A Princess in Paris

Chapter Five

Claude's POV

I stole a look at Maria and Pierre who were sitting a few seats away. Maria was hugging Pierre. And for some reason, I felt a weird pinging in my head. It must have been because I’m nervous about flying alone for the first time. When they let go of each other, they both laughed. Maria looked in my direction, smiled, and waved at me. All I could manage was a weak smile. She looked at Pierre and said something to him.

He said something I couldn’t hear and then Maria stood up in front of everybody and said with a voice as loud as possible, “May I please have everybody’s attention? It is twelve o’clock and I need to take attendance because we start boarding in ten minutes.”

When Maria was done with taking attendance, Mademoiselle Bachawa joined us at Gate 6 with Madame Boyard, the rumored surprise guest. She was to join us on the field trip from here on out.

“We’ll start boarding in a few minutes but I want to tell you all something first. We’ll take a bus from the airport in Avignon to the motel where we will be staying for the next five days. But there is a little surprise waiting for you at the hotel. I won’t tell you what it is, but you’ll find out soon enough. I’ll give you the schedules when we get there,” Mademoiselle Bachawa said after Maria gave her the clipboard.

Evidently and sadly, my most dreaded moment arrived. We were going to board the plane and I was going to be stuck next to Daniella for an hour and a half. I sighed deeply. Maria and Pierre came up to me when we stood in line to start boarding.

“We’ll sit in the same row as you,” Maria said. I nodded.

“Good luck, Claude,” Pierre said as he patted me on the back. I looked in Daniella’s direction. I really didn’t want to sit next to her, but she invited me and I had to be at least a little nice about it.

Whenever I looked in Maria and Pierre’s direction, they were laughing. They were sharing a pair of headphones and listening to music. I felt a little left out and lonely. I mean, sure I was happy that they became good friends, but I didn’t want them to leave me out like that. Daniella was talking to me about a new fashion trend and I wasn’t even listening but every once in a while, I nodded. I was just tired because I woke up really early today and I just wanted to get to the motel and go to sleep.

The most miserable hour of my life ended when we finally landed in Avignon. I got off the plane and joined Maria and Pierre at the Baggage Pick-Up. I waited and waited for my suitcase to show up, but it didn’t.

I was looking around and the next thing I knew was that Maria was screaming, “Excuse me, sir! Please stop!” I looked at Pierre who was as clueless as I was. We ran over to her and the man she stopped.

“We should help her,” Pierre said, but I told him, “I think she’s got it under control, Pierre.”

“I think that this suitcase is for my friend, sir. You must have taken his by mistake. That one is yours, right?” She said then pointed at another green suitcase that looked almost the same as mine.

“How can you tell the difference?” The man asked.

“My friend put a J-shaped key-chain on the zipper of his suitcase because his name is Jean. See?” Maria continued then showed the man my key-chain.

“Thank you for noticing that I had the wrong suitcase. I had really important papers in mine. And I’m sorry for taking your friend’s bag,” the man apologized.

“It’s okay. I’m sure you didn’t do it on purpose,” Maria said with a smile. The man bowed to her and went to get his suitcase. Maria rolled my suitcase over to where Pierre and I were standing. I was amazed at how quickly she noticed that my suitcase was the one the man took.