chapter five
Beep!
Beep! Beep!
“This
alarm clock is getting on my nerves,” I said to myself as I hit the clock.
I took a
shower and fixed myself up. Wearing cuffed jeans with a white tank top, covered
by a black leather jacket, I walked slowly down the stairs. Carrying the two
huge suitcases down the stairs, I notice the shuttle had arrived. Erik soon came
barging in. I could see he looked up at me on top of the stairs as he entered
the kitchen. I was on the last step on the staircase when he grabbed the two
suitcases from out of my hands and carried them out to the shuttle.
I went
back up to get the two duffel bags. I put a silver JanSport backpack on along
with a black baseball cap that read “D.Q.”. Remembering the day I received
that hat brought back more memories. My friends custom made that hat in honor
for my dancing achievements I’ve done in the past. The letters “D.Q.”,
which was in orange thread, stood for “Dancing Queen.” Putting it on
backwards, I picked my bags up and headed towards the door.
It was
nearly 9:00 a.m. when the shuttle started to honk its horn. I headed down stairs
where my boots were waiting for my feet. Sticking my feet into each boot, Erik
walked by and grabbed the two duffel bags. I headed to the front door and then
realized I forgot my most priceless possession: my picture frame underneath my
pillow. I ran back up stairs and into my bedroom. I walked towards my bed and
reached underneath the pillow. As I pulled it out, I looked at it for a moment
and stick it into my backpack.
Running
back downstairs, I walked into the kitchen to get a bottle of water and grabbed
my W.W.J.D. lanyard and headed towards the front door again. As I reached from
behind me to close the door, I took one look back into the living room and
sighed. Locking the door, I walked to the driveway. Parked outside the gate was
a blue shuttle. Inside sat the driver in the driver’s seat (duh) and in front
was passenger seat was Erik. I slid open the back door and walked in. Taking one
strap of my backpack off, I sat down and slid the door closed. The shuttle
started and I looked back at the house that I’ve lived in for the past eight
years.
*airport*
The
shuttled parked in front of the entrance of the airport and helped us carry our
luggage to a nearby luggage cart. Still, no words were spoken to each other. It
was 9:45 a.m. as we entered the airport. Both of us lined up to our luggage onto
the jet. After about 20 minutes in line, we reached the desk. I headed to the
nearby souvenir store to buy a magazine of some sort, as my brother followed
from behind.
It was
less than 30 minutes until the plane headed off the concrete surface. They soon
let passengers take their seats so Erik and I headed to the ticket line. With no
words, Erik handed me a first class ticket and we enter the hallway to the jet
soon after that. The stewardess escorted us to our seats. I took the seat next
to the window as my brother took the seat next to mine. Throughout the entire
trip, all I did was stare outside of the window as my head leaned on my left
arm, which was held up by my armrest. The stewardess announced that it would be
less than 30 minutes ‘til we arrived in Florida when Erik tried to start a
conversation.
With my
head turned away from him, he said, “The neighbors next door and a couple of
their friends will be picking us up. They’re really great guys but they’ll
never leave the house. The two guestrooms upstairs and the three downstairs are
their personal rooms now. So I’m warning you.” Soon followed a laugh, but
nothing came out of my mouth but air.
The plane
landed and we headed out of the plane. Waiting patiently for the luggage belt to
bring our luggage to us, Erik continued, “Hey, did you know the guys are in a
singing group. The group is named *NSYNC.” Waiting for me to turn my head to
him and say “Really??” he continued again, “Isn’t that cool?!” The
luggage came and I started packing them on the cart without answering Erik.