“Where’s my luggage?!”

Seventeen-year-old Danielle Hollis watched for the third time as the suitcases from American Airlines flight 647 from New York to Miami wound past her. Other travelers were snatching up their suitcases and carryalls, ready to start their vacations, but Danielle couldn’t begin her own vacation because she was still waiting for her bags.

She took a deep breath, trying not to panic. Her luggage was going to eventually slide past her. It had to. She had packed more than just her clothes. She had also packed her SAT study guides, and she needed those books.

Looking around the brightly colored airport filled with travelers, Danielle once again wondered how she had wound up so many miles away from home. She should have been sitting in the North Ridge High library, going over vocabulary words, instead of wondering where her suitcases were.

It had all started the month before when her older sister, Jade, a college sophomore, called one Sunday night in February during a blizzard. Classes had been canceled for the next day, and Danielle had invited her two best friends, Ava Romano and Lindsey Kennedy, to spend the night. They had been watching a marathon of The Real World on MTV when the phone rang. Danielle had been surprised to hear her sister’s voice on the other end of the line. Usually the only time Jade called was when she needed their parents to send her more money. And they had just done that the previous week. Before Danielle could say anything, Jade got right to the point. Would Danielle and her friends like to come down to Miami during spring break?

“Why would we want to come to Miami for spring break?” Danielle had asked.

As soon as Ava and Lindsey heard the words spring break, they lost all interest in The Real World and rushed to Danielle’s side, trying to hear Jade’s side of the conversation.