Photographs (Luke Hemmings)

Chapter 36

We got our bags from baggage claim and went to find Luke's aunt who was picking us up.

"Luke!"

"Hi Aunt Susan," Luke said pulling her into a hug.

"Nice to see you again," she said pulling me into a hug.

"How was your flight?" She asked as we made our way to the exit.

Luke told her it was long and boring, just like it was when he moved to America a few years back. He wasn't able to sit still for long so being forced to sit in a chair for over 20 hours was tough.
We walked outside and the warm Sydney air hit my skin. It was 5pm in Australia, so the sky was a mixture of orange and blue.

"Wow," I mumbled.

"Pretty right?" Luke asked as we walked through the parking garage. I nodded my head.

"It's one of the things I miss," he said putting one arm around my shoulders. I looked up at him and smiled.

"The car is in car park B so we have to go down a level," his aunt said as we began to walk down a few stairs.

I chuckled quietly, "Car park."

"What?" Luke asked.

"I'm American. I'm use to parking lot," I explained.

"We're in Australia now babe," he said giving me a smile. I rolled my eyes as we approached a black car that appeared to be his aunts.

We put our suitcases in the trunk before getting into the car and leaving the airport. During the car ride, Luke's aunt and I talked about where we've each traveled in the world. My list was a lot shorter than hers.

"We have to drive over the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It's equal to the golden gate bridge you guys have in America," she said to me. I nodded, I felt odd about bridges. They were so pretty, but they could fall out underneath of you at any given time.

"I haven't even been over that one," I chuckled. I had never been to California.

We drove over the bridge and the view was beautiful. Sydney was surrounded by pretty blue water. Luke explained each of the building's as we passed, like the Sydney Opera House.

"We're almost to the house," his aunt said. I looked at the clock on the dashboard seeing that we had been driving for close to half an hour now.

"This is so weird," I said as his aunt turned into a neighborhood.

"What is?" Luke asked.

"You guys drive on the wrong side of the road, and the steering wheel is on the wrong side too," I said chuckling.

"Who defines the right side?" Luke asked me with a smile.

"Touche," I said seeing his point.

"Here's my old school," Luke said as we drove by a small building. Luke rolled down the window and stuck his middle finger in the air outside of the car.

"Really?" I asked laughing. "Did you not like it there?"

"It was okay, I just hate school," he said bringing his arm back into the car. I laughed again, but I would probably flick off our high school too.

"We're home," his aunt said with a smile as she parked in her driveway.

We walked in and were greeted by Luke's uncle. We all made small talk about the flight and the ride over.

"I just picked up this pizza seeing as you guys would probably be tired from the flight," his uncle Joe said leading us into the kitchen.

We all sat down and Luke's aunt and uncle asked us how school was going, our plans about college, and how excited we were for graduation.