Amber POV

"Ugh!" Alexis whined. "When are we going to get there?"
"Chill." I said looking out the window as the French countryside whizzed by. "We only have half an hour left."
"Ugh!" Alexis flopped heavily back into her seat in front of me.
"Soooo,..." Johnny said awkwardly, "Anybody want to play Go Fish?"
Fern stifled a snort next to me. "Seriously? Go Fish?"
Johnny fidgeted. "What? It's-it's fun?"
I sat up straight. "Sure Johnny, I'll play."
"Yeah, ok, why not?" Fern said, defeated.
I leaned forward and pulled Alexis' earphones out.
"Hey!" She protested.
"C'mon," I told her. "We're playing Go Fish."
Johnny started shuffling and dealing out cards with brightly colored fish on them.

Fern, Alexis, Johnny and I were all Americans living in Germany because our parents all had jobs in the military that brought our families overseas. It was hard living in a foreign country and going to German school sometimes, but at least we had each other. Fern and I were total socially awkward bookworms, while Alexis was the cool, stylish one; Johnny was kind of an awkward, adorable nerd. It was pretty obvious that he had a pathetic crush on me, but I just tried to ignore it. I didn't like him like that.
Today our French class was going on a field trip to Metz, a quaint French town on the border of Germany and France. We were going to take a tour of the town and its cathedral, and then we would be free to look around and shop without adult supervision. I smiled at the thought and asked Alexis if she had any eights.

Fern POV

The tour of Metz was remotely interesting, although a did zone out quite a few times. I have a habit of doing that. Johnny and Alexis were whispering to each other the whole time, but I didn't really care. Amber, on the other hand, was hanging onto the tour guide's every word and glaring at anyone who made a sound. She is such a history geek! After the tour we all walked to a park in the central shopping area to eat lunch. All four of us squashed onto a park bench under an oak tree.
"Half of my butt is hanging off the bench." Amber said.
"Oh, here," Johnny said, closing his lunch box. "I'll sit on the ground." He started to stand up but tripped over his feet and fell off the bench and onto the hard ground.
Alexis face palmed. "Smooth, Johnny. Smooth."
Johnny blushed. Amber, embarrassed for Johnny, took a sudden interest in her shoelaces.
"Well," I said, breaking the silence. "At least there's more room now. Scoot over, Al."
"Don't call me Al!" Alexis said, as we slid along the bench. "I've told you this a hundred times before! You can call me Alex, Lexy, or Alexis, but not Al."
"Fine!" I said, throwing my hands up in the air.
All of a sudden, Johnny spoke up from the grass. "Did you know that Magpies are considered to be one of the smartest animals on the planet? And they're one of the only mammals able to recognize itself in a mirror?"
"Okaaaaaay...?" I said. "That came out of nowhere."
"Yeah," Alexis agreed. "You're always spouting random animal facts. What's up with that?"
Amber chuckled. "RFG. Random fact generator."
"Ha!" Alexis clapped her hands, delighted. "That's your new nickname, Johnny. RFG."
"Aaaah, nooooo!" Johnny buried his face in his hands while Amber and I laughed our heads off.
Just then our French teacher came over and told us to split up into groups and go check out the shops.
"Which one of you is the group leader?" Mr Bumbrake said, while holding his pencil over a clipboard.
"Uuuuuuh," Johnny said. "We don't have one. Do we need a group leader?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"So that I have someone to blame if you're late or something happens to you."
"Hmmm..." I looked around our small group of four. "I nominate Amber as group leader."
"What? Hey!" Amber protested.
"Ok, Amber Brooks." Our teacher muttered as he scribbled Amber's name onto his list. "I suggest you check out the Galleria Lafayette across the street. It's one of the largest French department stores.

We heard a commotion to our left. A group of rowdy boys were throwing pebbles at the pigeons roaming the park. One of them missed its target and hit some guy in a business suit. Now the man was yelling at them in rapid-fire French. The boys, who obviously had no idea what the man was saying, just looked at the ground and tried to pretend they weren't there.
"I'd better go take care of that." Mr Bumbrake sighed and walked off towards the scene.
"Boys," Alexis said with a sigh, "When will they ever learn? Except you, Johnny. You're pretty mature."
Johnny put his hands on his hips and puffed out his chest in mock pride. "Why, thank you!"
"Most of the time."
"Hey!"

"So, where should we go first?" I asked.
"Let's just go to the Galleria Lafayette, since it's right across the street." Johnny suggested.

We crossed the street, trying to avoid being hit by the crazy drivers.
"I went to the Galleria in Paris with my mom a few years ago," Amber commented as we entered the towering four-story department store. "Everything here is super expensive."
"Blech!" I gagged. The string smell of expensive perfume overpowered us as we speed-walked through the cosmetic section toward the escalators.

Amber POV

Ten minutes later, Johnny and I were aimlessly wandering amidst the blaring HD televisions in the electronics area, as Alexis had dragged Fern off to look at shoes. Fern was probably miserable up there. She despised anything that had to do with shopping or fashion. I would have gone with Alexis but she said that Johnny and I needed some alone time and winked. I was going to have to have a talk with her later.

We walked through the Smartphone aisle, and Johnny whistled when he saw the price tag on the latest iPhone model. "That's ridiculous!"
"Definetally," I said. "I still wish I had one, though."
"What, a smartphone?"
"Yeah," I said longingly.  "It seems like everyone has one except for me."
"I don't have one."
"Fine. Everyone except you."

Just then, a huge crash sounded from above us followed by an unearthly, ear-piercing screech. Wordlessly, Johnny and I looked at each other and charged towards the escalators.

Well, how was that for a first chapter? I really hope you liked it but sadly Amber is going on vacation for two weeks and since she is the best writer in out group, you will have to wait until then for another update. Vote and comment if you liked this chapter and it may have slowish updates, but I really do hope it's worth it. Also, Amber is the one who wrote most of this chapter. I, Fern, am just the one who typed it on here. And Alexis, well, she helped a little too. Also, we may or may not have two other books coming out! One, being a book where we write all the failed attempts at plots for this story, and the other, a book where you can compete to come up with The craziest ship/shipname! I hope you're as excited as I am and will stick with us for a while!
Whale, that's all for now!
Cato out!
-Fern