Page 79 of Take the Lead
‘It doesn’t change anything,’ Aleksis says firmly. ‘Yes, he’ll be tougher competition than Dean, but we’re well on the way with our routine and they haven’t even started theirs yet. We’ve still got two full days and a bit of time on Saturday before the show. We’ve still got as good a chance as we had before.’
‘I know. It’s still annoying, though. I thought we’d seen the last of him.’
‘He would have been around anyway, even if they weren’t competing,’ Aleksis points out. ‘There’s bound to be some kind of everyone-on-stage celebration when the winner is announced. There always is.’
‘I guess so.’
I notice Sarah hurrying towards us, balancing out her camera bag with a giant duty-free bag in the other hand.
‘Come on, you two, it’s the last call for our gate. We don’t want to miss this one as well.’
‘Shit, we didn’t notice the time. Here, let me take one of those,’ Aleksis offers and we set off at a jog.
There’s no one else at the gate when we arrive, apart from one member of staff at the desk, who looks like she’s packing up.
‘Hurry,’ she says when she sees us. ‘You can still make it.’
We scramble to show her our passports and tickets then race down the tunnel to the plane once we’ve been cleared.
‘Take your seats quickly please,’ the stewardess instructs.
But because the plane is already full – we’re the last ones to board – there’s no space in the overhead lockers for Sarah’s camera bag and there’s no way it’s going to fit under the seat in front. The duty free can just about be squeezed in there, but the camera bag is far too bulky.
‘I’m going to have to take that,’ the stewardess, who has followed us up the aisle, tells her.
‘Take it where?’ Sarah asks. ‘It’s full of valuable equipment.’
‘It’ll have to go in the hold. There’s no room for it here.’
‘I really don’t want—’
‘It’ll be perfectly safe there, I assure you,’ the stewardess cuts in. ‘So if you’d like to take your seat, the flight is ready to depart.’
‘Are you sure we can’t squeeze it in one of the overhead lockers?’ Sarah pleads.
‘As you can see, we’re a full flight,’ the stewardess says impatiently. ‘And before you ask, there isn’t anywhere else to put luggage in the cabin. But it’ll be fine in the hold. We’ll take good care of it, I promise. Now can you take your seats, please.’
‘I’ll just pull a few bits out quickly.’
Sarah reaches for the bag at the same time the stewardess grabs it. ‘Please! You’re holding up the flight.’
Sarah relents and lets the stewardess win. ‘Fine. But there’s some very expensive equipment in there so please be careful with it.’
The stewardess doesn’t reply as she struts back to the front of the plane with the bag.
‘What a bitch,’ Sarah mutters as we slide into our seats.
‘She’s just doing her job,’ Aleksis says. ‘Don’t worry, that case is really sturdy and it’s got a decent lock on it.’
‘I was going to do some work on the flight, though. And now I can’t because I stuck the laptop in there with the camera.’
‘You’ll just have to talk to us,’ Aleksis grins. ‘Sorry!’
Sarah rolls her eyes and smiles, but I can tell it stays in the back of her mind for the rest of the flight, even though she banters with us until we’re back in London.
In arrivals, Aleksis offers to wait with her at the carousel.
‘Oh no, I don’t want to hold you two up. Get yourselveshome. It’s been a great two days though. Your family are lovely, Kate. I felt really at home there.’
