My father clears his throat from somewhere behind Smalls, who retreats back into the room. I squeal when I see Chelsea standing beside my dad. I drop Onyx’s hand and run into the room, and she stumbles backwards slightly when I latch on to her tightly. With all the Laura and Debbie drama, I didn’t realise how much she meant to me and how much I see her as my proper mother.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” I ask once I have finished hugging the crap out of her.
“We wanted to surprise you! Plus, I didn’t know if I could take leave from work, but it was approved at the last minute and here I am.”
“Please tell me you’re staying for longer than a few days,” I beg.
She nods. “Sawyer has organised everything, we have a lovely place to stay from today. I have a few weeks off, and your father will stay as long as you need him.”
She smiles, and I look at dad. I don’t know how much she knows but he has to have told her something.
“Is everyone ready?” Kalen asks, and we all look at him.
“What have you organised?” I groan. Sometimes he worries me.
“Since we are all graduating?—”
Onyx cuts him off. “We don’t graduate for weeks yet. Technically, you still have years to go.”
“Semantics. I didn’t know if Amelie's family would be here for her graduation, so because they’re here now, I moved the celebrations up. We’re going to the fair!”
“That’s months away,” Slate points out, confused.
“Not for us! I have it all organised, don’t you worry. I think with everything going on we all deserve one day of fun. Am I right?”
“Of course you’re right sweet boy. Amelie is so lucky to have you around, making sure she doesn’t work too hard. Let’s message Aadi to make sure he comes.”
“Already taken care of,” Kalen answers. He’s up to something; I can just feel it in my bones. “Let’s go, I have a car waiting downstairs.”
We all head down to the lobby, and I snort when I see Jasper get into a minivan out front with a scowl on his face. I can’t imagine taking orders from the likes of Kalen would be fun, especially when he goes all rogue and organises things which are usually over the top, but his heart is in the right place.
Once we are all seated in the van, Jasper drives us to the next town over. The fair comes into view and I gasp. Kalen has gone all out.
Jasper radios through to Frost to let him know that we’ve arrived.
“Happy graduation!” Smalls yells, standing next to me once we exit the car. I chuckle at him.
“Thanks, I guess. Though I’m not even sure if I qualify to graduate early. Monty hasn’t updated us yet.”
Students that I recognise from Knox Academy are lining up for rides, and I spot several Order members running the rides.
Turning to Kalen with a frown, I ask, “Is it smart to use our resources like this?”
“Don’t worry,” is all he says.
I start to wonder where Elsie, Adrianne, Bex and my brother are, but then they’re walking towards us. Smalls bellows out a laugh and my brother flips him off. Elsie and Adrianne are dressed in clown makeup with corsets, skirts and white stockings with heels, though the only one who looks happy about that is Elsie. My brother and Bex are dressed as mimes.
“You’re going to die,” I whisper to Kalen who is standing to my left.
“They can thank me later. This counts as one of their training assignments, and they only have to do the day shift. I have split everyone into day or night.”
“I’m not sure that clowns and mimes belong at a fair,” Chelsea points out as everyone joins us.
“They do in my head,” Kalen replies with a god-awful cackle. God knows why he opted for clowns and suddenly seems to have gotten over his fear of them. It was pretty extreme when we visited Australia. It makes me even more nervous for what he has planned.
Chelsea pulls my dad away to a booth to get some fairy floss, which is apparently called candy floss here. Kalen was shocked when we were in Australia because we had fairy breadandfairy floss. But both were approved by him since both are delicious.
“When you said we had training today, Amelie, I didn’t realise this would be involved,” Adrianne snaps, and I try not to laugh.
