I leaned back into my car, one foot propped up against the door and the other tapping quietly on the concrete. An almost burnt out cigarette hung limply in my left hand and my hair fell messily into my eyes. I didn't bother to fix either one.
I was currently at the airport, or my worst enemy. I was impatiently waiting to pick up my four new exchange students, some kids from Germany, and was starting to get pissed off. It had been twenty minutes since their flight was supposed to land and they were still nowhere to be found. Not that I had been here for twenty minutes - I showed up late. But either way, I was annoyed.
Finally, about seven minutes later, I saw four lost-looking guys walking around. I sighed, it had to be them.
"Over here," I called, waving my hand towards them. They all looked in my direction, walking hesitantly over to me. Once they were less than ten feet away I folded my arms and finally dropped the cigarette, crushing it with my converses absentmindedly. "Are you the four German exchange students?" I asked in a monotone voice, looking them over. They were all fairly good looking, one towards the back with black hair and a tight black shirt standing out the most. Then there was another at the front who had on baggy clothes and a sideways hat, long dreadlocks coming from beneath it. The other two were non-script; they both wore plain t-shirts and jeans, obviously not caring how they looked. I liked them, they had the right idea.
"Yes, I'm Tom Kaulitz and this is George Listing, Gustav Schafer, and Bill, my brother," the one with the dreadlocks said, pointing to each of the boys as he said their names. I nodded slowly.
"I'm Amber," I replied, moving to the trunk where I popped it open and gestured for them to put their bags in. They did so after a minute and I sighed - there were too many of them to all fit into my small Austin Martin V12 Vanquish. I flipped open my phone, hitting speed dial one.
"Hello?" Anna, one of my parents many assistants asked.
"I need you to come to the airport and pick up some things - they wouldn't all fit into my car," I said, opening the doors and pointing for them all to get in.
"Right away. What names are they under?" she asked, her usual business voice already in place.
"Tom and Bill Kaulitz, George Listing, and Gustav Schafer," I mumbled, shutting the door as Bill, Gustav, and George settled into the backseat. Tom was sitting up front with me, apparently.
"Okay, I'll pick them up within the hour," she said as I hung up.
I climbed into the car and started the ignition. "The rest of your stuff will be at the house later," I said, revving the engine and shooting into reverse. Everyone leaned back in their seats, obviously surprised, though I was used to it - I liked to drive fast. After about ten minutes of listening to their quiet German mumbles I couldn't take it any longer and slid in a CD, putting in Nine Inch Nails and settling on Closer. It was the song I always listened to when I felt fucked up.
Tom laughed from beside me as the first line came in. I rolled my eyes, immaturity was annoying.
About halfway through the long drive back to my house Tom suddenly spoke up. "So, why did you decide to host foreign exchange students?" he asked, trying to find something neutral but obviously forcing the question out. I shrugged.
"I didn't. My parents felt it would look good on my collage transcripts, so they asked around and found some program for it. They signed my up without even telling me - I just found out about you guys a week ago," I sighed. "I guess they also felt bad about leaving me alone so much, they travel a lot, so they thought this would be the perfect solution." Everyone was quiet for a while. "Why'd you want to come to America? It's really not all that great," I asked, trying to at least to act polite.
"We wanted to try something new before we graduated and it was too late," he said simply, looking out the window. I nodded and turned back on the music, letting Bullet For My Valentine wash over me.
The rest of the ride was silent.
When we arrived at my house I pulled into the garage, parking in my usual spot, and turned of the car. But I didn't move, we all just sat there for a moment, each of us thinking over this dramatic change in one way or another.
"Come on, we'll get your bags later. Right now I'll show you a tour of the house and where you're going to be staying," I mumbled, opening the door and stepping aside to wait for them as they shuffled out of the car. Once everyone was standing I turned curtly, and walking out of the garage, wanting to show them the house staring from the front.
"I'll give you each a key later in case you ever get here and no one's home," I said as I unlocked the door. I walked in and let them look around for a moment before beginning the tour. "Okay, so this is the foyer. Then the kitchen is down this hall," I said, walking past it and gesturing. "You are all free to eat anything you like anytime. If there's anything you want just let me know and I'll get it. This is the dining room - usually no one eats here so it's wasted space," I said, again just passing by the room so they could get a glimpse. The rest of the tour continued this way, we passing by the room quickly and then going on to the next - they'd have time to explore later tonight.
When we reached the second floor I slowed down a bit so they could get more familiar with the way things were laid out, their rooms were up here, after all. "Each of you will have your own room and bathroom, you can pick amongst yourselves who gets which room. My room is at the very end of the hallway, nothing special there so don't bother asking to see it. If you need me I'll most likely be there," I said, motioning down the hall and quickly moving in the opposite direction to show them the rooms. They were basically all the same - plain white walls, deep hardwood floors, two poster canopy bed, dresser, loveseat, desk, flat screen TV on the wall, bathroom, and closet. "You can change anything around if you like - it doesn't really matter and this is now your home for the next couple of months. I don't care if you paint the walls or whatever, my parents won't either, though it's not like they're ever home to notice," I muttered the last part darkly, opening each door and leaving it open for them to venture outside. I stayed where I was, though, peering at them as the walked around the rooms.
"I want this one!" Tom called, smiling and coming to stand by me as he shut the door. It was the room closest to mine, I noticed vaguely. They each picked their rooms, Gustav taking the room farthest away from me, George settling across the hall from him, and Bill next to Tom. I shrugged once everyone was done and walked back downstairs, them following me like little lost puppies. They quietly chatted in German, which annoyed me - I could speak German but I preferred to stick with English, not wanting to go to the trouble of translating it in my head, which was too crowded with rapid thoughts to do so anyways.
"I'm assuming you're hungry, no?" I asked, walking into the kitchen. There were some mutters in German and head nods. I nodded myself, snapping my fingers as I turned around to the fridge. I wasn't used to cooking for people - I usually just ordered take-out since I mostly ate dinner alone. "Um, so what do you want?" I asked after finding nothing that appealed to me.
They all spoke up at once, excluding Bill who stayed silent, frowning in distaste. My eyes widened - hungry teenage boys were over-whelming.
"Uh, how about Italian?" I asked, hearing someone say pasta and that sounding good. George shrugged, pouting, while Tom smiled brightly. He said something to Bill in German - I didn't bother to try and decipher it - and Bill replied, shrugging his shoulders heavily. Tom's smile dropped, his mouth slanting down in a frown.
"Okay, I can't cook so why don't we just go out?" I said, blushing slightly. I was a perfectionist for the most part and hated not being able to cook for them, especially since it was their first night. But then I reminded myself that this was all my parent's fault and that I had nothing to do with it and pushed those thoughts away, going back to being mutual about the whole thing.
"Ha ha, sure," Tom said, his smile returning. I turned and got my car keys, remembering about their bangs. And how cramped they had been in my Austin Martin. I decided to use my other car, a huge black SUV that had plenty of room. We walked out to the garage through the door in the laundry room, me pushing the button so it unlocked automatically. They stared, confusion clearly written on their faces.
"There's more room and I don't feel like unloading all of your crap right now," I explained, hoping into the seat. They did the same and soon we were off, Siebenburgen blasting through the speakers. They all looked surprised that I liked German music but I ignored them and continued staring straight ahead.
Tom said mumbled something quietly, making George and Gustav laugh quietly. Bill just glared at the back of my seat, his arms crossed over his chest. He muttered something and the mood instantly shifted, now tense and a strangled silence fell over us. I pushed the petal down harder, suddenly dying to be out of the car and into the open, where everything wasn't so claustrophobic.