I woke up to the sound of my alarm blaring. I groaned and rolled over to see the time.
“4:30…in the morning? Why is it going off now? I still have two more hours.” I thought groggily in my head and I shoved my face back into my pillow. Then it hit me.
“London.” I threw back the covers and jumped out of bed. I was no longer sleepy, rather terrified. I quickly gathered all the rest of my belongings and headed out the door. I paused and glanced back into my room. I didn’t know when I would be back. One week? One month? One year? Ever? I quickly shook that thought out of my head and headed out the door. Soon it was 5:00 and I was pulling up to the small airstrip White Bridge had made. The Lenns were already there packing the luggage they had. I parked my truck and started unloading my bags. David walked over and picked up the box full of blankets.
“Morning, G.” he said happily.
“Ohhhh no you don’t, you morning person. I’m not awake yet.” I said throwing another blanket at him. He pulled it off of his head and threw it back at me.
“You need coffee.” he said laughing. I rolled my eyes and shook my head.
“I probably should have gotten one before I left home.” I replied heading over to the small plane.
“Gee-Gee!!” Mia called, climbing out from the back of the plane. “I brought you an iced coffee!”
“Oh hallelujah!!!” I exclaimed dropping everything in my arms to grab the cup. Mia giggled as I chugged the drink full of caffeine. Josh stuck his head out of the cockpit window and sighed.
“Uh oh. This is gonna be a looooonnngggg flight.” I smirked back at Josh.
“You bet it is. I’ve got the power of caffeine on my side now!”
“Like she’s already calm enough…” I hear mumbled behind me. I whipped around to find Bryant standing behind me with the dullest look on his face. I burst out laughing, spitting out my mouth full of coffee.
“Talk about someone needing coffee!!” Josh exclaimed.
“You mean you gave HER coffee instead of ME!?” Bryant whined at Mia.
“Well, no I actually brought you one too, but since you’re acting like a baby-”
“I’ll stop! I’ll stop!!! I’ll do anything, just please give me coffeeeeeeeee!” he pleaded.
“Talk about being addicted.” I whispered to David who was standing beside me. He snorted and finished loading the rest of the supplies into the back of the plane. Mia rolled her eyes and handed a glass of coffee to him.
“Where is Carmen?” I asked Mia as we watched Bryant gulp down the coffee in record time.
“She should be here any time now. She had to grab a few more things at her house.” No sooner had she spoken, but Carmen’s car pulled up. She hopped out of the back seat and quickly unloaded her things.
“Sorry I’m a little late! I had to grab a few sacks for the plane ride!” she said huffing. Soon we were all sitting in the small plane with David and Mr. Lenn in the front, Carmen, Mia, and I in the middle, and with Bryant and Josh in the back. We all put on the headsets so we could communicate over the roaring noise of the engine. David steered the aircraft towards the long airstrip, and soon we were barreling down the runway. Slowly but surely, the airplane lifted off the ground and we were on our way to London. Most of the 10-hour flight we sat in silence, looking out the window at the endless abundance of billowy clouds. However, Josh or David would crack a dad joke, which would make the plane fill with laughter. Josh soon spoke up.
“Grace. I had a dream last night that an entire ocean was filled with orange soda. It was a fantasea.” Everyone groaned and Carmen snickered at the joke. Then started David.
“My printer was making music today when I was using it. Apparently, the paper was jamming.” Mr. Lenn slapped his face with his hand but Mia and I cackled, while the others just blinked. Soon a full on “Dad Joke Battle” broke out. Back and forth went the Lenn boys, with the rest of us chiming in our own puns. After a long hard-fought battle, a truce was made, for the whole plane was gasping for air and grabbing their sides because we couldn’t breathe from laughing so hard. After all of us had caught our breath, Carmen looked at me and smirked. I looked at her sideways with question. She leaned over, pulled back my headphone, and quietly whispered in my ear.
“You should totally see if you can sit in the front with David.” I quickly shook my head and mouthed no. All of a sudden, her eyes lit up and she slyly smiled. Immediately I was in big trouble. She quickly pulled her headset back on and talked into the mic.
“Mr. Lenn? Grace is getting car- I mean plane sick. I think she needs to sit in the front.” I grabbed her knee and squeezed as hard as I could. She yelped out in pain, but smiled an evil smile back at me. Mia “pffted” into the mic and the boys started chuckling behind me. Mr. Lenn looked back at us girls and smiled. I had the "dear-in-the-headlights" look while everyone else was laughing.
“You know, Carmen, I think your right. She does look a little 'green'.” He said doing air quotes. I felt heat rising to my face, knowing green was NOT the right color to describe how I looked. Next thing I knew, Mr. Lenn and I were switching seats and I was in the front with David. Mr. Lenn flipped a few switches so that the back of the plane could not hear what was being talked about in the front. David looked over at me and smiled.
“Trying to decide if you still love Carmen or not, huh?” I pressed my lips together and slowly nodded. I started to notice all of the flips and switches and buttons surrounding me, flashing lights here, solid green lights there, and numbers galore. Quickly I realized how complicated flying truly was. But watching David? He made it look so easy.
“How long have you been flying?” I asked.
“I’ve been around planes for a little over 5 years, and had my license for almost 2. But I’ve always loved planes though.”
“Oh nice! How long did it take you to learn all the switches and buttons?” He then explained how he had gone through a program called CAP and several aviation camps and how each one taught him new material for flying. As he talked, his eyes lit up and he had excitement in his voice. I knew flying was a passion because it seemed as if it consumed him.
“What’s your favorite part of flying?”
“My favorite part of flying? Look.” He said gazing out the front window. My eyes widened as I gazed at the sky. The sun was hanging low in the sky, but it was shining so brightly. An orange, yellow, and red glow covered the clouds underneath us, and everything seemed as if it was standing still in time.
“Do you wanna try?” I snapped my head and looked at him in shock.
“Try? Try what!?”
“Try flying the plane, silly.” I looked at the steering mechanism in front of me that was slowly drifting left and right.
“But I’ve never flown before!”
“It’s ok. Just hold the yoke steady.” he replied in a calm voice. I looked at the yoke and took a deep breath. I slowly took it in my grip and felt a sudden force of power and energy. I quickly looked over at David who nodded his head in approval.
“Just keep the plane straight. Don’t make any drastic movements, and you’ll do just fine.” I looked back out the front window and soon felt free. It was so relieving and relaxing I knew exactly why David had such a passion for aviation.
“Now what about you?” I glanced back at David and raised my eyebrow in question.
“What are you passionate about?” I smiled as I thought about all the things I loved.
“A lot honestly. My family, my friends, sports, the outdoors, teaching-”
“Teaching?” He cut me off, “You’re passionate about teaching?” I nodded my head.
“Mhm! As a teacher, you’re raising the next generation. But also impacting hundreds of lives for good. Sometimes all a student needs to succeed is a teacher who believes in him. Someone to come up beside them and help with a math problem they don’t understand. To give them a hug when they have no loving family. A kind smile every day when all they have at home is yelling. That’s all a child can need to keep going, to keep smiling, to keep learning…to keep living. That’s why I want to teach.” Silence went over the mics and I looked back over at David. He was carefully watching me with wonder in his eyes.
“You are really passionate about that. And seeing how much you already love it? You’re gonna make an amazing teacher, I can promise you that.” All of a sudden, I heard an “awwwww” over the headset. David and I quickly turned around to find Carmen covering Mia’s mouth and Bryant quickly trying to flip switches while Josh and Mr. Lenn were covering their own mouths to not burst out laughing. I turned around and sunk into my chair and David pulled his cap farther down his head. Little had we known, but the others were eavesdropping on our whole conversation. Josh spoke up from the back,
“Blame Mia! She’s the one that wanted to hear what was going on!”
“YOU LITTLE LIAR! YOU WANTED TO HEAR!” she yelled into the mic, making all of us cringe. David shook his head and flipped another switch silencing all of the arguing that was happening behind us.
“You want me to take control back?”
“Sure.” David clutched his yoke and took control of the plane again.
“Hey. Thanks for letting me fly. I really enjoyed it.” I said quietly.
“Anytime, G.” I smiled and leaned my head against the inside of the plane. The sky was turning dark and one by one the stars started to show their beauty. My eyes soon became heavy, and I drifted off to sleep listening to the gentle hum of the engine.
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