Chapter Four:

Emma snored beside Jess as Jess tried to focus on her book. It was a useless attempt, this flight seemed to go on forever. Everyone else in the group was sleeping, but Jess wasn't even tired. She sighed. How much longer would this go on? She had slept well that night, but she wasn't sure how much longer they had to go before landing. Jess thought she was handling this exceptionally well, considering it was one of her first times on a plane. Yeah, she was doing okay. The lady behind them hand thrown up already, and she was a flight attendant traveling for fun! Jess shook her head, sometimes people are the weirdest things you'll ever encounter. Emma stirred.

"A-a-a-are we a-a-a-almost there yet?" She asked while yawning.

"No idea." Jess quickly replied welcoming the interaction.

"Ok then, I'll just go back to sleep." Jess quickly grabbed her arm and shook her slightly.

"No! You can't go back to sleep! It's sooo boring with no one to talk to! Stay awake and chat with me!" Emma groaned.

"But I'm tired!" She whined. All loud voice came bellowing through the loud speakers.

"We well now begin our descent, please return all tray tables and seat backs to their original position."

"Yes!" Jess nearly shouted. She clearly could not wait to get off of that plane. She hastily began shoving her books back into her bag at random. "Finally!"

"Whoa Jess, a little too excited to get off of here aren't you?" Darcy said, after waking up of course. Jess blushed.

"N-no!" She fumbled with her words. You'd have had to be blind to not see the huge crush she had on Darcy. It seems Darcy is blind. He just laughed and reached across the aisle to tug her braid gently, a familiar gesture that made Jess calm down slightly.

They still had half an hour left of the flight and Jess was getting aggravated…again. She couldn't believe they hadn't landed already! She wanted to go she the house she was going to live in this year, and get unpacked! This stuffy airplane was really making her mad. Emma didn't like the way she was acting.

"Could you calm down a bit Jess?" Her voice was timid. She really didn't like saying things that people might take as insults. She was a little insecure in that way. Jess's brow furrowed.

"I am calm." Emma almost laughed at this, because Jess was the most 'uncalm' that Emma had ever seen her. Her cheeks were red, her arms were crossed and she kept tapping her foot. Yeah, she was soooo 'calm'.

"You are kind of being a drama queen Jess, be patient!" Darcy told her. Jess froze, eyes wide open. Her cheeks were red still but from embarrassment instead of anger. Her arms unfolded and her head sagged.

"Sorry." Darcy just smiled.

"It's okay, everyone loses their cool sometimes." Emma shot a silent 'thank you' his way. She didn't think she would've been able to handle Jess in that mood. Jess just sunk back into her seat and was silent the rest of the way, in fact, she didn't speak again until they had reached Ivy Cottage.

"Wow." She whispered, standing beside Emma. She was transfixed. This house seemed like it was straight out of a fairy tale. It was unlike anything she had ever seen before, even though she lived on a gorgeous 100 year old farm.

"Wow." Emma agreed. Their eyes met, and they giggled together.

"Look, I'm sorry about acting that way on the plane, I was just so excited to get here! I was a little cranky too." Jess furrowed her brow, looking pained. She had angered her friend, and she was ashamed for it. Or was she merely ashamed that Darcy had noticed? Even she didn't know.

An hour later, they were all settling into their rooms and relaxing after the long flight. Darcy was undoubtedly snoring away in his room Emma thought. She wondered what Jess was doing. Jess. She was still a little angry at her. Emma had never seen her act that way before. What had brought on the sudden attitude? Emma shook her head. She was being silly. Jess was her best friend, everything was fine between them and there was nothing to worry about. Was there?

Jess was nearly finished unpacking, she had placed photos on the shelves, clothes in the closet and sheets on the bed. How creepy would it have been to sleep on someone else's sheets? Eww! Jess almost forgot to place her laptop on the desk. She needed it. She was planning to write a journal in it all about this year. It was one that she wanted to remember and she couldn't think of a better way to document it. She wasn't a writer like Emma, but she was going to do her best to make sure this year was remembered. In the best way possible.

Emma got out her laptop after unpacking. She thought it was a perfect time for writing. But what would she write about? She decided she was going to write about her feelings. Her anger at Jess and her excitement for the coming year. She would turn it into words on the page. By the time she was finished the whole thing had turned into a diary entry. But she was okay with that. There was no better time or place to start a diary. Maybe she would be motivated enough to keep it going throughout the whole year, who knows, maybe she would do it longer. It would be nice to be able to read it again, relive the memories. Hopefully all good ones, although she knew that was unrealistic.

Her mother was calling for dinner, so Emma left the room with a smile on her face. She was happy after writing her diary entry. It was a good way to refresh one's self. All her bad feelings of the past couple hours were gone. She was still smiling when she reached the dining room. Her father's amazing food was spread over the table and she was starving. Who knew that writing made one so hungry! Rephrase that, who knew sleeping made one so hungry! Darcy was already devouring a bit of everything on the table. Emma rolled her eyes, sometimes he really annoyed her. He hadn't even waited for Jess and her to get there! Emma heard an angry sigh behind her. She turned to she Jess glaring at Darcy just as she had been moments before, but then her gaze softened. Jess couldn't be angry at him, he was just to adorable for that. Now it was Emma's turn to sigh angrily. She looked back at the table.

"Darcy!" He looked up, the picture of innocence.

"Do you plan on saving any of that for us?" Darcy looked shocked.

"W-what?! I wasn't going to eat it all!" Emma walked slowly to the table and crumpled into a chair.

"It sure looked like you were going to." Emma grumbled.

"No it didn't." Jess whispered, but both Emma and Darcy heard her.

"See! Jess knows I wasn't going to." Jess was glowing with his praise. Emma just grabbed her own plate and started eating. Her good mood had vanished.

"Sorry." She said, between bites. "I guess I am a little grumpy after all."

"No sleep does that to you." Darcy said, smiling at his sister. Their parents walked in settling down at the table.

"Did everyone like their rooms?" Emma's mother asked. Jess nodded eagerly.

"It's really pretty!"

"It's a great place to write." Emma added. Her father smiled proudly at her.

"I hope the sports here are good." Of course, that was all Darcy had to say. Emma rolled her eyes. He had no comment about anything else? It didn't really matter though. Emma was determined to enjoy herself during their year out of the country. Now that Jess was with her, she was sure that even Darcy's antics wouldn't get in the way this time.

But what if it wasn't Darcy getting in the way?