Ashley's eyes fluttered open. Where was she? Oh yes, that was right. She was on an airplane. Headed to California! As much as she loved her hometown of Toronto, she had always dreamed of coming to a place such as this sunny state. Ashley glanced to her right. There was her best friend, Ellie Nash, bopping her head to music.

"Hey sleepyhead," said Ellie pulling off her headphones. "Have a good rest? The second we got on the plane, you were out of it."

"Yeah, I didn't get much sleep last night," Ashley responded. "What are you listening to?"

Ellie smirked. "Good Charlotte. As poppy and non-punk as they are, they're just simply irresistible." She fingered the piercing on the upper cartilage on her left ear. "Wanna listen?"

"Nah, I'm good," Ashley decided. "Hey, do you know if they're playing a movie on the way over?"

"No clue. You could ask the stewardess over there with the crappy facelift," suggested Ellie. Ashley laughed. The stewardess looked like a person after you've screwed up their face with the smudge tool on some computer program. She hated to be so mean to someone like this, but she couldn't fight the urge. The lady was just too funny. Plus, it was her fault that she had decided to get plastic surgery. She knew that there was a chance of her face turning out like that.

"Dude, that lady is hot!" Ashley heard JT Yorke exclaim to his friend Toby Isaacs from across the aisle, looking at the screwed-face lady. She giggled. Apparently, Ellie had heard to because she started laughing hysterically. The ugly lady walked over to them.

"Excuse me, can I ask you to quiet down please?" she asked. "Some people are trying to enjoy the peace." This just made Ellie laugh even harder. She supposed that normally she wouldn't find such things so amusing, but she was in a good mood, and what harm was it to laugh? It was summer! "Ma'am, are you all right?" asked the stewardess.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good," replied Ellie, still laughing. Just then, another stewardess (this time a much less ugly one) came over to them to see what was going on.

"Is everything okay here?" she questioned. This got the attention of Ms. Kwan, who was sitting nearby.

"Miss Nash, what is going on?" she said with a stern look on her face. Ellie stopped laughing now.

"Um, not much, Ms. Kwan. I-I just, I was laughing at something and this lady didn't like it," Ellie explained, motioning to the facelift lady. Facelift woman didn't seem to enjoy being called "this lady".

"Elle Nash, this is a warning," cautioned Ms. Kwan. "One more scandal like this one and you will not be participating in the trip activities." The two stewardesses left and Ms. Kwan resumed to what she had been doing before the interruption. Ellie glared at Ms. Kwan with her arms crossed. What a crappy trip this had turned out to be. She had already been told off by some bitchy teacher just because she was having a good time. As she was rubbing her forehead, her elbow accidentally knocked over her Coke. Crap. Why was she even on this hell of a vacation?

************************************************************************

"So, I think there should be some pretty awesome photo opportunities in California," said Craig enthusiastically. "You know, with the beaches and sunsets and all. But I'll let you talk. I'm sure I'm boring you."

"No!" Manny practically screamed. She smiled. Typical Craig, always caring about others before himself. "I love hearing what you have to say!"

Craig smiled as well. "I like hearing what you say too. So, what are you looking forward to the most in California?"

Manny couldn't tell him what she was really thinking - spending time with him. "Um, I'm not sure. Everything will be fun!" Just then, the food tray was brought by with lunch.

"Chicken or lasagna?" asked the stewardess warily. Manny felt sorry for her. It must suck to have to spend hours and hours aboard a plane serving people their food.

"Um, lasagna please?" Manny ordered.

"Lasagna for me as well," decided. "Thank you very much!" he said when the stewardess handed him a slop of brownish-reddish gunk. After the stewardess had moved on to the next row, he stated, "Wow. This is even worse than the cafeteria food back home!"

Manny laughed. "No kidding. How can they call this food even?" She dug in anyway. She was pretty hungry since she hadn't eaten breakfast that morning. Surprisingly, it tasted pretty good.

"How is it?" asked Craig. "You think it's gonna kill you?"

"I hope not!" Manny responded. If it killed her, she wouldn't get to see Craig anymore. "It's actually pretty good. Try it." Craig did as she said and he thought it wasn't too bad either. They sat for a few moments in silence, eating.

"Um, Manny?" Craig said cautiously.

"Yes?" replied Manny. "Uh, I - I'm sorry for breaking up with you even if it was a long time ago," he apologized.

Manny looked down and smoothed out her shirt. "I am too, Craig."