The Basketball Atrocities

Forty Eight - Flight 666 to Hell

SAT 2/7/2004 4:03am (Tyler)

"Tyler." a voice called.

He groaned, burying his face into whatever he was laying on. He didn't feel like waking up. Tyler didn't even remember where he was or what time it was. But he did know he was tired.

"Tyler, come on." the same voice called.

Tyler protested sleepily when an arm nudged his head. He refused to get up because it felt like way too early and he didn't get nearly enough sleep last night.

"TYLER!" the voice suddenly shouted.

"Huh?!" Tyler jolted awake. "What's going on?"

Josh smirked. "Had a nice nap on my shoulder, didn't you?"

"What?" Tyler looked down and realized he'd been sleeping on Josh's shoulder. "Ughhhhhhhhhhh." he groaned with more exhaustion.

"Relax, I don't have the black plague. We're in Cincinnati." the other boy informed him.

Tyler looked out the car window. Sure enough, they were driving through downtown Cincinnati. Skyscrapers rose up on either side of the road and traffic was pretty busy. It was only 3:47, meaning they only had about fifteen more minutes to get to the airport for headcount. Luckily, the airport should only be about ten minutes away if traffic cooperated enough. Laura continued down the road until she saw a traffic jam. She pulled off onto a side road and drove through the downtown areas.

Tyler had only been to Cincinnati a few times for basketball reasons. But it was fun finally seeing the downtown in person. Seeing the lit up skyscrapers and the walls of businesses along the narrow streets was very similar to Columbus, but at the same time, it was very different. For example, the Joseph Enterprises skyscraper was nowhere to be seen. The Ohio River also didn't run through Cincinnati like the Scioto River ran through Columbus.

Up ahead, they finally got to the airport. In the parking lot was the rest of the students going on the trip. Mrs. Tanaka, her husband Mr. Tanaka, and both World History teachers Ms. Cordeva and Miss Jackson were there as chaperones for the trip. To be fair, they were only going to be chaperoning for the tours and educational portions of the trip. All of the guys were with Mrs. Tanaka for the trip, which was quite lucky since there were so many of them.

Laura unlocked the car. "Have fun in Japan, you two. Take plenty pictures and tell us all about it when you get back to America. Be careful and bring back a few souvenirs, too." she said, looking at them both.

"You be safe, too." Tyler responded

"Tyler, you are like family to us and Kelly trusted me with you. If you get a single cut, I'm flying over there and driving you back myself. When you get back, you come on by anytime you want." she scolded him sternly.

"You bet. Thank you for the ride, Mrs. Laura." he said.

"Of course, hon. You've been such a good friend to Josh." she praised cheerfully.

I have? I'm pretty sure I despise him. "Have a safe drive back to Columbus!" Tyler said.

Josh got their luggage out of the trunk and handed Tyler's two duffel bags and his suitcase. They walked over to the group of students to check in with Mrs. Tanaka. On the way there, Tyler should have expected that Josh would start into his usually teasing. "Heard that, Ty? We're like family now." he answered.

"Means calling me baby boy is technically incest." he pointed out.

"Not really. We are LIKE family. We aren't blood-related." Josh retorted with a smirk. "You should take up that offer on coming over whenever. Y'know, since we're just the best of buddies."