"Are you sure you don't want to come along?" Kelly asked Leslie as she threw another shirt into her duffle bag. "I could really use some female company."
"I'm sorry, Kelly. I would love to go, but…"
"I know, I know. Paris." Kelly interrupted.
Leslie nodded her head with a slight smile.
"I can't say that I blame you. Paris is amazing. Of course, I've never been at Christmas…" Kelly reminisced as she removed her clothing choices from her bag.
"You mean, you've been to Paris?" Leslie asked surprised.
"Yeah, it's been a few years ago, but I've been. It was one of the most exciting months of my life," she said dreamily as she sat down on her bed.
"Don't take this the wrong way, Kelly, but how did you afford to stay in Paris for a month?" Very interested in Kelly's answer, she lay on her stomach with her head resting in her hands giving Kelly her full attention.
"I went for a modeling shoot. It was a free trip- except for a few meals."
"Wow. You modeled in Paris? That's like every girls dream." Leslie said rising up to sit on the edge of her bed.
Kelly nodded with a smile. Then, began to frown when she realized her duffle bag was empty.
Leslie noticed, got up from her bed, and began looking through Kelly's clothes. "I'll give you some wardrobe help since it seems you are used to that when you travel," she kidded.
Bags were scattered all over the living room. Leslie was cleaning out the fridge as Slater held open an empty trash bag. Zack and Kelly were sitting on the arm of the sofa, laughing and talking quietly to each other. Screech was reclining on top of his bags which were on top of the sofa. The only one missing was Alex.
"Ugg… how long has this been in here?" Leslie asked scrunching her face with disgust and holding a container full of some mysterious food as far away from her body as possible.
"I don't know, but let's not even try to save the container," Slater choked out his reply.
"Agreed," Leslie nodded dropping the container into the bag. "I think that's everything."
"Good," Slater said tying up the bag. "I'll take this to the dumpster on the way out. Hey, have you seen Alex?" Slater asked quietly.
Just as he spoke her name, Alex came out of her room with a suitcase in her hands. Everyone stopped what they were doing and watched her every move.
"Well, my parents are here so, I'm out of here," she told everyone. "Why are you all staring at me?"
"No reason," Kelly answered.
"Were we staring?" Zack asked innocently.
"You just closed the door so loudly, it got our attention," Leslie lied.
"We all figured you were heartbroken since Slater dumped you, and we wanted to see how well you were taking it," Screech told her. Zack hit him in the back of the head, knocking him off of his bags and into the floor.
"Well, sorry for the inconvenience folks, but the dramatic performance you came to watch is no longer playing. I hope you kept your receipts so you can get your money back! Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a plane to catch!" she marched to the door, chin held high.
"I thought your parents were picking you up," Slater asked confused.
"Well, yeah, but car just doesn't have the same impact," she shrugged with a sheepish grin.
Kelly gazed out the window staring at the clouds below her. "Are you sure you guys are ok with not having the window seat?"
Zack nodded, "Yeah, I've already flown across country when I visited Yale. Slater's lived all over the world so there aren't many places he hasn't seen in a plane or on foot. And Screech traveled a cross the country every year as a kid. You on the other hand, slept through your entire flight to Paris and still need to experience the window seat."
"This is so exciting," Kelly whispered, snuggling close to Zack who had his arm around her shoulders. "New York, getting to see Jessie, snow!" she shivered a little and snuggled closer to him.
"You must be getting cold just thinking about it," he grinned at her.
"I think it's just nerves. Flying makes me nervous."
"It's just like driving in a car, only no traffic jams and fewer accidents," Zack assured her. "But, if you get too nervous you can always hang on to me," he joked as Kelly rolled her eyes.
Suddenly, they hit turbulence and Kelly squeezed Zack's hand. "And you thought you wouldn't need me."
"Screech, let go of my hand," Slater ordered grumpily. He had been sleeping most of the flight in the seat next to Zack.
"Sorry, but the turbulence scares me," he told Slater, letting go quickly.
"If you grab my hand like that again you'll have a lot more to be scared of than turbulence."
Screech gulped and sat on his hands.
Zack chuckled and leaned over Slater. "Screech, I thought you said you traveled across the country every year as a kid. What's the big deal now?"
"I did, but in a car not a plane! This is much different." He was sitting stiffly in his seat afraid to move.
"You mean, your parents drove from California all the way to the East coast?" Kelly asked amazed. "That must have taken a lot of stamina."
"And a lot of insanity to ride with Screech that long in a car," Slater replied.
"Well, it wasn't all the way to the coast. It was to Graceland."
"That makes sense. Nothing would keep your parents from Graceland. Not even a three day long car ride with you," Zack joked.
"You know, they said the same thing," Screech replied seriously.