Nervous and excited for the prospects of the day, Marcus Kane straightened his nametag, flattened his crisply ironed cast member shirt and hopped on to the designated bus that took him inside the gates of the happiest place on Earth. Marcus had always been proud of his job, a self-proclaimed "born-leader" he was eager to start his new position as head cast member and begin training his new recruits that were to be arriving this morning. During most of his morning bus rides, he put in his headphones and sat quietly alone thinking about the gorgeous onsite medical officer Abby and coming up with plans to casually run into her. Unfortunately, he was still having trouble coming up with a plan that didn't involve him injuring himself on purpose. But today, he couldn't waste the brain power on coming up with risk-free scenarios to meet Abby, today's bus ride he had to go over his speech to give the new cast members. He needed to perfect the balance between promising a fun, team environment and cautioning the breaking of the extensive rules. He pulled out his notebook and pen from his briefcase and began scribbling some inspiring Disney quotes he was sure would wow the new recruits.
Clarke and Raven got off the plane from Vancouver, Canada and immediately began stripping off their hoodies and touques. "Oh my God, this heat is going to kill me!" Clarke said as she began to stuff her black and red hoodie into her backpack. "Well before you melt, princess, we should probably find the Disney cast shuttle. I do not want to be late for my first day!" countered Raven. Clarke and Raven had come from a very elite high school in Vancouver. The Canadian school had a longstanding relationship with the Disneyland cast member program. The top two students in junior year were offered the opportunity to enter their work-study program and gain employment experience that the school counselor explained would be invaluable on their college applications. Raven, was a diligent student and was working towards an Ivy League scholarship for engineering. Personally, she thought that this summer was going to be a waste of time. If it wasn't for the school counselor's hard sell she definitely would have been enrolled in summer school getting a head start on her senior subjects. Clarke, on the other hand, was not as diligent of a student. She was very bright and excelled at everything that she put her mind to. It just so happened that she didn't enjoy the conventional academic subjects. Fortunately for her, her previous semester was filled with her elective classes and her grades in Art, Physical Education, and Family Studies were near perfect qualifying her for this summer excursion. Unlike Raven, Clarke was very excited for the experience. Clarke, still struggling to zip up her now overflowing backpack, spotted the cast shuttle near the baggage claim. "Come on then," Clarke said pointing to the bus, "let's get to the shuttle 45 minutes early like you've written on our itinerary", Clarke teased Raven. Raven just rolled her eyes and tried to prepare herself for the long waste of a perfectly good summer.
The two girls made their way to the long gray bus with an oversized Goofy character on the side of it. The driver helped them pack their suitcases into the bottom of the bus and they made their way to the back and took seats beside each other. A handful of kids were already on the bus. Clarke could see in Raven's eyes that she was feeling justified for getting there early, and Clarke knowing Raven was nervous about this whole experience just let her have that one. Raven began furiously reading the orientation package that the driver had given them as Clarke was started looking around at the other kids that were on the bus. Clarke immediately made eye contact with a girl sitting two seats in front of her. She was so beautiful, Clarke thought to herself, hoping that Raven was too engrossed in her manual to notice her staring at this girl. The girl immediately broke the eye contact and began looking at the ground. Worried that she might of offended her in some way, Clarke introduced herself: "Hey, I'm Clarke and this is Raven. We're from Vancouver." The shy girl remained facing forward staring at the ground as her seat partner whipped around. "Hey, nice to meet you Clarke and Raven." Raven looked up from her manual for just a second offered a single wave and then returned to "Chapter 3. Dress Code." "I'm Lincoln and this is Lexa. We are from just outside of Seattle. We are part of the homeschooled program." Lexa. That's a nice name. Clarke and Lexa … Clexa! That's so cute. Wait Clarke you're going crazy. Pay attention, what's he saying? Clarke nodded her head trying to catch up with the conversation. They waited for another half an hour on the bus for straggling flights to land and then headed off to what Clarke considered to be a great summer.
After a short ride, the bus passed through the large gates into the Disneyland Parks. The driver stopped the bus outside a large concrete building and instructed the passengers to get their luggage out of the bottom of the bus and drop it off at their assigned rooms. "Where do we find our room assignments?" asked a very short girl from the front of the bus. Raven rolled her eyes and pointed down to a sticker on the cover of the manual that they were given. Clarke tried to contain her giggling as the bus driver then explained to the girl where to find the information. Clarke and Raven made their way up the elevator to the third floor and put their bags in the room that they would be sharing for the next four months. It was a small room with one set of bunk beds, two desks, a television seating area, and a small kitchenette. Raven, eager to get back on the bus, grabbed her backpack and her manual and headed out of the room as quickly as she entered. Clarke, not wanting to get separated, followed Raven out of the room. As Clarke locked the door behind her, the door across the hall swung open and two kids came out. "Hey! I'm Octavia. Guess we are going to be neighbours!" the small framed girl with dark brown hair said as a taller boy closed the door behind her. "Oh, and that's my brother Bellamy. But don't mind him, I don't." Octavia laughed. Bellamy walked up ahead obviously not amused with his sisters joke. "Hey, I'm Clarke and this is …" Clarke turned around noticing that Raven had already left for the elevators. "Well my roommate's name is Raven but she seems to have abandoned me." The two girls laughed as they made their way down the stairs and back on to the bus. Clarke looked around to try and find Lexa again but couldn't so instead decided to get to know her neighbour Octavia. Octavia spoke confidently as she explained how she and her brother were from the Bronx. Bellamy was the quarterback at their high school and was looking to get a football scholarship for university. She explained how he needed work experience because his grades were atrocious and that's how they he ended up here. Octavia had convinced her parents that it would be better if she also went to keep an eye out for Bellamy. By the time Octavia had finished detailing her favourite take out dish from New York, the bus had pulled up to the cast member entrance near the entrance of the Parks. Clarke looked up in amazement to the large letters. This was going to be one heck of a first day.