Archer
"It's cleanup day!" Remy bellowed in the hallway as he opened my bedroom door and flung open the window curtains. I pulled the covers over my head.
"It's too early."
"It's six a.m.!" my older brother said cheerfully.
"Okay, it is way too early."
"We're all volunteering for you, Archer," Remy said, picking me up and half dragging me off the bed like he used to do when we were kids. I pulled all the covers off with me and curled up on the floor. The carpet was really soft. I had it put in especially for my room in the estate. I had slept in worse places.
Remy snatched the covers off of me. I groaned.
"Don't wear your fancy clothes. Here, I brought you a pair of my canvas pants and work boots."
"Spare me," I said, peering at the scuffed-up clothes in his hands. "I cannot wear that. I have standards to uphold."
"We even have team T-shirts," Remy said. "Otis and Theo made them." He held up the shirt. It read,This Svensson is the GOAT. There was a picture of a goat wearing a hard hat.
"Isn't it cute?" Remy asked, grinning through his bushy beard. His wild hair was pulled back into a ponytail. "Do you get it? Because GOAT stands for Greatest Of All Time, and our mascot is a goat." Remy beamed at me.
"Is it? Did you run that by Hunter? You know how he feels about goats."
I put on the shirt. I was begrudgingly impressed with the quality of my little brothers' artwork, though the colors could stand a redo. It was all neon pink, green, and blue. It definitely wasn't my style. It clashed with my hair, my eyes, and well, everything really.
After I finished dressing, I walked into the dining room. I grabbed one of Remy's famous breakfast burritos from the stack on the buffet. My other brothers were already up and wearing their shirts. Even Hunter was wearing a shirt.
"You look stylish," I said to Hunter, trying not to smirk.
"Shut up," he said.
Remy pulled the bus into the roundabout in front of the large estate house, and we all filed in.
I slipped on my sunglasses, slumped in my seat, and slowly ate my breakfast burrito. "Does the cleanup seriously start at seven?" I complained.
"Don't want to waste the daylight!" Remy called out over the roar of the engine.
I had to admit, once we arrived at the staging area and joined the crowd of people, I was feeling pretty pumped.
"This is such a great turnout," Hazel gushed when we arrived. She turned to Mace. "Thank you so much for putting this out to your employees."
"My pleasure. Svensson PharmaTech is glad to be a member of the Harrogate community."
"Spare me the corporate mumbo jumbo," I said, shoving him. "Let's start asking the important questions. How are we feeding all these people? It's an all-day thing, right?"
Hazel nodded. "We have sandwiches. Jemma and I were up all night making them. Ida donated snacks. Also, you're on the art committee, so you get a lanyard!" I had to bend down so that she could drape it over my neck.
"What do you need me to do?"
She flipped through the pages on her clipboard. "You can hang with me. We're going to be delivering people the tools and supplies they need."
I followed her to a golf cart.
"The PharmaTech volunteers are clearing the path near their offices for where the trail is going. I can't believe we already secured a permit. This afternoon they're going to take the bulldozer to it to clear it and lay the gravel down and trench for the electrical wire for the trees," she said as she checked items off on her list. "There's also the bike painting for the bike share going on. Lots of families with young kids are doing that today."
Her phone beeped with incoming texts. "Edna is overseeing flowers in the town square," Hazel explained. "She needs some more fertilizer. Apparently not enough was set out."
I loaded the bags in. Then we hopped in the golf cart, and I hung on for dear life as Hazel raced through the staging area and over to the town square.
