“Five minutes, Lily.” my mother calls. 

Okay, okay, I just have to pack my headphones and then I'm done, I think to myself. I take them off my bedside table and put them in my pocket. I quickly grab the big blue bag from my bed and run downstairs. 

“Have you got everything?” my mother asks. She's already standing there with the car keys in her hand. 

“Yes, everything's packed” I say and quickly run into the bathroom and grab my contact lenses. 

“We can go,” I say to her and head out the door. 

It's raining cats and dogs outside and my sneakers get wet straight away. 

“Get under here” says my mother as she walks past and opens the yellow umbrella. I sneak under it and we quickly walk to the car and get in. I quickly turn on the heating and try to dry as much of my wet clothes and hair as possible. 

“Hopefully you'll have better weather in Italy. Are you looking forward to the school trip?” she asks me when we were driving out of the driveway. 

Am I looking forward to this trip? I'm not quite sure. The room allocation went haywire and I'm now sharing my room with three other girls, two of whom I've only ever seen in the corridor at school. My three best friends Celine, Sophie and Nick are unfortunately not there because they have chosen a different focus at school. Celine and Sophie are sports freaks and are on their way to a sports camp in Magglingen. Nick is a math genius and is solving math problems all week.

It can only be stupid without these three, I think to myself, but I try not to worry too much about it. 

“Yes” I reply thoughtfully. 

“Hannah is in your room and just try to be open to new friends and be yourself,” my mother says, having noticed that I'm a little nervous.

“We're here. Thanks for driving me and please say hi to Grandpa and Grandma for me,” I say and get out of the car in front of the school. 

“I will and don't worry about it. Everything will be fine.” she says looking out of the car window. 

I wipe away a tear from my eye before anyone can see it and turn away from the car. 

“Oh, there you are. I`ve been waiting for you.” Hannah calls across the parking lot to me. “Come on, I'll take your bag,” she says and grabs my yellow bag from the ground. “I'm so looking forward to Italy. Pizza, pasta, gelato and the sea. It couldn't get any better”. 

I try to let Hannah`s energy infect me a little, but it doesn't really work.

“As tight as ever, but still on time,” our biology teacher Mr. Bonti says to us and crosses me off his list. “Get in and off we go”.

“Come on Lily. Everyone else is already inside.” says Hannah and disapears into the bus. 

I look back at the parking lot, but my mother has already left. Then I turn around and get into the big bus that will take us to Italy in seven hours. 

Be open and try to be yourself, I repeat my mother's words to myself and sit down next to Hannah. Everything will be fine. The bus starts the engine and drives off.

The longer the journey takes, the louder and stuffier it gets on the bus. I take my headphones out of my pocket and put on my favorite Spotify playlist. As the rain outside gets heavier and heavier, the world slowly blurs before my eyes and I fall asleep.

“Lily wake up, wake up. We're going on the ferry” Hannah wakes me from my peaceful sleep. 

The weather outside has changed. The rain has given way to sunshine and it's even warmer in the bus than when we left. I blink and take out my headphones. As I look out of the window I see the deep blue sea glistening in the sun. That's exactly how the sun glistened in the mountain lake on the last mountain hike with my grandparents. 

"Come on, jump in Lily", my grandfather called out to me back then and swam further and further out into the middle of the lake. "Don't be a scaredy-cat, we've earned it." he continued to call out and disappeard in the water. 

“Grandpa, come back up, it's not funny.” I shout and run into the water. The water is freezing cold but I'm really worried and swim into the middle of the lake. 

“Ha,” I hear someone behind me as a cold gush of water hits the back of my neck. 

“That's not funny,” I turn around, but I can't blame him for long. I slowly get used to the cold and start to enjoy it.  With a smile on his face, he says to me “In life, it's worth jumping over your own shadow Lily”.

“One more hour, then we'll be there” shouts Mr. Bonti and brings me back to the present. My clothes are now dry again, my hair has regained its wild curls and I try to tame my curls with a hair clip.

“Anne and Chloe are in the room with us,” Hannah whispers to me. “I still don't know whether I like it or not” she continues. 

I look three rows of seats forward and all I can see is the back of their heads. Just then, Anne turns around and our eyes meet. I look away quickly and hope that she hasn't noticed me staring at her. When I look again, she is still looking at us.  She smiles at me and turns around again. How embarrassing, I think to myself and look out of the window again. All you can see outside now is the sea and a small island in the distance, which is getting closer by the minute.

“So, everyone get off and listen,” calls Mr. Bonti as the bus stops. I'm just about to put my headphones back in my pocket and make my way to the exit when Sam bumps into me from behind. 

“Get out of the way!” he shouts at me and leaves the bus. 

My headphones fall to the floor. I bend down and am about to pick them up when someone is already holding them in their hands. When I look up, Anne is standing in front of me and holds the headphones out to me.

 “They're probably yours. Sam is an idiot”. she says to me and hands me the headphones.

“Yes, thank you,” I say quickly and stand up again. 

Anne smiles at me and turns back around to get out. Why can't I just answer normally and act cool?

“The room layout is already done. Here's the list of which group is in which room.” Mr. Bonti holds a piece of paper in the air. “Go to your rooms and unpack. We'll meet in the restaurant for dinner at 6 p.m.”. 

Hannah is immediately at the note. “Number 20” she calls and grabs the key. “Come on, Lily. If we're quick, we can choose the beds.” 

I look around and try to see Anne and Chloe. Chloe is standing at the stairs and looks tired but where is Anne? 

“20 is up here” it calls down from a balcony and when I look up I see her directly above us on a balcony. 

She's just about to put her contact lenses in without a mirror. Wow what a cool person, I think and secretly wish I was like that. 

“Go Lily.” Hannah grabs me by the hand and pulls me towards the stairs. As I look towards the balcony again, I see Anne smiling at me.