Chapter 1 - Europe Tour It Is

“Hurry up Maxine, you’re gonna be late.” My dad called up to me

“Okay dad, I’ll be down soon.” I groaned in reply

I rolled onto my side and reached out for my phone. 7.15am. I still couldn’t believe I was graduating Santa Clara High in a week.

I clambered out of bed and made my way into the en-suite whilst scrapping my naturally curly hair into a high pony. I stared at my reflection in the mirror before putting dashes of face cream on my forehead and cheeks. I flung open the door of wardrobe and pulled out a Nirvana t-shirt and denim hot pants. I grabbed my bag which was hanging on the bed post. I turned the handle of my door with the large You Me At Six poster on it and descended down the glass stair case.

“Hey dad” I said a little out of breathe  

“Hi Maxine” He replied looking down at his newspaper. Suddenly heard a car horn from outside, I peered out the window. It was Sophia.

“Bye dad” I said taking a piece of toast from the plate on the marble table

“Bye Maxine” He said without looking up from his newspaper, once again. My dad and I haven’t been communicating that much after the death of my mom. It was still pretty tough for him to get over.

I darted across the lawn to meet Sophia who was frantically waving at me

“Hey Maxi!” She said cheerfully as I got into the car

“Hey Soph” I replied with less enthusiasm, Sophia was always the more enthusiastic out of the two of us, she started up the car as I stared at the house. I loved our house, the porch with the two windows at either side and a triangular shaped roof with the circle window.

We arrived at school 20 minutes later, I checked my phone. 8.30 am. We both got out the car and slammed the door shut

“I’ll meet you here at the usual time, okay Maxi?”

“Sure thing Soph” I said smiling. We both went out separate ways, I hopped up the stairs to meet Natasha. She gave me a brief hug before we started to walk to biology class.

“Are you looking forward the graduating?” Natasha asked whilst we walked down the corridors

“Yeah, I suppose” I replied

“What do you mean you ‘suppose’?” She questioned

“I guess it’s not really sunk in yet” I replied shrugging

“Oh, okay” She said smiling whilst pushing the door of our biology classroom open and there he was. Blane Parker. God, he was beautiful. 

Natasha always gave me a wink when I sat next to him, then I began to blush. I loved how he always ran his fingers through his dark, spiked up hair. Good thing my second name was ‘Pain’ and I got to sit next to him for the majority of classes. I’ve had a crush on him since the 10th grade even though I hardly speak to him, I don’t think he knows that I exist.

Biology class was soon over and so was Math, Art and History class. Finally it was lunch and we only had two more periods left of the day, thank god. I met up with Natasha for lunch and we ate in the canteen

“So,” Natasha began “Going anywhere nice for summer vacation?”

“Um, I don’t think so, no” I replied “What about you?”

“My parents and I are going to Argentina for 2 weeks then Edward and I are going to Portland for the week. My parents finally decided to let us go”

“Wow, your summer sounds awesome, I’m sure you’ll have fun” We continued talking about summer for a short time then we moved on to talking about what career we want and what college or university we want to go to.  

Afterwards, we both walked to Spanish together and as soon as we opened the door, we seen him there again. Blane Parker. Still as beautiful as ever. He’s the only reason why I don’t pay attention to Mr Murphy rambling on about ‘the good old’ days when he lived in Spain.

“Hey, Maxine, can I borrow an eraser?” Blane asked turning round. Oh my god. He knew my name!

“Um sure” I said passing the eraser “Here.”

“Thanks, your hair is really pretty like that by the way, I’ve never seen you have your hair like that before” He said with a smile at the end. WAS THIS EVEN HAPPENING?!

“Thanks Blane” I said blushing

“No problem, wow, I can’t believe Mr Murphy is still talking about his time in Barcelona.”

“I know right.” THIS CAN NOT BE HAPPENING.

“Parker, turn round boy” Mr Murphy said in a stern voice

“Sorry sir” Blane said turning round to face the front. That conversation had the be the highlight of the 12th grade.

Spanish class went by pretty quickly, so did gym class for that matter

I met Sophia in the parking lot at the same time as usual

“Maxine!” She squealed, I ran up to give her a hug

“Hey Soph!” I said cheerfully

“Great news Maxi!” She said jumping up and down “What do you think about going on a road trip around, wait for it….EUROPE!”  

Honestly, I didn’t know what to think.

“Wow, em I don’t know what quite to say Soph” I said with uncertainty

“Just say yeah you’ll come!”

“Look, I really don’t know. I’ll ask my dad and I’ll tell you tomorrow, if not then, I’ll tell you on Saturday”

“Hmmm, okay then” She said with less excitement.

Sophia dropped me off and before I could make an attempt at getting out the car she tugged onto my arm and said “Remember what you’ve to ask your dad”

“Yes, yes I’ll remember I replied jokingly. She gave me a wink and drove off.

I strode up the path and carefully opened to find my dad reading the paper, again.

“Oh, hey Maxine” He said without looking up

“Hi dad, um, can we talk?”

“Sure thing, what’s up?” He still didn’t look up

“You know Sophia from school?” I began “Well she’s asked me if I wanted to go on a road trip around Europe with her….”

At that point he looked up.

“Oh I see. How long will you be gone for?”

“Em, the whole summer vacation” He then peered above his reading glasses

“That should be fine I guess” He sounded a little uncertain

“Thanks dad”

I climbed up with glass stair case and went into my room then threw my bag on my bed.

Europe tour it is.