"Jo, get up." I lifted my head from the pillow on the couch. I turned to see my dad, "Sweetie, you got a plane to catch."
"Gimme 10 minutes." I said groggily as my head fell back onto the pillow. I swear if my dad was pulling a prank on me, he would be really sorry.
"No, now." The sheets ripped off the couch and me. "You have 10 minutes before Laur picks you up." My dad pulled the pillow from under my head, which caused my head to hit the armrest.
"Dad!" I whined as I got up and rubbed my head, "It's not even light out." Then I remembered my flight left at 2:30 in the morning. "Oh, right." With that in mind, I headed up to my room, and changed into a pair of converse ex-high-tops,(you know, the ones that reach below your knees) and my worn black and pink plaid mini with my favorite band tee(in case you forgot, a Veronicas shirt). I stepped downstairs with my carry-on messenger bag strapped around my shoulder.
When I stepped into the kitchen, the smell of bacon and sausage flooded my senses. "Good to see you're up." My dad said as he set a plate on the island. "Well, eat up, you won't be eating for 12 hours."
"Not if I can help it." I retorted as I took a bite into the omelet he'd made me. After 5 minutes, I put the empty plate into the sink and grabbed my iPod in its carrying case from my backpack. My phone rang in my pocket, I picked it up, "Dad, that's Laur, I got a plane to catch." I grabbed my last small suitcase, and turned to my dad.
"Well, see you when your 18." He said, hugging me tight.
"Thanks." I pulled away, "That was compassionate." I said sarcastically, as I placed my house key on the table by the door.
"C'mon girl, we gotta get to O'Hare in 20 minutes." Lauren said as she honked the horn.
"Wake up the entire neighborhood, why don't ya." I said as I chucked my bag in the back and got in the shotgun seat. "Okay, I'm ready."
Lauren started up the car and backed out of the driveway. "Well, onto traffic from Hell." She said as she turned on her radio. I smiled as 'Untouched' came on.
"Gate 6 right?" Lauren asked as we pulled into the parking lot. We grabbed my luggage from the trunk, that had been in my car for 2 days. I snatched my carry-on and Lauren and I, arm in arm, headed to the airport gate.
"Lemme check the ticket." I headed to the kiosk and showed the attendant my passport and my driver's license. She handed me my ticket along with my IDs, and I placed my 4 suitcases on the scale one by one, and paid for the extra checking. "It's gate 26." I responded as I handed Lauren a second pass to security. She looked at me with eyes the size of saucers, "What, and let my best friend in the world not say 'bye' to me at the gate? Fat chance." She hugged me tight and we headed behind the counters to the security line.
Once we got through we went to the McDonalds there and grabbed so much food, it was insane. I stuffed the food into my bag and we headed to the bookstore there. "Dude, check it out." I called to Lauren, I picked up the magazine, "I didn't know that Panic! At the Disco broke up, man that sucks." I said angrily as I threw the magazine back on the rack. With that I picked up a 'Makeup Mania' magazine, while buying a few Cokes and a pack of gum. I headed back out to my gate.
"So, Jo." Lauren had her camcorder out and on, she pointed the lens towards me, "How do you feel that you have a year to spend in London, England?"
"Laur, shut the camera off." I said as I pushed it down. I sat and opened a bottle of Coke, taking a sip of it. I turned and noticed that she still had the camera on me. "Fine." I said as I turned my entire body towards the camera. "Moving across the ocean on the year that supposed to mean so much to you, away from your friends and family and school, it's so frustrating and utterly cynical." I said as I raised a hand up, and sighed,
"But on the other hand, it's so fucking amazing! I mean, a year in London, no strings attached, the only downside is that I'll have tutoring. But that's not it! I mean, I get to see my cousin, who I haven' seen in 5 or 6 years. And when I turn 18, man there's gonna be something to talk about months after." I said, then I realized that the camera was still on, " You have to cut the last part out." I said, she nodded and laughed.
"Well," She said as closed the camera and grabbed another bottle of soda from my bag. "At least send blogs, you know that people at school want to know what's cooking in lovely London." She raised the bottle, "Cheers."
"Cheers, girl." I replied hitting my bottle against hers and took a swing of the Coke. I looked at the desk, "Well I think they're boarding." A line started to form onto the plane. I stood up and put my bag over my shoulder, "I'll miss you and send you messages everyday."
"Promise?" Lauren asked as she stood up.
"Duh!" I said as I hugged her tightly. "I'll call when I land, no matter what time it is." I headed to the door and stepped onto the plane.
Before the plane left someone tapped my shoulder. "Excuse me." I looked to see a young girl, maybe 12, standing there. Most likely 'cause I'm sitting in the middle.
"Sure thing." I said as I stood up and let her pass me. "You seem a bit young to travel by yourself." I said as I grabbed my magazine and my bag of makeup.(There's a reason why I didn't put any on this morning.)
"Whoa, is that yours?" The girl pointed to my makeup bag. "Oh, can you do mine? I would adore you if you did."
She looked at me with a puppy dog look that I couldn't refuse, "Absolutely. I'm Jo, by the way, what's your name?"
"I'm Casey, and I'm 15." She looked at me, "I don't think that 'little' has anything to do with it." "Oh, sorry, you just look so young. So why are you heading to London?" I asked as I checked to see if my laptop was in my bag. She glared at me, "I'll tell you if you tell me."
"One word, divorced." She said as we began to pick up speed on the runway. "So what's your excuse? Senior trip?"
"No, forced to skip senior year and be tutored, while staying at my cousin's." I turned to find Casey's expression in a 'ouch'. "Tell me that doesn't suck." I leaned back, well, more like the plane helped me lean back, seeing as we were taking off and all. Minutes of silence passed and I cracked open my magazine. "So, what kinda look do ya want?" I asked as I turned to look at Casey.
"Well, how do you do your's?" She asked as I flipped through the magazine and came to a look that was bright pink with royal blue along its crease. I pointed to the picture and looked at Casey.
"Too much?" I asked she nodded her head. "Well, how about this?" I pointed to one that was a peach and pink look.
"I love that!" I noticed that we were able to bring out and use electronics (Their words, not mine.), sopulled out my laptop and turned it on, "Is that yours too?" I nodded, "what else do you have that I want so much?"
I shrugged my shoulders, smiling, "Hey I need to do a blog for my friends, you know being in London with a 6 hour difference and all. Wanna do it with me?" Her eyes bugged out and she nodded really fast, I laughed. I turned on the camera in my computer, "I'll queue you in, got it?"
She nodded. I pressed the record button "Hey guys. This is Jo on the plane to LONDON! How cool is that? Anyways, I'm here with Casey…"
"Jo, Jo. Wake up! We're gonna be there in, like, an hour!" Casey hit me on the shoulder and shook me. "Can you do it now?"
"Huh?" I asked, half-awake. "Oh, yea, sure." I snatched my case and opened it up. "Close your eyes." which is what she did. I grabbed my primer in my jar and took a brush and swiped it over her lids, and below the brows and crease. I looked into my bag and pulled out my pink and beige peach eye shadows. I took a flat brush and put the peach everywhere. Then I grabbed a circular brush and blended the pink into her crease. I then grabbed brown eyeliner and traced the outer half of her lash line with it. "Okay, open up." I said happily, I did love doing makeup, I know it sounds really weird, but I like helping others see them as amazing. I grabbed a brown mascara and pulled out a disposable wand. "Just tilt your head back," Casey did as she was told, "good, now don't move." I began to put coats of the brown mascara on her lashes. "Look here and smile." She did. I looked into the case and pulled out a blush brush and a soft pink blush. I placed the spread powder on her smiling cheeks. "Do you want anything else, Cas?" I asked as I put my tools and makeup away.
"Lemme see how I look first." She said as I went into my bag and pulled out a mirror. Her eyes popped out and her mouth was hanging open, "I love it!" She reached into her pocket and pulled out a tube of peachy pink lipgloss. " Maybe just this?"
I examined the color and nodded, "It's the perfect color." I said as she swiped it over her lips. "Now, my turn" I said as I pulled out my supplies. Casey held up the mirror for me, "Hey thanks." I said as I put the primer on my lids, crease, and brow bone. She smiled and nodded. I grabbed a metallic brown eyeshadow and placed it on my lids. I then took a blending brush and placed a matte brown on my crease. "Stupid me, I forgot a highlight!" I said a I pulled out a white eyeshadow. I took 2 brushes, and put the white powder under Casey's eyebrows, blending it in. She looked at me like I was insane, "Makes your eyes look brighter." I responded as I placed the powder on myself with the other brush I grabbed. She nodded, as I took a black eyeliner and rimmed my entire eye with it. I grabbed a curler and curled my lashes, which are long enough as it is. I grabbed black mascara, and put two coats on my lashes. I took a pale pink lipgloss and put it all over my lips. "There we go." I said as I put the contents back into my case and put everything into my bag.
"Attention, ladies and gentlemen." The pilot on the intercom exclaimed, grabbing my main focus. "We are now landing in Heathrow Airport, I hope you had a wonderful flight."
"It was peachy keen." I mumbled under my breath, as I pulled parts of my hair back. Casey laughed as the plane skidded down on the runway. We pulled up to the gate, and headed to baggage claim. I'd given her my phone number, so we could keep in touch. I said bye to her as she left with her dad.
"Jo! Jo! Over here!" I heard someone call to me. I turned to see a couple, one looked exactly like Gio, actually it was Gio.
"Gio, Oh my God!" She was running toward me and embraced me in a bear hug. "I can't believe it's been 5 years." I said as she pulled away, allowing me to breathe. "I can't believe I'm here!" I screamed as I began to jump up and down a bit.
"Neither can I!" Gio exclaimed as she grabbed my hands and jumped with me. After that episode, she turned to the boy next to us, "By the way, this is Tom." He had long blonde hair and dark eyebrows, it seems really weird, but I knew a kid back in Milwaukee who was exactly the same way, so it didn't bother me. He also had teddy bear brown eyes, they were so warm and welcoming.
"I think I have the right to introduce myself" Tom said as he grabbed my hand and kissed the top of it, causing me to blush. "Thomas Fletcher at your service." He stood up and gave me a hug. "Welcome to London."
"Jeez, Gi. I see why you picked him, he's the golden boy. I'd snag him if I ever had the chance." I said as I placed my hand under his chin. "Lemme just grab my stuff and we can go." I turned to the carousel and looked for my bags, once I'd grabbed 2 of them, I wondered what I would do with the rest of my stuff.
"I think you might need this." I heard someone say. I turned to see Tom with a cart that he'd pulled up. He took my 2 suitcases and placed them on the cart.
"Thanks, man." I said as I saw my other suitcase, which I grabbed and placed that on the other suitcases. Then I spotted my camera and makeup case. I snatched them and put those on the very top of the cart, "That's all of them. Hold on, one more thing. I went into my case and pulled out my camera. "Okay, now I'm ready." I said as I turned to the doors, with Gio on one side, and Tom pushing the cart on the other.
