Talon rested her head on the window next to her, earbuds filling her ear with the soft sounds of music. The plane had just taken off, and she was watching the glittering lights of the city. It reminded her of a large, blue canvas with little dots of paint on it. But, in all fairness, it was hard to get art and music out of her head anyways. She was almost always listening to it.

"Tal?" Talon's head shot straight up and out of her daze to meet the face of Karimah Leya, one of her closest friends from school. She took her earbuds out of her ears, the mellow music now changing into something a little more intense.

"Yeah?"

"We've been trying to get your attention for, like five minutes," Sparna chimed in. She sat on the edge across from Nicholas, a boy they hardly knew. He awkwardly smiled a her a little, and she smiled back a little as well, but then Talon changed her focus from him back to Sparna and Karimah Leya.

"Sorry," Talon apologized. "It's just that the lights are so pretty."

"They are aren't they?" Karimah Leya replied, looking out the window. "It's like a thousand fireflies scattered across the sky."

"More than a thousand," Talon said dreamily.

"Anyways," Sparna continued. "I've heard that in right now, in Rome, there's a huge music festival being hosted the same time that we arrive! Tickets are on sale now until today at midnight!"

Talon's eyes lit up. "No way!"

"Yes way!" Karimah Leya said.

Talon's heart skipped a beat, thinking about what she would be able to at the festival, but then it sunk. "But I don't have enough money."

Karimah Leya and Sparna smiled, and Karimah Leya started talking. "Actually..."

"Happy birthday!" Sparna continued.

She gasped. "Seriously?" The other two nodded. But she wasn't sure. "No, I can't let you do this, it's too expensive."

"Talon won't you just accept the gift?" Sparna asked, laughing a little. "Don't worry about the price."

Beaming, Talon nodded. "You guys spoil me. Seriously."

The other two laugh a little. Talon puts her earbuds back into her ears, the sounds of pop music now taking over her hearing, and pressed her face up against the glass. She couldn't wait to see Rome, and the festival and to get away from the small state of North Carolina.

Talon started to close her eyes, falling into her own fantasy.

***

Eira Novak flipped the pages in her book. She loved reading, especially classics. Arabella, or Bella, as she called her, sat right next to her, sitting back and not really doing anything. Eira's eyes went to behind Arabella to a girl with white hair, who was also staring at her. Eira uncomfortably turned back to the window, knowing that the girl was still looking.

She nudged Arabella, making her look right back at her. "What?" She asked. Eira pointed to the girl, and Arabella nodded. "That's Naya Smith. She's a senior. Doesn't like people very much, so don't try to talk to her." Eira didn't understand how somebody couldn't like people, but agreed anyways.

Arabella sighed after their moment of silence, grabbing headphones and her phone from her backpack. She plopped them in her ears, listening to her music on shuffle. Eira knew it wasn't that she didn't want to speak, but it was just that Arabella always listened to music when she was bored, and since Eira didn't talk much she knew she would have to do most of the talking and she just wasn't up for that. Eira opened up her book again, reading paragraph by paragraph very slowly.

She got sucked into the world almost immediately. It was like she could see the characters and their horses, and she was standing right there next to them, instead of just sitting on a plane on the way to Rome.

She had no idea how much more interesting it would be than just a plane ride to Rome. Not yet, at least.

***

Naya Smith crossed her legs, trying to stay out of the conversation between the people sitting close to her. She had
a lot of room, for no one was sitting next to her. She liked being by herself and didn't make an effort to hang out with people most of the time.

But she liked to listen to people, to keep herself entertained.

William and Marisa sat diagonally from her, Dylan in front. Eira and Arabella sat across from her, occasionally looking and whispering at her.

Naya leaned her ear into Dylan and Marisa's conversation, eavesdropping.

Marisa's was the first voice she heard, and it was not a happy one. "So, what you're telling me is that the way you raised the money to go on this trip was to steal it from your parents' life savings?" Dylan nodded proudly. "That's messed up! What did you tell them you did?"

Dylan shrugged like it was no big deal. "Just that I sold lemonade and cookies with Harry." Harry was Dylan's best friend, and he wanted to come but his parents wouldn't let him. Dylan didn't really mind, and was excited to rub it in his face once he got back.

"And they believed you?" Dylan nodded. Marisa's anger boiled. "I swear once we get off this plane I am going to strangle you!"

"Woah, woah, woah, calm down Marisa," William said, trying to ease down her aggression. She took a deep breath, but when she let it out she was still fiery with anger.

"You think that it's right to steal from the people that gave birth to you?"

"Actually, I'm adopted. They don't care what I do."

"You suck, Dylan," Naya said out of nowhere. The others stared at her for a second, not expecting her to speak, and when she looked back, confused, they turned their heads away. Naya slumped awkwardly, but went back to listening.

"Dylan Hubbard, you are a spoiled ba-"

"Okay, okay," William interrupted her, putting her fist down from her side before she could do anything else. "How about you go get something to eat from the back of the plane? Like a bag of pretzels?"

Marisa took a deep breath, and then nodded. "Okay. Want anything?"

"Um," William started. He hoped she would say that. "just some peanuts, please."

Marisa nodded and stood up starting to go down the aisle. She avoided Dylan's foot that was positioned for her to trip over, stepping over it instead. She ignored the few staring eyes, focusing on getting to her destination instead.

Once she reached the back, she grabbed some pretzels and peanuts for William, along with some water for herself. She stuffed the snacks in her pocket of her jeans to make sure that she didn't spill the water.

Marisa started walking back, water and pretzels in her hand. Again, she tried to avoid the staring eyes but she couldn't help it. Getting distracted, she turned to her right, not noticing the boy behind her until he bumped into her, making her spill water on herself.

She turned around angrily to meet the face of a tall boy with black-ish brown hair and an apologetic look on his face.

"Oh my god I am so sorry," He apologized. He turned around and grabbed a napkin from another boy's table and gave it to her. But she wasn't really angry anymore.

Because he was really cute.

"Uh, it's fine," She said, blushing a little as she wiped off her clothes with the napkin. She looked behind the boy to see two other boys, one with ginger hair and one with light brown. The boy with ginger hair was slumping down in his seat, seemingly a little upset, but the other boy was smirking at het, noticing her red cheeks. She looked away, and started to walk back to her seat without looking back at the grinning boy.

"Did you get the peanuts?" William asked when she got back. She showed them to him and he smiled. "Thanks."

"Anytime," She said. She sat back down on the aisle seat, trying to ignore Dylan, who kept attempting to annoy her. She was tempted to talk back to him but decided against it, knowing it wasn't very smart. Even if she didn't say anything, she was furious inside.

"Attention, students," A loud speaker announced. Everybody went quiet. "we are having a bit of a rough journey, so we ask that you please do not take off your seatbelts. Thank you for your cooperation." And it turned off.

Marisa looked out of her window, noticing the wings wobbling and close to breaking, making the whole plane shake like an earthquake. Everybody was scared, holding onto each other for support. Dylan wasn't worried, though, his seatbelt not even fastened. Eira grabbed hold of Arabella, comforting each other, Arabella whispering prayers. Quinn put his journal away, holding onto the armrests to make sure he didn't fly anywhere, while Jayed bundled up as tight as he could.

Gas masks fell down, and everybody hurried to put them on without question. Sparna looked around for Nico, her younger brother, hoping he was okay and that he got his mask on, but she didn't see anything. She started to stand up, but a concerned Karmiah Leya pulled her back down.

"I have to make sure Nico is okay!" She cried, but Karmiah Leya couldn't understand her with her mask on, and kept her down. Sparna kept trying to look around, not seeing anything.

Then the plane started to fall, taking everyone down with it.