Nova (Female P.O.V)
Date: September 30, 2238
"Whoa, whoa! Where are you going with the ladder?" Troy asked, stepping in front of Stacy and me stopping us from walking. The large crowd milled around us as we stood in the middle of the path, holding one side of a metal ladder between us.
I stumbled and tightened my grip on the ladder when someone bumped my shoulder in a rush to get to the tents full of food. Troy's hand snaked around my waist, keeping me from toppling over. I flashed a grateful smile in his direction as I stepped out of his arms.
He smiled back before repeating his question.
"To fix the banner." I nodded my head in the direction of the black banner dangling and flapping in the wind over the doorway of the main building.
The decorations were minimal and sparsely placed around campus, but I hoped they would help boost the ambiance.
"Let me help you with that." He said, reaching for the ladder me and Stacy carried.
"Yes, please. Thank you." Stacy said before I could decline Troy's offer of help. She released the end of the ladder she held when Troy gripped the middle of the ladder and rotated it vertically, holding it upright.
I narrowed my eyes at her before looking at Troy. He maneuvered through the crowd and the tables that were scattered on one half of the front lawn until he reached the doorway with me and Stacy trailing after him. His arms flexed, stretching the fabric of his white t-shirt as he placed down the ladder on the paved walkway. Unconsciously my tongue darted out, moistening my lips as I gaped at his arms.
"Why are you two fixing the banner?"
"Hmm?" I hummed while my eyes traveled down the length of his body, stopping on his legs as he climbed the rungs of the ladder. Beneath the bunched material of his cargo pants, his thigh muscles tightened, showing off his sculpted legs with each step.
"Ouch!" I exclaimed, jumping at the sharp jab to my ribs. While rubbing my side, I turned to glare at Stacy. She fluttered her doe brown eyes innocently while twisting her fingers.
Troy cleared his throat while looking down at us with one eyebrow raised.
"I mean... someone else put it up earlier, but I guess they didn't tie it correctly. So I said I would fix it." I explained.
"Okay. So after I fix the banner, can you take a break?" Troy asked.
"Yes, she can take a break!" Stacy yelled, drawing the attention of the people nearest us.
"No, I can't," I responded, holding on to the ladder to keep it from wobbling.
"Yes, you can, Nova." Stacy crossed her arms over her chest. "We have been working since six in the morning helping set up. Blowing up balloons, hanging streamers, pitching tents, and helping cook the food. You know I can't cook."
"You said you wanted to help Stacy." I reminded her while watching a group of kids dash across the front lawn towards the games.
"Yes, help do some of the work. There are over three hundred students that could have volunteered to help out." Stacy sighed and continued, "All I'm saying is you, and I don't have to do everything."
"I know," I mumbled as Troy finished tying the banner and climbed back down the ladder. My eyes instantly shifted from his arm to his legs, trying to take everything in at once.
Oh my god! What am I doing? I was torn. Half of me wished that more of the banners would suddenly become loose so I could watch Troy fix them, while the other half of me reminded me that I was gawking at my best friend.
"Troy, it looks a little crooked."
My head jerked towards Stacy, and she sent me a quick wink behind Troy's back when he looked back at the banner.
"No, it isn't! You need glasses." I said, putting my hand on Troy's forearm to stop him from climbing back up the ladder.
"Alright, I'll just put the ladder away. Then we can take that break," Troy said, smiling.
I smiled back before he turned towards the ladder.
"I was trying to help you out," Stacy whispered close to my ear as she walked behind me. Before she stood at the edge of the walkway, looking out over the crowd.
"What are you looking for?" I asked, ignoring her previous words.
"My siblings. I was so busy helping you I didn't get to spend any time with them," She replied, standing on the tip of her black sneakers, scanning the crowd. I frowned at her poor attempt to boost her height. She stood five-foot-three inches tall with a naturally curvy frame.
Her curves garnered many envious stares from women and admiring glances from males daily. But at times like this, I bet she wished she could trade some of those curves for just an inch of extra height.
"I saw them earlier in the gym," Troy said. "Do you want to use the ladder to look for them?"
"No, I just got rid of Nova. I don't want to babysit someone else right now."
"Hey, I'm right here!" I glared at the back of her head.
"I know. It would be rude to talk behind your back. You know I love you." She flashed a quick smile in my direction before turning to look at Troy. "I mean... let them enjoy themselves. But if you do see Aaron and Nina, can you help me keep an eye on them?"
"Yeah, we can help. I'll leave the ladder here just in case you change your mind." Troy told her as he laid the ladder horizontally on the ground.
"Okay. Thanks, Troy." Stacy flashed a grateful smile in his direction.
"Nova, let's go for a walk." Troy placed his hand on my lower back and guided me through the crowd.
"You want to talk about why you're working so hard?"
"There's nothing wrong with keeping busy, Troy."
He nodded in agreement. "No, there isn't. But I think Stacy's going to kill you if you don't talk about what's wrong."
"Nothin-"
"Don't even say nothing's wrong because I know you. I know if you're working this hard, then you're trying to distract yourself from whatever internal battle you're having with yourself."
I sighed. "I don't know, Troy, it's this whole event. This morning I was working inside the memorial room. I was supposed to be handing out flowers or tissues, but occasionally I would have someone crying on my shoulder. You know, mourning their lost loved ones telling me stories about them, and all I could do was listen." I wrapped my arms across my chest, hugging myself.
Troy's brow furrowed as he reached out and wrapped his arm around my shoulders, patiently waiting for me to gather my thoughts.
A few seconds passed before I finally continued, "I didn't know how to comfort them. I felt useless then I came outside a-a-and everyone's so happy celebrating, playing games and creating new memories. I just needed something to distract me and make me feel like I was helping." I didn't tell him that my nightmares kept me from sleeping and only contributed to my helpless feelings.
"That's it?" He asked, raising one eyebrow.
I nodded, avoiding his gaze. "Today has just been an emotional rollercoaster."
We stopped walking, and I turned to face him.
"Look, Nova. I think you did help by just listening. Sometimes all we need is to be heard. To share those feelings that we keep trapped inside to someone willing to listen. You know I don't like seeing you this stressed out." He cupped both sides of my face before his fingers slowly traveled down towards the nape of my neck, massaging my tense muscles.
My eyelids lowered, and my body swayed forward before I glimpsed the two pre-teens behind him.
"Oh no!" I reluctantly stepped away from him and quickly closed the distance between me and the two pre-teens sitting underneath one of the tents.
"What happened, Nina?" I kneeled beside her chair and plucked a blade of grass from her long dark brown hair.
Her watery brown eyes stayed glued to her elbow as she blew on the scrapped patch of skin.
"Some jerk pushed her down!" Her twin brother Aaron answered between sucking the barbeque sauce off his fingers.
"Who did?" Troy asked, handing him a napkin. Aaron smiled sheepishly at Troy as he took the napkin and swiped it across his mouth.
Nina and Aaron looked at each other and simultaneously shrugged.
"Okay. Who gave you the chicken and brought you to the tent? Where's Jax?" I asked as Aaron pushed aside the corn and picked up the last piece of chicken on his plate.
"Jax brought us over here, then went to find our sister. Oh, he left his hat and glasses." Nina nodded her head at the blue baseball cap and glasses lying on the edge of the table. When the wind blew, tousling my curls, I grabbed the baseball cap and glasses and placed them on my head.
"Mr. Armstrong... I think that's what he said his name was." Aaron said, scratching the side of his head with his pinkie finger. "Anyway, he gave us the food while he went to get a first aid kit."
"I couldn't find Stacy." Jax panted as he jogged underneath the tent and stood beside us.
"I got the first aid kit." Mr. Armstrong said, and I quickly stood up and stepped to the side so he could bandage Nina's elbow.
"Jax, will you tell us what happened?" Troy asked.
"Someone tried to sneak into the school."
"What?!"
"Yep. The guy ran into Nina when the security team was capturing him."
"Man, It's crazy what some people will do just to get into this school," I muttered, watching the sun dip below the horizon casting shadows on the ground. Concerned murmurs grew from the crowd as they wondered if this was the end of the event until the lights flickered on.
"Do you have any family here?" Nina asked, rapidly blinking as Mr. Armstrong applied the antibiotic ointment to her elbow.
"No, no. My family is definitely not invited. This event is mostly for people with kids under the age of fifteen, and the guards are checking everyone at the security gate to make sure they're related to someone at Blackstone." I nodded towards the main gate as people slowly trickled inside the entrance after being checked by the security guards.
"What about you, Jax? Any family?" I asked.
He shook his head. "Nope. Just me and Troy." I couldn't stop the small smile from blooming across my face as I watched him bump his shoulder into Troy's arm.
"All done." Mr. Armstrong smiled at Nina before he walked over to the grill. The sound of my stomach growling was drowned out by the speakers underneath the lights crackling.
"Is it working? Oh, ahem ahem... Can everyone gather around? We are about to begin the Family Scavenger Hunt." The shrill voice blared from the speakers. I winced while covering my ears with my hands as I looked around at the others doing the same. The windows on the main building rattled as the pitch of the person's voice increased with each word they spoke until someone turned the speakers off.
"I apologize to everyone. We were experiencing some technical difficulties. As I was saying, can everyone gather in front of the main building for the start of the Scavenger Hunt?" This time the feminine voice came out clear, so I slowly lowered my hands.
"Can we go do the Scavenger Hunt?" Nina yelled, and I reached over to lower her hands from her ears.
"Let's grab a plate before we go," I said as my stomach growled.
"How long until the food is ready?" Troy asked as my eyes drifted towards the tray of chicken Mr. Armstrong carried towards the grill.
"Ha, ha! I just put them on the grill." Mr. Armstrong replied, grabbing tongs and placing each piece of meat and corn. I ignored the disappointed groans from the people forming a line in front of the tent as my eyes tracked each of Mr. Armstrong's movements. Before he closed the lid of the grill, cutting off my view of the pieces of tantalizing meat and vegetables.
I frowned as Mr. Armstrong grabbed a towel from off the table and swiped it across his forehead, removing the sheen of sweat from his golden-brown skin. He slung the towel over his shoulder and stepped towards us.
"You've become a lot more focused in class lately, Flores. Keep it up!" He clapped Jax on the shoulder.
"Yes, sir!" Jax replied as a wide grin spread across his face. When Mr. Armstrong walked back towards the grill, Jax fist-pumped the air.
"Let's go do the Scavenger Hunt! We can eat later." Jax lightly bounced on his feet, unable to contain his glee from Mr. Armstrong's praise.
I glared at the side of his head, but he didn't bother to look at me as he walked from behind the tent.
"Okay, let's go!" Nina said, grabbing my arm as I slowly followed behind them.
I'll feed you grilled chicken and corn later just hold on a little longer. I rubbed my stomach, trying to quiet the rumbling.
When the speaker crackled, and the same voice spoke again. "You will need five family members to participat-"
A piercing scream split the air, cutting off the rest of the announcer's words.
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