Chapter
Forty-eight
Another
country
When
Paige arrived in London it was like another world. It was another world. The
sky at Heathrow airport was overcast and crowded and the air from the minute
she stepped outside with her group from customs, was cold. There were no open
freeways in the main part of the city or the West End as it was known, where
Paige and the rest of the debate team were to spend the night. The town seemed
so ancient, it was ancient, a mix of very old (and some new) architecture. Coco
came to the airport to surprise Paige.
“Whoah, it’s so great to see you after the
long trip.”
“I’ve missed my friend so much,” the girls
hugged and Coco had arranged to join in with the sightseeing. After taking
their luggage to a small hotel, the group hopped on a bus, then did lots of
walking around the West End.
There was cobbled stone lane ways that went
from one street to the next like a maze. There was also a pub on every corner
and now that the girls were all eighteen (the legal drinking age in England)
they could hang out at bars, even the hotel bar if they wanted to. But drinking
was the last thing on Paige’s mind. Paige chose to go over her final debate
topics the night before they reached Oxford, but when that was done all the
girls got dressed and went to a little French restaurant in Covent Garden
before going to see Once on the West
End. It was such a beautiful musical all about an Irish musician and a girl he
meets busking on the street. Coco and Paige were talking about how much fun
they were having as they walked out into the night air afterwards.
“London grows on you,” Coco announced.
“I love it here,” Paige added, “it’s the
exact opposite of Los Angeles but they still speak English.”
“Barely,” Coco joked. .
At the hotel, in Covent Garden, the girls
were treated to room service for breakfast with the rest of the group.
Then, the bus that would take them to Oxford
arrived.
