The first thing Christina saw when she woke up was Melody's face. She sat up, and felt her head pounding. Then, she looked at Melody.

"Chris, its 4:00 AM. We'll have to leave in about an hour. Get up and get dressed," her friend said. Christina mumbled something that Mel couldn't hear and uncovered herself.

"Who's got the shower first?" Christina mumbled, loud enough for Melody to hear this time. She remembered that Ms. Gifford had taken a shower the night before. Then she saw Mel's hair was still wet. "Nevermind," she said, and grabbed her clothes for the day. She went to the bathroom and before taking her shower, she took some painkillers to get rid of her headache. Finally she hopped in the shower, which felt extra good, and also helped her head a bit. Christina washed her hair with her mint-smelling shampoo, washed her body, and then got out to dry.

Christina came out of the bathroom, steaming flowing out behind her from the shower. She was wearing a pastel blue halter top and a white skirt that went down to her shins. She sat down, on the side of one of the beds, next to Mel. Then, she grabbed her brush off the nightstand, started brushing her hair, and watched TV. The movie "The Princess Bride" was on.

"Feel better, Chris?" Mel asked. Her mother went passed them, into the bathroom to change. Christina nodded and tried to part the back of her hair. "Need help?" Grateful, Christina handed over her comb to Melody and let her part it. Then, Christina braided her long hair in pigtails and tied them off at the end with ponytail holders.

"Thanks, Mel," she said. Melody smiled and went back to watching the movie, as did Christina. 5:00 AM rolled around quickly, especially while watching "The Princess Bride", one of the pair's favorite movies. The two best friends and Mel's mom were all ready by the time the hour came. Mel's mom was busy on her laptop, and the girls were watching the movie, when Raphael came to the door. He knocked, and Mel got up from the bed to answer it.

"It's time to get to the airport, you guys," he said, quickly. Christina got up and turned off the TV, then wandered outside of the room, behind Mel, and followed by Ms. Gifford. Everyone was already outside. "Everyone got someone to drive their cars back?" Raphael asked the girls.

"Yes," Christina replied. "My parents took the van and drove your parents here," she said to Mel and Raphael, "so they could drive our cars home."

"Oh, right, I almost forgot," Raphael said. "Alright, let's get going." Raphael's dad caught up with him to ask him how the flight was going to be. "Seven and a half hours, dad." He sighed. "Don't worry. It's not going to crash in the ocean or anything." They all went outside, and got into their cars. It took about fifteen minutes to get to the airport. Then, the three who were traveling checked in at the front counter and got their tickets. They stood outside the security check for about 20 minutes, saying goodbye to their parents. Ever since 9/11, their parents were not allowed to go back with them, since they were over thirteen. The three were inform of the cars that their parents had bought for them, that would be over there, in France.

With one last hug and kiss, the three went through the security check, not having to get checked twice, and went back to their gate, which was at the very back, which took about ten minutes to get to, because of the size of the airport. Christina sat down on the chairs, waiting, and the other two sat on either side of her. They were informed that the flight would be arriving about five minutes late. There was also very little people there. Melody counted 10 other people besides them.

"For going to France, you'd expect a bigger crowd, wouldn't you, guys?" she asked looking at the other two, who shrugged, and went back to what they were doing. Raphael was listening to his CD player, and Christina was making one last check in her carry-on. Mel and Raphael both thought she was crazy for putting her flute and piccolo in her carry-on bag. Then she explained that she didn't want them to get messed up. She would've brought her violin on her carry-on, if there had been enough room. Instead, she was forced to put it in one of her bags. Their parents would be sending more stuff through mail, like the things that they couldn't take.

Finally, the flight came in, and they got on. Since there weren't many people, and it was a non-stop flight, the flight attendants didn't really care where they sat. Raphael hated flights, to he took the outside seat. Melody loved them, so she took the window seat. That stuck Christina, who didn't really care where she sat, in the middle. As the flight took off, the friends looked at each other, and held hands.

"Are you guys ready for this?" Melody asked the other two, who nodded.

Since the flight was so long, and it was so early in the morning, Christina took her CD player out and listened to it while falling asleep. Mel fell asleep after a couple of hours of looking over sheet music, and watching out the window. Raphael was out in the first half-hour. Apparently, he had been up all night playing card games with his dad, and didn't really go to sleep. When the flight was about to land, a flight attendant came over to wake them up.

"The flight is about to land, so please wake up and turn off your electronic devices," she said, cheerfully. Mel and Christina wanted to know how she could still be awake, and so happy, as well. The lady went away, back to her seat, and strapped herself in.

There were a few bumps on the way down, which upset Raphael. They unbuckled their seat belts early and, when they were allowed to move, took their carry-ons out of the over-head compartment. Raphael, eager to get off, went first, and quickly, followed by Christina and Melody. The airport around them was foreign, very foreign. Luckily, they all had been taking French, so they knew which way to go. While walking, they all took out their cell phones, and at the same time, called their parents.

"Yes, we got here alright, dad," Raphael was heard saying.

"Don't worry, mom, we know French. We'll learn our way around," Melody said.

"Yes, mom. Yes, we'll find the cars. Don't- Oh, hi, Ben. Yes, I'll bring you back something cool. Alright. Bye," Christina ended. She looked at her friends. "Lets get going. We have to find out how to exchange our money. Then we have to find the cars."