Rollan pushed open the doors to the building.

Immediately, cream-colored light filled the sidewalk, illuminating their path as if it were day. Once Raisha's eyes adjusted to the light, she nearly gasped in amazement when she saw what was inside. Everything in sight was either a shade of peachy cream, dark gold, or black, and it gave the room a nice feeling. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling, swaying slightly and moving the shadows of the room, shifting the yellow light's reach. Smoothly polished sheets of black marble decorated the tops of the counters, outlining the hotel check-in. Small tables were dotted along the open main room, and two pairs of seemingly identical staircases bridged up from behind either side of the desk, giving the room a feeling of order that Raisha liked. Everything seems to have a place here - from the small scented candles placed on the tables to the large potted ferns placed at intervals on the smooth floor.

Everyone was silent in amazement as Shadow walked up to the check-in, where a lady in a white and gold suit outlined with black stood, hands folded over the desk and lips circled into a content smile. Her brown hair was pulled back into a tight bun, and her brown eyes were trained on Shadow as she asked in a polite tone, "Good Evening, and welcome to the Park Wallace Hotel. How May I help you?" (Wallace is one of Conor's older brothers, this hotel is based off one that is actually in New York, called the Park Hyatt Hotel.

As Shadow began to work out the details with the hotel attendant, small conversations began to bubble amongst the group, each as excited as the next.

"What do you think our hotel room will look like?" Tasha asked Dawson excitedly, her blue eyes wide and excited.

"Out hotel room?" Kalani asked suspiciously, leaning over to add in. "Like you guys are going to be sharing one?"

Despite the fact that the couple had been dating for some time now, Raisha could help but find humor the fact that they both blushed as the comment, seeming at a loss for words.

"Actually," Shadow commented from the desk, turning around while the hotel attendant was typing something on the computer. "You are sharing a room. Same with you, Dorlani." Shadow added, with emphasis on the last word. Kalani let out a muffled scream of frustration.

"Here you go," The desk attendant said suddenly, and Shadow turned back to her. "Here's the room card, and the key to the combination doors."

"The combination doors?" Raisha murmured quietly, confused. Beside her, Abeke shrugged.

"Floor 27, The Entry Room is Room 38." Raisha flashed another confused look at Abeke, who shrugged once again.

"Thank you!" Shadow said cheerfully, walking away from the desk. 

"Please enjoy your stay!" The attendant called after them as they all began ascending the stairs.

"This is certainly going to be fun!" Meilin chimed from ahead, and Rollan nodded.

Raisha looked around as they climbed the stairs, which were covered in dark carpeting. Small lamps were dotted along the side of the path, shining golden light on the stairway. Shiny silver railings helped keep people from falling, and Raisha ran her hand along them as she walked.

After a few minutes of climbing, some exhausted groans from Rollan (who really wasn't helping), and some nervous squeals from Tasha, they finally arrived at the sign along the wall that said floor 27.

"Finally!" Rollan groaned, collapsing onto the carpet the moment he saw the sign, the overdramatized actions making Meilin to roll her eyes. 

"Okay, she said room 38 was the entry point," Shadow mused, and Worthy waved his hand, motioning from them to follow as Shadow took off, counting the room numbers. They walked along the hallways for about a minute or so, yellow lamps giving off the same bright glow as the ones in the hallway.

"38!" Shadow shouted suddenly, stopping. Worthy crashed into her, and Meilin and Rollan behind her, the four toppling over. "Ow!" Shadow cried, getting up and rubbing her head. "Nevermind that. We're here!"

"Oh, I'm so excited!" Whispered Tasha, bouncing on her toes. Dawson seemed to share her excitement, because he was grinning broadly too.

"This better have been worth the climb," Rollan grumbled, rolling his eyes, and Meilin gave him a sharp jab to the stomach. 

"This is going to be fun," Xanthe commented, and Takoda nodded.

"Won't this be great?" Katalin asked Shane and Song, the latter who was bouncing off the walls (literally) and the former who seemed rather stoic about the whole thing, though he managed to spare a small smile.

"I'm so nervous!" Conor chimed to Abeke, both seemingly anxious. "But I'm so excited!"

"Me too!" Abeke responded, smiling widely.

"I wonder how this'll turn out," Jolt wondered aloud, and Raisha felt her heart spike, for what reasons she didn't know.

"I bet you, know matter what, this is going to be worth it," She said back to him, and he turned to her, surprised that she had spoke to him.

"Yeah, it will, won't it?" He said vaguely, smiling at her. 

Then a beeping noise came from the door, and Shadoe stepped back with the card in hand. A button near the door flashed green, and Worthy moved his hand over and carefully pulled the handle down, pushing it open.

Everyone gasped.

Song decided to run around the room before anyone could stop her. "This is so cool! And there's so many windows I can break!" The statement was true. What seemed like miles of glass panels stretched from one side of the far wall to the other, reaching up to the high ceiling with the dark sky visible through. The night was placed through, in comparison to breathtaking view that lay before them. 

The sky was illuminated by the bright lights of New York City, the buildings creating one massive glow. The sounds of the city floated up to them, riding the current of the wind and bringing the sounds of cars and buses and people talking and walking and driving and everything else. The smells of fresh air and sweet smelling plants filled the room, and Raisha breathed it in, content. The sky was still a shining beacon, filling the dark room with light.

And then Worthy turned the light on.

"Hey!" Meilin cried, turning towards him. "I don't know about you, but I was looking at that!"

"For like, five whole minutes," Worthy said sarcastically. "Besides, look what I saw, because I can see in the dark!" Everyone turned to the rest of the room.

Just as Worthy had said, the room had more to it than just a view. A massive pool took up the most of the main space to the left of the room, which Song immediately saw and jumped into, shouting wildly. Several expensive looking leather couches were seated on the right, forming three sides of a square with an huge flatscreen television taking up the forth corner, hanging on the wall. Three end tables made up the corners, and a large glass table was placed in the middle, with a remote and some magazines placed on top.

In the center of the room, standing out like an island, stood a smooth wood kitchen area, compete with a fancy-looking stove, with an oven, an microwave, and what looked like an minibar. What looked like a fridge was built into one side of the island, the entire counter going no taller than Raisha's stomach. Several stools were place around the edges, looking as if enough to seat all of them.

At the far left of the room were several doors, along with a pair of elegantly modern looking stairs a metallic silver, leading up to another floor. Multiple doors were visible, each having a label like the ones Raisha was already reading, which were, "38-A, 38-B, 38-C," and so on, which Raisha assumed were their specific rooms. Over near the far right of the room was an open room  that still appeared to have a door, and when Raisha tried to look closer, she saw it was a lavish and humongous room, having several white engraved pillars holding up a large bath, and several other expensive furnishings.

"THIS IS FANTASTIC!" Song shouted from the pool, warm airport clothes already soaked and her hair soggy. 

"For the love of Mulop!" Meilin exclaimed, using a popular New York phrase. "Shadow, you went all-out!" 

"Oh, it was nothing," Shadow denied modestly, giving a knowing smile. "It's only a get together with friends." 

"Nothing?" Rollan said, gesturing to the room as Katalin and King moved to join Song in pool. "You call this nothing?"

"She's just being modest," Worthy defended, walking over and putting a hand lovingly on her shoulder. "She's too amazing sometimes."

"It is a bit much," Xanthe commented serenely, gesturing to the room again.

"This does look expensive," Takoda agreed.

"I'm not complaining!" Katalin shouted from the pool, and Raisha could hear cheers of agreement from King and Song.

"Are you guys really swimming at ten at night?" Jolt asked the three, leaning towards them inconcern. 

"Heck yeah!" Song called, pumping a fist in the air and diving back underneath the water again.

"They're insane," Rollan muttered to himself, turning away from the swimming youths.

"Well, it is kind of late," Meilin said suddenly, gesturing to the night sky and to their bags. "We should go to sleep and unpack in the morning. It's the best thing to do."

"You hear that?" Takoda called to them, leaning slightly. "We're going to go to sleep now!"

"Awwww," Was the disappointed response from the pool, and Raisha could hear the sounds of the three making their way out of the pool.

"You guys can go swimming tomorrow," Conor offered as consolation, but it did little.

"You got any towels?" King called. 

"I'll go get some for you!" Worthy called back, and he ran off in the direction of the bathroom.

"Anyway, we should change and go to sleep. Get some food and start unpacking out stuff for the rest of the trip." Meilin continued.

"Sounds alright to me." Xanthe agreed.

"I am really tired," Tasha added with a yawn, leaning on Dawson for support. (I actaully yawned while writing that, :0 . Yawns really are contagious.)

"We should probably get some rest." Dawson agreed. "This has been an long day."

"I should show all of you which rooms are yours," Shadow said, furrowing her brow. "Okay, we had it all planned out, but if you guys want to change something, go ahead."

"Wait!" Abeke said, raising her hand like she was in school. "Are we going to be sharing rooms?" 

"Yeah, there's only eight rooms, so we put all of you guys in para!" Shadow said excitedly, her happiness taking over. "Each room has a small bathroom and two beds, except for King's room because it's smaller, sorry King."

"It's fine," King amended.

"King is the only one sleeping by himself, and everyone else has a roommate and a room, so this will work out." Shadow said, starting to count things off on her fingers. "Worthy and I are in room  38-C, which on in the first floor of rooms, Katalin and Song are in room 38-G, which is on the second floor of rooms, Xanthe and Takoda are in room 38-D, which is on the first floor of rooms, and Tasha and Dawson are in room 38-B, which is on the first floor of rooms. Kalani and Dorian are in room 38-E, which is on the second floor of rooms, Rollan and Meilin in room 38-F, which is on the second floor of rooms, Conor and Abeke are in room 38-H, which is on the second floor of rooms, Shane is by himself in room 38-I which is on the second floor of rooms, and.. ummm..." Shadow trailed off at the last bit, seeming to grow more nervous with the second.

What is it? Raisha wondered. Everyone has a room except me and Jolt- Oh no no no no no no...

"Ugh! This was terrible planning," Shadow groaned, covering her face with her hands. "I feel like a terrible friend."

"It's fine," Raisha chimed without thinking, some unknown part of her mind taking over and answering for her, though the rest of her didn't mind. "We can share the same room. I don't want to mess up the trip, after all."

"Okay then, if you're okay with it," Shadow agreed, giving Raisha an confused stare, but quickly shaking it off. "Grab your bags, change, and then we go to sleep." There we're murmurs of agreement amongst the group, and everyone started off towards their respective rooms. 

"What room are we in?" Raisha asked Shadow as the girl headed off towards 38-C.

"38-A," Shadow responded, before seeming to remembee something. "Hey everyone!" She called, turning to the tired traveled heading towards their beds. "I need to unlock your rooms with the room keys!" A roomwide sigh echoed throughout the group.

After a few minutes of unlocking each door from top to bottom, they were finally granted access to their rooms.

The room Raisha was sharing with Jolt was more spacious than she had imagined. Two beds stood a few feet part from each other, each nicely made with white bedsheets and gold-outlined pillows. Two large potted ferns sat on opposing sides of the two nightstands, which each held lamps and an clock telling the time on them, the clock reading 10:27. In between the two beds was another nightstand, this time bearing a lamp and the restore to the television placed on the opposite wall. On the wall the far end from the door, curtains were drawn up against large paneled window, with what looked like a balcony, though Raisha doubted she'd be going on that anytime soon. Next to the TV but close to where Raisha was standing in the doorway, was an opening with a door already swung halfway open, which Raisha assumed was to the bathroom Shadow had explained about. On the other side of the TV were two cabinets on opposing walls, which Raisha assumed was were they were supposed to store their things.

"Which bed do you want?" Jolt asked, pointing towards them.

"I'll take the one next to the door," She said, smiling and heading for the bathroom. "I'm going to go change into my pajamas, be out in a minute!" After deciding to wear a simple snake pajama shirt and jade green pajama pants, she emerged to find the curtains drawn back and the sliding glass door open, with no Jolt in sight. 

"Jolt?" She called, and when there was no answer, she immediately began to panic. She ran outside onto the balcony, her fears seemingly insignificant now, only to find the boy staring out over the side, watching the city quietly.

"Jolt?" She said again quietly, and he turned to her, as if just noticing she was here. 

"Oh, sorry," He said, giving her an apologetic smile as he stared out of the side of the railing. "I was just distracted."

"You don't mind the height?" Raisha asked semi-nervously, moving over to join him while eying the edge cautiously.

"Not when the sight takes my breath away."

Raisha looked out over the city, watching the light shine and the cars travels and ten pedestrians move even though it was so late. The city never seemed to sleep. "It is beautiful, isn't it?" She said aloud, breathing in the air and savoring the cold air that was only assessable this high up. When Jolt didn't respond, Raisha turned to him, and her face immediately felt like it was on fire when she noticed that he was staring at her, before he quickly turned away, his words echoing in her head. Not when the sight takes my breath away.

"I'm going to go to bed now," Jolt said softly, giving her one last look before hiding inside. Roads stayed out on the balcony just a moment longer, reminiscing in their day. You know, maybe going on this trip with Jolt won't be such a bad decision after all. She thought happily, starting back inside. She walked over to her bed, pulled back the covers and slipped inside. 

"Goodnight Jolt," She said quietly.

"Goodnight Raisha," Was the response.

And Raisha drifted into uneasy sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BONUS BECAUSE I FELT LIKE WRITING TODAY!

"Jolt?" Raisha said softly, calling out to the dark. It was 11:43, or so her clock said, and she had drifted in and out of slumber over and over again, unable to stay asleep. She was freezing despite her blankets, and she couldn't seem to calm down.

"Yes, Raisha?" Came Jolt's voice.

"You're still up too?" She responded, somewhat surprised.

"Yeah. I can't sleep."

"Me neither."

There was silence for a moment.

"Can I lay next to you?" She asked without thinking, and the more by ten words escaped her moon she wished she could pull them out of the air and take them back. But the response surprised her.

"Yeah," He responded, and Raisha felt her heart flutter. She slipped out of bed, walked over past the nightstand (nearly hitting her knee on it), and went under the cover, all tenseness floating away. She put her arms around him, hugging him tight, and fell into a deep, steady sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, while writing the bonus scene, I was kind of  uncomfortable but I really wanted to write it, but because I'm also cupiosexual {as of now) I felt all weird writing this, but not a good weird or a bad weird, kind of a neutral weird.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I will post some more soon!

- Raisha