A Moment In Time - Chapter 7

Bill POV

I smiled as I saw their faces.
They tried so hard not to grin in anticipation, but the enthusiasm was painted clearly on their rosy cheeks.
I look teasingly over at Tom, trying to prolong the suspense. You could very nearly see the girls lean forward in their beds.
He nods in agreement and I cleared my voice.
"So..." I began, their attention was focused on me "... we spoke to your parents and well..." I took a moment to glance at the rest of the guys "...we wanted to make it up to you in some way." I smile at them and watch their faces glow.
The girls exchange a look of excitement and I see Tom lean forward in his seat and rest his elbows on his legs.
"And, after some persuasion, we were wondering whether you would like to come back with us to Germany for the school holidays?"
Jena gasped and Natalie froze.
I very nearly pressed the button to summon the nurse because I could have sworn neither of the girls took a breath for at least 10 seconds.

--

Natalie POV

Oh my gosh!
Damn it Jena!
I told you so!

--

Jena POV

Oh my goodness!
Oh dear... Nat is never going to let me forget this...

--

Bill POV

"So what do you think?"
I knew I didn't have to ask but I was just being courteous.
"Yes!"
"Of course!"
Both the girls chorused their answers at the same time and broke into a fit of nervous giggles.
Jena, being the logical one was the first to speak.
"Wait, my parents said yes?"
"Oh my goodness, how did you persuade mine?"  Natalie's face was a mixture of surprise and admiration for achieving something she probably thought impossible.
"Well..." Tom sat up and rubbed his hands together. "Yours were a bit harder to persuade." Pointing with two fingers at Natalie.
"But we worked our charm." He flicked out his collar and spun his hat to the left.
"But!" I interrupted.
Their faces dropped.
"Your parents said that you would only be able to go if you did your exercises at the hospital and did well on your end of semester exams."
The colour flooded back into their cheeks.
"We'll be fine." Jena smiled. I nodded back in her direction.
"Anyway, we better keep moving, we have a concert tomorrow and we need to get some practice in."
"Argh... five more minutes?" Tom moans as he flops his body against the chair and whines like a teenager in the morning.
The girls laugh and I admire them from a distance.

So beautiful.

This was going to be a holiday they would never forget.

–

December 6th – beginning of Summer Holidays

–
Natalie's POV

"Jena! Where are my slippers?" I yell across the room, louder than necessary.
"Did you check under the bed, like last time?" she rolls her eyes.
"Of course I did..." I reply sarcastically as I lower myself to my knees. "You think I haven't lo-"
"- oh wait -never mind - you were right..." I lower my head in order to avoid her gaze.
"Im always right!" she huffs proudly.
"Nuh uh!" I retort as I throw the pillow at her.
"Hey!" she giggles and throws it back.
I duck and she misses my head.
Smiling proudly, I stand up, "Ha-ha, you misse-"
My words are cut off as I receive a pillow to the face.
I take a few steps back and crouch to the ground and gather up a pile of soft items to throw. Jena does the same and we find ourselves on separate sides of the bed.
"This means war!" I jump up and throw assortments at her- pillows, socks, (yes they're clean), jumpers, t-shirts and various soft toys.
"Your gonna wish you never asked me about those slippers." she mocks.
"Oh really? Well your gonna wish that y-"
"Your going to wish that you had packed your clothes earlier... when you miss your flight - girls."
My father walks in and scowls at us both. We drop the ammunition – I mean clothes – on the ground and side glance at each other.
We're dead.
We stand silently for a few seconds.
"Come on ladies! Chop chop!" he slaps his hands together and we resume giggling and laughing. My father walks out and yells over his shoulder.
"20 minutes girls! Thats 20 parent minutes! Not teenage girl minutes!"

"Ill get you back later." I whisper threateningly.
"Ooh, I'm shaking in my boots." she whispers.

–


"Calling flight 102JPG to Lepzig. Could all passengers please make their way to the terminal, we will be boarding shortly."
The voice echoes around the room, and my heart begins to race excitedly. I grab Jena's hand and she gives me a re-assuring squeeze, although I believe it was for her benefit just as much as it was for mine.
"Ill say goodbye to my parents, and then you can speak with yours – I'll see you in a sec."
Jena frees herself from my grip and rushes off to the left. My parents smile down at me and I rush into their arms.
"Have fun sweetie." My mother says as she strokes my hair.
"We'll always be only one phone call away." I kiss her on the cheeks and wipe away the tears in my eyes.
"Now, you know that if any of the boys even lays a finger on you, just tell them that your father would-"
"Dad!" I hiss.
"I'll be fine." I wrap my arms around him.
"I know you will darling." He chuckles.
I spend a few more moments with them and meet Jena at the boarding doors. I link arms with her and we wave goodbye to our parents.
"Tickets ladies?" The stewardess asks. I fumble through my bag and pull out two pieces of valuable paper that could have easily been the golden ticket to the Chocolate Factory, for what it was worth.
"Go on through." She smiles.
I take one more look at our two families huddles together and they wave re-reassuringly.

"Ready?" Jena questions, looking in my direction.
I swallow the lump in my throat and breathe deeply.
"Ready!" I laugh.

And as we step onto the plane, I smile, unaware how much my life was going to change.