Author's Note: Hi thar! Hehe, thankies to those who reviewed... all 3 of you ^_^ lol, anyways, read and review puhlease!
Disclaimer: Je ne possède pas copyright pour des sakes de qualité, et si vous avez traduit ceci puis satisfais sais que les manteaux blancs seront avec vous sous peu. Pauvre imbécile aliéné ......
It didn't take us long to find the others. Erin and Gilead were already there and Erin's contagious energetic ness could have alerted people in China to our existence.
"Thena! Andi!" We waved back at her and walked over.
"Heya Erin, Gilead."
"Hey. Hello Andi, how are you?" Andi gave me a hopeless look and I pulled a face at her.
"Fine thanks Gilead."
"Is Shane here yet?" I asked Erin wistfully.
"No, and if he doesn't get here soon I'm going to kick his...Shane!" I turned and saw Shane jogging towards us with a sheepish look on his face.
"Howdy."
We all exchanged similar greetings before Erin and Shane held a little public display of affection, during which I suddenly took immense interest in my watch, and Gilead turned airily to Andi, gesturing absentmindedly to Erin and Shane.
"Hey Andi, any chance of you and I..."
"Grrrr..."
"Bugger."
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Erin and Shane detached themselves from each other just as the train pulled up, letting out a small flood of tourists.
"Blegh, insane people.What are you doing awake so early?!" I yelled into the 'insane' throng as we fought our way toward the train,and eventually onto it.
"Gosh, why is it everyone is coming here from Rockhampton when that's where we're going?"
"They're making more room for us." I poked my toungue out at Gilead as we found a group of seats together, promptly plonking ourselves and our bags onto them. As we started to get comfortable, I remarked.
"You know, we might not have even been able to go today."
"Why not?"
"Apparently for the past day or two they haven't had any trains through from further down the line, so they were going to shut down for a day or two or something, but they decided not to because of Commem day."
"Maybe they really made the exception especially for you?"
"Shutup Gilead."
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The train got going on time, though that didn't mean much, we were in for a two and a half hour trip anyway. I groaned, wishing desperately to be back in bed, then turned to the others.
"So where are your mobs spending the day?" There was a chorus of 'the caves' from all round, except for Andi, who was the only one of us without siblings. 'The caves' were, of course, caves, and there were heaps of them scattered around Emerald, and for most in the area it seemed, Commem Day was the annual excuse to visit them.
"You would have thought they'd lose interest after a while wouldn't you? I mean, they are caves, but it's not like the rock changes every year." I nodded in agreement as Erin went on.
"Are Chloe and Di going to the caves?"
"Nuh, I think they were just going to trump around town for the day, unless Chloe gets called in for babysitting."
"Is Liera meeting us at the station or what?" That was Andi, and it was Gilead who answered her.
"Apparently. I hope she's not too hard to find..."
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As it turned out, Liera wasn't that hard to find. But then again, I don't think there were any other people at the Rockhampton train station with blue streaks in their hair.
"Geez you guys, your late enough aren't you?"
"Hello to you too Li." I grinned at her as she took a swipe at me.
"Don't call me that or i'll get Andi to call you Athy." I made gagging noises at her in protest.
"Good." There was a rushing sound behind us as Erin ran over.
"Hi Liera I need coffee!" Typical of Erin, who always seemed to need coffee.
"G'day to you too Rin. Well if you'll just get a move on and grab your bags, we'll get going."
"Get going where?" Said Shane, piling out of the train behind us with Andi and Gilead in tow.
"Ask Erin." Shane looked at Erin questionably.
"Coffee house!"
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The coffee house was packed, but Erin was starting to drive us all nuts so we weren't about to pass it up.
"I need coffee now you guys or i'll pass out!"
"That's ok Erin, I know CPR." Shane grinned at her. Liera found us a table and we all but threw ourselves down at it, as if we'd walked several kilometres instead of several blocks.
"So how were the Whitsundays Liera?" Asked Andi, who was sitting next to Gilead and making regretful faces at me.
"Nice..but very hot. Too bad you guys couldn't go." Liera had gone to the islands over christmas and had only got into Rockhampton the night before.
"Stop rubbing it in." Erin pleaded at her, whilst ordering several cups of coffee.
"Erk, how can you drink that stuff?"
"Geez Andi, with my mouth?"
Andi looked like she would have liked to hit Erin with her bag then, but it was safely out of her reach under the table.
"So where are we staying tonight?" I asked Liera, who was busy scrutinizing the menu.
"Oh, with us I spose. We're in a motel just outside town." 'Us' was Liera and her family.
"Ok, cool." I looked around at the others. Erin was loading cream and sugar into one of her cups of coffee, while Andi was trying to put sugar in Shane and Gilead's hair as descretly as possible, unaware that Gilead was doing the same to her. I grinned. This was going to be interesting.
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After spending the day 'bumming' around Rockhampton looking in weird shops and trying to convince Liera to buy a stuffed kangaroo, and almost convincing Shane that it would be a cool idea to swim across the Fitzroy river, we found our way to the motel to crash for the night. After saying a quick goodnight to the boys, who were just down the hall from us and somehow already looking half asleep, I hurried outside to call mum.
"Hi mum, this is me."
"I figured that."
"Yeah well, I just rang to tell you we all got here ok, ok?"
"Okay. What time should I expect you back?"
"Ummm, probably about ten at night."
"Ok, just a sec, Kira wants to tell you something.." I groaned.
"Sure, put her on."
"G'night."
"Night mum, love ya." There was a small click as the phone swapped hands and then a voice screeched down the line.
"Why did you have to leave me here to take care of those horrible kids?!"
"Ahhhhhh! Kira I already told you why you couldn't le- ........" There was a slightly fuzzy 'bleep' and the phone cut out. I stared at the silent receiver in my hand for a second, before hanging it back up and shaking my head at it, confused, and wandering back into our room, where I was hit square in the face by a well aimed pillow.
"Erin!" Erin peeked up from behind one of the beds with a foolish look on her face, and laughed manically at me.
"That didn't take long."
"Yeah, the phone cut out."
"Awww...too bad!" She threw another pillow at me, which I ducked, and turned around in time to see it hit Liera, who was just walking into the room from saying goodnight to her parents.
"Erin!" The aforementioned was now red in the face, and practically rolling on the floor with laughter.
"She's over tired...or it was the coffee." I nodded in agreement with Liera, who was trying to keep a straight face, and then turned back to Erin who suddenly stopped laughing and looked at us in a bewildered fashion.
"I'm tired, I think i'll go to bed now." Liera and I threw the pillows at her, which she grabbed and tossed onto a bed, along with herself.
"Good idea." Andi walked in behind us and closed the door. "You children should have been in bed ages ago." I glared at her and Erin made snoring noises.
"Ok Erin we get the picture!" Liera laughed. And we did get the picture. In about ten minutes we were fast asleep, and even now I can't believe we were so blissfully ignorant.
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More Author's Notes: Sorry if that was kinda boring or anything, but the first two chapters are basically just for character introduction, I promise it'll get more interesting in the next chapter. Review please! ^0^