A View From Forever (Thompson Sisters Book 3) by Charles Sheehan-Miles Read Free Book Online Page A

with John and Mike, Elle and Dylan, and I find myself laughing and enjoying myself. Dylan does a passable imitation of President Bush, which keeps us all laughing through breakfast.
    I don’t mention to Dylan, or anyone else, that I’ve met George Bush and eaten at the White House. I already feel alien enough. And I’m still mentally out of breath from last night and our adventure in the abandoned building. I don’t know how old it was, but it felt ancient, and the courtyard was like something out of a fairy tale.
    I grabbed Dylan’s hand automatically. I felt … safe with him, even in a dark and abandoned building. Crazy, I know. But something about his confidence made me feel completely comfortable walking through there, and that made it magical finding that courtyard.
    A s breakfast is finished, the tour organizers stand up to give more speeches and information. We’ll be breaking apart into three groups—one group headed to Haifa, the other to Jerusalem, and the final one staying here in Tel Aviv. After 8 days, we’ll rotate, so each group spends about a week in each of the three cities.
    I feel a momentary panic that I’m to be separated from Dylan. And that scares me. First, because we aren’t anything. We aren’t dating, we aren’t a couple, we aren’t in love, we aren’t anything. Second, because even if we were any of those things, well, this whole trip comes to an end in just a few weeks. I need to get a serious grip. Plus, I still haven’t gotten around to writing Mike. Mike, whom I’m supposedly dating, even if it has only been a couple of dinners.
    After breakfast, we separate into our groups, and I’m relieved to see that Dylan is in my group. It’s time to meet our host families.
    A few minutes later, I find myself faced with a couple in their fifties and their teenage son.
    Teenage son. He has blonde sculpted hair, muscular upper arms and a five-o-clock shadow.
    “I’m Ariel,” he says.
    I cough. “I’m Alex.”
    He grins. I look at his parents. Would it be wrong of me to ask where their daughter is?
    I look back. “It’s nice to meet you , Ariel. Excuse me for a moment.”
    I walk directly over to Marie Simpson, one of the chaperone’s from San Francisco. She looks stressed. Why the hell would I get placed with a guy? Did they get our names mixed up? Maybe someone on this end though Alex was a guy’s name, or Ariel a girl’s. I don’t know.
    “Excuse me, Mrs. Simpson.”
    “Yes, Alex?”
    “Um… I’m confused… Ariel… my host student? It’s a guy.”
    She frowns. “That can’t be right,” she says. “Are you sure?”
    “Um… yeah. I’m sure. It’s pretty unmistakable.”
    She closes her eyes and rubs a hand on her forehead. “That sounds like a mixup. You’re supposed to be staying with a girl, of course.”
    “That’s what I thought,” I say.
    “We don’t have any more host families,” she says.
    I lean closer and say, “Maybe there’s a guy in our group who was put with a girl? Maybe we got switched?”
    She looks like she isn’t sure what to say. And I’m certainly not sure. She finally settles on, “I’ll check. In the meantime, go with your host family, and we’ll get back with you today.”
    I swallow, then glance over my shoulder. Ariel is standing there, practically salivating. I don’t know him yet, but I already want to punch him in the throat. Probably not the ideal start. “Are you sure?” I ask. “This isn’t what I expected.”
    Mrs. Simpson puts her hands on my shoulders and looks me in the eyes. “Alex… we’ll take care of it. I promise.”
    I sighed. Nothing else to be done. I walked back to the waiting family. “Sorry about that,” I say. “It’s all set.”
    “Do you have all of your bags?” the mother says. “I’m Rebecca. This is my husband Josef”
    Rebecca’s English is as good as mine—possibly better. She holds out her hand to shake—I take it. Maybe this won’t be so bad.
    “It’s nice to meet you