Chapter 5-The Airport

 

We pulled quickly into valet parking. Because of our little fiasco and an assault of bad traffic, we had arrived at the airport at 4:30. We still had to check in and get all the way to our terminal so we were very pressed for time. Mitch grumbled about the rates on valet parking but assented when we yelled at him about our lack of time. The drop-off station was located right next to the section of building that housed the long row of airline booths and would save us a lot of time.

"Don't worry about the money," Kat had said. "We'll worry about it when we get back after having the time of our lives. Believe me, we won't care, but we will care if we miss the plane." That had been enough to get Mitch to hand over the keys to a waiting valet. He then grabbed his bags and broke into a dead run after the rest of us.

"You did get the pick-up ticket?" I asked Mitch when he had caught up to me. He stopped and pivoted. Then ran back to the annoyed-looking valet who had been shouting at him. By the time we had reached the American Airlines booth, Mitch had caught up with us. His face was red from exertion and he panted in line.

"Excuse me?" Kyle asked a woman in front of us. "Do you mind if we cut ahead of you? We only have 25 minutes until our plane leaves." She nodded and returned her attention to two noisy children that stood beside her. They had been engaging each other in a fistfight the moment she turned her head at our question. We asked this to many people until finally one man said frantically that he was bound on that flight to Puerto Rico as well. He was a typical tourist. Despite the fact that we were hours from Puerto Rico he had already donned his sunglasses, sun hat, and matching floral clothing. He didn't let us pass, which was understandable, but it didn't matter because we were only a few people from the front. When we reached the front we quickly handed our papers and passports to the woman at the counter with a cheery smile. She looked over everything quickly and gave us our boarding passes.

"That plane is currently waiting in terminal G5 and I think you young folks can make it. I'm not sure about the man who just passed through though," she said, glancing with a worried expression to our right. We could see the man half-jogging down the hallway and he was already losing steam. We started to take off. "Wait," she said. "I need your large packs. Those won't fit on the plane and you can only have one carry-on anyway. You usually have to wait for me to weigh them but go ahead and start running. I'll take care of it." We all stuck our bags down behind the counter, thanked the woman, and began running on the slick, cold floors.

Mitch had regained some of his breath but lagged noticeably behind the rest of us. We all wore worried expressions, except for Joseph. He seemed calm and collected as he ran at the front. He even seemed to have to slow his pace for us. His handsome face stared straight ahead of him. I must have been staring at him because I soon found myself bumping into Kyle as he stopped to pass through the metal detectors. I apologized quickly and blushed as Joseph looked back at me curiously. He smiled after a moment and it eased my embarrassment. Kyle pushed me jokingly and then turned to set his bag on the conveyor belt that would make sure we weren't gun-toting maniacs. All of our bags passed through the video screens and each of us made it through the people-check because we had used our time in line to put everything in our carry-on bags. We knew it would cut back time here.

As soon as Mitch had passed through we started running again and reached our terminal at about the same moment the man in front of us had. Though he hadn't run fast, the old guy actually had some stamina and he had kept a fairly good pace up. The flight attendant standing by the corridor to the hatch gave us an exasperated look.

"Not more people! And here I thought we were just about perfect," he said, throwing his arms into the air.

"What's wrong?" Kyle demanded.

"I'm afraid we over booked the flight, there's only one seat in coach left," the man explained. "You're all flying coach?" he asked. Everyone in our party and the man in front of us nodded. "I don't suppose there's anyway I could get you to take a later flight? Its perfectly free," he said.

"No!" I exclaimed. All eyes went to me and I reddened slightly. "I'm sorry. We really would like to help you but we have to make a connecting flight to St. Lucia. If its entirely too much trouble, I suppose we could rearrange everything but it would be loads of trouble and we would appreciate it ever so much if you would allow us to somehow ride on this flight. Even if it takes riding in the baggage storage." My mother had always told you that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. Though my friends seemed a bit shocked, the flight attendant seemed to be impressed by my words.

"Hold on a second. I'll see what I can do," he said, then disappeared into the corridor.

"Well," said the tourist. "If there's one seat I should get it. I did get here before you kids."

Mitch seemed to be ready to tell the old man off but I spotted the flight attendant and interrupted Mitch. "Of course," I said sweetly. "You really should get that seat. Its only fair." I knew what they might do for us and I was going to make sure I played all the right cards to get it.

I don't know if my last statement helped at all but when the flight attendant arrived he beamed at us. "I think we worked something out," he said excitedly, his blue eyes were merry and went well with his artificially blond hair. I think Kat noticed as well because she took the first opportunity to thank him.

"Thank you soo much," she said to him, stepping closer. "We appreciate this so much."

He smiled at her attention and gestured down the corridor. "Follow me," he said. We all picked up our carry-on bags and stepped down the corridor and into the waiting plane. He hadn't been kidding about the size of their passengers. I personally didn't see any empty seats when I looked but I spotted one as the flight-attendant told the touristy man, "There, the seat you wanted so much is D5." It was located between a screaming kid and a heavy-set woman in a muumuu. The man didn't seem to care though and marched off for it, then sat down proudly in his seat. After the man was settled, the flight attendant turned back to us and said, "Well, you guys get something slightly different." Then, to our surprise and delight, he pushed back the screen that separated the coach and first-class sections of the plane.

The already seated passengers in first class glanced curiously at us. Most of them were older businessmen who didn't seem too keen on the idea of a bunch of wild teenagers sitting with them. Either coincidence or the kind flight attendant had arranged it so that five empty seats were located next to each other. After we finished gasping and ogling the comfortable-looking leather seats and large amounts of legroom, we made our way to our seats and settled down. Though the older people may not have liked our age-induced personalities, they didn't seem to mind staring at our youthful outsides. A few glares from the guys brought their eyes back to their magazines and laptops, for the moment at any rate. Kat and I sat down next to each other in the left-front set of two seats. Since there were actually six empty seats, Mitch quickly grabbed the set across the aisle from us and stretched out across both seats. Kyle and Joseph then sat in the set of seats behind us.

"Isn't this great?" Kat asked in an excited but barely audible whisper. I nodded in agreement and looked around. I had always traveled in the squalor that is coach. With its crying children and excited travelers, it usually was a giant confusion of noise and movement. Here, the atmosphere was completely different. Many people who fly first-class do so for business and their companies pay the price of the expensive tickets. Since flying a lot is part of their job, they weren't very excited about it and thus typically kept quite quiet. Many other passengers were too dignified to be rowdy and the remainder of the passengers didn't seem to want to break the others' silence. I could understand that, I certainly didn't want to be the one to destroy the peace.

Leave it to Mitch to do what no one else would. "Guys!" he shouted. "We're

really on our way!"

"Shhhh!" we all said compulsively, even Joseph.

Mitch leaned across the aisle toward us. "We're on our way!" he said just above a whisper. "There, is that better."

"Though you have much learn Mitch-San, you have progressed well," remarked Joseph with a grin. Mitch chuckled and returned to his regular sitting position.

Suddenly, the captain's voice came on the overhead speakers. "Welcome everyone to flight 102, bound for Puerto Rico. Enjoy your…" I buckled my seatbelt and leaned back into my chair, tuning the pilot's voice out. Even though it wasn't late, I found that I had gotten drowsy so I let myself fall back into dreamland as we took off and soared through the air.