Parker's POV

We board and find our seats in the middle of the plane. There are three seats per row, which means Val and I will have to sit next to someone else. That's always awkward. I hope I don't have to sit next to them, but at the same time I don't want to have to force Val to.

"Parker!" Val screams, snapping me out of my thoughts,"Jeez. I've been calling your name forever. Can I have the window seat?" she asks sweetly.

As much as I don't want to sit next to a stranger, I don't want her to sit next to a stranger more.

"Sure. Just go sit down I'll put our stuff up top," I say while nudging her in. She gives a smile that makes it all worth it. 

I sit in my middle seat and watch all the other passengers walking by our seats and decide whether I'd be fine with them sitting down there or not.

That guy looks like he'd fall asleep and lean his head on my shoulder (which I'd much rather prefer from Val). That woman looks like she'd complain at anything I do (it's probably the Karen haircut). Wait! That's another teenage guy. Please sit down. Please sit down.

I watch as he stops beside us and looks at the empty seat and then the aisle number. Then he takes a quick glance at Val and his eyes widen slightly. 

"Is this your seat?" I ask, feeling bad for the people waiting behind while he stares at my Val.

"I thought it was but turns out my seat's in the next row. Unlucky me," he says while winking at Val. I roll my eyes so hard they almost roll out of my head.

"Whatever," I hear Val mumble. Is she disgusted at him flirting at her or disappointed he's not sitting down here? I really hope it's the first one.

"Hey there! Is this 26A?" a girl screams. Her lipstick coated lips are stretched into a huge smile and her blue eyes sting into mine. She's wearing an open shoulder crop top and very short short-shorts. 

"Look at the top," I answer kind of rudely. I'm still a little cranky from the other guy. 

She flips her dirty blonde hair over her shoulder and flutters her eyelashes,"This would be it then." She grabs her carry-on and lugs it to the top, then plops down in the seat next to me,"This is gonna be a long ride, so I guess I should get comfortable and introduce myself. I'm Crystal," she says while holding out her hand for me to shake.

I grab her clammy hand for a brief moment and cringe at the feeling. 

"I'm Parker and this is Val," I say while motioning towards Val, who gives her fakest smile. Looks like we're on the same page about this girl.

"Please tell me you two are not together," she says while eyeing Val and laughing slightly.

"We're not," I say with disappointment,"but why do you think that?"

"You're way out of her league. Like way out of it. If you two were together, I'd say you could do much," she bats her eyelashes and leans in,"much better."

I look over at Val who looks like she's about to cry. I'm definitely gonna crush her for doing that to Val.

"If you're referring to yourself, I'd say you can't get much worse than that," I say bluntly.

She gasps and clutches her chest,"So you're really saying you'd prefer her over me? How?"

"Well for one, Val is much smarter than you. I like intelligence in girls," I suddenly blush realizing what I just said. I turn and see Val's blushing, too, but probably from the embarrassment of being complimented.

"You don't even know me. I might even be smarter than you," she pokes me in the chest.

"Thank you for making my second point. I don't know you. At all. And this is actually kind of a creepy conversation to be having with a stranger."

"Well you know my name. And we could always get to know each other. Just give me a night."

"No," Val answers from behind me, slightly surprising me. She's been quiet this whole time. 

"Excuse me? Who are you to dictate his decisions for him?" Crystal asks.

"His best friend and his partner. If you think you can break up team Pal anytime soon, you truly are as stupid as you look. Besides, you won't even see him again after this flight," the best friend part kind of makes me sad, but everything else was amazing. Go Val!

"And nobody spends a night with Parker but me," Val adds on. Kind of awkward out of context but it was really cute to see her jealous. But not like jealous jealous, just friendship jealous.

"Ugh whatever," Crystal says with a defeated voice. We got her. 

For the rest of the flight, Crystal goes to sleep and Val and I plan our itinerary for the biodome. There's gonna be so much to do. I'm so excited. 

Lots of hours later, the plane's about to land. I hear quiet wheezing coming from Val's side and I realize she's having a panic attack. She never mentioned she was afraid of plane landings.

"Val? Val it's gonna be alright," I throw myself to her and hug her tight. She seems to settle down a little in my arms, and that seems to calm me down. 

"Are you ok?" I ask. She nods.

I hear wheezing from behind me and take a glance. I see Crystal wheezing much more exaggeratedly. I roll my eyes and focus back on the more important matter.

"Comfort me, Parker. I'm more afraid than her, I assure you," she gasps in between breaths. 

"Nah," I answer. 

She immediately stops wheezing and looks annoyed. Did she really just fake a panic attack so I would comfort her instead of Val? 

The plane soon lands with no worry from Val thanks to me. We grab our carry-ons and head out to the baggage claim. After grabbing our bags we head towards where the Research Center said to meet. 

There we see a bunch of different signs for different places and age groups. We head to "11-15 year olds from America" and take a seat down at a table.

For the first time in hours I am truly unbothered by the presence of Crystal next to me. But that moment only lasts for a second because she comes and sits down beside me.

"Are you stalking Parker now? You know only people that are a part of this research program can sit here,"Val says.

"I know. But maybe you're just a bit too stupid to realize that I am also a part of the research program," she says with a smirk. Val's and my eyes bug out of our heads.

Suddenly that other boy that was gonna sit in our row but found the wrong seat plops down in the other empty chair at our table. You've got to be kidding me.

"And meet my partner, Drake," Crystal says. 

Drake smirks, Val looks annoyed, and all I can do is glare.