The ominous woman stared deeply into my irises as the bus lurched over at least a thousand potholes. Through the bus window, the sky was slowly transitioning into a starless black haze against the glares of traffic and street lamps. I tried to deflect the woman’s enigmatic gaze, wondering why she was staring at me so intently. Nothing was going to ruin my vacation before it even started.

Just then, my rescue came to me in the form of my eccentric sister as she started guffawing her head off at something our dad said. The woman finally tore her eyes away from me and scrunched her forehead in my sister’s direction disapprovingly. Skyler, being her usual oblivious self, was completely clueless that a strange woman was eyeing her up and down.

At last, the bus screeched to a halt in front of the airport. “United Alpha!” the bus driver hollered as he cranked open the doors. He began unloading the luggages up front.

I immediately hopped to my feet, dying to get away from this mysterious woman. My mom and dad both grabbed their belongings and started to head off the bus just as the woman stood up as well. Meanwhile, my sister was slowly gathering her “The Kite Runner” novel and summer packets that she had been working on during the bus ride. “Hurry up!” I hissed to Skyler as I shoved the rest of her papers into her backpack.

“Hey! I spent ten hours on that composition!” Skyler whined at the sight of her crumpled papers.

I rolled my eyes. “Dude, we’re on vacation. Take a break!” I didn’t even give the woman a second glance; nothing is going to degrade this awesome family vacation! Grabbing Skyler by the sleeve, I dragged us out of the bus and onto the pavement. “Whew,” I puffed out as I noticed the woman walking in the opposite direction.

“Bro, calm down. As if someone would wanna follow you,” my sister joked as she pulled up with her purple suitcase behind her. She handed me my black one and slung her backpack over her shoulder.

I pouted. “Just watch. I’ll get people’s attention on this trip.” Pumping my fist in the air, I exclaimed, “I can prove it!”

    My parents rounded us up. “Ok, the check in’s that way.” My mom pointed to a glass building just across the street. When we entered, she scanned through our paperwork. “Ok, go search for the check in for the United Alpha terminal.”

“Oh!” I exclaimed. I just realized that we could possibly have seating arrangements next to my mom’s friend’s family, especially the two guys. Yes, I can actually have some people my age to talk to while Skyler does her stupid summer assignments for junior year. “Are we going on the same flight as Mrs.Annie’s family?” I eagerly asked my mom.

Without breaking focus from her papers, my mom answered, “No. We’re getting to Cancun at the same time as them, but on a different flight.”

Darn it. Guess I’m stuck on a six hour flight sitting in silence.

After passing a few counters, we reached the designated one.

    “Hello there! Welcome to United Alpha. May I see your confirmation papers?” the worker asked.

    “Of course, here you go.”

    The worker smiled. “Thank you… oh