Chapter 1: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
"Grab the purple bag in the bedroom," I yelled to my sister on my way up the stairs in my apartment. "Jantel is out front to take us to the airport." I hopped across the living room, attempting to put my shoe on as I grabbed my purse and scanned the room for anything else I could have forgotten.
"Oh and don't forget your passport! Okay Beth?" Hearing no response, I ran to my bedroom only to find it empty. "Beth?" I called to the hallway. Still no answer. I ran through my apartment, not finding my younger sister, but picking up many almost forgotten essentials: headphones, socks, and my kindle charger.
"BETH!" I yelled one more time but the apartment remains empty. I sighed, and headed towards the door to see if she was outside.
"Sunday Morning Rain is falling. Steal some covers, share some…" The sound of my ringtone was muffled by the millions of things in my purse. I rummaged through it quickly to answer the call. "Hello?"
"Maggie! Where are you? We are sitting in the car waiting for you! Our flight leaves in 3 hours! And it takes…" my sister continued to scold my lateness before I interrupted her.
"I'm sorry! I thought you were inside! I've been calling your name for ages!" Blushing, I rushed out my apartment door and down the spiral staircase. I pushed open the building door and the humid, summer heat enveloped my body. I rushed to Janel's white car and slid into the backseat. I was instantly greeted by loud music and squealing.
"GIRLS' TRIP!" Jantel squealed. I squealed back to my best friend and grabbed my sister's shoulder. We all squealed again as Jantel pulled away from my Main Street apartment, almost hitting a grey mini-van. "Oops." She shrugged and sheepishly waved at the angry soccer mom she almost hit.
A laugh escaped my lips as I laid back against the cool leather seat. I checked my purse one last time, making sure I had my passport, cellphone, and wallet. In other words, all the essentials. Once I saw they are all there I got comfortable for the hour ride to the airport. Jantel and Beth argued in the front seat about who should be in control of the radio.
"Chris Brown!" Jantel demanded. "I am driving, and I need his sexy voice to keep me calm and focused on the road."
"Focused on the road? We all know you'll be daydreaming about his body and get all into the music. We'll end up in a ditch before we are out of town!" Beth said, furrowing her brow in Jantel's direction.
"My cars, my rules." Jantel said with a smirk.
"My graduation trip, my rules! I only get one graduation trip in my life, so I'm picking the music." Beth connected her phone to the radio and the sultry voice of Frank Sinatra filled the car.
"Fine." Jantel rolled her eyes and sighed, but didn't argue anymore. I chuckled to myself, shaking my head at the two girls in front of me. Even though their current argument didn't show it, I was so glad that my best friend and little sister got along as well as they did.
My little sister Beth was 4 years younger than me, so it wasn't expected that we would share too many common acquaintances. When we were younger, however, my best friend had stayed with us part time when her mom had to work late nights. Jantel became like our 3rd sister. As we had grown older we had found different interests, but had always stayed close. Jantel and I both went to school to become Elementary School teachers and had graduated a year ago. We were lucky enough to get jobs at the same school and both taught 5th grade. Beth, on the other hand, had no clue what she wanted to do with her life except that she didn't want to work with children. Jantel and Beth were free-spirited and artistic, while I was more focused on keeping things organized and structured. Even with all our differences, we were as close as three girls could be.
"All that bullshit's for the birds. You ain't nothin but a vulture." Suddenly, I was jarred from my trip down memory lane by a very dramatic change of music.
"Man, Frank really changed his sound in the last few years of his career." I retorted from the backseat. Beth snorted, chuckling to herself.
"You have Chris Brown on your iPhone? After all these years, I have finally rubbed off on you! Oh, thank the Lord!" Jantel exclaimed, throwing a hand in the air in celebration.
"Keep your hands on the wheel! I knew Maggie should have drove!" Beth exclaimed, hitting Jantel's arm gently.
"You will be fine. See, both hands on the wheel. 10 and 2, baby!" Jantel said.
"You both are ridiculous." Leaning forward, I looked at them both. "Why am I going overseas with either of you?"
"Who else would provide you with this much entertainment? You can thank us later." Beth said, smirking over her shoulder.
Giggling and shaking my head at her, I relaxed into my seat. We were finally on our way. I had been planning this for over two years. I was definitely joking about doubting this trip. I knew that when my little sister graduated college I wanted to make a big deal about it. We had always talked about visiting Europe together, and I felt that there was no better reason to do so than celebrating her graduation.
When my best friend of 23 years heard of this scheduled vacation, she made it clear that there was no way we were going without her. So, the trip was planned, thought through, and organized for the past year (by me, of course) and it was finally time for it to happen.
I took a deep breath. It was time to unwind. I had 10 days of Paris, London, sister, best friend, and no work. I couldn't think of a better start to my summer break.