6)

Faye

“Morning.” Chiara greets and hands me a coffee.

“Thanks.” I sip the seriously cup. “God that’s good.”

“Morning Ladies.” Nick saunters over and rests in arm around Chiara’s shoulders.

“Morning, Nick.” She says sweetly with a smile.

“Are we ready for departure?” He says loudly.

“Shhhhhhhhhhh.” I close my eyes and wrap both hands around the warm coffee cup. “It’s too early for excitement.”

“She’s not a morning person.” Chiara says. I open my eyes to see her giggling.

“Morning everyone.” Aidan says and he walks towards us with his arm around Danika’s waist. Jared, Ben and a girl whose name I don’t know follow closely behind, laughing. I love the sound of Jared’s laugh. His laugh alone makes me not hate this morning as much. It even makes me smile.

“Morning Faye.” Jared smiles at me.

“Morning.” I smirk at him while sipping my coffee. He was so cute last night when I was running my fingers through his hair.

“Faye, this is Asterin. She’s gonna join our group for the trip so we’re an even group of 8.” Ben introduces.

I reach my hand out to shake hers. “Hi Asterin. I’m Faye. It’s nice to meet you.”

“You too.” She says with a mega watt smile. She’s so cute, like a little doll.

“Ready to board?” Aidan asks and we all follow him and Danika through security and onto the plane.

I walk with Jared at the back of the group. As we enter the plane the air hostess stops me.

“Miss Hanning. Your ticket has been upgraded to first class.” She says sweetly.

“It has?” I say quizzically.

“Yes. Yours and one friends.” She looks to Jared and back at me. “Curtesy of Mr Romano.”

I let out an exasperated breathy chuckle. Dear God Alessio. I turn to Jared.

“Wanna fly first class?” I smile widely with a chuckle.

“Hell yes!” He smiles back.

We follow the air hostess through the cabins and into first class. As I walk past Chiara she looks up at me with big eyes. I shrug and give her a look back.

We sit in the comfy big chairs.

“Miss Hanning.” The air hostess says quietly like she doesn’t want to disturb us. “Mr Romano wanted you to have this.” She hands me an envelope.

“Thank you.” I take the letter and tear the top off.

Dearest Pixie

I can’t wait to see you. I know how much you hate flying so there’s sedatives in the envelope. Have anything you want, on me. The air hostess knows. I hope you and my purchase have a wonderful flight.

Love Alessio

I peek into the envelope and see the syringe.

“Excuse me a moment.” I say to Jared and head to the bathroom to take the sedative.

When I sit back in my seat the sedative kicks in. I take a deep breathe.

“You okay?” Jared asks and lays a hand on my arm. His hand always left a warmth on my skin.

“I’m wonderful.” I say half dazed. “You can have whatever you want. It’s all paid for.”

His eyes widen. “Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

“Who is Mr Romano?” Jared asks with a mixture of curiosity and anger.

“A very, very old friend.”

“Why did he do this?”

“I have something he wants. That, and he’s always trying to flatter me into my former profession.”

“Former profession?” He asks. The air hostess comes back at that moment. I hand her the envelope.

“Is everything to your liking Miss Hanning?” She asks sweetly.

“Yes.” I smile back. “Everything is wondrous.”

She nods and heads to do the safety demonstration.

I grab the headphones playing my rock music playlist. Making the chair flat and tilted so my feet are higher than my head, I close my eyes and enjoy the music.

_______________________________

The flight takes a few hours but soon enough we land. By the time we’ve landed, the sedative has worn off and I’m ready to get off the plane.

Chiara links her arm through mine and pesters me with questions, most of which I laugh off.

“Well next time, I’m coming with you. I’ll be a hell of a lot more fun than Jared.” She pulls her tongue and him.

“To be fair, I was the one who wasn’t much fun.” I say to her.

“I highly doubt that.”

“No truly. I hate flying so I wasn’t very chatty.” Jared had watched me carefully the entire flight but never once forced me out of my comfort bubble.

“But now we’re in New York!” Chiara says. I laugh at her as we all head to grab our bags.

“Here.” Jared says and picks my bag up.

“Thank you.” I smile at him. He gives me a Colgate smile back.

Seems Chiara tricked Nick into carrying hers and the two of us walk at the head of the group arm in arm and laughing to the hotel.

“Photo.” She shouts. We stand in front of our hotel and take a selfie with silly faces. Then we get one of the other people in our grade to take a photo of the whole group. Everyone gets the bags and heads inside. I grab Jared before he can pick up the bags.

“Want a photo?”

“Sure.”

I hold my phone out and squish my cheek to his and scrunch my nose with a smile.

“This is cute.” His smile makes the whole photo. I then pick up both our bags. “I think I owe you one.”

We head inside. Everyone is getting their room keys. Chiara runs towards me.

“I got the best room.” She says.

“As long as it has an amazing view.”

“Of course it does.” She rolls her eyes like that was obvious.

“Jared, looks like it’s you and me.” Nick says.

“Cool.”

“Let’s go settle in.” Aidan winks at Danika who rolls her eyes but follows him into the elevator.

“Everyone be down here in 30minutes.” Mrs Woods shouts before everyone heads into their rooms.

The rest of us head up once the mad elevator rush is over.

“This room is stunning.” Chiara says. She drops her bags on the floor and throws the balcony doors open.

“Isn’t it just stunning.” I head into the bathroom. It has a massive bathtub with a view of the city. I will definitely be soaking in there before we leave.

Chiara and I unpack quickly so we can chill on the beds with their pristine white sheets.

“There’s nothing you can’t do now you’re in New York.” I sing while looking over at Chiara.

“These streets will make you feel brand new.” She joins in.

“Big lights will inspire you.” We both stand and start dancing on our beds.

“Let’s hear it for New York!” We shout at the top of our lungs. “New York, New York, New York.”

We both flop back into our beds laughing. I haven’t felt this happy in a long time. I’ve never had a friend like this. I know we haven’t know each other long but I feel so comfortable around her, even if I can’t tell her everything.

“You ready to go down?” She asks.

“Yup.”

We head into the lobby where the guys are waiting.

“Where’s Danika and Astrid?” I ask Aidan.

“Coming now.” He says with a smile.

“Okay.” Mrs Wood claps to get our attention.

“This is the pairing. Please make sure to stick to your partners and all partners stay in your groups.” She processes to read off the pairs in the groups. Lucky me, I’m Aidan’s pair and were in a group with Ben and Astrid.

Chiara and Ben are paired in a different group.

Danika is paired with Aidan’s friend, Dylan, in another group.

And Jared is paired with a girl called Daisy in another group. She basically throws herself at him and this burning fire in the base of my chest whispers to kill her. Kill her and fuck him. Whoa! Where did that come from? We’re not even dating. I’m not allowed to be jealous. But I am. Like the slimy green eyes monster that takes its claws down people’s senses.