Dimitri

I

I stared at the end of my bed. Today is the day. It's my eighteenth birthday. Heading downstairs, I looked around the kitchen. Where are my parents? I mean it's my eighteenth birthday... couldn't they at least say good morning?

"Bye!" Going to be late, I hurried out the door and towards school. Alice ran up to me, giving me a tight-squeezed hug. "Ivy! You excited for tonight?!" Aah yes. For my birthday my parents bought me tickets so me and Alice could go on holiday to Las Vegas. Looking at her I began to smile, grabbing her hand while jumping up and down excitedly "Obviously! I can't believe my parents actually let me go-" Squealing, the two of us went to class.

"I mean I'm shocked too Ivy-- you're parents don't even let you go out but you're allowed to go to Las Vegas?" She would start laughing "You just got really lucky this time." I'd begin laughing too but to be honest... I was worried. This was not like them to just let me go to another country by myself.

School ended and our vacation was about to begin.

"IVYYYYYY" Alice screamed while jumping up and down in excitement. We had just finished packing and to be honest I'm getting excited too. "OHHHH MY GODDD" I ran up to Alice and joined in with her screaming as my dad put our suitcases in the back of his car. "LETS GO!" I grabbed Alice by the hand and almost forcefully dragged her into the car.

On the way to the airport I pulled out my phone, making me and Alice pose together for a photo. "Our first trip photo~!" She squealed. When we arrived, I said goodbye to my parents and hugged them tightly. "Thank you so much I'll remember this trip forever-" They smiled back at me but it didn't seem like a real genuine smile-- but more of a sympathetic smile so I then stared back at them confused as I walked away with Alice.

"How come your parents didn't come say goodbye to you Alice?" Alice looked back at me with a confused look. "To be honest, even I don't know like they weren't at work or anything and could have just said goodbye when I left the house but they didn't... it was very strange". "Maybe they're just too sad to see you leave". "Yeah". Alice smiled back at me in the fakest way possible.

We both knew that wasn't the case and that something was up.

After a plane ride that felt like forever, we arrived at Las Vegas. "Oh my god it looks so cool!"Alice shouted while running out of the airport. "Where are we going first? Partying? To a casino? Oh- How about we go see that cool water feature!" I couldn't help but laugh, Alice really is funny when she get excited. "No Alice calm down we need to check in first".

Stepping into the hotel my parents had booked, I was so shocked. Fancy ornaments were everywhere-- 24 karat gold painted walls and sculptures. Wow. They really did pull it off this time. After Alice had finally closed her gaping mouth from looking at the hotel's decor, we went to the reception desk where a snobbish looking reception woman sat.

I somehow gained some confidence to speak... you know how some rich people are. "We have a reservation." "Reservation under?" The reception woman replied, almost sounding like a robot. "Uh.. Ivy." I tried smiling sweetly at her but in all honesty I already disliked her. "There's no reservation under that name."

"What?" Me and alice replied at the same time, shocked. "Oh.. well it must be under Alice-". "No." The reception lady replied flatly. "There's no reservations today." I stumbled back slightly while Alice looked worried. No reservations? No... she must have made a mistake. I turned on my phone quickly so did Alice as we tried frantically calling our parents but they didn't answer. Alice politely spoke to the reception lady "I think you've made a mistake ma'am. Our parents booked us a two double bed room for a week."

Me and Alice tried explaining that we did have a reservation but the receptionist ended up calling security saying we were disrupting her work. What a bitch.

"Oh fuck Ivy what are we gonna do?" I looked around, panicked. "It's okay I'm sure we can find a place to stay one night while we sort this misunderstanding out with our parents."

We both walked for hours down a long street, finally finding a place we could afford to stay the night.