Maisie 'Baby' Bronze

12. Pancakes

Maisie's Pov-

One of the best feelings in the world is waking up, not to the ringing of an alarm clock, or the covers being yanked off you, but by your own accord. And an even better feeling- it being 11am. 

As I slowly trot downstairs, with Narla charging ahead of me, I enter the kitchen, welcomed by the smell of pancakes. I find Mum standing by the island, cooking the pancakes and Keira relaxed on the sofa watching Netflix. 

"Wowww, the monsters retreated from it's lair, quick Keira hide!" Mum shouts, pretending to hide behind the counter, as I just stare at her half-awake.

"So funny mum" I yawn and slump myself into a bar stool and lean forward resting my head in my hands. "Thanks for the pancakes by the way" 

"I actually have a surprise for both of you but you'll have to work it out" At this Keira's head pops up.

"Oh yeah?"

"Uhuh, you've got to rearrange the letters to spell a word" Mum says piling the letter-shaped pancakes onto a plate and sliding them towards me. 

"Oi, I'm helping" Keira says joining me. We start lying them out confused at what it could be.

"Remacia?" "Meracia?" "Cemaria?" "Emacria?" We guess randomly, shuffling the pancakes round as mum stands there smiling. 

"Wait, omg" Keira say slowly as I move the letters to form a word I'm not sure is true.

"America" I whisper looking up at mum, not sure if this is right.

Mum pulls something out of her pocket and slaps them down on the island, pushing them towards us. We both look at them and then stare in disbelief.

"We're going to America" Mum says, smiling from ear to ear. Keira and I look silently at the plane tickets presented in front of us. 

"What! Oh my fucking god" I shout excitedly, running over to mum and jumping into her arms.

"Language" Mum warns, but smiling, "Come on then Keir, join the group hug" She says to Keira who's still examining the tickets in silence. 

"Luce, you're actually the best, I love you so much" Keira half whispers as she joins the hug.

"I love you too, but we've got some packing to do, we leave tomorrow morning 4am" Mum laughs

"What!" Keira and I both exclaim

 "Oh my days, I need to go get started now" I rush upstairs desperately. "And  by the way,I'm not sure I said, Thank you so much, this is literally the best surprise ever!" I shout back down the stairs.

After half an hour or so of trying to sort through my clothes and work out which I should take or not, I decide to scrap the piles and start on which tops I'd take. I find 10 different tops, some casual, some cropped and some more formal, then move onto the shorts and trousers. Eventually, I've sorted all of the day-to-day clothes into a pile, which sat neatly folded on my bed. I then move to my training/gym clothes because let's be honest, we'll all end up at some sort of football complex at least once a week. 

"Maisie, have you got everything? Want me to check?" Keira asks from behind me, at my door as I try find an extra pair of shorts. 

"Yes please"

"Ok, T-shirts?" 

"Check"

"Jumpers"

"Check"

"Pants and socks"

"Check"

"Wash bag"

"Oh shoot, yeah, no" I jump up and rush to the bathroom, leaving Keira laughing. 

"Well, you would of been a bit smelly without" 

"Shush" I say as I return with my wash bag and add it to the pile.

"Pj's" 

"Check"

"Trainers"

"Check"

"Boots"

"Check"

"um, anything else, oh sunglasses?"

"Yeah,  I think I've got everything now, just hope I can get it all in the suitcase"

"Good luck with that, call me if you need help, I've got to go help your mum now because even though she knew before us that we were going, she still didn't think to pre-pack"

"Sounds about right" I laugh. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Be-beep-Be-beep-Be-beep

I awake to the sound of my alarm clock, as sound I had the luxury of not hearing yesterday. My clock reads 3am, which gives me an hour before we need to leave for the airport. Although I would never be seen up at this ungodly hour normally, the feeling of getting up early to go on holiday matches no other. Last night, I just about managed to cram everything into my one suitcase, but by the sounds of mum's frustrated grunts, I assume that she didn't and has to pay for another suitcase to take on. 

Quickly changing, I dress in a simple tracksuit, knowing that I'll wanna be comfy on the plane due to the 11 hour flight we'd be going on, In just under 4 hours time. Making my way slowly downstairs, my suitcase banging on every step, I laugh at the amount of luggage  we have in the hall.

"Remind me how long we're going for?" I joke

"2 weeks" Mum replies, not getting my joke.

"Looks like we're going for 2 years more like" I mutter, placing my man city suitcase beside theirs. 

"Ok, right, are we all sure we've got everything, we are not coming back" Mum warns. 

"Yes, mum" Keira says, pretending to salute.

"Shut up, I'm actually not joking"

"Sorry mum" Keira says back, trying not to burst into laughter at mum's face, "ok, ok, yep, let's go, the taxi's waiting"

We all make our way to the taxi and pile our cases into the boot, then jump in, and drive off towards manchester airport.