Faces (Lannan Eacott) *Under Editing*

Chapter One

     The plane landed and a female voice blasted over the intercom.

     "Welcome to Australia, ladies and gentlemen. Please be careful as you exit the plane and have a tremendous day!" If only I could match her cheerfulness. This class trip was suppose to be the best ending to a long senior year, but so far, my bed and Netflix seemed to be the scene place to be.

     "I thought my first impression of Australia would be, "wow, Sydney is beautiful", but no. I feel like I stepped directly into Satan's asshole." Scrunching my eyebrows together, I looked over at Nikki who was fanning herself with the pamphlet we received from Mrs. Laney.

     "To be fair, it's Australia. It's known for its unforgiving heat. But I agree; it is extremely hot." She nudged me with her elbow, her eyes locked on one of the security guards as we exited the plane.

     "The environment isn't the only things that's hot." She raised her eyebrows at me which got her an eye roll in return.

     "I wish we could all be like you and have a two week fling. But remember, that's all it is. Two weeks." She slung her arm between mine and my elbow and giggled.

     "What can I say, loser? Girls just wanna have fun." The wait for our suitcases seemed to last forever. Until finally my classmates began collecting theirs. "Maybe the Aussies will find us, exotic." I finally locked eyes on my suitcase and gave her 'the look' before walking in the direction of my belongings. As I was grabbing my suitcase, I felt something jab me in the ribs.

     "Hey! There's a human here." I turned around to see a man leaning over what looked like to be his own suitcase. He glanced back at me and chuckled. "Something funny?"

     "Sorry. Not much room around here." That's when I noticed his suitcase. It almost looked to be a giant sticker of his face.

     "Uh, afraid someone might steal it?" I asked pointing towards the suitcase. "Cause it seems that way." He looked down at his suitcase and the corners of his mouth twitched upwards.

     "Oh that? No. Just wanted to stand out in a crowd." He stuck out his hand. "Lannan." Swinging my purse further onto my shoulder, I grabbed his hand.

     "Samantha. But most people call me Sam."

     "SAM!" Her voice echoed through the crowded airport as if no one were even there. She nearly collided with me as her feet carried her faster and faster in my direction. "There's a celebrity here. His name is L-oh my god! It's you!" She squealed looking over at the man. "You're Lannan Eacott. Huge fan." She looked at me and gestured to him with her hands. "This is that YouTuber I was talking about!"

     "Oh. Well it was nice to meet you, but it looks like our classmates are gathering at the entrance." Grabbing Nikki's arm I took a step in the direction of the rest of our classmates.

     "Might I get your number?" His voice was much softer now as he asked the simple question. A smile etched itself onto my face.

     "I'll tell you what. If our paths cross again, I'll gladly give it you. Have a good day, Lannan." He stood shocked for a second before grinning.

     "I have a feeling I'll be seeing you soon." With a quick wave Nikki and I headed towards the entrance. 

     "Um," Nikki forced me to stop in my tracks as she began speaking. "What the hell was that? He totally wanted your number!" Rolling my eyes I unlatched our arms.

     "Like I said before, we're here for two weeks. And I'm not into flings. But I'm always accepting new friends." She scoffed. "And for all we know, that might be the first and last time I ever see him." Our class began filing out the front doors towards our bus. "Plus, what's so great about him?"

     "Don't start with that. You know what you're problem is?" I raised my eyebrows. "Ever since Jacob broke your heart, you've been closed off to even the thought of going out with someone else. What if that is your soulmate you just turned down?"

     "If that's the case, then I'll see him again. If not, it was neat meeting a YouTuber I barely know anything about." She sighed but nodded.

     "You're a pain in the ass." As everyone found their seats on the bus Mrs. Laney began speaking about what we would be doing while we were here.

     "All right, everyone. I need you listen closely to me. I'm sure all of you are excited to be here. It's quite the experience. I will be handing out sheets with dates and times you will be required to be together as a class. As for any downtime you may have, you are expected to always have at least ONE person with you. If you follow these two rules, we won't have any issues and your privileges will not be revolved." Nikki and I glanced over the sheet as it made its way to us.

"June 4, 9:00 a.m. - class trip to zoo
June 4, 7:00 p.m. - class dinner

June 6, 8:00 a.m. - class trip to museum (optional)
June 6, 7:00 p.m. - class dinner

June 7, 10:00 a.m. - trip to opera house (required)
June 7, 7:00 p.m. - class dinner

June 10, 4:00 p.m. - class pictures

June 12, 8:00 a.m. - scuba diving (optional)
June 12, 6:00 p.m. - GRAND dinner @ Altitude (DRESS ACCORDINGLY - NO JEANS OR T-SHIRTS!!)

June 15, 7:00 a.m. - class breakfast w/ prime minister

June 18, 4:00 a.m. - plane home (DO NOT BE LATE TO MEETING SPOT)

     Nikki thrusted her fist into the air at the realization that we would have TONS of downtime to do whatever we like. Mrs. Laney was never a stickler for knowing our exact location as long as we followed any and every rule she asked us to follow. Which none of us really had an issue with.

     "We have the night to ourselves. What should we do?" As if our minds clicked at the same time the same word flew out of our mouths. Beach. "It's 5:30 now. Gives us plenty of time to get to the hotel, unpack, and make it to the beach with time to spare." The trip to the hotel seemed as if it passed in a flash. "Ready to go to the beeeeeeaaach?" Nikki asked right as I finished unpacking my suitcase.

     "Always! In all honesty, I've only been to the beach twice. And once has been on this class trip."

     "When we spent a week in Cuba?" I nodded my head and grabbed my swimsuit from the drawer. "Dude, you've lived a SHELTERED life."

     "Don't I know it." The beach wasn't far from our hotel so we figured the exercise would be helpful to us. Plus, who wants to pay an Uber for a five minute drive? No one. Nikki and I got a small group together to go down to the beach with us just in case something were to happen.

     Everywhere we went or passed seemed to be crowded. Shops, restaurants, small family businesses littered the streets. This is what I always imagined my hometown would be like. Granted, Elsah was a charming town in its own way. We had our shops, and the family restaurants that served the best food. But it didn't have the people. It almost seemed as if it never had a heart. Sydney had a heart of its own. People dancing to music that was too loud in the streets, string lights slung between buildings like it was meant to hold the structures together. Elsah was charming, but Sydney is just beautiful. It has a character all of its own. The beach was the same way. The waves crashed against the shore, more meaningful with each passing moment.

     "Wow. It's astounding here." The sun was just beginning to set as people started to leave. I was packing up my beach towel and other belongings when someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around to see him.

     "Looks like our paths crossed again."