Chapter 2.

"Ladies and gentlemen, flight 666 to Hawaii, Honolulu are now ready for boarding. Please proceed to Gate D for departure. Thank you." The PA system signals that our flight is ready for boarding.

"That's us!" A very ecstatic Simone chirps as we start to queue along with the rest of the school. I hear a commotion happening behind the queue and turn around to look at what's going on.

Not a commotion. It's just Cory giving some group of guys bro hugs and conversing in loud voices. I don't recognize them from school. I don't even recognize them anywhere.

"Who are they?" I nudge Simone slightly with my elbow.

"Those are the Kingston boys."

"The who?"

She brings out a lip balm from her purse and applies it on her chapped lips, smacking them sleekly. "They're our neighboring school. We've played a couple of games together before. They beat us."

Simone is the captain of the Basketball team. Her brother was until he graduated high school two years ago and now she's taken over. With her remarkable height and fit physique, Simone has won three gold medals for her team in the Olympic Games and rose to fame in school after being the only girl in the Basketball team plus a captain.

I get to hang out with the guys a lot because of her and know how many guys Alexa has dated on the team. The girl has no shame.

"Is this a coincidence or they're actually coming along with us?" I ask, staring at one of the guys who looks like he has a piercing on his nose. He catches me staring and frowns. I frown back at him. He frowns harder and I go full glaring on him before he gives up and looks away.

Ha!

"They are. I think they're also in charge of our accommodation."

I show the flight attendant my boarding pass as she answers me with a bright smile.

"I'll be with the guys at the back. You okay with that?" I smile and nod, walking over to my seat and placing my luggage under the chair. This is what happens when you decide to befriend a jock when you're not one. I'm kind of used to it already, she chose her team over me sometimes. I'm just glad I get to have the window seat.

My eyes roam the plane in search of Cory and I find him seated beside Alexa. He raises his head from the sports magazine he's reading and looks straight at me as if sensing someone was staring and then he winks, breaking into a grin with the way my cheeks flushes before diverting his gaze back to the magazine on his hands.

As expected, I see Alexa shoot daggers at me with her eyes as I mouth her a fuck you.

The seat beside me is empty and before I can decide why no one wants to sit with me, a guy plumps in beside me and slides his luggage too under the seat. I'm guessing he's one of the Kingston boys. The cap worn on his head is preventing me from fully seeing his face and he doesn't even spare me a glance. Not even one, just staring straight ahead like I'm non-existent.

Either his peripheral vision must be very good or he doesn't feel the need to acknowledge me... definitely the peripheral vision.

"So!" I say suddenly, already bored of the deafening silence. "Is this your first time in Hawaii?"

No response.

Cold silence. Utter silence.

"It's my first time too," I laugh, a little bit too forceful and unnatural. "You can say I've dreamed of the city a long time ago. Do you believe all the beaches there are public? Mind-blowing. Trust me when I say this is going to be the best vacation I've ever been to." I should probably stop talking now.

"Are you one of the Kingston boys? You must know my friend Simone. She told me she plays basketball with your school. Do you even play basketball? I don't too, considering my poor height and all..." He doesn't still look my way and my brain tells me to stop but my mouth does otherwise. "So what do you think about the weather?"

"Please stop talking to me," I pause, more surprised than angry at his response.

"I actually love it when a person gets blunt with me. Only real friends do that, is this the start of something new?" My face breaks into a grin. He brings out his EarPods and blocks me out, blasting the song on full volume.

That went well, I guess?

I take a bite from the bread roll served as airline food and look out the plane window, staring at the city below me now partly covered with clouds.

Dad was totally against the idea of me traveling alone because I'm still an 'inexperienced adult' as he puts it, but what he doesn't know is that he stopped having the right to control me the moment he got a divorce with Mom and walked out on us to 'discover himself', whatever that meant.

It's been a year already he left the country but still gets to call Mabel and I almost every day, including Mom. Yes, they still keep in touch and it's funny every time how Mom still has those faint blush on her cheeks anytime she talks with Dad on the phone. It's clear they still love each other, they just need some time away from themselves. I'd blame that on them getting married at a very young age of eighteen. Maybe that's how things were done in the olden days but I can't imagine myself getting married now when I still don't even know how to hold a baby right.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Honolulu international airport. Local time is 6:32 pm and the temperature is 85 degrees Fahrenheit." The PA system announces, the sound making me stir in my sleep.

It's evening already? How long have I been gone?

I glance at the guy sitting beside me and open my mouth to say something but cuts me off with a look that screams 'I have no time to deal with people right now' and walks out.

Well, that's a mood.

Although we arrive at night because of the delay in the shuttle buses, I still get to see how gorgeous the city is.

The upscale resort we're staying at is huge. It has a bunch of four-story hotels, two pools and two beaches on either side of the resort. The rooms are highly upgraded and offer access to a lounge with free breakfast and snacks. There are also two restaurants with ocean view terraces plus a business center.

The twenty-eight of us are staying in one building including the Kingston boys who are no less than twenty, making us a total of Forty-Eight.

Simone and I are staying in a room near the beach plus a girl called Lacey from History class.

When I asked Cory who would be getting the masters suite room to themselves, he said it depended on whoever has 'company' and needed privacy.

They really have everything planned out.

I've not met with anyone from our so-called neighboring school. They look like a bunch of very hard people to deal with. Can you believe I recognized the dude from the plane on my way out of the resort's fitness center and waved at him only for him to ignore me, making me look like an idiot.

A wet sticky idiot.

Everyone knows it's simple courtesy to respond to a greeting even if you don't know them. I've been walked up to several times by complete strangers who claim to know me and I just go with the flow to save them from embarrassment. It's not that hard.

"I'm calling dibs on that last slice of Pizza." Simone, Lacey, Cory and I are currently in the lounge for brunch and I can tell they're about to argue over who gets the last slice of pizza.

"Excuse you?" Lacey raises a brow at Simone. "No one has the right to that last piece other than me."

"How about we just share it in half," Cory suggests.

"How about you just shut up."

And that did it. Curse words are exchanged, voices are raised and I give myself a mental pat on the back for being the most mature in a table full of juvenile fools.

Something catches the corner of my eye and I spot 'stuck up guy' sitting alone at a table. He could hide himself up in a sack and I'll still notice him, it's hard not to. From what I've seen so far, the guy is as emotionless as the last piece of pizza on our table. But he's stylish, I'd give him that.

Today, he's wearing a long-sleeved white button-up shirt and I'm sure that's a navy blue shirt peeking underneath with dark jeans. The movement of his feet tapping on the floor to the rhythm of the song in his ears drags my attention to the white sneakers on his legs. His hair is kept neatly messy, unlike Cory's.

I hear a guy call out his full name from the entrance of the lounge as he puts his EarPods away and walks out to meet him, the aftermath of his name still in my head.

Noah Gallagher.