Taking Off

Chapter 16

The group had to be up bright and early the next morning. Figg had said she had a big day planned for them and, after yesterday's amazing day, they were all rather excited. But, as per usual, Elijah was late in waking up.

"Is there something wrong with you? Are you incapable of waking up at a time that will get us to the lobby on time?" Tia snapped as he walked out of his room.

"Hey, they haven't left without us yet, okay," he yawned.

"Yes, but we've been the last to get there every single day so far!" she replied, pushing her hair away from her face in frustration.

"You really shouldn't stress so much. You're going to ruin your face," he said, matter-of-factly.

She just stared at him, unsure of what to say. "That – that's just completely off the point," she stammered.

"Is it, Tia? Is it really?" he asked. With that, he walked out of the door, leaving her to ponder on his strange words.

-

Three hours later, after Figg had briefed the group quickly about what was happening first on this busy day, they arrived at a large expanse of land, and stood chatting amongst each other until Figg was heard in front of them all.

"Everyone, this is Angela," she said, introducing a skinny, tall old woman standing beside her. "She'll be giving you the full run down on what will be happening today."

"Thank you, Miranda," Angela said as Figg stepped back. "First, I'd like to welcome you to the Mornington Peninsula. It's great to have you and I'm certain you're going to have an amazing time. Most people do," she smiled at them all.

Elijah looked at her friendly face. She was so happy and radiant. She was so lucky to be among nature every day of her life. She must feel so at peace with the world. He remembered Tia's stressed out nature that he'd seen far too much of on this trip. She really needed to relax, he thought. Beside him, Tia listened closely to Angela, excited about the day, mostly because it had nothing to do with fears.

"The first thing we'll be doing is having a little Devonshire morning tea, as it is still rather early. After that, I will take you on a tour of the maze and the gardens. Who knows, maybe we'll have you trying to find your own way out of the maze!" she laughed, making some of the group feel a little awkward. "After the tours, you'll have your lunch, which will be followed by a visit to the strawberry farms where you'll be able to pick your own strawberries," she finished. Tia smiled.

"Fresh strawberries! Yum!" she whispered to Aladdin who beamed back.

"This will all take quite a bit of time, finishing at approximately half past four. So, we should probably get started, huh?" she said, beaming at them all. Everyone nodded, rather excited. The weather was absolutely perfect. The sun was beating down on them with just the perfect amount of heat and there was a light cold wind blowing around them all.

The breakfast they had was absolutely exquisite. The morning tea was delectable – sweet tea with lavender scones topped with cream and tiny sandwiches that made them all feel quite British for the first time on this trip. They all sat on 'Arthur's Seat,' which was located at the top of a mountain, giving them the most incredible view they could not have even imagined. Tia could have just lived there. She turned to Elijah, sipping her tea.

"And you said there was nothing to do here!" she scoffed, the wind blowing her hair everywhere. He rolled his eyes.

"I stand corrected," he replied. "This has been an amazing trip, so far. Even you haven't ruined it yet," he added, closing his eyes and breathing in the fresh air. He heard her laugh, sarcastically, and smiled. It was exactly the response he wanted.

"You think you've been easy to live with?" she said, as he opened his eyes.

"Uh, no I don't think that because you let me know that isn't the case every morning," he answered. "Just quickly, were we late this morning in getting to the lobby?"

She hesitated. He raised his eyebrows. "No," she said, grudgingly.

"Ah, thank you," he said, and smirked.

"Doesn't mean you're easier to live with," she continued.

"You think I want to be easy to live with?" he laughed. "If you do, you could not be more wrong."

"Even if you wanted to be easy to live with you wouldn't be able to," she said.

"What does that even mean?" he asked, sure she was just waffling and didn't actually have a point.

"It means that you can't be nice because you're not a nice person. So, even if you tried to be easy to live with, you couldn't be," she explained, and smiled when she saw his anger at her words.

"I am nice!" he cried, affronted. "You're the one who's not nice. Aren't I right guys?" he asked, interrupting Aladdin and Vanessa's own conversation.

"Uhh, sorry. We weren't listening. But we wouldn't have answered even if we were," Vanessa replied.

"Yeah. You guys really need to sort out your issues. There seems to be a lot of enmity between you," Aladdin agreed, instantly reminding both Tia and Elijah of Principal Andrews.

"I don't have any issues with her! She's the one who has issues with me, hating me for no reason and everything," Elijah frowned. Aladdin turned to Tia.

"You hate him for no reason?" he asked. She licked her lips and uncomfortably looked anywhere but into Aladdin's eyes. Elijah noticed this.

"Aha! There is a reason!" he said, triumphantly. "What is it?" he asked, quickly, trying to catch her eye.

"I don't hate you," Tia said, unsure if she was lying or not. "I – I just don't think you're a very – uh – good person," she spoke, choosing her words very carefully.

"And what makes you think that? There must have been a situation that made you gain this perception of me. What was it?" Elijah asked. Aladdin and Vanessa listened on but neither Tia nor Elijah noticed them anymore.

Tia was utterly confused. She really thought he knew why they didn't get along. The incident didn't happen very long ago – and it was quite a big deal, she thought. He couldn't have forgotten what had happened. Maybe he was just that heartless that it had no effect on him, and so he pushed it right to the back of his mind. She looked at him, searching his face, his eyes, for a sign that showed he forgot what happened, or a sign that showed he was lying and he knew exactly what he'd done. All she could find was a confused glare. He had actually forgotten it. At that moment, she had never hated him more. How could he do all that and think nothing of it? He almost ruined her life. She couldn't believe him. And she'd never forgive him either.

"Well?" he finally asked, looking intently at her. She shook her head at him.

"There – there was no situation," she said, clearing her voice, trying to sound less upset than she was. "I just don't think you're very nice."

"You're wrong," he countered, straightening up.

"I don't care," she said, looking him straight in the eye. He was a little taken aback by her cold stare. He hadn't ever seen her that angry. She turned back to enjoy the scenery. Elijah looked at Aladdin, who shrugged his shoulders.