Short Love Stories

Moments

I arrived at Gatwick airport at 4 pm. This is the first time I've ever travelled by myself and I flew all the way from New Zealand. Although I was excited to catch my first plane, my anxiety was on all time high the whole way. What if I miss my flight? What if the plane crashed? What if the security find something in my luggage that shouldn't be there? What if there's no one there to pick me up?

Luckily my Mum, Hilary, was the first person I saw as soon as I got out. Kevin, my step Dad, was there too.

"Wren! Wren!" I heard her calling my name, excitedly. I run to her while balancing all my luggage and hugged her with all my might.

Wren - that's my name. They said I looked like a tiny bird when I was born. Small and a bit hairy. Almost 16 years later, I still am. At 5 foot 1, I am the shortest in my class. I'm not Chewbacca hairy but I have long thick brown locks and I have thick dark eyebrows.

"I missed you" "I missed you" I kept saying over and over while we were tied in the tight hug. I heard Kevin cleared his throat so I gave him a hug too.

I am going to stay with Mum and Kevin on a 3 months holiday. They live in Crawley and I admit I don't really know much about Crawley, or England for that matter. But I'm really excited to explore it and more importantly, I want to spend some time with my Mum.

Mum met Kevin when she was working at a department store back home in Wellington. Kevin is from England, but used to travel a lot for work. Not anymore, he changed job. They met, got married and moved to England three years ago.

I didn't want to leave my Dad by himself so I chose to stay with him. His name is Roy and he is a bit of an anti-social. I'm kinda worried about him. Our plan is for me to finish High School and then possibly move to England for Uni or work.

Six months ago, Mum rung out of the blue, ahead of our schedule. She said her and Kevin had saved enough for a holiday. My holiday. How do you feel about coming over there for three months?

I screamed. "Oh my God! Are you serious? I would love to, but I can ask Dad first?". Mum said, "Of course darling, I'll ring back on a couple days. Is that enough time?". Perfect.

I do really want to go. To experience how she lives in England. I wanted to see the sights. I'm just a bit worried about Dad. But he said "Of course you should go. You'll make your Mum very happy. She misses you".

I'm still worried "But how about you Dad?"

"I'm a grown man, I'll survive" Dad reassured me.

It was way harder to convince my School. Although I am a fairly advanced student, they gave me a lesson plan so that I can learn all the lessons I'll miss ahead of time. My Teacher gave me the notes for the future lessons so I can read ahead of the class. I had extra papers and reports completed. And at the end of six months, a week before I leave New Zealand. I had to take exams on four subjects. Thank heavens I passed them all. At least I don't have to think about School work except for that one article they want me to write. Its about my England holiday experience. The article will be published on the Schools' fortnightly news paper when I get back.

On top of the extra School work, I also worked at a video shop every Sunday for six months. My parents are not rich. Mum works a 9 to 5 job and had to save up to pay for my visa and airfare. Dad gave me some pocket money which is really nice of him. I wanted to earn extra cash so that I can buy him and my friends some English souvenirs.

The drive from the airport to Crawley was amazing. It is so different here, so beautiful. The buildings, the little brick houses, the castles. They all make me feel like I'm a heroine in some historical romance movie.