I Turned Down the Cheap Graduation Trip-Then My Class Vanished Overseas Chapter 02

I Turned Down the Cheap Graduation Trip-Then My Class Vanished Overseas Chapter 02

After receiving their refunds, all thirty-nine of my classmates signed up through Lily.

I returned to my family’s travel agency and told my parents what had happened.

Summer was peak season, and the office phones barely stopped ringing all day.

“Our class canceled the trip to Europe. They thought $1,299 was too expensive.”

Both of my parents looked surprised.

“That price only covered the cost,” Mom said. “We gave them that discount because they’re your classmates. We would never quote anyone else a price that low.”

I told them everything that had happened in the classroom.

By the time I finished, Mom’s face had gone cold.

“I can’t believe Noah helped them smear you. Our partnership with the airline his parents work for is about to expire, and they’ve been pushing us to renew it. I don’t see any reason to keep working with them now.”

Dad looked just as angry.

“That shopping dispute had nothing to do with us, but people only remember the headline.”

The so-called forced shopping scandal had started when a tourist bought luxury gifts for the woman he was having an affair with during one of our tours.

When he returned home, he bought cheap counterfeits and gave those to his wife instead.

After his wife discovered the truth, he tried to escape responsibility by claiming that the tour guide had taken him to a store selling fake goods.

The couple later came to our agency demanding compensation and caused a scene with the staff.

Noah knew the entire story.

I had been going through a difficult time back then and had told him every detail.

I never imagined he would deliberately leave out those key facts now.

“It’s probably for the best that they backed out,” Dad said, patting my shoulder. “Haven’t you always wanted to take a beach vacation with us? Let’s get away together for a few days next month.”

I agreed.

Just then, a customer walked in. My parents went to the front desk to greet them while I checked my messages.

Blair Harper, the student representative for another senior class, had contacted me.

We had worked together on the school radio program before. She knew my family owned a travel agency and wanted to ask about arranging a graduation trip for her class that summer.

I sent her the itinerary I had originally designed for my own class, but I restored the standard price of $1,699 per person.

I had no reason to keep covering expenses for people I barely knew.

Blair called almost immediately.

I expected her to complain that the price was too high. Instead, the first thing she asked was, “Only $1,699? Are you sure that’s the full price?”

I froze for a second.

“No. That’s the correct price. It includes flights, accommodations, meals, insurance, and the main activities. There are no mandatory shopping stops either.”

“That’s more than reasonable,” Blair said. “My grandmother joined one of the tours your agency arranged for senior travelers. She still talks about how reliable your service was.”

We agreed that she would come to the agency the next day on behalf of her class to pay the deposit.

My parents had already reserved airline seats and hotel rooms for my class’s original trip.

If we canceled everything, we would have to absorb the penalties ourselves.

Transferring those reservations to Blair’s class would let us avoid that loss.

The moment I ended the call, Lily used the @everyone tag in our senior class group chat.

She had already collected the full payment from the other thirty-nine students and demanded that everyone send her their identification documents as soon as possible.

I was about to close the chat when she tagged me directly.

“Erin, you still haven’t paid. This is our class graduation trip. If you refuse to come, you’re deliberately ruining our last class activity together.”