The Guide
A Month Long Nightmare
“I’m so excited!” screamed Emily, she silently clapped her hands whilst jumping on the spot, leaving everyone else to stare at her. She was the most enthusiastic about the entire trip, Brianna and Lizzie were the ones that were the most cautious and dreaded what might happen and the other two were happy enough.
None of them had ever been so far away from their family for such a long period of time. They could still see their distraught parents but they had already said goodbye and were waiting for the guide just behind the check-in desks. They stood, faces beaming with excitement, on their best behavior. They all stood, huddled together. Their over-sized suitcases had been taken to the plane to be put in the storage area. Their arms were left limp trembling with an odd combination of anxiety and excitement.
“Do you think we’re in the wrong place?” Alissa asked, unable to suppress her worried tone. Emily felt guiltily, she had put a lot of responsibility on her older sister after all; she questioned whether it was such a good idea, then tried her best to rid this thought. She was easily distracted, clumsy and never listened, but she seemed to take this particular role seriously, like a natural instinct had taken over.
“Pretty sure this is it. It did say in the e-mail, didn’t it?” Brianna said, she had a minor habit of asking rhetorical questions.
“Yeah, it said ‘check in then wait behind check-in desk 4’, and that’s what we did.” Stated Lizzie, this was the place they were meant to wait for their guide.
“My legs ache.” Moaned Charlotte, leaning on Brianna.
“Dude, why don’t you just sit on the floor like you usually do?” Brianna suggested.
“But it’s all dirty.” Charlotte pointed out, examining the grubby floor with a disgusted grimace.
"I'll give you a piggy back then" sighed Emily. She was quite strong and wasn't worried about how stupid it made her look. She dropped her carry-on bag onto the floor beside her. "Jump on then", Charlotte did as she was told. Then decided Emily was her horse and insisted they galloped around for a bit. The other three stepped back ashamed and went to lean on a wall where they silently face palmed.
"Are you the winners of the haunted house trip to Korea?" a soft, angelic voice questioned from behind the terrible twosome.
"Yeah, this is Charlotte and I'm Emily, wait. Where did the others g-" Emily dropped Charlotte with a thud.
"OUCH!" exclaimed Charlotte. "That hurt, you could have at least warned me!" She caught a glimpse of her friends expression. "What's wrong?"
"Leeteuk Hyung! That's Leeteuk from Super Junior." She was pointing right at the guide. He gave a little smile, showing off a cute dimple.
"Excuse my little sister, she must have mistaken you for ..." Alissa started "it's actually you. You are our guide?"
"Yes, I am" Leeteuk gave another little smile.
"Anyong Leeteuk Hyung!" the siblings chanted in unison. They did a synchronized 90° bow in his direction, "Saranghae Leeteuk Oppa!" They treated him as if he were royalty.
They all stared at him. "So he's from this Super Junior that you keep obsessing over" Lizzie examined Leeteuk wondering what all the fuss was about, “Where are the others? Isn’t there like twelve?”
“Fifteen.” Emily corrected Lizzie in her coma-like state.
“I was close.” She mumbled.
"And I do not obsess!"
“Yes you do.” Brianna beamed.
“Shut up!” Emily hissed, not quietly enough to hide it from Leeteuk though, she turned to wash her three friends with a chilling stare, but it couldn’t penetrate their broad grins, “You’ll make me sound like a weirdo!”
“But you are one!” Brianna whispered back, but loud enough so that Leeteuk could still hear, both Charlotte and Lizzie nodded vigorously.
“She absolutely loves you!” Charlotte called over to him.
“Shut up!” Emily hissed again, the three girls decided they may as well continue, from an inner cruelty everyone has to socially torture their friends a little.
“Yeah, Super Junior this, Super Junior that.” Lizzie told him, his smile broadened – he was amused by this petty squabble.
“Okay, okay, we should stop now before she starts to go pink.” Brianna acknowledged, but it was too late, Emily had gone a gentle shade of pink; she immediately covered half her face with her long dark haired fringe.
"I think it's time for a nice drink and a sit down" announced Leeteuk to save Emily from further embarrassment. The 5 teens waved at their parents through the gap between the desks. It would be a month until they saw each other again.
The teens accompanied by Leeteuk waited for what seemed an eternity on the uncomfortable plastic seats for their flight to be called. The sisters were still in shock and hardly able to speak for the duration of the waiting time. The other 3 endlessly chatted to each other nervously about their guide, whom they were slowly trusting, and what would happen on the trip. Leeteuk was content watching the teens and tried to make polite conversation with out much luck.
Finally their flight was called and they hurried onto the plane to see that the plane was set in rows of threes. They were directed to their seats; Brianna, Charlotte and Lizzie allowed the sisters to sit either side of the Super Junior leader and sat in front, after all it was them that were the SuJu fans. Alissa and Emily had returned to their senses and began chatting friendly to the K-POP star about how they admire Super Junior, about him, about themselves and about the haunted house.
“So, will any other Super Junior members be there?” Alissa asked eagerly.
“No.” Leeteuk said simply, looking at the back of Lizzie’s seat, making eye-contact with no-one. Disappointed Emily and Alissa continued with queries about the trip and the other members of Super Junior.
Eventually they all began to feel drowsy and their heads lolled about on their shoulders, occasionally jerking back their heads as they realized they were drifting off. They all fell into a deep sleep; Charlotte’s head rested on the closed plane window, Lizzie’s head on her shoulder, and Brianna’s head rested on the top of Lizzie’s arm. Behind them Leeteuk sat half asleep, watching anime on the mini TV in the back of the chair, Emily’s unknowing head resting on his left shoulder and Alissa’s head occupied his other shoulder. All six travelers were fast asleep 5 hours into the 11 and a half hour flight.
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