The Program

Chapter 2

*Mariella's POV*

I stepped off the plane in England and followed one of the flight attendants through customs and everything else to meet my host mom. All I've heard about her was that she had a ten-year-old daughter named Maddie, she worked at a restaurant in another town up north a bit, and her name was Ms. Simmons.

The flight attendant finally escorted me out to the area where you meet family and friends. As soon as I came out, a cheery woman in a flowery dress came up to us followed by a little girl with two blond braids.

"Hello, you must be Mariella! I'm Ms. Simmons but you can call me Kate and this is my daughter Maddie," the woman said. When she heard her name, Maddie peeked out from behind her mother. I could tell that she was shy.

"Hi, Maddie. I'm Mariella. It's nice to meet you," I said kneeling down. I put out my hand for a handshake. Maddie didn't move an inch.

"Sorry, she's really shy," Ms. Simmons said. "Maddie, why don't you help Mariella with her bags?"

"No thank you, Ms. Simmons. I think I got it." I really didn't, but I didn't want Maddie to have to try to lug around one of my heavy bags.

"Well at least let me carry one of them," she said. "No need for you to hurt yourself on your first day here." She took my blue duffel as she said this. I thanked the flight attendant as Ms. Simmons showed me the way to her car.

-1 hour later-

I walked into Ms. Simmons' tiny little two-story house after about an hour of sitting in her car. I was so glad to finally be able to unpack and get everything sorted.

"Just leave your bags here for now while I give you the tour," Ms. Simmons said enthusiastically as she entered the house. She gave me a small tour of the first floor and then showed me the back garden (which had some freshly planted pink roses that Ms. Simmons seemed to be very proud of). After, she took me upstairs. The one thing I hated about Europe: the stairs in houses were always so steep! "So this is my room right here, next to it is the bathroom, and down at the end of the hall...," she said walking down said hall, "on the left is Maddie's room and on the right is your's."

I walked into a room that was painted a very deep crimson red. I highly disliked the color: it seemed very dark and ominous. "This used to be the office, but now it'll be your room! I hope you like it," she said as I wandered around.

"I love it!" To be honest, other than the walls it really was a lovely room. It had a bed, a wardrobe in the corner, a desk, and even a bookshelf!

"Well if you would like, Maddie and I could help you unpack. Or we could eat first, it's up to you."

"I would like to get settled first. I have a lot of things that I brought and if I don't do it right away I'll just get lazy and won't end up unpacked until a month from now," I said. And with that, we all went downstairs to bring up my luggage and start unpacking.