Chapter 3: An Aussie Welcome

Upon boarding yet another private jet, the three girls sat in awkward silence for the first three hours of the flight. For the next several hours, everyone slept the night away. About 11 o’clock that Sunday night, Anna Maria yawned and began to sketch off and on, Brianá had awoken and stuck her nose into a young adult romance novel, and Cheska stayed glued to that phone. Finally, the captain turned on the seatbelt sign and prepared to land the jet at the deserted Boulia Airport. The same handsome attendant’s smooth voiced cackled over the intercom as he announced to the girls to gather their things. 

They yet again followed the young man off the plane and into the silent lounge. it was extremely late, so late that it would be unfitting to check in at the school; they would have to wait until morning. 

“Well…now what? It’s dark and we have no plan.” stated Cheska with contempt. Brianá frowned, attempting to be optimistic. 

“We’ll figure something out Cheska. It’s not that big of a deal if we have to either get a hotel room or spend the night in the airport." While the two were discussing their potential plans, Anna Maria had spotted aided aged man, dressed in a dark suit, looking quite calm with hands clasped tightly behind him. The girl sighed, knowing exactly who he was, and walked over to him. 

             "Did my father send you?"

The man nodded ever so slightly, his eyes not wavering from whatever was above anna Maria's head. She pursed her lips. 

              "Your name please, sir."

              "Patrick your highness."

Anna Maria nodded and flashed a smile. 

              " I suppose you know what's next on our agenda, right."

Another slight nod. Anna Maria waited patiently, tapping her foot. Patrick stepped to the side and featured for the princes to follow him though the door leading to security. Anna Maria told him to wait as she called out for the others to join her. Brianá was the first to speak. 

              "Hello, who's this?"

              "Oh that must be one of the agents my father sent." Cheska blurted out before Anna Maria could even bother explaining. Patrick wheeled around so quickly, one might have thought he was a spinning top.  

              "Cheska Nagasaki, you will never, from this moment forward, speak that way in the presence of Her Royal Highness Anna Maria Elizabeth Townley, Princess of all England and Wales. Do you understand?"

      All three girls stared open mouthed and wide eyed at his outburst. Cheska, always one to never keep her cool, hardened her face, huffed and pushed past her group and stormed out the door. 

              "Oh my."  Breathed Anna Maria. She glanced at Brianá who was shaking her head in disapproval.  

              "What a start to a new year hmm." The girl murmured as Patrick herded her and Anna Maria after Cheska. As the serviceman hustled the girls out of the airport, and into the cool crisp Australian night, all three newcomers stopped dead in their tracks at the sight of a dusty old Range Rover, complete with storage rack on top. Without breathing a word to the surprised girls, Patrick gathered up all their carry-ons and packed them into the vehicle. 

“Does he really expect us to ride in that thing? We deserve at least a limo.” stated Cheska. Anna Maria rolled her eyes, annoyance creeping in like a tarantula. Brianá spoke up first, her voice laced with exasperation “I think it’ll be fun. Just like those country songs they play in the States"back roading.” 

Anna Maria giggled, hoping they wouldn’t be going out right at that moment. 

“Where to now Patrick?” she asked calmly, hoping they could get to bed soon, otherwise the dormant Cheska may blow her top. Patrick nodded, opening the door for two of the girls to slide into the back, then helped Anna Maria into the front seat. 

A quick drive around the block led the newcomers to a quiet little motel called Desert Sands. Two more identical Range Rovers to theirs, sat parked out front; each with two suited agent’s standing reserved.  Brianá heard Cheska’s barely audible grumble about Anna Maria being a goody-goody and shook her head as the two of them watched their counterpart solemnly greet the rest of her servicemen. Patrick unloaded their buggy and hauled everything off to one room in the middle of the motel. The girls quietly and begrudgingly followed to find a two queen-sized beds crammed into the worm hole of a room. 

“Get some sleep. We have a two hour drive to the school tomorrow.” Patrick announced as he shut and locked the motel door. Anna Maria heaved a sigh as she plopped down on the edge of one bed and kicked off her pumps, wiggling her aching toes. Brianá rubbed her nose and chuckled. 

“I suppose we can deem this as our first official slumber party.” Cheska rolled her eyes"did she really have to pretend to be friends with these girls?" before digging through her bag for her makeup case and shutting herself into the dim bathroom. 

“Well I like that idea Brianá.” Anna Maria chirped, “even if ‘grumpy-gills’ in there has to sour the mood.” Brianá nodded just as Cheska came out and proceeded to strip of her clothes, throw on a t-shirt from her bag and climb into the second bed, scooting down into the covers to block out light and voices. 

“Good night Cheska!” Anna Maria said sweetly, getting a ‘humph’ in return.  She and Brianá shrugged it off and got ready for bed, turning out the light in less than 10 minutes, then finally falling asleep after an exhausting day. 

Author's Note

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Reviews

[Megara]

Oooohhh I love limos:) lucky!