Lia woke up extra early. She felt giddy. It was Monday, the day she flies to Korea. She could hardly wait!

She rolled over and saw that it was five-thirty. She didn’t have to be in school until eight. There was still plenty of time to continue sleeping. But instead, she got up and got dressed in her baggy shirt and jeans. Quietly, she tiptoed out of the back door and to the stables. She smiled, smelling the familiar scent of fresh hay and horse manure. Some people got grossed out by the smell, but she was used to it by now.

The stable hand, Trevor, poked his head out from his horse’s stall. “You’re up early.”

“I wanted a ride before I leave.”

“Are you sure? Or is that just an excuse to avoid admitting that you came here to muck the stalls? I know how much you love it.”

She rolled as she went to the shed to grab her horse’s bridle. “Sorry, Trevor, but you’re on your own today.”

He shrugged good-naturedly. “Guess I shouldn’t feel offended that you would rather spend time with Blackie than with me.”

“Her name is Midnight.” Lia slid the bridle on the mare and led her out of the stall. “And behave yourself or else I’ll tell Mom you’ve been slacking in your work by doing a little pleasure riding with Killjoy over there.”

“Jump for Joy!” Trevor shouted.

“Midnight’s Dream still sounds better.”

“Want a leg up?” he offered.

“Sure.” Lia got boosted by Trevor and jumped on her horse. She rode off.

Trevor didn’t bother asking if she needed him to help open the gate. He knew she would jump over and sure enough, she did.

Lia loved the feeling of the morning breeze against her face. She made the mare canter around the big field, giving her some exercise. But soon enough, Midnight wanted to graze on the grass. She sighed happily.

After an hour or so, when the sun was rising into a faint yellow in the sky, she headed back to the stables. She put Midnight back in her stall, grooming her and giving her fresh water and hay to munch on. She hugged her horse. “I’ll see you in a week, my sweets,” she whispered. Then she ran back to the house to get ready.

“Had a nice ride?” her eldest brother Sam asked her, looking up from the book he was reading as she passed by the living room to the stairs.

“It was refreshing,” she replied, smiling brightly and she ran up the stairs to her room, closing the door behind her.

She went over to the drawer of her dressing table and took out a small, brown box that was kept deep inside on the left corner. She opened the box and took out the necklace that was inside.

The chain was made out of vines and the pendant, a circle with a heart carved in the middle, was made out of wood, wrapped carefully with plastic so it wouldn’t go moldy. It was carved by someone who was very dear to her. She put the necklace on and looked at her reflection in the mirror, admiring it. It has been long since she last wore it. She placed it back into the box and put the box into her backpack.

She went to bathe. When she came out, she got dressed in a yellow tank top and blue denim jeans. She sat in front of her dressing table and decided to keep her hair down. She then added a few accessories: a single green bangle on her left hand and small beaded earrings. She then took her cross necklace and clasped the chain around her neck. Grabbing her sunnies, hand phone and her white, printed hoodie-jacket, she grabbed her duffle bag and headed out of the door and down to the living room. By then, everyone was awake.

Sam looked up and wolf-whistled when he saw her. He grinned. “Planning to woo someone while you’re there?” he said.

Jeff smirked. “Yeah, G-Dragon.”

Lia blushed a deep shade of red at the mention of her ultimate bias. “Shut up! Besides, I doubt I’ll even meet him,” she added, a little wistfully.

Their dad, Samuel, came into the kitchen. “We’re leaving in ten minutes,” he said. “You kids taken breakfast yet?”

“Eating it,” Michael, the baby of the family, said through a mouthful of Roller Coaster rings. He loves junk food.

Jeff snickered as he grabbed a banana from the fruit basket. “I’m sure Dad was talking about a healthy snack,” he sneered, peeling the skin off.

“You’re allergic to bananas,” Sam said as he took a huge bite.

In horror, Jeff made a beeline for the toilet, covering his mouth and Lia and Sam slapped high fives. Their father, Samuel, just shook his head as he went back upstairs. Sam turned Lia, who was checking her bag to make sure she got everything she needed. “You set for the plane flight? It’s about ten hours. It’ll be tiring.”

She nodded, patting her jeans pocket. “I’ve got my phone fully charged,” she replied, nodding. “And my iPod is somewhere in my backpack.”

“Earphones, charger, notebook, story book, pen?” he said, making a little list, ticking each one off his fingers.

“Check, check, check, check, check and check,” Lia replied, feeling around her bag for all those things.

“You sure come in organized,” Sam said in awe. “That seems to be the only time, though. Oh well. You’ve eaten anything yet, then?”

She nodded but her stomach grumbled. “Yeah, already,” she lied. She was too giddy, too nervous to eat.

He studied her carefully. “Okay.” He felt around his bag. “Oh, darn. I forgot my science text book.” He went back upstairs.

“Okay, guys!” Samuel spoke up from the hallway. “It’s time to go! Make sure you didn’t leave anything behind because we are not turning back. Also, Lia, I hope you have been practicing hard on your Korean because you are going to be needing it.”

“Have been since I was a kid, dad. You and mom always made sure I learnt my language,” Lia said with a soft smile.

They got into the car and drove to school. Once they reached there, Jessica, their mother, kissed Lia on the forehead and said, “Have a safe flight, sweetie. Love you and take care.”

“Love you too, Mom,” she replied.

Samuel hugged her and said the same thing. Her brothers, too, hugged her and then they left to get to class, since they had no field trip. Lia went to her friends after bidding farewell, lugging her bag behind her.

“Hey!” Shervonne called out to her. “You’re looking hot!”

Lia laughed as she slung her back over her shoulders, eyeing Shervonne’s white halter-neck top and black jeans, along with huge black sunnies. “You, too. Nice sunnies. But we’re going to be in the plane today.”

“I didn’t want to stuff it inside my bag in case it breaks,” she explained.

“Hi, Lia,” Paige smiled in her pretty white skirt and cream-colored shirt. Her hair was braided into two pigtails.

“As usual, you look cute,” she replied. Lia looked up and blinked. “Someone call the fashion police, quick!”

“Haha,” the figure in a sweat shirt and three-quarter faded jeans said dryly. “Funny.”

“Ohmaigosh. No way, Rylee, what are you wearing?” Shervonne asked.

Rylee shrugged. “Hey, no judging here. You guys feel comfortable in your clothes and I’ll feel comfortable in mine. You got that, punks?” she scowled defensively.

“Ever the lovable tomboy you are, Rye,” Paige said, grinning. “Cool your jets.”

Soon they boarded on the bus that would take them to the airport. Once they checked in, that was when everybody began to feel giddier, becoming chattier than usual. It was worse when they actually boarded the plane.

The Four Seasons sat together in the middle seats. They couldn’t sleep. So they ended up talking about what they were going to do and exchanged fantasies of what would happen if they meet famous people there. They laughed at idiotic jokes they heard from their dads. They took out their cameras and snapped pictures of each other, laughing and causing so much noise. Ms. Payton had to ask them to quiet down at least three times.

Eventually they grew tired and went to sleep, much to everybody’s delight. They didn’t bother to wake up to watch the plane movie. They wanted to sleep so that they would feel less jetlagged when they land.

Shervonne woke up from sleep and saw Lia wide awake, listening to probably Simple Plan music on her phone while scribbling something in her purple notepad. She studied her for awhile.

She did not want to point out, but she had noticed that Lia have been becoming distant with the rest of the Four Seasons ever since they found out they were going to Korea. She was not one to talk about her personal problems, so Shervonne has no idea why. And somehow she never thought it was advisable to push it because Lia could get really defensive about things she doesn’t want to talk about. However, she figured Lia must be feeling nervous about returning to her country.

Lia looked up and noticed that Shervonne was awake. She smiled, taking her earphones off. “What’s up?” she asked.

Shervonne shook her head, smiling back. “How long have you been up?”

Lia shrugged. “About an hour, I guess? I lost track of time.”

Shervonne was about to open when a particular sound interrupted her. She and Lia exchanged glances and realized it was coming from behind them. They peeped up and had to cover their face with pillows to stop from bursting out with laughter.

“Get your camera,” Lia said to Shervonne who quickly whipped her camera off. They turned back and Shervonne snapped a picture of boys from their class, Toby McGuire, Mark Wedloe, Ned Blankenship and Dylan Chiu snoring. She snapped a couple more pictures.

“Perfect blackmail material,” Lia whispered and they giggled, sitting back.

Paige and Rylee woke up from their slumber, to their giggles. “What’s going on?” Paige asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes.

Rylee just yawned.

“Look what we got, you guys,” Shervonne said, shoving the camera in their faces.

Once their eyes were focused and they saw why Shervonne and Lia were giggling, they, too, got the giggles and soon the four of them had to stuff their face with pillows to smother their laughter.

“What time is it?” Rylee asked after they’d calmed down. “Or rather . . . how long have we been in the plane for? I’m getting restless.”

Paige checked her watch. “It’s been . . . nine hours, almost ten, which means —”

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking,” a voice came through from the intercom, “we will be landing in Seoul, South Korea, in half an hour.”

“Wahoo!” Rylee exclaimed. “We’re finally here!”

“I’m going back to sleep,” Lia declared, snuggling back comfortably in her seat. “I seriously don’t want to be jetlag.”

“We’ve been sleeping for eight hours!” Shervonne protested.

She poked her tongue out. Then she covered her head with the blanket, knowing full well her friends would try to sabotage her by taking an embarrassing picture of her. They did, but it wasn’t as embarrassing so they deleted it. In the end, they agreed to go back to sleep.

Half an hour later, the plane touched the ground and the Four Seasons squealed in delight.

“Girls,” Ms. Payton said warningly.

They didn’t care, they were too excited. They were finally in Korea!