Alrighty guys. I got this idea a long time ago and thought that now was a good time to start it! I was kind of reluctant since there's a couple of other stories similar to this...but I figured I'd try anyway.

Do not despair! This won't be your typical plane-crash-onto-island story.

Here's the first chapter!


Chapter 1: A Little Faith

"This is going to be the best spring break ever!" Charlene squealed as the private jet came into view.

"Disney is seriously the best!" Finn agreed.

"A private jet? You know you're important when there's a private jet involved!" Maybeck added.

"I bet Paris is lovely this time of year!" Willa said with a radiant smile.

"Best part of the job, right here!" Philby added as he wrapped an arm around Willa's shoulders.

"When can we get on? I'm ready to get there!" Charlene was literally jumping up and down with excitement.

"Soon enough." The flight attendant said from behind them. "We've got things to do on the plane before you can get on it. Now, why don't you go say goodbye to your friends and family while we get the plane ready?"

The five teenagers didn't need a second reminder.

Finn said a quick goodbye to his parents and little sister before moving on to Amanda.

Before saying anything she pulled him in for a tight hug.

"I'm going to miss you," she whispered.

"I'm only going to be gone a week, Amanda." Finn started laughing. "We've had worse."

"But still, Finn." Amanda looked up at him. "It's still a week."

"I know, I know. We'll be okay. It's not like we've got to worry about Maleficent coming after us or anything."

Amanda sighed dramatically. "I guess you're right."

"Of course I'm right." Finn wrapped his arms tighter around her tiny waist and pulled her closer. "You'll be fine."

"Don't have too much fun without me, okay?"

"Aww, Amanda, you're no fun," Finn joked.

Amanda leaned up on her toes and kissed him.

"I love you, Finn."

"I love you too Amanda."

"Come on Finn! You're not the only one who wants to say goodbye to Amanda." Willa said from behind them.

Both Finn and Amanda laughed. Finn gave Amanda one last kiss.

"It's just one week, okay?" He whispered into her ear.

"I'll be right here when you come back so you can tell me all about Paris."

"I wish you could come with me. I hear Paris is the most romantic place in the world. Only the best for my girl."

Finn kissed her once more on the cheek and stepped away from her, giving her a wink when Willa wasn't looking.


"Alright kiddos, let's get buckled up for takeoff." The captain's voice came over the speaker. All five keepers sat down in their seats and buckled their seat belts.

"Right now it's 3 P.M. eastern standard time. Our flight will last about twelve hours and fifteen minutes, bringing us into Paris, France around 9:15 in the morning—French time, of course." The flight attended then proceeded to remind them of all of the safety features—ones that they had heard many times before on similar trips.

Finn looked around and glanced at his four best friends-none of which were paying attention to what the flight attendant had to say.

Charlene and Willa were currently looking at different French fashion magazines. Charlene was commenting on all of the fashion and asking Willa to translate the French for her.

Finn never called girls hot—especially since he had a girlfriend—but Charlene...today...was hot. Her turquoise shirt was loosely hanging off her shoulders with a skin-tight, white, spaghetti-strap tank top underneath. The white jean shorts complimented her beautifully tan skin—no doubt a result of a trip to the tanning salon recently. Her blonde hair was as straight as it could be.

Willa, on the other hand, had a completely different look. Her brown hair was pulled into a loose bun, but there was one small braid that merged into the bun, keeping her bangs off of her face. She was wearing a purple V-neck shirt with black shorts. She currently had on a light, white North Face jacket over it. She wasn't drop dead gorgeous, like Charlene, but still beautiful.

But in Finn's opinion, Amanda still had them beat.

Philby and Maybeck, one sitting on either side of him, were currently arguing about which was better: football or soccer.

Ever since joining the army, Maybeck loved to brag about how cool he was. Finn never doubted that he was cool, he just got annoyed when Maybeck rubbed it in his face. Today Maybeck was wearing jeans and a gray Army t-shirt with his dog tag hanging from his necklace.

Philby looked more sophisticated. Finn figured making a perfect MCAT score did that to a person. Even though they were only college juniors, Philby was already planning for medical school. Today he was dressed in jeans and a orange polo shirt. He claimed his khakis were "being washed."

Finn, felt completely underdressed compared to his friends. He was in black basketball shorts and a maroon FSU shirt. I guess I didn't get the memo, Finn thought to himself.

"Maybeck, see football is a misleading name. The only person who uses their foot is the kicker. In soccer, which is called futebol everywhere else I might add, that's the only part of the body you're allowed to use! It makes logical sense! That just shows that Americans can be complete idiots sometimes."

"Need I remind you that you're an American? You were how old when you left Britain?"

"Eight."

"My point taken! You've basically lived here your whole life!"

"But that doesn't mean I agree that football is better than soccer."

"If you were a true American you would."

Philby rolled his eyes. "Oh and you're such a true American I suppose?"

Before Maybeck could come up with a good come back, Finn stepped in.

"Dude, both of you just shut up. Both sports are fun."

Maybeck crossed his arms and looked away, mumbling something about how Finn didn't know anything.

A few minutes of silence between the three passed before Finn decided to break the silence.

"So Philbs, what exactly are we doing in Paris?"

"We've got to do a bunch of formalities. Like meet and greets with important people in France, formal dinners, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. We get one day in the park and another to explore Paris. But otherwise we're on a strict schedule. The official first unveiling of the DHI's won't be until Saturday though."

"Yuck."

If there was one thing Finn hated about being a DHI model, it was all the boring formalities. He became famous—awesome. He got to do charity events—cool. Disney sending him to Paris for a week for free—epic. But formal dinners and little free time? No thank you.

"As long as we get to see some hot girls along the way, I think we'll be fine." Maybeck added, suddenly interested in his friends again.

"I wouldn't let Charlene hear that," Philby retorted.

"Don't lie, Phildweeb. You want to see some hot French chicks too. Finn's the only one that can get away with it though," Maybeck nudged Finn. "Right?"

"Uh…I'm not so sure about that." The last thing Finn had planned on doing was checking out girls while he was here. Amanda would be waiting for him back home.

"Oh please, Finn. Guys like us don't get free passes for a week! Heck, Philby and I don't get a shot this week! You've got every man's dream here! Take it! At least for us!"

Philby rolled his eyes. "Speak for yourself!"

"Maybeck, I'm not going to do that to Amanda."

Maybeck crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat. "Suit yourself."


Seven hours into the flight and to say Finn was bored would be an understatement. Philby, Charlene and Maybeck were both sleeping. Willa was reading a book by the light of her phone, but she looked like she was asleep-at least to Finn.

Finn got up out of his seat and walked into the back of the plane, where the flight attendant kept all of the food and other stuff.

He grabbed himself a soda and a bag of chips.

"Can't sleep either?"

Finn jumped, dropping the bag of chips, and turned around to see Willa standing in the doorway.

"You scared the crap out of me Willa!"

Willa let out a quiet laugh. "Sorry about that." She walked into the room and grabbed herself a few Oreo's out of the pack.

"How much longer do we have?"

"Only about five more hours."

"That's not too bad."

"Nope."

"You don't want to sleep?" Finn asked as he leaned back on the small mini fridge. "We've got a full day ahead of us."

"Can't," Willa started looking for a glass to pour some milk into.

"How come?"

"I just can't sleep on planes or cars…or moving things in general now that I think about it."

"Really? That's strange."

"Yeah. That cruise we went on in ninth grade was the worst."

"I have a feeling you weren't sleeping for other reasons," Finn joked.

"Yeah," Willa smiled. "I guess you're right."

"So how are things at FGCU?" Finn asked before taking a sip of his drink.

"They're going great," Willa said with a smile. "Junior year's been the hardest by far, but I'm not regretting it. It's kind of sad it's almost over."

"We've got another year, Willa. I think you're being a bit over-reactive."

"Well I've got to do student teaching next year, and then there's finding a job, and finding a place to live…"

Finn raised an eyebrow as Willa continued to ramble on about how stressful the last year of college was going to be.

"Willa?"

"And then what if Philby gets into a medical school across the country? Do I go with him? Do I stay here?"

"Willa?"

"And then there's you guys. I want to be close enough to you guys because you're my family. I can't just move across the country randomly. Not without you guys."

"WILLA!"

Willa turned and looked at Finn. She immediately started blushing when she realized she had been rambling.

"Willa, don't worry about the future. You and Philby are going to be just fine."

Willa glared at Finn. "You're talking about Philby and I as if we're married."

"Are you being serious right now?"

Willa's glare turned into a look of confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh come on Willa! We all know you two are going to get married! We're just counting down the days until Philby gets the guts to finally ask you."

Willa didn't let it show on her face, but Finn could tell that the thought of Philby proposing excited her.

"Let me guess, Maybeck's got running bets?"

"Of course! This is Maybeck we're talking about."

"Do I get to know the bets?"

"No way! You might influence the outcome!"

Willa rolled her eyes. "Boys," she muttered under her breath.

"Charlene, Jess and Amanda are in on it too."

"WHAT?"

The plane shook slightly, making Willa drop her glass of milk. It shattered on the floor, spilling the milk everywhere. Finn could have sworn he heard somebody jolt awake, but he ignored it.

"What was that?" Willa's voice was shaky.

"A little turbulence I guess." Finn shrugged. "My mom says that happens on planes a lot."

Willa nodded, but didn't look convinced.

Finn reached over and put a hand on her shoulder. "It'll be okay, Willa."

The plank shook again, this time more violently.

Finn fell to the floor, accidentally pulling Willa with him. She landed on top of him, crushing his rib cage.

When the shaking had stopped, the two tried their hardest to stand.

"We should get back to our seats," Finn quickly stated.

Willa nodded, but before they could get out of the back room, the plane shook, again. Finn grabbed the edges of the doorframe as if his life depended on it.

"I'm sorry kids, it looks like we've hit a rough patch. I'd buckle up while I try to get us out of here." The captain said over the speakers.

Finn heard Maybeck, Philby and Charlene waking up, but the turbulence was preventing him from making any progress in heading toward the front of the plane—where the seats were.

Where they would be safe.

"Finn! We need to move forward!" Willa yelled.

He turned behind and looked at her. "What do you think I'm trying to do?"

The plane shook once more and knocked both Finn and Willa backwards.

This time, Finn landed on top of Willa. Another violent shake of the plane and he rolled off of her, only to hit his head on the mini fridge.

For a few seconds, his world was fuzzy. He heard screaming and shouting. He felt more turbulence—more and more violent with each shake. He heard his name being called, but he couldn't form any words. But more importantly he heard a loud BOOM! and a RIP!

And that's when everything went black.


Jess awoke with a start. Not only was her dream the worst nightmare she'd had in years-it involved her friends. Jess rolled over and looked at her alarm clock: 10:42 A.M. Ugh, Jess complained. Why didn't Amanda wake me up?

Jess got up, brushed her hair and walked out of her room.

"Amanda?" Jess called out. "Why didn't you wake me up? I told you I had a lot of homework to do! I wanted to get it out of the way before we head to the beach tomorrow!"

Jess went into the kitchen and started pouring herself a bowl of cereal. She didn't care that it was almost lunchtime. She always started off her day with one bowl of cereal. Most of their food was gone anyway since they were about to take a vacation to the beach and didn't want anything to get spoiled while they were gone.

When she didn't hear Amanda reply, Jess got curious. She put the milk back in the fridge, grabbed a spoon and walked into the living room. Amanda was sitting on the couch staring at the television. She looked as if she had just rolled out of bed. Her eyes were puffy and red.

"What's up Amanda?"

Instead of replying, Amanda pointed the remote at the screen and turned up the volume.

On the screen was a news anchor. In the top right corner was a picture of the Disney DHI models-aka their five best friends. This picture had been taken right before they had all stepped onto the plane. All five were smiling and waving to the crowd that was waiting to catch a glimpse of them before Paris.

"The breaking news of the hour comes from Paris, France. Disney's infamous DHI models were supposed to arrive in Paris, France today for the unveiling of the new DHI's in Disneyland Paris. When the plane didn't arrive on schedule, people started getting curious. Each of the repeated attempts of getting in contact with the plane have failed. Disney released a statement from Orlando an hour ago."

The screen moved from the news anchor to a press conference. A man in a suit stood at a podium, the flashes from the cameras giving him an eerie look.

"After contacting the five families, we are here to announce that the private jet carrying the 5 DHI models to Paris early this morning has crashed somewhere over the Atlantic. We are not sure of the location of the plane or if there are any survivors, but we will inform the public of any news as soon as we have it."

Amanda pointed the remote at the screen and turned off the television.

"Oh...my...gosh..." was all Jess could say. She was speechless.

"They're gone," Amanda whispered. She buried her head in her hands, tears streaming down her face as fast as water falls over Niagara Falls. "Finn's gone."

Jess sat there and stared blankly at the television. "I had a dream about that. I...I didn't think it was one of my dreams."

Amanda glanced over at Jess. "When did you have this dream?"

"Just last night."

"Did you see if they survived?"

"No...I woke up before that." Jess was now on the verge of tears. "I'm sorry Amanda. I...I couldn't watch any longer."

Amanda put her head back in her hands. "I can't believe they're gone."

"They might still be out there somewhere, Amanda." Jess scooted closer and started rubbing Amanda's back. "We've just got to have a little faith, that's all."

"Yeah," Amanda whispered. "A little faith."


So...what do y'all think? Is this something y'all will want me to continue? I know I've got my other story "Whodunnit?" but I thought I'd at least throw this one out there for y'all to see.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Keepers or Switchfoot's lyrics to their song "Dark Horse" (where the name of this story comes from)

Please review! Tell me what you think! Yes, continue or no, because there's a couple of other great "plane crash onto island" stories (for example, Lost by kingdom-keepers-rule).

Either way (like or not), have a wonderful weekend! :)