𝗣𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗥𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 ∞ lando norris

t w e n t y - s e v e n

CECILIA'S POV

The smell of fresh flowers and rain filled my senses as we walked across the tarmac to Tess's private jet. Quinn and Lina both squealed as we approached the large metal death machine, their excitement flowing off them in bright rays that were blinding. I, however, was way too anxious, the stats I had read about planes before hand and tiktoks I had seen about pilots last messages before a plane crashes contributing heavily to this lingering paranoia. Normally I was alright with flying, the prospect of it seeming rather exciting and enjoyable but this time felt different, maybe it was just because of lingering stress from school, I thought to myself brushing it away and instead plastering my face with a fake smile to seem as happy as ever.

"Remind me how we even became friends." Marcus said to Tessa who just laughed, turning her head towards him.

"Well, it was the first day of reception and I was sat alone on a bench and then Quinn came up to me offered me her last pom-bear so how could I ever refuse that offer but then Cece must of got jealous because she came up to us and just launched into full on conversation about dogs so we three became friends. Then in year one you joined the school so we became friends because we felt bad that you had to move from Sweden to here. Finally, we started liking Lina in year three after years of disliking her for no apparent reason and now here we are today, walking towards me private plane to go to Greece together." She explained to Marcus, halting to a stop as soon as we came up to the stairs.

Factually, I wasn't jealous, I had actually just eaten my own bag of pom-bears but seeing as they were sharing a bag I saw that as a perfect middle ground but apparently abandoned that the second my brain formed a sentence.

"Guests first." She slid her hand across the air gracefully, putting on a posh accent.  Laughing at her antics, I made sure to be the last one to go up, reminding myself of all the manifesting I had done last night so that the plane wouldn't suddenly combust and kill us all.

"You okay? You seem nervous?" Tessa asked, softly grabbing my wrist as a way to talk to me privately.

"Just a bit nervous but that's okay." I nodded to her, giving her a tight lipped smile before following her up the stairs.

"Just to say, this plane is very safe and has never sudddenly combusted before." Tess attempted to give me comfort, turning her head round to give me a bright smile.

And she had just jinxed that.

Despite the planes size, we all sat huddled together, Marcus, Lina and Quinn all sitting in the four seats that were placed next to each other, Tess and I each sprawled across the sofa to the right of them.

Tessa was nose deep in the Spanish love deception, a book that I had packed, among others as the cover was pretty. A serious expression was on her face whilst her eyes slowly trailed over the page.

Whilst packing, I had been awfully optimistic, packing a total of six books seeing as when I was twelve I managed to read four books in a week. What I conveniently forgot to remember was the fact I didn't read for about two years after that. However, it's a holiday and everyone reads on holiday.

Marcus grabbed a pair of sunglasses out of his bag just to place them on his face and then take them off again, Quinn giving him a weird look in response.

"Why would you do that?" She asked, her neck coming inwards.

"For the aesthetic, why else?" He placed the sunglasses on his nose just so he could look at her from above them, his neck pointed downwards.

"How is the book?" I asked Tessa just as the plane took off in attempt to distract myself.

She looked up at me, her cheeks red as if she had just been caught, "It's alright."

"I've brought some books with me." I told her. Tessa grabbed a pink mini post it note, placing it so it was just sticking out of the book before placing it down and looking at me.

"Which ones?" She asks, genuinely interested.

"I found a book shop where they sell each book for four quid so I brought a load, but the ones I brought with me, well actually that one and um The summer of broken rules, a good girls guide to murder and the sequel to that and some others I have forgotten." I told her, twisting my head as she went on a rant about what books I should buy next and why the ones I got were good, it was nice to have someone so interested to talk to.

The plane landed within around a few hours, three to four if needed to be more exact. A humid air immediately whacked us all in the face the second we exited the plane, forcing Marcus to put his sunglasses on for real this time.

On the end of the tarmac, there was a taxi, a few people already dragging our luggage over, I looked at Tessa who looked at me and shrugged, confused at my wide eyed expression.

"I need to help them." I went to walk away but her freshly manicured hands grabbed my wrist once again.

"It's fine, trust me." Her words did nothing but make me feel worse but I continued walking, copying everyone else as they looked around taking it all in.

"This is going to be the best holiday ever."