Chapter 2

Second chapter

Airports are so foreign to me these days. They’ve renovated it I see. As I sit on one of the benches with Zack, waiting for Mum and V to check in, I notice we aren’t the only family heading out of town. Demi and her mum are walking through the terminal towards the currency exchange booth. I can’t help but feel sympathetic for Demi. She appears to be quite schizophrenic, glancing nervously from side to side and muttering to herself. I turn to Zack playing Mario Kart.

“Hey I’ll be right back.” No acknowledgement whatsoever so I sigh and walk over to Demi.

As I get closer, my nose starts to twitch. Something smells foul. I notice the clerks nose is scrunched as well.

“Hi Demi.” Her shoulders go rigged and she reluctantly turns around. Her eyes are empty and grey, but they show signs of fear.

“H-i… Ma-t-i…” There’s an extreme stutter in her voice. Her mum seemed to be having an argument with the clerk and takes no notice of us.

“So where are you guys heading off to...?”

“Norway. Why? Where are you going? Are you coming too? Are you following us? Are you following me? Are you planning to murder me?” Her eyes widen and her fists clench. I start to realise that this was a bad idea.

“Uh just Spain… I’m sorry I frightened you?” I notice that her skin is pale and dry, the nails on her fingers are dirty and grubby and her black dyed hair is extremely unwashed and oily. That must be the cause of the smell. Her mum walked over to us. She looks at us both.

“Is something wrong?”

“No I was just leaving…” I slowly back away before Demi starts going into a fit and I break out into a run. Her condition has obviously worsened. Those counselling sessions haven’t been working out as planned. I hope Jas knows what she has done…

Mum and V have finished and are waiting for me with Zack when I return. V is violently texting away; I’m scared those nails are going to crack the screen.

“Where have you been Matilda?” Mum glances up from her laptop, trying to squeeze in a bit of work before we go.

“Oh I just went to the toilet mum.” I lie but it seems to satisfy mum so I’ll leave it at that. She goes back to her work. I glance at the departure times. Our flight is boarding in half an hour. Really couldn’t be bothered starting that English essay Mr Smythe assigned me to finish before I came back so I reached into my pocket and flipped through my photos.

Posted a few old ones on instagram, made them look all indie to impress people. I was such an idiot back when I was in Year 7. There are so many ugly selfies of me that I thought we’re oh so cool that I posted on Facebook. It makes me laugh because I didn’t get any likes but I did get unfriended quite a lot! I just laugh out loud the whole time until my finger stops sliding. My heart stops for a second. There’s a photo of me and Jake on the first day of Year 7. Jas probably took it. We looked so happy and young. I looked so dorky in Veronique’s tight clothes and he looked so perfect (for a year 7) in his polo and jeans. My finger hovers of the delete button until I press it. I don’t need reminders of what I used to have. Everything our friendship was or was going to be is over. Especially with Jas.

Goose bumps cover my arms as I shiver, and not just because it is winter. I almost jump as our flight is called over the speaker.

“Flight IA254 to Barcelona is now boarding. All passengers please make their way to gate 7C.”

We start gathering up our things and head towards the gate. Veronique stops quickly at Duty Free to check out the clothes but comes back out quickly and complains that the stock is so 2 years ago. I question why the hallways are so long and why there are just random escalators that just pop up on the ground. Does it make it easier to walk? It definitely doesn’t make it faster…

The flight attendants at the gate are scanning everyone’s tickets. They’re so beautiful and graceful in their red coats and skirts. I’m in awe. They’re make-up and hairs are absolutely perfect. They look stunning; no wonder so many guys went numb when it was their turn at the desk.

We are greeted into the plane and find our seats. Economy of course. I hate being all the way at the back of the plane. It’s always so noisy because that’s where the flight attendants go to gossip. But I can never fall asleep on planes anyway. I’m too paranoid something’s going to happen. I used to be extremely afraid of flying; it always seemed that the night before we’d go away, a marathon of Air crash investigation seemed to be on TV. But after all the flights I’ve been on, I’m not so scared that I jump if the plane moves out of flight pattern slightly.

We wait for everyone to find their seats. The male flight attendant with the pony tail and the goatee is checking out all the ladies asses as they walk by. Trust Spanish men to do that. Mum tsk tsk’s at him and he realises that his discreet attempt has been discovered.

The usual routine was followed but many people ignored the safety procedures seeing as we all know them off by heart. My heart started to pound faster as the engines were turned on and the motors begin to turn. Everyone looked so calm, how can you look so cool in a situation like this? The plane turned onto the runway. I am re assured in this flight because the plane has 4 engines. On the corner of my eyes I noticed V’s hands clenching her arm rests in distress; this lightened my mood a little. The plane is picking up speed on the run way until I can’t hear the wheels anymore, which must mean that we have begun our ascend into the clouds. My dad always said that the ascend is the most dangerous part because the plane can’t lose speed as it will fall. Bad idea. Do not think about dad. No.

Rain was pounding against the wings and it was like a wave flew over us. I glanced below, down onto the city. I won’t miss it. I hate that place. I laughed at the thought of all my classmates having to be stuck in the cold and rainy weather while I was soaking up the sun somewhere on the Spanish coast. I looked back at it for the final time remembering that I’ll have to come back sooner or later, but I’d just have to live in the moment. I subconsciously winked at myself. Ok I am strange. I laid my head back as I put my headphones on and zoned out.

Author's Note

ignore spelling and grammar.