Hey Guys! Sorry it's been so long... That's entirely my fault... My sister has like five chapters ready and I've failed to post any until now... I apologize! Gomen Nasai! Here it is, another awesome chapter!
Tyson and Hilary stopped after exchanging a few more retorts and contented themselves with ignoring each other.
"Have any ideas how we can find the place we were supposed to meet Hiro, Chief?" Tyson asked, still heatedly looking away from Hilary.
"No," said Kenny, staring at his laptop. "Any luck getting a signal, Dizzi?"
"Sorry, Chief," Dizzi replied. "I still can't access it." Kenny sighed and looked up from his computer.
"Thanks anyway, Dizzi. Sorry guys, but the GPS signal is really weak. We can't seem to pinpoint our location," he said.
"What are we going to do? Our flight leaves in ten minutes," Tyson groaned. The group talked amongst themselves nervously. I frowned and looked around for a map of the airport. No matter how hard I looked, however, no trace of a sign or flyer with one appeared. That meant there was only one option left.
I walked up to the desk of a nearby flight attendant. A twinge of nervousness shot down my back, but I did my best to put on an apologetic smile. The woman didn't seem to notice I was there and continued typing on her computer. After a few moments, though, she jumped and looked at me in surprise.
"Can I help you?" The flight attendant asked politely.
"Sorry to bother you," I said, my voice coming out in little more than a whisper. "But do you know how to get to the East Waiting Room from here?" I glanced up at her briefly, before quickly returning my eyes to the floor.
"The East Waiting Room?" She repeated. "Just down the hall; take your first right and then first left." I nodded my thanks and quietly slipped back to the Bladebreakers. None of them had noticed I was missing, but Rei and Hilary glanced over when I returned. Kai regarded my appearance with indifference, not seeming surprised.
"Guys," I said timidly. I had to repeat it several times before the Bladebreakers stopped talking to listen. I continued a little uncertainly, "…Sorry for bothering you, but I found out where the waiting room is. It's down the hall to our right, then on our first left."
"How did you find out?" Max said, sounding confused. I began to answer, but Kenny glanced at his watch and started.
"There's no time. We have to be there in a few minutes!" He exclaimed. That put everyone into action. We all scrambled down the suddenly too long hallway, adding a few new skid marks at the corners. Irritated looks were thrown in our direction as we tried unsuccessfully to avoid running into people on the way.
Hiro caught sight of us and waved at us impatiently, checking the time of the clock on the wall.
"Come on, we have to go," he said, while frowning at his younger brother. "Where were you, Tyson? You guys were supposed to be here ten minutes ago."
"We got lost," Tyson said. He rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.
"I gave you clear instructions on how to –" Hiro began before cutting off. "I suppose it doesn't matter now." The Bladebreakers and I hurriedly made our way to the temporary loading tunnel with a speed undocumented in any of our training sessions. All of us were relieved to finally tumble into our seats.
Everyone caught their breath for a few moments, before the excitement of heading to a new location hit us. I smiled at Max, who pressed his face into the window next to me.
"Next stop New York?" I said. I was worried he wouldn't respond, since I hadn't spoken to the Bladebreakers in normal conversation for a while; but Max immediately broke into a cheerful smile.
"That's right," he said, but Dizzi spoke up.
"Actually, the plane is supposed to make a stop in California first." I looked curiously back at the gray laptop, surprised the bit beast had said anything. My heart gave a hard pulse. California.
"I think Sandy meant our final destination, Dizzi," Kenny said.
"Then she should have said so!" Dizzi replied. My cheeks flushed a little bit.
"That doesn't have as nice of a ring," I replied feebly. The laptop screen flashed in a way that reminded me of an eye roll.
"Well, would you have said I was a type writer because it had a better ring?" The computerized bit beast sounded exasperated. Most of the other passengers had assumed that I was talking to one of the people next to me, but a few had started to give me weird looks when they realized I wasn't.
"N-Never mind," I stammered. "Sorry."
"Perhaps you should just get a type writer to replace me, if that's all you think of me as," Dizzi said with a sigh. I shook my head frantically and my stammering grew worse.
"N-no, no, sorry," I said, rapidly trying to fix my mistake. "I didn't mean –"
"Dizzi's just being sensitive Sandy," Kenny said reassuringly. "Don't worry about it."
"Stop apologizing so much," Kai murmured. "It's sickening." His eyes were closed when I turned to look at him and I wondered if I had imagined him speaking. I must not have, because Rei joined in from next to him.
"He's right, Sandy. You do tend to act as if you're offending people with your presence." My face fell and I stopped myself from apologizing again, having fallen into the habit after the argument with Dizzi. I didn't know how to respond to Rei's comment, so I simply turned back to stare at the chair in front of me.
Tyson, Daichi, and Hilary got into several loud discussions – or arguments – in which Max or Kenny occasionally joined in, but for the most part the team quieted down. Rei and Kai's words continued to replay in my mind. A shadow settled across me as the voices of my team joined in the fray. The truth was that, in my mind, I was burdening people with my presence.
Night darkened the sky and stars lit up to chase away the darkness. Most of the Bladebreakers had fallen asleep, but we all awoke when Max gave an excited cry.
"Guys, we're here!" My eyes shot open and I glanced out the window. At first, all I could see was glittering golden stars; but as I looked closer, I found that the stars were unusually clumped together and flickered brightly. City lights. We had reached America.