"Here are our heroes of Carrollton, Texas! Give them a round of applause!" I heard from the speakers giving us the cue to ride in. Clicking my tongue and giving my horse a small nudge, Lucas and I rode to the stage where we were to stay next to the mayors' podium. Lucas whispers to me as we rode side by side, waving back at people with smiles on our faces, "I guess we are the new it people huh." I mumbled back to him, "Don't let this go to your head. It's big enough as it is." He whips his head to me and sticks his tongue out before turning back to the people. Reaching the stage, we first faced the mayor. He had a big smile on his face as he approached us and our horses. "Thank you two for what you did. Running into that fire and saving those people... just thank you," He says as he shakes our hands. Lucas spoke up from beside me, "It's no problem. It's what anyone would've done." I nod from next to him, and the mayor goes back to the podium. Then we are told by staff members to move to the side of the stage and wait there.
The mayor gives another speech that I was hardly paying attention to as I looked to my family sitting there with proud smiles on their faces. My younger brother gave me a thumbs up with a big smile as I did the same back. My eyes drifted across the mass of people who came to the ceremony. The smiles and happy nods along with the survivors who were in the front row were nice to see. Then my eyes snapped to the very back left, locking eyes with her. I was snapped out of my trance when the mayor told the survivors to come on the stage. I watched as they walked up and were briefly acknowledged before two of them were handed cases. With a smile, they walked over to us opening the cases showing the medal inside. The mayor grabs Lucas's medal first, putting it on him before he got out of the way for me to receive mine. The applause was loud as we moved back to our places. We smiled and waved back to everyone before the Mayor thanked us again dismissing everyone. The survivors came up to us thanking us and giving us handshakes since Lucas and I were still on our horses.
After talking to them for a bit, we were invited to a dinner sometime with all of them and our families, which we accepted with a smile. They left after, and then we were approached by other townspeople thanking us before our families came up. "Look at you two. Carrolltons heroes who would've thought," my mom says while grabbing my hand. I smiled at her, squeezing her hand back, "Oh stop it mom. We didn't do it for the recognition." Lucas's mom is the one to speak this time, "We know. We are just so proud of you two." Lucas and I looked at one another smiling before I raised my fist for a fist bump. He laughs, bumping it before we said good bye to our families, saying we would meet them at home. They drove themselves as we rode into town. Clicking our tongues and giving our horses a nudge, we started the trot back to our houses. Reaching the edge of the square, she was standing there with her arms wrapped around herself. Lucas sensed the tension and said he would see me later before galloping away. "Eva... hi."
