p class="MsoPlainText"RACHEL/p
p class="MsoPlainText" /p
p class="MsoPlainText"I fizzed with excitement as the seat-belt sign flashed and the plane began its descent. I'd thought the novelty of travel had worn off long ago, but this time was different; I was going on student exchange on the Gold Coast, Australia!/p
p class="MsoPlainText" /p
p class="MsoPlainText"My parents had noticed that something was off after the Titan War – yeah, you heard right, they actually noticed me for once – and decided to send me on the Australian Exchange at Clarion Ladies, hoping it would take my mind off whatever it was that was upsetting me without them actually having to connect with me in any way, which was completely fine by me./p
p class="MsoPlainText" /p
p class="MsoPlainText"Unfortunately, I wasn't about to forget the horrors of the war. Almost everything I saw reminded me of the battle of Manhattan. Simply looking at the snoring granny beside me reminded me of how Morpheus enchanted all of the mortals of New York City into unconsciousness, and seeing the twin little girls sitting with their father in the row in front reminded me of Beckendorf and Silena and how they would never have children of their own./p
p class="MsoPlainText" /p
p class="MsoPlainText"I felt my eyes water as I thought of all those who had died, but I took a deep breath and swept away my tears. While I knew that I couldn't make myself forget all the terrible memories, I could at least try to enjoy my exchange, right?/p
p class="MsoPlainText" /p
p class="MsoPlainText"Before I knew it, the plane had touched down on the runway and stopped outside gate 23 of the Gold Coast airport, jolting me out of my thoughts. I stood and grabbed my carry-on luggage from the overhead locker, and stepped out into the aisle, following Miss Thompson, the tiny Clarion teacher who was overseeing the trip, out of the plane./p
p class="MsoPlainText" /p
p class="MsoPlainText"We grabbed our luggage and went over and stood over near the closest seating area. About a groups of people, who must have been host families, made their way over. We all proceeded to stand around awkwardly together and wait for the stragglers./p
p class="MsoPlainText" /p
p class="MsoPlainText"Miss Thompson gave a mildly cheesy speech about how grateful we all were, and then pretty soon us Clarion girls were being ushered in the direction of each of our host families./p
p class="MsoPlainText" /p
p class="MsoPlainText"Emma Gilbert was a year older than me, nearly dressed and grinning at me as she shook my proffered hand. I told myself firmly that no, I was most definitely not jealous of her straight, cooperative hair./p
p class="MsoPlainText" /p
p class="MsoPlainText"I was introduced to her mother and little brother (he must have been eleven or so) who has wandered off to go and admire the planes from the window./p
p class="MsoPlainText" /p
p class="MsoPlainText"I'm not sure quite what came over me, but one moment I was calmly staring out of the window with them all, but the next, I started to freak out as I saw a helicopter take off, panicking as I remembered what nearly happened the last time I was in one. If it wasn't for Annabeth.../p
p class="MsoPlainText" /p
p class="MsoPlainText""Rachel!" Emma exclaimed. "Are you okay?"/p
p class="MsoPlainText""I-uh … Jet-lag!" I mentally face-palmed – since when does jet-lag cause panic attacks? - Oh, how much easier my life would be if I was a child of Athena./p
p class="MsoPlainText" /p
p class="MsoPlainText""Right… Well, we better get home then," Emma said./p
p class="MsoPlainText" /p
p class="MsoPlainText""Sounds like a great idea," I agreed. I highly doubted that she actually believed my excuse, but I was relieved and grateful that she chose to let the matter drop./p
p class="MsoPlainText" /p
p class="MsoPlainText""Come on Mum, Elliot, let's go home. Rachel's exhausted," Emma told her mum and brother. Pretty soon we were heading away from the airport and to the Gilberts' house./p
p class="MsoPlainText" /p
p class="MsoPlainText"I fizzed with excitement as the seat-belt sign flashed and the plane began its descent. I'd thought the novelty of travel had worn off long ago, but this time was different; I was going on student exchange on the Gold Coast, Australia!/p
p class="MsoPlainText" /p
p class="MsoPlainText"My parents had noticed that something was off after the Titan War – yeah, you heard right, they actually noticed me for once – and decided to send me on the Australian Exchange at Clarion Ladies, hoping it would take my mind off whatever it was that was upsetting me without them actually having to connect with me in any way, which was completely fine by me./p
p class="MsoPlainText" /p
p class="MsoPlainText"Unfortunately, I wasn't about to forget the horrors of the war. Almost everything I saw reminded me of the battle of Manhattan. Simply looking at the snoring granny beside me reminded me of how Morpheus enchanted all of the mortals of New York City into unconsciousness, and seeing the twin little girls sitting with their father in the row in front reminded me of Beckendorf and Silena and how they would never have children of their own./p
p class="MsoPlainText" /p
p class="MsoPlainText"I felt my eyes water as I thought of all those who had died, but I took a deep breath and swept away my tears. While I knew that I couldn't make myself forget all the terrible memories, I could at least try to enjoy my exchange, right?/p
p class="MsoPlainText" /p
p class="MsoPlainText"Before I knew it, the plane had touched down on the runway and stopped outside gate 23 of the Gold Coast airport, jolting me out of my thoughts. I stood and grabbed my carry-on luggage from the overhead locker, and stepped out into the aisle, following Miss Thompson, the tiny Clarion teacher who was overseeing the trip, out of the plane./p
p class="MsoPlainText" /p
p class="MsoPlainText"We grabbed our luggage and went over and stood over near the closest seating area. About a groups of people, who must have been host families, made their way over. We all proceeded to stand around awkwardly together and wait for the stragglers./p
p class="MsoPlainText" /p
p class="MsoPlainText"Miss Thompson gave a mildly cheesy speech about how grateful we all were, and then pretty soon us Clarion girls were being ushered in the direction of each of our host families./p
p class="MsoPlainText" /p
p class="MsoPlainText"Emma Gilbert was a year older than me, nearly dressed and grinning at me as she shook my proffered hand. I told myself firmly that no, I was most definitely not jealous of her straight, cooperative hair./p
p class="MsoPlainText" /p
p class="MsoPlainText"I was introduced to her mother and little brother (he must have been eleven or so) who has wandered off to go and admire the planes from the window./p
p class="MsoPlainText" /p
p class="MsoPlainText"I'm not sure quite what came over me, but one moment I was calmly staring out of the window with them all, but the next, I started to freak out as I saw a helicopter take off, panicking as I remembered what nearly happened the last time I was in one. If it wasn't for Annabeth.../p
p class="MsoPlainText" /p
p class="MsoPlainText""Rachel!" Emma exclaimed. "Are you okay?"/p
p class="MsoPlainText""I-uh … Jet-lag!" I mentally face-palmed – since when does jet-lag cause panic attacks? - Oh, how much easier my life would be if I was a child of Athena./p
p class="MsoPlainText" /p
p class="MsoPlainText""Right… Well, we better get home then," Emma said./p
p class="MsoPlainText" /p
p class="MsoPlainText""Sounds like a great idea," I agreed. I highly doubted that she actually believed my excuse, but I was relieved and grateful that she chose to let the matter drop./p
p class="MsoPlainText" /p
p class="MsoPlainText""Come on Mum, Elliot, let's go home. Rachel's exhausted," Emma told her mum and brother. Pretty soon we were heading away from the airport and to the Gilberts' house./p