-clown reputation, so she wasn't expecting him to do much. However, as they began to work together for the project, she realized she was dead wrong about him. She had gone to his house after school for planning and had discovered that he was a kind and hard-working person, who still cracked the most awful jokes, which made her laugh. By the end of that week, it was safe to say that she had a crush.
A short while later, the plane rolled out on the runway, going faster and faster, until it shot out, into the sky. Bree turned to her left, wanting to see the view from above, but she was distracted by Conner, whose eyes were glued to the window, utterly fascinated and amazed by what he saw. She couldn't help but smile, watching Conner fixate on the glimmering skyline below, which was slowly becoming faded as they began flying into a layer of clouds. He looked adorable.
"First time flying?" Bree asked.
"Not on a plane," he blurted out. Sensing Bree's confused stare, he added on. "I've...um...went ballooning, before. It's incredible, don't you think? How technology has come so far. It's almost like magic!"
Bree smiled, remembering a quote she had stumbled across. "Arthur C. Clarke once said that magic is a science we don't understand yet," she quoted.
"Not always," Conner mumbled under his breath, hiding his smile.
"Huh? What did you say?"
"Nothing. That's a great quote."
"So, tell me, where'd you go ballooning?" Bree asked, eyes narrowing.
"In my grandmothers...state. With my sister," he chuckled awkwardly. "It's a long story."
"Seems like you're having a bunch of first experiences," Bree said, turning back to her book. She put her earbuds in and continued reading.
Or well, trying, to read.
There was something off about Conner, but she couldn't pinpoint what, exactly. Letting out a sigh, she decided to push out her thoughts, and focus on her book. There was always a chance that she was imagining things. Perhaps she read too many mysteries for her own good.
An hour later of so (she honestly lost track of time), she noticed Conner get up from her seat and go to the bathroom. That was probably the most normal thing he'd done so far. What wasn't normal, was the Book Huggers-- Mindi, Lindy, Cindy, and Wendy. From the start of the trip, the four had been acting weird, constantly glaring at Conner whenever he spoke. Even more abnormal, as Conner went into the bathroom, the four rose from their seats, impatiently waiting by the door. Already sensing a commotion, Bree removed one earbud to hear what was going on.
Her instincts were right.
The moment Conner stepped out, the four girls ambushed him, pestering him with questions about his sister. Ah, Alex, his twin sister. That was the one odd thing which Bree was struggling to pin-point. As the Book Huggers were saying, Alex was acting strange last year, often whispering to books in the library, saying things like 'take me back'.
"Why would she do that, Conner?" Cindy snapped, the braces in her mouth gleaming. "Alex was the smartest kid in the school! Whispering to books is a bit out of character for her, don't you think."
The red head had a point. Alex was always top of class, surely, she knew that books were inanimate objects that couldn't talk. Personally, Bree blamed her strange behavior on the bullying. Though she had shared only one class with her, she was well-aware of the fact that Alex had no friends, as many people hated her for being so smart. Maybe, the loneliness made her turn to books for comfort.
"So, what, she hugged books?" Conner said, obviously panicking. "She's free to do whatever she wants to."
"We think she was talking to someone!" Mindy snapped. Although she was shorter than Conner (and everyone in their grade), she was practically towering over him. "She was begging to be taken away, and guess what?"
Wendy, the shyest of the four nodded along, playing with her pin-straight black hair.
"She just left and disappeared!" Lindy glared, throwing her hands in the air.
"To Vermont! Or so you say," Cindy was glaring accusatorily at Conner.
Conner and the Book Huggers ended up arguing over what happened Alex. He claimed that she had gone to Vermont for an advanced education program. The others were spewing some nonsense about alien abductions, government agents, all the classics. Eventually, the four gave up and allowed Conner to return back to his seats. However, Bree had questions of her own.
"So, Alex lives in Vermont now?"
"Yeah, with my grandma."
"Vermont's pretty far," Bree stated, mentally making a rough estimate of the distance. "How'd you get there, if you've never flown before?"
Conner paused for a brief moment, stunned by the question. "By...uh...train. Yeah, by train!"
"Interesting," Bree muttered, "I see why they'd be suspicious."
She returned to her book, slightly eyeing Conner, the mystery she was invested in, for multiple reasons.
For the next few hours of the flight, Conner stayed quiet, not making any attempt at conversation. Bree was getting bored, despite having a stack of books. So, she'd decided to flirt a bit...hopefully, if she gave hints to Conner, he'd finally admit that he had a crush on her.
"Man, I'm getting tired. It must be night-time now," she yawned, gesturing towards the cabin ceiling, where the lights were now dimming.
"Yeah, we should try to sleep," Conner mumbled.
"Yeah. Good night," said Bree.
She closed her eyes and stayed still for a few moments, pretending that she was sleeping. After a couple of minutes passed, she gently rested her head on Conner's shoulder. He immediately froze and tensed up for a minute. Bree, noticing that, was beginning to worry. Maybe she had crossed a line. Maybe she should just wake up and apologize for falling asleep on him.
To her surprise, Conner relaxed a bit, letting his head rest on top of hers. "Sleep well," he muttered, placing an arm around her.
A few minutes later, Bree slightly opened her eyes to take a peek. Conner's eyes were closed; he appeared to be sleeping peacefully. Thank goodness for that. Bree was blushing furiously-- she was sure her face was redder than Conner's strawberry-blond hair. No one would really assume that Bree of all people would be a blusher, considering her calm and composed nature, but for goodness' sake, she was still a teenager.
Eventually, Bree drifted off to sleep. A few hours later, they were woken up by the landing announcement. They were now flying above German airspace. Realizing that they had fallen asleep on each other, Conner began apologizing, absolutely flustered.
"Conner, it's no big deal," Bree laughed. "I mean, I was the one who fell asleep on your shoulder. I should be apologizing."
"No, no, absolutely not," Conner looked appalled. "You don't need to apologize for anything; you can sleep on my shoulder whenever...I mean, I don't mean it like that, I'm saying that cause we're friends and--"
"Conner."
"Sorry, I'll stop rambling," he said, rubbing the back of his head. "Oh, by the way, since we're going to land soon, we can switch seats if you'd like. I saw the take-off, so you can see the landing, if you want to, of course."
"Sure," Bree shrugged, "Why not."
The two switched seats, ignoring the fact that the Book Huggers were eyeing them intensely, focusing on them like how a toddler would in front of a screen. Bree couldn't shake off the feeling that she'd soon become their target, somehow.
The plane landed smoothly, gliding on the runway soundlessly...well except for the engines, of course. They exited the plane, greeted by the warm sun, a fresh change from the ice-cold temperature of the plane. At the baggage terminal, they met up with Mrs. Peters, who seemed to have enjoyed the flight.
"Oh, I think I see my bag," Bree glanced towards a dark purple suitcase.
On cue, Conner rushed forwards and lifted it off the conveyor belt, handing it over to her. "Here you go," he smiled.
"Oh, thank you! You're quite the gentleman," Bree laughed.
"I--um... thanks, I mean, I was just trying to be nice," Conner stammered, looking like he was about to combust, just like earlier that day. He then ran towards the conveyor belt, grabbing his suitcase, before returning back, noticeably less red.
"Well, it seems that everyone's got their bags," Mrs. Peter glanced around. "Chop, chop, everyone, no wasting time here, let's go to the hotel."
A while later, they were at the hotel, marveling at the sight. While it certainly wasn't luxurious, it was still beautiful and well designed. They entered the elevator and went up to the 2nd floor, where their rooms were.
"Hey, Conner?" Bree called out, just before she was about to enter her room.
"Yeah?"
"I can't wait to spend more time with you during this drip!"
"I, same here," Conner smiled, blushing hard.
Bree laughed, closing the door, already excited for the rest of the trip.