Mates, Dates and Great Escapes

by Cathy Hopkins

  We nodded back at her. ‘Best behaviour, promise,’ said Nesta.

  ‘Right then,’ she said, once the last of us was through and had collected our hand luggage. ‘We have some time before departure, so you can have a wander if you like. You can either meet Mr Johnson or myself here in half an hour precisely or listen out for any announcements saying that our flight is ready for boarding and make your own way. If for any reason anyone gets lost, check the monitors and make your way to the departure gate posted. In plenty of time. You’re Year Ten so I expect you to act like responsible adults. Never forget that we’re travelling as a school and we represent that school. Understood?’

  The twenty-five of us nodded, then took off in various directions to explore the shops. We knew what to do when the time came to board. Mrs Elwes had been over it all enough times in class, plus she’d handed out leaflets on the coach about procedure.

  The departure area was brightly lit with shops and cafes and took my mind off flying for a while. We tried on perfumes in Duty Free, dabbled with make-up samples, bought mags in WH Smith, explored the bookshops, tried on jewellery in Accessorize, mooched about in the clothes shops, had Cokes and before we knew it an hour had passed.

  ‘Oh Lord,’ said Nesta, as she checked her watch, then glanced up at the monitor.

  ‘Oh poo,’ said Izzie. ‘Our flight started boarding ten minutes ago.’

  ‘Will the following passengers please go to Gate Number 12,’ came an announcement over the intercom, ‘where their flight to Florence is ready to depart. Isobel Foster, Theresa Watts, Nesta Williams and Lucy Lovering.’

  ‘Ohmigod, that’s us,’ said TJ. ‘Oh crapola and a half.’

  She began to run to a passage where there was a sign saying

  which gates were where and we raced after her at top speed. The sign also said that some gates were five minutes away, some ten minutes and some twenty. Of course, Gate 12 was one of the last.

  ‘I don’t think we’re going to make it,’ panted TJ, as we pelted along the tunnel almost knocking over passengers coming the other way.

  ‘We have to,’ said Nesta. ‘We can’t get this far .. .’

  ‘Mrs Elwes is going to kill us,’ said TJ.

  ‘What’s she going to do?’ I asked as I ran along side her. ‘Tell us we’re grounded when we’re thirty-five thousand feet up in the air.’

  Izzie started laughing and had to stop and hold her sides. ’Don’t make me laugh when I’m running a marathon.’

  After a breathtaking sprint down long corridors, in the distance, I spotted a familiar tall blonde woman.

  ‘I can see Mrs Elwes,’ I called over my shoulder and at last we were there. We hurtled into the small seating area by the Gate as the last passengers were making their way into the tunnel leading to the plane. Mr Johnson was pacing up and down by the desk and looking at his watch.

  ‘Sorry, sir,’ said Nesta, as she raced up to him and used the excuse guaranteed to work with most male teachers. ‘Er . . . girls’ thing, period problem . . . Had to get last minute supplies. . . I can explain . . .’

  Mr Johnson immediately looked at the floor and waved us ahead of him. ‘Right. Right. No need to explain. Um. Carry on.’

  ‘Yes, sir, sorry,’ said Izzie as she overtook him.

  ‘You girls will be the death of me,’ he said, shaking his head and mumbling as he followed us on to the plane. ‘I don’t know why I got talked into this trip. Madness. I should be going to Scodand for a bit of quiet fishing. On my own. Yes, madness, madness to have agreed.’

  Once on the plane, he setded down and put his newspaper over his head and Nesta found our seats on the left-hand side of the cabin at the back.

  ‘He’s just stopped smoking,’ said Mo Harrison as she shoved her coat into the overhead compartment. ‘Best keep out of his way for a few days.’

  ‘Do you want to sit in the window seat or aisle?’ asked TJ pointing at the seats in front of Nesta and Izzie. ‘You choose as it’s your first flight.’

  ‘Oh, sit at the window,’ said Nesta, ‘then you can look out.’

  I did as she said, but I wasn’t sure about it. Once on board, my panic had returned. The inside of the aeroplane looked too small to have so many people tightly packed in. It felt airless and I felt suffocated. I just wanted to get the whole thing over with.

  As soon as everyone was seated, the plane began to taxi along the runway and a female voice on an intercom welcomed us aboard.

  ‘OK, Luce?’asked TJ.

  I nodded and gripped the sides of my seat.

  ‘Eyes right,’ Nesta whispered from behind us. ‘Looks like we’re not the only school doing a trip to Florence.’

  I glanced over to my right and sure enough there was another group. Boys. About twenty of them and, as we were eyeing them, they were eyeing us back. They looked well pleased to have spotted a group from an all girls’ school on their journey.

  ‘Let the holiday commence,’ said Nesta.

  ‘In case of emergency . . .’ continued the female voice over the intercom as the flight attendants went into the safety procedure at the top of each aisle.

  One dark-haired boy with a cheeky face, who was sitting opposite us, introduced himself as Liam and took it upon himself to give a running commentary along with the voice-over. He leaned over to us. ‘What she’s saying in short is, we crash, you die.’

  ‘Oh thanks a lot,’ I said, but TJ laughed.

  Later when the flight attendant gave instructions as to what to do if we went down over water, Liam leaned over again.

  ‘The light is to attract any sailors, as in “Hello, sailor” and the whisde is to attract the attention of any passing sharks.’

  TJ laughed again and they got chatting. I, in the meantime, was having a religious moment and had decided to appeal to higher powers. Dear God or whoever’s up there and whatever you like to be called, I prayed, please let this plane go up and down without any problems. I know I probably could have been a better person and prayed more often, but I promise that if only you let this plane take off, and land, and fly, I will be positively saindy and do no end of good deeds.

  An enormous thrust and roar from the engines and we were taking off. I gripped my seat tighter. I glanced out of the window. Big mistake as landmarks beneath us began to look smaller and smaller, and in minutes it was like looking out over a toy town as the houses and cars became dots as we took off into the sky. Suddenly we hit cloud and I couldn’t see anything.

  ‘Ohmigod, we’re going to crash,’ I gasped, clutching TJ’s arm. ‘The pilot won’t be able to see. What if there’s another plane in the sky? He won’t be able to see it.’

  ‘They fly by their instruments,’ said TJ. ‘Don’t worry. All other traffic will show up on his monitors.’

  ‘I don’t like it,’ I said and shut my eyes tight, then opened them again.

  Unluckily, Liam noticed and, as soon as the announcement came on saying that we could undo our seat belts, he came over with his mate and leaned over our seats.

  ‘Your mate chicken, then?’ Liam asked TJ.

  ‘Chicken!’ chortled Nesta behind us. ‘I’d stay away from her if I were you, sonny. Don’t let her hear you saying things like that. It can get her mad and that’s not a pretty sight. She may be small, but she’s lethal. Think Charlie’s Angels. Think Kill Bill. . .’

  Think Winnie-the-Pooh, I thought, but I didn’t like to interrupt her when she was on a roll.

  ‘In fact,’ she continued, ‘we’re on our way to an anger management convention to see if they can help her. We had to sedate her for the flight in case she took a dislike to anyone on board. So take my advice and push off’

  As soon as Liam’s mate clocked Nesta, his eyes lit up. ‘Now this flight is getting interesting,’ he said and moved down the aisle to chat to her.

  ‘Some boys just can’t take a hint, can they?’ asked TJ, glancing over her shoulder.

  Izzie leaned forward from behind us and handed me a small bot
tle. ‘Here’s some Bach Flower Remedy,’ she said. ‘Put a few drops under your tongue.’

  ‘Thanks,’ I said.

  ‘What’s it for?’ asked TJ.

  ‘Anxiety,’ whispered Izzie. ‘It helps people chill. It’s totally natural. It’s from Lucy’s dad’s shop.’

  I took the bottle and dropped a little on to my tongue. I’d seen it on the shelves at the shop but never tried it before. It tasted of alcohol.

  ‘See,’ said Nesta in a loud voice. ‘I told you we had to sedate her. Something’s upset her and we’re having to up her medication.’

  I felt myself turning bright red as all the boys in the middle aisle turned and stared at me with my bottle of Bach Flower Remedy.

  Suddenly the plane took another lurch upwards and my stomach went with it.

  ‘It’s going to be OK,’ said TJ as I clutched her arm again. ‘Listen. You have to trust that the pilot knows what he’s doing. He’s trained. Millions of planes take off every day all over the world without incident . ..’

  I put my fingers in my ears. ‘Don’t like it . ..’

  ‘Those noises are good. It means that the plane is doing what it’s meant to do,’ said TJ.’ If you understood the mechanics of it, you wouldn’t be scared at all. It’s only because you don’t that you’re frightened but, honesdy, there’s nothing to worry about.’

  ‘Have some more Bach Flower Remedy,’ said Izzie. ‘And if that doesn’t work I’ve got some lavender essential oil that you can dab on your forehead to relax you.’

  ‘Nah. Forget that New-Age mumbo jumbo,’ said Nesta. ‘Check out the boys. Nothing like a cute boy to distract the mind.’

  I decided to do as Nesta instructed and glanced over at the boys to do a quick scan. Nope, not one I fancy, I thought. Not one of them was a patch on Tony, but then he was exceptionally good-looking. I felt sad that things had ended the way they had. He had tried to phone me last night, when Nesta, TJ and I slept over at Izzie’s ready for the early flight this morning. Nesta had told him to pick on someone his own age as she was still mad at him on my behalf, but I couldn’t help but wonder what it was he wanted. Probably just to say goodbye as he’s nice like that and we’ve always been good friends, I thought.

  After half an hour or so, we were served a breakfast of a stale croissant and a cup of bitter-tasting coffee. Instead of eating, the boys seemed to think it was funny to start a food fight and began chucking their croissants around until they got a telling off from one of their teachers. They soon chilled out as the teacher looked scary – a bit like Professor Snape in Harry Potter.

  He didn’t put our girls off, however, and as the flight went on, most of our group got chatting to the lads. Nesta moved over into the middle aisle and was soon surrounded by admirers, all fighting for her attention as usual. A handsome Indian boy took Nesta’s place and seated himself next to Izzie. TJ moved off to talk to Liam and I could hear her laughing down the aisle. At one point, a dark-haired boy looked over at me and raised an eyebrow as if to say how about it? He was handsome in an overblown way that doesn’t appeal to me. Big mouth, big eyebrows. He looked well sure of himself.

  ‘Hi. I’m Chris,’ he said, then winked at me.

  I made my eyes go cross-eyed. That put him off. He wasn’t my type. Not one of them was my type. It would be a long time before I saw some one who could compare to Tony.

  ‘Practise,’ mouthed Nesta from the centre of the plane.

  I shook my head. I wasn’t even in the mood for practice flirting. What was the point? I refastened my seat belt, put my head in my magazine, then let myself drift off thinking about Tony. I let myself imagine what it might have been like going away with him, how he’d hold my hand when the plane took off, how he’d put his arm round me to reassure me when the engines got noisy . . .

  ‘Lucy, Lucy, we’re here,’ said TJ’s voice in my ear. ‘Wake up.’

  I sat up and rubbed my eyes. ‘What? Where? Where am I?.

  ‘Italy!’ announced Nesta.

  I glanced out of the window to see airport buildings and the runway. ‘What we’ve landed and everything?’

  ‘Yep, and you snored and dribbled all the way through it,’ said TJ. ‘The whole plane was laughing.’

  ‘Did not.’ I punched her.

  ‘You were well gone. I tried to wake you, but you just took my hand, put your head on my shoulder and called me Tony’

  ‘Sorry,’ I said. ‘It must have been because I didn’t sleep much last night, then we had to get up at the crack of dawn.’ I was glad I’d slept through the landing. It was the part I’d been dreading most. But now it was over, we’d landed and were well and truly in Italy.

  It didn’t take long to get through Customs and pick up our luggage, and soon we were outside the airport where the girls were full of gossip about the boys and who’d said what to whom.

  ‘Guess I missed a lot when I nodded off,’ I said, as Mrs Elwes marched us towards the exit.

  ‘Nah, not really,’ said Nesta. ‘Anyway the boys are staying at the same hotel as us so you can soon catch up.’

  ‘Oh no,’ I groaned. ‘So am I going to be Billy Loner for the trip while you all get off with the boys on the plane?’

  ‘No way,’ said Nesta. ‘There was no one there I liked, but it looks as though TJ and Izzie have scored.’

  TJ grinned. ‘No one serious,’ she said. ‘Not on holiday.The guy I was talking to was a laugh, but he’s a bit of a show off and the group he’s with seem a right load of plonkers.’

  ‘Boys in a group,’ said Nesta. ‘They always act tougher than they are.’

  ‘And more stupid,’ said Izzie. ‘But the boy who sat next to me, Jay, he was nice.’

  ‘Oh God,’ said Nesta, as we got outside the airport building and Mrs Elwes stopped at a battered-looking bus and started talking to the driver.‘I thought Florence was the city of style.’

  ‘It is,’ I said, as I noticed an elegant black limousine that had just drawn up behind the bus. ‘I see my private transport has arrived. Excuse me, girls. I’ll see you back at the hotel, that is if your old jalopy makes it.’ I flounced off towards the limo doing my best cat walk strut.

  Nesta coughed loudly. I turned back to look at her and she pointed at a pillar to my left, behind which was a tall boy with floppy blond hair who was watching me with an amused look on his face.

  He stepped forward. He was cute, dressed in jeans, a black parka and baseball cap. It was hard to judge how old he was, maybe sixteen, maybe seventeen.

  ‘Your car awaits, ma’am,’ he said in an American accent, then doffed his cap. ‘Can I give you a ride?’

  ‘Why sure you can, young man,’ I replied in my best American accent.

  As he opened the back door for me, the chauffeur turned from the driver’s seat and gave him a quizzical look.

  I looked around for the owner of the car. I didn’t want to get into trouble before we’d even left the airport. ‘Hey, whoever owns this car might not like us messing about with it,’ I said, ‘and the chauffeur doesn’t look too pleased.’

  The boy grinned. ‘Oh he’s cool. The car’s for me. My dad sent it for me. Allow me to introduce myself. Teddy Ambrosini Junior.’

  Oh Lord, he really is an American, I thought as I went scarlet. ‘Lucy Lovering. Junior. Um. Sorry. Didn’t realise.’

  ‘Why would you? So can I give you a lift some place?’

  ‘Um. No. Only joking. Here with . . . friends.’ I indicated our group with a sweep of my hand.

  He glanced over at the group from our school, who were all standing staring. Izzie, Nesta and TJ were laughing their heads off.

  ‘You got a lot of friends,’ he said.

  ‘Yes. I um, like people. Lots of them.’

  ‘Cool. Me too. So.Your first visit to Florence?’

  I nodded. ‘Sightseeing. Can’t wait.You?’

  ‘Funeral.’

  Oh God. I felt myself blushing. ‘Oh. Sorry. I just assumed .. . Um . ..’

  ‘I
t’s OK.You weren’t to know’

  ‘Someone you knew?’ I asked, then I wanted to slap myself. What a dumb question. Why on earth would he be attending a funeral of someone he didn’t know?

  ‘My grandmother.’

  I felt really awkward. ‘Oh. A relative, then?’ Oh God. More stupid. Stupid me. Course she’s a relative. ‘I mean . . .’

  Teddy smiled. ‘Yeah. She was a relative. My father’s family live over here. My gran was here in Florence. My dad’s based in Milan though. I come over a few times a year since my folks broke up. Where are you staying?’

  ‘Hotel Renoldo or Revoldo or Revanoldo. Somewhere. In Florence. You?’

  ‘Hotel Villa Corelli.’

  ‘Lucy Lovering,’ called Mr Johnson,’ on the bus now.’

  The boy grinned. ‘Looks like one of your friends wants you.’

  I grinned sheepishly. ‘Teacher. School trip.’

  ‘Thought so,’ he said. ‘Well have a good trip, Lucy Lovering Junior. Maybe see you around.’

  ‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘Maybe.’

  What a great name and what amazingly white teeth, I thought as I got on the bus with the others. And what a fab voice. Low and sultry. Shame I totally blew it by acting like the dumbest person to arrive from Dumbland.

  Flight Tips

  Bach Flower Rescue Remedy to steady nerves.

  Lavender oil for calming. (A few drops on a tissue then inhale, or rub a few drops into the temple.)

  Eucalyptus oil (a few drops on a tissue then inhale. Eucalyptus is a natural antiviral and can kill any germs circulating in the cabin and help prevent getting other people’s holiday viruses.)

  Take earplugs and an eye mask if you want to sleep.

  Chapter 9

  Firenze

  ‘Keetchen closed,’ growled an acne-pocked man behind the reception desk at our hotel.

  ‘We only wanted a sandwich or something,’ insisted Mrs Elwes. ‘A snack? These girls have been travelling since early this morning.’