French Touch v2.0 - Prologue. Prologue

I wasn't off the plane yet, and already I could tell this had been a bad idea, really bad, horrible even...

As I opened the over-head compartment my bag fell. Between the very short two hours of sleep I had managed to get on this blasted plane, and my gut-wrenching fear of what waited for me outside, I was not able to react the way I usually did.

SPLAT went my bag as it came into collision with the idiot underneath (did I mention I was the idiot?). I lost my balance and very un-gracefully fell on my ass. My arms, in a failed attempt to defend me, hugged my bad tightly.

"Not 5 minutes on French ground and I already made a fool of myself..." I muttered under my breath.

"James, honey are you okay?" my mom asked me from above.

"Fine, just fine," I answered.

Of course things are not JUST FINE...

I was on the floor of the airplane, a bag on top of me, and did I mention I was in across-the-ocean-from-the-USA-France? I think I did, but let me do it again. I was in FRANCE, what the hell was I doing in France?? The country of beret-wearing, bread-eating people... God why did my Dad have to get a job across the ocean?! Why not across the state like my best-friend Jason. Nooooo, he had to get a job in EUROPE, and even then he couldn't have gotten it in England, where they actually speak the same language as me (or so I'm told). Of all the possible countries we could have gone, we had to go to France.

ARGH!! Why me??

Now here we were, the end of summer, in a blasted plane in blasted France. Oh this summer was going to be fantastic! Absolutely fantastic!!

NOT

I finally decided to get up, setting down my bad on my seat in the process. I glared at my mother who was obviously trying not to laugh.

"What?" I asked her.

"Nothing," she replied in a very sweet tone.

I glared at her again for good measure.

"Your father should be waiting for us after we get our luggage back," she added.

I didn't answer and instead chose to stuff my iPhone and the books I had kept with me during the flight in my bag.

After a few minutes of standing there, the line started moving. People were finally getting out, took them long enough.

"Well as they say here: Allons-y!" my mom gushed happily.

Yeah, yeah. Allons-y as they say...