I burst out of the musty cab and breath in deeply the scents of the City of Lights. Smells like pastries and engine exhaust. There are many shops and apartments lining the streets, and in the distance I can see the Eiffel Tower peeking out from behind some buildings. It's not on right now, but I read that it lights up at night.

"Er, h-how much w... will it cost?" I ask the cabbie nervously in my broken french, trying to figure out how much I need to pay.

"24 euros, plus tip." He answers, holding his hand out for the money.

"Hold on a sec, un momenta." I mentally facepalm. "I mean... uh, give me a minute."

"Damn euros," I curse under my breath, pulling  out the handful of coins in my pocket. Upon counting them, I realize I don't have enough.. I smile politely at the driver and pull out a few bills. "Um, w-would be willing take US currency? I don't think I brought enough euros."

The driver looks slightly annoyed. "Ah, a tourist. Oui, I do take take American currency."

"Thank you so much," I gush, thankful that he knows english. "Er, just another second..." I quickly use convert euros to dollars in my head and hand him the wad of crumpled bills in my hand, "Uh, here's 35 dollars, I'm pretty that's enough plus a 25% tip." He gives a quick nod and hands me my bags.

"Um, thanks again, by-" the taxi is speeding away before I can finish my sentence. I roll my eyes and turn back to the Eiffel Tower. "Alright, so the house I'm staying in is somewhere around here..." I look around at the busy buildings, and one of the first things I notice is pictures of a boy with blond hair and green eyes. There's posters of him plastered all over the place, on buildings, on billboards, in the windows of shops, everywhere. Damn. Who is this guy? I wonder to myself. I quickly shake the thought of him my head and resume my search.

I spot a girl that looks about my age heading in the same direction I am. She has black glasses and thick, shoulder length brown hair with red tips. "Hello." I greet her cautiously. She stops and looks around, but there's no one else here. Finally, she turns and sees me. I give her a little wave. "Um, hi, do you speak english? I need directions"

"Uh, yes, a little." She says with a heavy accent.

"Great! Can you show me where the Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie is?"

The girls brown eyes light up. "Oh, you must be foreign exchange student! I was coming for you! Here, come."

"Oh, yes I am, thank you-" She grabs my hand and drags me along excitedly until we reach the bakery on the corner. "Here is it!" she exclaims proudly. The pretty white bakery is rather narrow, but juts up several stories high. "That's where you stay." she points to the very top floor.

"Ooh, that's cool- Wait, how do you know that?"

"My friend Marinette switch places with you, I ask her if I could welcome the new person." She grins. "By the way, I am Alya."

I hadn't thought of asking anyone to do that... "Nice to meet you, Je m'appelle Cameryn."

That was almost a month ago, back when me and Alya first became friends. Every day, she'd come past my host family's house and we'd walk to school together. Later she told me that the first few days were just by force of habit, as she always used to walk to school with Marinette, but she really did like hanging out with me so she kept coming back.

We taught each other some words in the other's native language, but overall we understand each other well enough so eventually we stopped. Seriously, it's like were telepathic (don't get jelly it's totally your fault we're not telepathic you never concentrate hard enough)

Mr. Dupain and Mrs. Cheng are really nice, and Marinette's room is fantastic, I wish we had one like hers back home. Anyway, that's everything that's happened to me in Paris up until today. I really miss you! See you in a few months, twinsie ;)

P.S. Be really nice to Marinette, I wanna come back here next year so she better like it there >:)

P.P.S I think a new guy's coming to school tomorrow, here's hoping he's hot >.<

To Carrie,

Love, Cameryn

I hit 'send' and shut off my laptop. I dial a number on my phone and listen to the dial tone for a second. There's a 'click' sound and Alya's voice comes through the speaker, sounding slightly different than in person. "Hey girl, what's up?"

"Hey Alya, not much but y'know. So, um, I was thinking of throwing a party or something to cele-"

Alya cuts me off. "I don't care what comes after that, a party's a party, yes!"

I stifle a laugh. "Okay, so think you can help me plan it and stuff? I know neither of us are great at the whole party thing... But maybe together we can throw one that's actually good! So what say you, my good woman?" I say dramatically.

"Girl. YES. Want me to come over now? I mean, you can come over here, but all the artistic-y stuff and all that is there with you."

I chuckle. "Okay, come over now and I'll get everything out."

Hours later, we finally finish planning. "Wow," I stop myself to yawn. "That took way longer than I thought it would."

Alya stands up and stretches. "Yeah, I should get home, it's late. See you tomorrow, girl."

"Bye Alya, see you in class." I wave sleepily as she exits through the trapdoor in the floor. My head flops down onto the desk. I feel a sticky sensation on my cheek and lift my hand to see what it is. "Ew..." my hand comes away covered in glue. I look around the room and remember I still have to clean up the aftermath of our brainstorming session. Construction paper, pens, and random notebooks strewn everywhere, plus glue, and for some reason glitter, stuck all over the desk. "Dammit."

I start cleaning up, then my phone chimes. It's a message from Alya:

HEY CAM I JUST FOUND OUT WHO THE NEW GUY THAT'S COMING TOMORROW IS ASDFGHJKL

(Sounds interesting...)

Me: WELL TELL ME THEEEEEEEN

Alya: IT'S ADRIEN AGRESTEEEEEEEEEE

(Who?)

Me: OH WOW

HOLD ME I'M ABOUT TO FAINT

WAIT WHO'S ADRIEN AGRESTE AGAIN?

Alya: ONLY A SUPERMODEL

HAVEN'T YOU SEEN HIS POSTERS

THE BLONDE DUDE

(Ohhh, that's who that is...)

Me: OH THAT GUY

I CAN'T READ FRENCH

REMEMBER

Alya: OH YEAH

BUT STILLLLLL

WELL I REALLY GOTTA BED NOW CYA

I switch off my phone and flop onto my bed. Something sharp pokes me in the back. "Ow." I pull the pencil out from under me and stare at the ceiling dramatically, thinking equally dramatic thoughts. I haven't even met him yet, but I've seen him everywhere. How weird is it that the guy who's face I've seen on everything is finally going to see my face? What's he going to think? Is he even going to talk to me? Oh god it would be horrible if he's one of those stuck up, snobby celebrities.

He looks nice though. Kind of... *real* nice I guess, not like he's faking it to sell shampoo or clothes. Maybe he's a really good actor, I don't know. But it's nice to think he's genuinely a cool guy. Maybe we could even be friends or something. How cool would that be...

I drift off to sleep thinking of him.