Chapter 6
Katie sat in her plane seat nervously playing with a loose thread on her 'Roots' Sweater. Nick saw that Katie was still very upset, he could see her eyes were glazed over with tears, trying to hold them back. Nick had been staring at Katie, when she quickly glanced up at him. He quickly turned the other way, pretending he had never looked at her.
"Sorry for yelling at you earlier." Katie quietly confessed. "Its ok, I deserved it." Nick replied. "No, its my fault. I was way out of line. I should have known better than to take my anger out on you. I'm sorry." Katie said sympathetically looking at Nick.
Nick felt bad for Katie, "No really, don't worry about it. I mean, Mandy and Devlin deserved what you said to them. Besides, Mandy shouldn't have said those things about your Dad," Nick said, "I'll be surprised if that punch you gave her doesn't give her a nice black-eye by tonight." Nick chuckled. "I hope it is black and blue, she deserves it," Katie laughed too, "I swear, if she ever says anything to me like that again, I'll give her a heck of a lot more than a black eye." Katie huffed.
Nick just smiled and laughed a little. Katie smiled back, she knew that Nick thought that what she did to Mandy was the right thing to do, and that he would have done exactly the same. "Thanx Nick." Katie blurted. Nick was taken by surprise by Katie's response. "For what??" Nick asked. "For everything. I bet if any other guy had ever seen what I just did, they would have felt sorry for Mandy and have been mad at me." Katie replied. Nick felt better now, he knew that Katie was not mad at him anymore and that she trusted him.
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It was 1:00 that afternoon, and the gang was still on the plane headed for Chicago. Katie had fallen asleep, resting her head on Nick's shoulder. Nick smiled as Katie mumbled something while dreaming. She didn't seem as upset anymore, but still was not on speaking terms with Mandy or Devlin.
"Awwwwww, doesn't she look cute when she's sleeping?" AJ commented to Nick, watching Katie happily doze. "Yeah, I guess." Nick replied trying hard not show how he really felt. "That was quite some fight out there hey?" AJ exclaimed, "Katie's sure got some guts standing up to Devlin and Mandy like that." "Yeah." "But you can't blame the poor girl though,I would've done the exact same thing. I mean, my dad ran out on my mom too when I was younger, and thats just wrong when someone uses that against you in a fight." AJ said. "Yeah, she's quite the girl." Nick stated. "I'll say. She's awesome. I've never met a girl that's so energetic and happy, and she's also (don't tell any of the other girls this) got the most amazing voice in the whole group. She's really talented, she'll definately make it in the Music business." AJ replied.
Nick knodded in reply. Donna then abruptly turned around in her seat in front of Nick. "Hey Nick, how's Katie doing?" she asked worrily. "She's doin alright I think. What'd Mandy say??" He asked. "She didn't really say anything. I think she's still to traumatized over her swelled up eye. Its really bad, Katie sure layed the beats on her." Donna replied. Nick tried hard to hold his laughter back. He was just imagining Mandy right now, crying and prodding at her bruised, and swelled-up eye.
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By 3:00 in the afternoon,(Editors note- I know it doesn't take 6 hours to fly from Orlando to Chicago, but we'll just pretend ok??).
Nick awoke suddenly to the bumping of the plane landing. He opened his eyes, Katie was still leaning on his shoulder sleeping. She looked so perfect, almost like an angel with the sunshine on her, lighting up her face. "Mornin, sleepy head." AJ said. "Hey AJ, d'ya sleep at all this time??" Nick asked, knowing that AJ could hardly ever sleep on planes. "Nope, not a wink. You know, I think its getting harder and harder to fall asleep when I'm flying." he replied. Nick laughed.
Nick, shook Katie's shoulder, trying to wake her up. She grunted, something and slightly opened one eye, "Mmmmmmmmmmm???" she mumbled looking at Nick. "Ummmmm...we're here." He whispered. "Oh. Well, I guess I better try and wake up then." Katie replied, rubbing her eyes. The plane abruptly stopped. Everyone gathered their carry-ons and headed to exit the plane. The gang slowly walked down the arrival hall.
"Mornin sunshine!!!" Steph yelled running up to Katie, embracing her with a friendly hug. "Do you have to be so lound Steph??? You know its like 5:00 in the morning here." Katie said, sounding annoyed.(Editors note- I know the time change isn't like 7 hours either but what the hey??)
"Well good morning to you to Miss-I-Hate-Waking-up." Stephanie back fired. Katie immediately plastered a gigantic smile on her face, "Welcome to Chicago!!!" Katie exclaimed in a exxagerated-american accent. "Thats more like the girl I know." Steph replied smiling at Katie.
Nick caught a glimpse of Mandy when they were waiting for their luggage at the carousal. Her eye was so swelled up, she could hardly open it. She looked really sad, and looked like she was about to cry any moment now.
Katie gave Nick a nervous glance and then looked back at Mandy. Nick knew that Katie was now starting to feel guilty, even though Mandy was the one who should have. Katie walked up to Mandy, "Ummmmm...are you ok??" She asked. "What does it look like??" she snarked pointing to her eye, "does this look like ok to you??" "Look, I was just trying to be nice!!!! Besides, you should be the one feeling bad about what you did yesterday, not me, remember??" Katie yelled. "Me??? Me!!!!! Look, I'm not the one who punched someone and gave them a black eye!!!" Mandy exclaimed yelling back. "Yeah, well you deserved it!!!!" Katie screamed. "No!!!!, You were just upset because you realized that Devlin likes me more than you!!!!" Eryka yelled.
Katie let out a long breath, she was trying to calm herself down. "Look, Mandy. I'm not going to go through this again with you, ok?? You know, you really should think about being a little more mature though, it might help with business." Katie calmly stated walking away with her suitcase and carry-on. Mandy's jaw was now dropped open, she couldn't believe that Katie had actually said something that had left her speechless.
