the Flat Three crew. Would everyone be okay with being in a picture together? Do we not know each other well enough yet for me to suggest it? Is it too soon for friend pictures?Is this a stupid thing to worry about? I glance around at the people outside our little circle.Fresh anxiety billows through me at the thought of asking someone to take it.
We pass under another bridge, and I bounce on the tips of my toes as it becomes a backdrop for a potential group shot. I brace myself, mashing my lips together determinedly, and make eye contact with a shorter guy wearinga beanie, standing near Atticus’s shoulder. It’s just a picture.
“Hey, do you think you could take a picture of us?” I ask quickly.
“Yeah, sure,” Beanie Dude responds. I hand him my camera. Flat Three turns and gathers together for the shot. I didn’t even have to ask them. Pilot stands to my left, and when he leans in and puts his arm around me, my insides twirl around. I know it’s just a picture,but he didn’t have to put his arm around me, right?
Beanie Dude counts down, snaps the shot, and hands me back the camera. I beam. I have a real-life picture of this moment. Real-life proof that this happened. Real-life friends I’ve made myself are with me on a real-life trip in a real-life other country where I’m living now. And an attractive, nice, funny boy had his arm around me. I take aquick second to inspect the shot. The framing’s a little wonky, but I’m too triumphant to care.
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Greenwich looks like a giant fancy green park. It’s littered with enormous white marble buildings and structures with columns. Together, the five of us head to the National Maritime Museum (all museums in England are free). Babe, Atticus, and I laugh our heads off taking silly pictures with all theirstatues. Pilot laughs at us, agreeing to participate in the occasional shot. Sahra hangs back, watching with a small smile.
After the museum, we hike up a steep grassy hill to the Royal Observatory and wander through the exhibits. I take a picture of all our hands touching the oldest rock on Earth on display: 4.5 billion years old. We take turns standing on the prime meridian of the world. Isnap pictures of everyone as they straddle both the eastern and western hemispheres. Babe takes the camera to snap one of me. I suck in a deep breath as I plop one foot over the line and then exhale, knowing I’m standing on both sides ofthe world at once. In my mind, I see the globe I used to play with in elementary school and the raised line that I would trace with my finger, down the world.A weird trill of wonder zings through me. I didn’t think I was going to enjoy these museums … this much.
The five of us are starving as we tromp back down the hill from the Observatory, so we stop at the first pub we find and settle in at an empty table. A waitress comes over to greet us and hand out menus.
“So, are you guys all wanting to travel while you’re here?” Pilot asks as we look overthe selection. He’s sitting across from me, smiling with his mouth closed.
“Yes!” Babe and Sahra exclaim immediately in response. My head cocks to the side in surprise.
“I want to travel eventually, but the theater track is super-demanding,” Atticus adds. “I have to be here to see shows most weekends.”
I’m not sure how to respond. I haven’t really thought about traveling more. I already traveledall the way across the world to get here. We’re in a foreign country right now. I can’t cross the street yet without almost dying. I just learned that street signs are on the sides of the buildings instead of metal poles stuck into the corners of the intersections. I thought we were done traveling, and now we were going to explore the place we’ve traveled to.
But after today’s adventure in Greenwich,I don’t know. I would like to do more of this. I like adventuring with this crew. I’ve had more fun with these people in two days than I had with my roommates all
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley