Chapter 1

Brenna couldn't wait. Her insides were twisting with joy as she sought out her friends to tell them the news that had her jumping for joy. She spotted a small group sitting by the French room in a corner, one girl reading and two boys (one who was flicking an elastic band at the other). The girl and boy were rather large and the other boy very skinny. Brenna gave a bright smile and practically skipped over, turning heads in the hallway as she passed. The tallest boy elbowed the girl in the ribs, getting a dirty look in return, before gesturing down the hallway to the skipping girl. She stopped in front of them and sat on the floor next to the skinny boy.

"Guess what I won guys! Come on guess!" The other girl raised an eyebrow.

"If it's got you this excited, then maybe you should just tell us instead of making us do pointless guessing" She said sarcastically. Brenna gave a disapproving frown before breaking into a wide grin once more.

"I won a trip to France! Isn't that great?!" The boys shrugged and the girl forced out a smile before drooping her head to read her book. Brenna's smile dropped quickly.

"Shawnee, what's that look for? I'm allowed to bring three friends with me on this! Does this mean you don't want to go?" Shawnee glanced up sharply, her eyes wide with shock, her mouth round.

"I thought so. Anyhow we leave in a week. So be sure to be ready to go!" Shawnee smiled, Jordan frowned, and Chris groaned.

"What if we don't want to? France is so boring!" Chris groaned. Brenna shook her head.

"If you don't want to miss school, fine by me. I'll just have someone else go with us." Chris perked up at this.

"Miss school? Count me in!"

1 week later

"This is going to be great!" Brenna said excitedly. Shawnee gave a happy nod.

"Ya, the best!" Chris pouted to himself and Jordan stayed quiet.

"I can't believe you're dragging us to France! This sucks!" Chris complained. Jordan rolled his eyes and stared out the window. Brenna turned around to face him.

"You could've said you didn't want to come you know!" Chris shrugged half heartedly. Brenna gave a irritated sigh and flopped back in her seat.

The plane gave a slight jolt before an announcement came on over the speakers.

"Ladies and gentleman, we are now preparing to land. Please fasten your seatbelts and strapped down all carry on items." They snapped their seatbelts together and waited, somewhat impatiently, for their landing.

The airfield was a rather drab place, filled with gray planes and layered with gray tarmac. Brenna stepped down the steps and onto the field, taking in a deep breath. Shawnee stumbled briefly before righting herself and coming up beside her, a small purse like thing in her hand. Chris and Jordan soon followed and they strolled into the terminal without a care in the world.

"Let's find our stuff, get a taxi, get to the hotel, and then go get some food!" Chriss said impatiently. Shawnee gave a silent huff.

"Jeez Chris, you are ridiculous. We're not catching a taxi because we have no idea where we're going! Brenna, is someone taking us to the hotel or do we have to get lost in Paris first?" Brenna gave a little chuckle.

"Don't worry we're not going to get lost. Hey! There goes our bags!" Brenna grabbed her backpack and a suitcase of the conveyor belt before turning to scan the thick crowd while the others grabbed their things. A man in a black was standing by the door holding a sign that said "Canadian girl 3". Brenna smiled and grabbed Shawnee by the arm.

"I can see our driver. Where's Chris and Jordan?" Shawnee turned to see Jordan struggling with his bag and Chris laughing as he watched him start to drag it towards them. They looked at each other and rolled their eyes to the ceiling.

"Boys will be boys eh Athos?" Shawnee said with a smile. Brenna nodded. The two girls pushed through the crowd to them and led them to the driver. After showing their passports, the driver led them to a black coloured taxi and put their bags in the trunk as they got in.

The traffic in the main streets of Paris was horrible but it gave them enough time to check out the scenery as they passed, heading for their hotel, the Hotel de France. Brenna stuck her head out the window and with a gleeful smile squealed: "Check it out! It's the Eiffel Tower!" Shawnee looked as best she could through the window and Jordan took a half hearted glance. Chris didn't even bother to look but groaned.

"When are we going to get there?! I want food!"

"Patience Chris! We'll get there!"

"But Brenna I want food now…" Shawnee gave a slight snarl.

"Please Athos, can I pound him? Please?! He's driving me crazy!" Brenna looked at her sharply.

"You know how I feel about violence. So the answer is no." Shawnee flopped back into her seat with a huff. Chris gave an arrogant smirk and turned to look out the window and his eyes went wide.

"Guess what? I think we're here!" Everyone spun towards the windows to see what looked to be a five storey building, built in early 17th century style.

"This is so cool!" Shawnee cried happily, startling the people passing by. Brenna grabbed her by the arm roughly.

"Will you calm down? You're making a scene!" Shawnee blushed embarrassingly.

"Oops…. Sorry" They grabbed their bags, and with Brenna leading the way, march up to an open receptionist. Jordan had just finished dragging his bag to them when Brenna finished talking to the receptionist and a bellhop was waiting to take the bags on a cart upstairs. He was just about to start leading the way to their room when Brenna noticed that Jordan was about to fall over.

"Hold it a moment bellhop. We've almost forgotten someone." They waited as Jordan dragged himself to them and Chris snatched his bag and all but threw it on the cart.

"Now can we go? I'm hungry!" Shawnee gave a low chuckle and trotted along behind Brenna, who was following Chris with Jordan flopped on top of the luggage pile.