The flight went relatively quickly, and during landing, there were no monuments to tell where they all were. The only giveaway was the announcement:
"Welcome to..."
"Welcome to Orlando International airport. The time is 5:21pm." The voiceover announced. The residents at Elm Tree House cheered at the fact they were in Florida. Mike ushered the kids off of the plane and checked everyone was there, before collecting the luggage.
"So, Mike, what sort of sites will we be seeing? Anything good for painting?" Sapphire asked.
"Oh, don't worry, Saff. Painting will be the last thing on your mind." Gina said suspiciously, causing the kids to look confused.
"Right then guys, let's go find the mag...I mean taxi." Tracy said, almost giving away the biggest surprise and shock. Mike lead everyone to the front of the airport, where there was a coach with several Mickey Mouse characters as its design. There was a man standing by the coach holding up a sign that read 'Milligan, Elm Tree House.' Mike lead the kids towards the coach.
"Milligan party?" The man holding the sign asked. He had an American accent (no surprise!). The man went somewhere and returned a few minutes later with two other men.
"Welcome to Disney's Magical Express. I'm Mark, your coach driver taking you to your hotel. Leave your bags here and they'll get loaded onto the coach. Follow me." Mark, the coach driver, explained.
"Disney's Magical Express?" Elektra asked Mike, sounding rather unimpressed. "How old do you think I am?"
Almost everyone was already on the coach seated in pairs by the time Elektra had made her way to the back and had sat down by herself. Sapphire was the only resident not on the coach, as she was waiting to talk to Mike.
"Mike! How did you afford this? Aren't we on a budget?" She asked.
"Not anymore, Saff. But please don't tell the others that you know where we're going, just in case they haven't worked it out yet." Mike said, and then got on board the coach and sat in the passenger seat. Sapphire sat next to Harry.
"Welcome aboard Disney's Magical Express. Within a 25 minute journey, you will have reached your hotel resort." Mark said.
"Guys make sure your seat belts are on." Mike said, and then the coach drove away.
After 20 minutes of travel, something caught Carmen's eye. It was a castle.
"Johnny! Look!" She gasped (Carmen was sitting next to Johnny again as Lily and Tee still disliked her).
"Is that a castle?" He asked.
"OMG it is! I've always wanted to visit a castle!" Carmen cried.
"Johnny, that's no ordinary castle. That's the Cinderella castle at Disney World. I looked it up when we found that money in the garden." Tee explained to her brother, before giving Carmen a dirty look.
"So we're near a princess castle!" Carmen squealed.
"Yeah, apparently so." Johnny said. Then the coach pulled up in front of a gorgeous, deluxe looking hotel.
"Welcome to Disney's Contemporary Resort. I hope you enjoy your stay here, and your trip to Disney World." Mark said, and the kids screamed and cheered. It was a dream come true for most of the residents. Elektra was the only resident who didn't seem excited about going to Disney World. The kids got off of the coach and collected their luggage from the bottom of the coach.
"So, here we are!" Mike smiled. Everyone thanked Mike and hugged him. This idea really had been a massive success! And it was all thanks to something that Tracy had said!
"Guys, follow me, and I'll give you more information about the holiday once we've checked in." Mike said, and lead the kids inside the huge building. The pathway was made to look like a Mickey Mouse watch, and it was really pretty! Upon entering the building, room they entered was the check-in lobby. The residents gasped at its large size.
"Wait with Tracy and Gina whilst I check in." Mike instructed. The kids did as they were told and waited. It didn't take long for Mike to check in, and he returned with 5 room keycards, all numbered (well, 10 keycards really as there were two cards for each room).
"Okay guys, we need to go to the top floor, so follow me to the lifts." Mike said, and the very excited residents followed Mike. They went up to the top floor of the building, where Mike opened up one of the rooms - the one which he would be sharing with Gina, Tracy and Harry, since he was too little to share with the other boys. Mike told everyone to sit down in front of the bed, so the residents left their suitcases by the door and sat down.
"Okay guys, I'm so relieved that we made it safely, so welcome to Disney World! I just wanted to go over a few things. First of all, we're going to be staying here for three weeks and you'll be going around the park in groups, which I'll let you choose, but I've chosen who you're rooming with." Mike began to explain, but was interrupted by Lily.
"Mike, I only brought enough clothes to last a week." She said.
"Don't worry about that, there's a laundrette that's complimentary to the hotel." Mike said. Lily and the others sighed in relief.
"Okay, so here's the list of hotel rooms; in the first time room we have me, Mike, Gina and Tracy, and we're in this room here if you ever need us during the night. The second room is Jody, Elektra and Sapphire, and you'll be next door to us. The third room is Carmen, Tee and Lily, and you're next door to the other girls. The fourth room is Johnny, Gus and Tyler, and you'll be next door to the girls, and the last room is Rick, Liam, Toby and Frank." Mike explained, then handed out the room keycards. Everyone began to chat excitedly about who they were rooming with, but Carmen just looked at the ground, hoping to make up with Tee and Lily.
"Carmen, just because we're sharing with you doesn't mean this is over. We're still mad at you, so don't even try to have fun with us." Tee said, then joined Lily. Carmen simply rolled her eyes.
"You okay?" A voice from behind her asked. Johnny.
"Yeah. Can't wait to spend three weeks in a room with Tee and Lily." Carmen said sarcastically.
"It's okay, coz you can stay with me during the day." Johnny said. Carmen smiled and nodded, and Mike continued talking.
"Oh, and I'll be giving all of you, including Gina and Tracy, $50 to spend each week." She said, and everyone cheered again.
"Oh, well that was a surprise for us too!" Tracy smiled.
"But Mike, how are we affording all this? You said you'd tell me." Sapphire asked.
"Okay, I guess I do owe you an explanation. I booked this holiday because I won the lottery. I never enter the lottery, but I chose to a couple weeks ago when I booked the holiday and I won £1 million." Mike explained, and the kids cheered again.
"Did you spend all of it on the holiday?" Tee asked, smiling.
"No I've still got about three quarters of it left, and I still don't know how to spend it. What do you lot think?" Mike asked them. Everyone started yelling ideas; Carmen suggested a massive shopping spree, Rick wanted a table football game for the living room, Gus asked for a new piano with a higher stall, Tee wanted her room re-decorated, Lily wanted a new camera for the DG, so that everyone could capture good memories, Elektra wanted to paint the whole of Elm Tree House electric blue, Sapphire wanted new art equipment, Liam wanted a liamade factory and Harry wanted a giraffe zoo for Jeff.
"Well, I'm sure we can think of something to meet what everybody wants. For now, group up so that you can go around the park." Mike said, so everybody grouped up:
Liam, Frank, Toby and Rick, who were allowed to go around the parks alone.
Jody and Tyler, who were to be supervised by Gina
Lily, Tee and Gus, who were to be supervised by Tracy
Harry and Sapphire, with Sapphire responsible for Harry
Johnny and Carmen, who were just about allowed (with a lot of persuasion) to go around the parks alone.
Mike - would be at the castle every day between 12pm and 1pm in case of any problems. Every group had to check with Mike between those times, so he knew they were okay. Other than that, he would go around by himself and have some fun!
Elektra was the only resident not looking forwards and to the holiday.
"Elektra, which group would you like to join?" Mike asked her.
"Um, none of them! I'm not going to some stupid baby Disney park!" Elektra said.
"Elektra, do you know how much money Mike has spent just to get you here today? And there are plenty of rides designed for older people, so you'll be able to enjoy those." Tracy said.
"Call me selfish, but I don't want to go to a Disney park! I'd get laughed at by my old friends." Elektra fought.
"But they're gone now. And think about what you could tell your kids in the future." Tracy said. Elektra rolled her eyes.
"Coz I'm gonna get married." She said sarcastically.
"Well, you will if you meet Mr. Right...anyway, besides the point. Why don't you join up with Sapphire and Harry. Sapphire will need someone to look after Harry whilst she goes on all the bigger rides." Tracy suggested.
"And if I want to ride too?" Elektra asked, crossing her arms.
"Then Sapphire will look after Harry whilst you ride." Tracy said.
"Fine!" Elektra gave in.
"So, you guys will be entirely independent on this trip. Especially if your group going around t he park doesn't have any adults to supervise you." Mike began, but was interrupted by Carmen.
"Oh yeah, Mike. What if I'm not tall enough for certain rides?" She asked.
"I think you're tall enough to do just about all of them, but if in doubt, give me a call and I'll ride with you." Mike answered. Carmen nodded.
"So as I was saying, it's up to you what you do in the evenings. You can eat wherever you want to and you can do whatever you want to, as long as you're all in your hotel rooms by 11:30 and you shouldn't leave your rooms unless it's to find us before 6am." Mike explained.
"But my bedtime is at exactly 9:30pm." Gus protested. The others shared glances and rolled their eyes.
"That's fine, Gus, like I said, it's up to you." Mike smiled.
"So, I should make a time plan?" Gus asked.
"I don't think that's necessary, you're on holiday! You can do what you want when you want!" Mike said happily.
"But I want to make a time plan." Gus stated.
"But you don't need to." Mike frowned.
"But you said I can do what I want when I want and I want to make a time plan before I go to bed, at exactly 9:00pm." Gus said. Mike looked thoughtful.
"You're, right I did say that." Mike said. Gus nodded.
"Now, you'll find out all of this information in your welcome pack, but the first parks open at 9:00am, but depending on the day, some parks have magic hours either in the morning or evening, and that's why I've given you a rather late bedtime." Mike explained, and everyone nodded, and Mike continued:
"Right then guys, off to your rooms!"
"Wow, I can't believe this Tee! We're really here!" Lily squealed, as she jumped up and down on the double bed with Tee in their hotel room, that they also shared with Carmen, who was unpacking.
"Don't take up all of the wardrobe space. You are known to be selfish and stealing other people's stuff which was clearly their's in the first place." Tee scowled, then went back to jumping with Lily.
"Well, it would help if we arranged how to organise our stuff." Carmen said, hanging up one of her dresses.
"Yeah but that would involve contact." Lily protested. "Just take a third of the wardrobe, and make sure that your stuff won't touch mine."
"Whatever!" Carmen mumbled, and went back to unpacking. She managed to fit her stuff in one third of the wardrobe, although some of her stuff was doubled onto one hanger.
"If you two are sharing the double bed, where do I sleep?" Carmen asked.
"On the sofa-bed." Lily said. So Carmen struggled with the sofa-bed for a bit, but failed to work it out.
"Would you two help me please?" Carmen asked Tee and Lily. They looked at Carmen like she'd asked if she could shoot them!
"No!" They said. Carmen groaned and walked out of the room and wondered who she should ask for help;
Mike - no, he'd be busy helping Harry and unpacking his stuff
Liam and co - no, they'd be in the restaurant by now!
Sapphire, Elektra and Jody - no, Sapphire would also be helping Harry, and Elektra and Jody would most likely be having some sort of argument about wardrobe space or who sleeps where.
Gus, Johnny and Tyler - no, Gus would be watching the clock until it struck nine so he could make his time plan, Tyler would be in the restaurant and Johnny probably would be too.
Who would help her? Carmen just stood in the hallway hoping someone would leave their room. And they did. Johnny, Tyler and Gus left their room at the same time.
"Hi Carmen!" They her greeted.
"Oh, hi. Have you lot worked out the sofa-bed yet?" She asked.
"Yeah, but it's quite stiff, did you want some help?" Johnny asked.
"Yes please!" Carmen sighed, as she and Johnny entered her room.
"Carmen why is my brother here?" Tee frowned.
"He's just helping me get the sofa-bed set up, since you wouldn't." Carmen replied.
"There you go!" Johnny exclaimed.
"Thanks." Carmen smiled.
"No problem. We were just going down to eat and explore. D'you wanna join us?" Johnny asked.
"Yeah. Sounds fun." Carmen said, and she left with Johnny, Gus and Tyler.
"So, how many restaurants are there?" Carmen asked.
"10 restaurants plus room service." Johnny answered.
"Wow!" Carmen exclaimed.
"So which one should we go to?" Tyler asked.
"I'm not sure." Gus said. "We should do a pros and cons list of each."
"No we shouldn't, we should just walk past and see what catches our eye." Johnny suggested. The others agreed. Eventually, they chose the Contempo Café. Carmen and Gus both had pasta and Tyler and Johnny both ordered a cheeseburger. It was halfway through dinner when Johnny grabbed Carmen's wrist.
"You're not wearing your band." Johnny stated, in question form.
"What band?" Carmen asked, confused.
"Haven't you looked at your welcome pack? Every room has one. Basically, we all have these bands which Mike got especially. It means we don't have to pay for our food and it also means that we don't have to queue for the rides." Johnny explained.
"Oh, cool! I'll go and grab mine." Carmen said, and she disappeared for 10 minutes. For dessert, Carmen chose chocolate cake, Johnny chose chocolate brownie, Tyler ordered cheesecake and Gus had an ice cream. After dinner, the clock struck 8:30.
"Let's look around and see what this place has to offer." Tyler suggested, having spotted a merchandise shop on the way to dinner!
"Yeah, good idea. The longer I can keep away from my room, the better." Carmen said.
"Where should we look first?" Johnny asked.
"How about the gift shop?" Tyler suggested. The others smiled.
"If you really want to!" Carmen said. So they all headed down to the gift shop. Tee and Lily were also there, looking at the cuddly toys and trying on hats and Mickey Mouse ears. Carmen simply rolled her eyes at them and followed Tyler to the caps, where he was trying a Mickey Mouse embroidered one on.
"What d'you think?" He asked. The others nodded and gave him a thumbs up.
"Should I buy it?" He asked.
"Wait until the end of the week, just in case you see something else you like." Carmen suggested.
"Good idea." Tyler said, putting the hat back. Then he followed the others to where Carmen was now looking at a pair of pink sparkly Minnie Mouse ears.
"How did I just know you would pick these up!" Johnny smiled, causing Carmen to giggle at him as she put the pair on her head.
"What d'you think?" She asked.
"They suit you." Johnny said, and the other two agreed.
"I presume you'll be waiting to the end of the week, though." Tyler said.
"Well, to be honest, I knew I wanted a pair the second I knew where we were. And there's always next week if I want something else." Carmen said.
"If you're getting them, I'm getting the hat." Tyler said, and went to grab the hat he tried on. The pair paid for their stuff, and wore them for rest of the evening whilst they explored the hotel. During the tour, the friends saw the pools, the beaches which offered water sports, the games arcade (which, and no surprise, Rick, Toby, Frank and Liam were entering!) and also a 'movies under the stars' area.
"D'you think the 'movies under the stars' is like Disney movies outside?" Carmen asked.
"Yeah, it actually sounds quite good." Johnny said.
"Well why don't we watch it then? It's about to start, since it's 9pm." Carmen suggested.
"9pm! I have to go back to our room and write my time plan!" Gus exclaimed, panicked.
"Alright, goodnight." Johnny said, handing Gus one of the keycards for their room. As soon as it was in his hand, Gus ran.
"Let's watch the movie then!" Carmen said, sitting on the grass with Johnny and Tyler. They had a pretty good view of the screen, which was well lit in the starlight.
"Welcome to Disney's 'movies under the stars'. Tonight's movie is Frozen." The host of the evening announced.
"Are you kidding! I'm out!" Tyler said, and headed back to his hotel room.
"Just us then." Carmen said to Johnny, who nodded. It was about halfway through the movie when a voice came from behind the pair.
"Is this a date then?" Liam asked, wiggling his eyebrows.
"Err, no!" Carmen frowned.
"Anyway what are you four doing here? We saw you in the games arcade." Johnny asked.
"Yeah, well we thought the movie could be something good, like Pirates of the Caribbean, but instead we got stuck with Frozen." Rick said, as himself, Liam, Toby and Frank sat down on the grass.
"You just said you don't like Frozen, so why are you staying?" Carmen skied, confused.
"Just supervising you two! After all, you're only 12 and 13." Liam said.
"We're not going out for the last time!" Johnny said. And so Liam, Toby, Rick and Frank disappeared.
"What was that all about?" Carmen asked.
"Dunno, I reckon they're just a bit nosey." Johnny said, and himself and Carmen went back to watching the movie. The film soon finished, and it was getting later, so Carmen and Johnny decided to head back to their rooms.
"Johnny, thanks for this evening, I really appreciate you letting me join you and the boys. Goodnight!" Carmen said.
"No problem. Meet out here at 7:30 tomorrow morning, so we can discuss where we want to go and have some breakfast. Goodnight!" Johnny said, and Carmen nodded, before heading to her own room. The time was just past 11pm, and Tee and Lily still weren't back at the room. So Carmen decided to have a shower, put her pyjamas on, clean her teeth and go to bed, to ensure her energy for the morning. The sofa-bed was surprisingly comfortable, and not realising how tired she was, Carmen was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
Meanwhile, Lily and Tee were still roaming around the hotel. They'd already seen the gift shop and had bought caps with Minnie Mouse ears on them, they'd spent the last hour in the arcade trying to win Disney toys from the toy machines and playing pennies-in-slots, and they'd wasted $20 of their $50 in the arcade, unlike Liam, Rick, Toby and Frank, who had actually been pretty sensible. The two girls had also eaten (mostly desserts) and found themselves back in the gift shop looking at other merchandise, such as princess dolls and accessories.
"Lily, it's 11." Tee told her friend, who shrugged.
"We should stay out til 11:30, Tee! Come on, we're on holiday, you've gotta let loose!" Lily said, adding a puppy-dog face at the end for good measure.
"Fine then, but what should we do?" Tee asked her friend.
"When's the last time we ate?" Lily asked.
"Like 10." Tee answered.
"More desserts?" Lily asked, adding a smile.
"But I'll be sick!" Tee moaned.
"But we're on holiday! And it's free!" Lily said, again, pulling a puppy-dog face.
"Fine!" Tee agreed, and off they went to the café that Carmen, Johnny, Tyler and Gus had eaten in earlier. Lily ordered a chocolate cake and a cheesecake and Tee ordered an ice cream and a cookie. After they'd finished eating, it was approaching 11:30, so the girls went back to their room, and found that Carmen was already back, asleep.
"Should we watch some TV?" Lily asked. Tee nodded, as there was a knock on the door.
"Who is it?" Tee called.
"It's Mike. I presume you're all in." He said.
"Yeah." Tee said.
"Great, well if I were you, I'd be settling down soon, otherwise you'll be too tired for having fun in the morning." Mike suggested.
"Fine." Tee said.
"Goodnight girls!" Mike called.
"Goodnight!" Lily and Tee chorused back.
"Wait a minute, is Carmen there?" Mike asked.
"She's already asleep." Lily said.
"Oh, fantastic." Mike said, and then he really did move on.
"What time should we go to sleep then, Lily?" Tee asked her best friend.
"Whenever we get tired. I'm willing to stay up all night to be honest." Lily smiled.
"I'll stay up with you, until I get tired." Tee said. Lily smiled, and said:
"Deal!"
After leaving Carmen and Johnny to watch Frozen, Liam, Rick, Toby and Frank went back up to their room for what they called 'lads night in'.
"This is it boys! The perfect holiday! We're gonna have the time of our lives!" Liam exclaimed, taking a sip from has can of coke.
"I can't wait to go fishing!" Frank said. The other boys frowned at him.
"Fishing? Really Frank?" Toby groaned.
"Yep. It says in the welcome brochure that there's fishing facilities here." Frank explained.
"Right, well we can argue over fishing later. For now, let's find the music channel on this thing and get partying!" Liam said, signalling to the TV and finding the music channel he liked. The boys chatted about their plans for the next day, unpacked the remains of their clothes (all four boys had been rather hungry upon arrival) and decided who was sleeping where (the room had a double bed, and a sofa-bed to sleep two). Then, the party was back on! At about 11:30pm, Mike knocked on their door.
"Boys, what's going on in there?" Mike asked. All four boys shared worried looks, and quickly switched off the music and climbed under the covers of their beds (Mike wouldn't notice that they were dressed).
"Oh, nothing Mike, just relaxing." Liam lied.
"Are you sure? I thought I heard music coming from your room." Mike sounded suspicious.
"Oh yeah, we were listening to music, but we turned it down." Liam said.
"Okay." Mike said, still suspicious. "Goodnight."
The boys sighed in relief, and Liam said:
"Phew! That was close. We can still party, just not too loudly."
Sapphire, Elektra and Jody had very different plans than everyone else. They stayed in that night, ordering room service at about 9:00pm after unpacking, arranging who was sleeping where and just chatting for a bit. Harry had also stayed with them for dinner, as "he wanted to be with Sapphire". Sapphire dropped Harry back with Mike, Gina and Tracy at about ten, after he fell asleep after getting so comfy on Sapphire's bed!
"Mike, I'll pick Harry up at 8:00 tomorrow, if that's okay." Sapphire said.
"That's fine, thank you Sapphire." Mike whispered, as Sapphire placed Harry down on his bed, which was a chair that worked in the same way as a sofa bed.
"Mike, what time should I meet the girls and Gus in the morning?" Tracy asked, as she entered the room. Sapphire and Mike hushed her, and Tracy apologised after noticing Harry was asleep.
"9:00, so that they can have breakfast first." Mike suggested.
"Okay, I'll post a piece of paper in Gus' room, where do you think I'll find the girls?" Tracy asked, still whispering.
"Probably in the gift shop, or the arcade." Mike said.
"Great. Oh! And Gina's getting two more keys from reception, so that she can have her own and so that Saff can have one, in case she gets back earlier than us with Harry, and she can entertain him in here." Tracy explained. Mike nodded, and as if on cue, Gina walked in.
"Ah, Sapphire!" She began. But got interrupted by shushes from everyone in the room. After noticing Harry sleeping she continued, but in a whisper:
"I've got a key to this room for you, in case you're back before us. That way Harry can sit in here with you until one of us gets back." Gina said handing Sapphire the key.
"Cool, thanks. What are your plans for the rest of the evening?" Sapphire asked.
"Well, I was going to find Lily and Tee and tell them to meet me outside the gift shop at 9, then I'll probably go to bed." Tracy said.
"Well, I've been so busy sorting out Harry and unpacking, plus checking on everyone else, that I haven't eaten yet. So I was going to go down to one of the restaurants, then go to bed." Mike told Sapphire.
"Well Tracy and I already sorted our stuff out, and we just ate, and I was planning on going to bed myself, and I need to stay here anyway to look after Harry." Gina explained.
"Gina, if you have plans, I'll stay and look after Harry." Sapphire offered.
"That's kind of you, love, but I'm staying here anyway." Gina said.
"What plans do you and the girls have them?" Tracy asked.
"Not much. We had room service, and argued about who's sleeping where. At least I'm sharing the double bed with Jody and not Elektra. Then we unpacked. And argued about that too. So now I'll probably go to bed. Elektra's on her new iPad listening to some sort of music. And as for Jody she looked as though she was going to fall asleep when I was leaving, so hopefully it'll be a quiet night." Sapphire said, crossing her fingers at the end.
"Well, at least your not sharing your double bed with Tracy! Mike told me that when she was younger and he was on night duty he always heard her snoring." Gina said.
"Hey!" Tracy frowned, but she was still smiling.
"Im lucky enough to have the sofa-bed to myself." Mike said.
"Well, I'd best be off. Goodnight!" Sapphire said.
"Goodnight, Saff!" Mike, Gina and Tracy said.
"Goodnight Harry." Sapphire said, placing Jeff in his arms. And then she was on her way. As expected, when she arrived back, Jody was asleep and Elektra was still on her iPad. So Sapphire put on her pyjamas, cleaned her teeth, and went to bed.
So far, the residents were all having fun, even though they'd only been at Disney World for about 5 hours. It appeared that this was Mike's best idea in a long time on how to treat the residents at Elm Tree House. The only downside so far was that Elektra wasn't terribly pleased with Mike's choice of holiday, although inside, Elektra knew it wasn't so bad. For a care kid, she was very, very lucky! And even though some of the residents at Elm Tree were way too long old for magic, this holiday, so far, had proven that with a little bit of hope and magic on your side, that dreams, really do, come true.
I was in a deep mode when I wrote the last part, but I didn't wanna end it with Sapphire going to bed - kinda boring and not cliffhangerish. But this is finally here! I know I kind of promised this when I got back from my holiday like three weeks ago 😳 but at least it's here now. Wanna hear my excuses? Well here goes! First of all I had to complete a lot of research into the hotel and the parks. And Disney World Florida is a rather massive place! So yeah. Then, I wrote this, which is pretty much 5,000 words long. I learned that I can't be brief when writing this! Hope I didn't bore you! The last reason is because I actually tried to upload this yesterday, but my stupid iPad didn't want to load the website! Also, (new topic), check out my profile (and while you're there my other stories 😉) as to why this includes a bit of Johnny/Carmen. Have to admit I ship them (more in The Dumping Ground though but YOLO!), so yeah. On an irrelevant note, The Dumping Ground is now officially on my autocorrect. On a relevant note, Sapphire's age has changed from 16 to 17 having worked it out. Hopefully I can fit another chapter in before I go on holiday (again) but I'm going away for 10 days (I depart on Thursday). But the good thing is that I'm taking my iPad with me, so I can write the next instalment whilst I'm away and upload it when I get back. So maybe I'll get to you before Thursday, maybe not, but if the next chapter is as long as this one when I'm trying to be brief, expect this more around the 24/25 August (don't look for this between the 13-23 August, since I'm not even in the UK then!), but do check until Thursday, I might be a good girl and write for you! Until the next time!