The group of thirteen – twelve students and one Figg – stepped into the gazebo at a beautiful garden and each took a seat. Tia and Elijah sat beside one another, begrudgingly. Aladdin and the girl captain from his school, Vanessa, sat beside them. Figg stood in the middle of the gazebo.
"As I said, this will be an introductory day. What we'll be doing first is going around the circle and we'll have each school introduce themselves and where they come from. We'll start at this side and go clockwise," Figg said and gestured for the first pair to speak up.
Elijah and Tia's turn came quickly, and neither was really looking forward to it. Having to represent their school in a good light wasn't going to be easy for them.
"Hi. I'm Tia Anderson," Tia began, then nudged Elijah in the rib.
"Ouch!" he said, but quickly recovered. "Oh, and I'm Elijah Jones," he added, with his ever-infuriating smile.
"We're the school captains of Westminster," Tia said, turning from him. "And it's great to be here," she added, beaming.
"Thank you very much and welcome," Figg said and began the applause that followed each pair's introduction. Once all the groups had introduced themselves very quickly and the final applause had died down, she spoke up again.
"Okay that was great. Now, we're going to play a little game. I'm going to give you a number – either one or two. The 'ones' will sit on this side of the room and the 'twos' will sit on this side," she began, signalling the two sides. She then went on to give them each a number. Tia was a 'one' whilst Elijah was a 'two.' Lucky for Tia, she'd already met another who was also a 'one' – Aladdin. Elijah sat beside Vanessa, a fellow 'two', but he wasn't as thrilled. The girl seemed mean. "That was so I could get you away from your partner because you all already know the person you came with," Figg explained. Both Tia and Elijah laughed to themselves. Neither knew the other better than they knew anybody else in that gazebo and they didn't plan on getting to know each other, either. "What I want you to do is turn to the person sitting beside you and tell them three interesting or strange things about you. The other person will do the same. Then, we'll all come together, and each person will tell the whole group the three things about their partner. Understand?" she asked. Everyone nodded. "Excellent. Now, go!"
Tia turned to Aladdin. Elijah turned to Vanessa.
"Three interesting – or strange – things about me. Hmmm," Tia mumbled.
"I'm sure it's not that hard," Aladdin said, smiling.
"Uh, okay. I'll just say the first three things that come to mind. Number one: I have an almost-unhealthy obsession with Disney," she began, receiving quite a laugh from Aladdin. "Number two: I'd love to become a Broadway star. My dream role would be Elpheba in Wicked." He smiled big at that. "And finally, number three: I'm afraid of guns," she finished. "Not that exciting, I know."
"Much more exciting than mine. But what do you mean you're afraid of guns? The sound or the look?" he asked.
"Oh, I just get really nervous when there's a gun around. I hate them," she explained.
"Totally understandable," he agreed.
"Okay, now your turn," she reminded.
"Oh right. Okay, number one: I want to work at the Pixar or Disney studios someday. Number two: my guilty pleasure TV show is TOWIE," he admitted, making her laugh very loudly. "And number three: I'm afraid of snails," he concluded.
"Snails? Really?" she asked. "Why?"
"I don't know. They just disgust me to the point of terror," he clarified. "Plus, there was this one time I was running late for school, so I rushed out of my house and stepped on a giant snail. That traumatised me, I think," he added.
"Ugh yuck! That sounds horrible," she said, patting his shoulder. He laughed.
On the other side of the gazebo, Elijah was not really enjoying his time with Vanessa.
"Uh, do you want to go first?" Elijah asked, awkwardly. She hadn't even bothered turning to face him.
She shrugged. "Fine. The first thing about me – I want to become a neurosurgeon," she began. He was about to comment but she didn't give him a chance. "Number two: I hope to receive a Nobel Prize someday soon. And lastly, my red velvet cake is to-die-for," she finished.
"Wow. Wouldn't mind a piece of red velvet, to be honest," Elijah said, but she wasn't even listening. She had pulled out her mobile phone to check something.
"So, do you want to tell me your three things?" she asked, finally looking back at him, completely unaware that he'd spoken.
"If you're ready to listen," he replied, annoyed. She raised her eyebrows at him.
"Why wouldn't I be?" she said and turned to face him.
"Okay, so one interesting thing about me is that I really want to find a way to contribute to finding a cure for Alzheimer's disease." She nodded, clearly trying to remember that. "Secondly, I enjoy musical theatre. Wicked is my favourite theatre show of all time. Finally, I like mangoes. A lot," he finished. This made Vanessa giggle, which surprised him.
"You are quite interesting then," she remarked.
"And you're strange. Are you nice or not?" he asked. She chuckled.
"Depends who I'm talking to," she responded. He smiled at the bodacious brunette. She blinked, her long lashes grazing her cheeks. Elijah found himself liking her more.
Now both Elijah and Tia were enjoying their conversations and weren't very excited when they heard Figg's voice floating above them.
"Well, it seems you've all made quite good friends. The chatter in here is deafening. Good sign, very good sign. But, we should regroup. Let's begin at this side," she said, pointing at the first pair on the 'ones' side. It was a boy and girl, both looked rather shy and timid. Their voices were barely heard throughout the big gazebo.
"Speak up a little," Figg said. The boy nodded.
"Oh, okay. This is Lily. She likes pickles, sleeping in fields of daises and reading Percy Jackson" the boy said, loudly. Mrs. Figg encouraged everyone to clap and Lily spoke about the boy beside her, James.
It continued like this until finally, it reached Aladdin.
"Our turn? Great!" he begun, confidently. "Well, this is Tia Anderson. She's obsessed with Disney – her favourite, of course, is Aladdin," he said. Tia laughed and slapped his shoulder. "Second, she wants to become a Broadway star – hopefully Elpheba from Wicked," he continued. Elijah looked up, interested. "Finally, her biggest fear is her fear of guns because they're all that's wrong with the world," he finished, smiling. Everybody clapped.
"Thank you," Tia said. "So, this is Aladdin – yes named after the cartoon, which is apparently my favourite," she began, gesturing towards him, laughing. He smiled, and shrugged.
"It is your favourite," he grinned at her.
She chuckled. "So, his interesting things. He wants to work at the Disney or Pixar studios someday because he's awesome at drawing. Second, his guilty pleasure is The Only Way is Essex," she continued. This made everybody laugh raucously. Clearly this was a popular guilty pleasure. Tia couldn't continue until Figg calmed the group down. "And finally – one that I don't think many will relate to – he's afraid of snails," she finished, which many people were quite confused about. The next pair then spoke up once everybody applauded.
"I wish I hadn't told you I'm afraid of snails," Aladdin whispered to her.
"Why not?" she asked, quietly.
"I dunno. Makes me sound weird," he replied.
"Haven't you heard? Weird is the new normal," she responded. He smiled at her.
The 'ones' were done and provided quite a lot of entertainment. The people on this trip were rather interesting. The 'twos' seemed to be quite remarkable also. It took a while to get to Elijah and Vanessa but when it did, Tia was shocked to hear the things Elijah had told Vanessa.
"So, this is Elijah, quite an interesting, strange fellow. First thing: he wants to contribute to finding a cure for Alzheimer's disease. Quite impressive, I know," Vanessa began. Tia agreed. She would've never guessed he'd care about any diseases or finding cures for them. "Secondly, he loves musical theatre. Wicked is his favourite show of all time," Vanessa continued. Tia's eyes fell out of their sockets. He liked musical theatre and he loved Wicked the most, just like her. This couldn't be. "Finally, he likes mangoes. A lot," Vanessa finished, giggling. Applause followed, and Elijah spoke when it quieted down.
"This is Vanessa. She wants to become a neurosurgeon, first of all. Second, she hopes to receive the Nobel Prize someday soon, which I'm sure will happen. Finally, her red velvet cake is to-die-for, and I'm trying to convince her to find a way to make it for us," he finished, winking at her. She gasped, smacked his shoulder and laughed, as everybody else applauded.
These little introductory games ate up almost three hours, altogether, and the entire group had worked up quite an appetite by the time they were done.
"Are we going to eat now?" inquired one of the captains from St Paul's, Katy.
"Yes, of course, Katy," Figg replied. "We'll be going to a seafood restaurant. I think it's only fitting, since we're in Melbourne and there's beaches everywhere," she informed. Tia groaned, as her stomach grumbled.
"You don't like seafood," Aladdin asked, from beside her, as everybody got up.
She shook her head. "I mean, I like tuna – but that's about it."
"Oh, don't worry – I'm sure there'll be some tuna there," he smiled.
"I hope so. I'm starving," she replied, remembering how angry she'd been that she wasn't able to have anything to eat that morning. She made to follow Figg out the gazebo, along with the other students. Aladdin stopped her.
"Let's go to Vanessa and Elijah," he said.
"Ugh, do we have to?" she whined.
"What's the matter? Don't like Vanessa?" he asked. She hesitated, remembering what her principal said about pretending to like Elijah around everyone, but she could trust Aladdin. She shook her head.
"It's not her I don't like. It's just, Elijah and me – we're not really the best of friends. Or friends at all," she explained. He laughed.
On the other side, Elijah and Vanessa decided to wait for most students to leave instead of pushing through the crowd.
"Oh look, here come Aladdin and Tia," she pointed out.
"Ugh, great," Elijah moaned.
"What's the matter? Don't like Aladdin?" she asked. Elijah was much quicker to come out with the truth.
"It's not him I don't like. It just, Tia and me – we're not really the best of friends. Or friends at all," he explained. She laughed.
"But you have so much in common," she commented.
"Yeah that's kind of weirding me out," he replied.
"I think you might feel differently after these two weeks," she predicted.
"Why does everyone keep saying that?" he countered, slightly annoyed. It was as if it was an inevitable thing that would happen no matter what. Well, he wasn't going to let it happen. "It's not going to happen. Are you going to fall in love with Aladdin, then?" he asked. Vanessa made a face.
"No. That's so gross! He's my cousin!" she cried, quite disturbed by the thought. Elijah chuckled.
"Seriously? That's strange. Cousins in the same class and also the school captains," he remarked. She nodded.
"Yeah. We're both pretty smart. Very similar too. I'm named after a Disney character too, you know?" she informed.
He thought for a second. "Uh, I don't think I know any character named Vanessa in a Disney film."
"Yeah, it's a character not many know the name of, but it is a character. My parents wanted to be a little more discreet," she said. "Oh, I'll ask Tia if she knows. She's Disney-obsessed after all," she decided.
Aladdin and Tia finally approached them.
"What are you smiling so smugly about?" Tia asked as soon as she saw Elijah.
"Nothing that you need to worry about," he retorted.
"I was just telling him how Aladdin and I are cousins," Vanessa cut in.
"Really?" Tia asked. Aladdin nodded.
"Yeah. And then I told him that I'm also named after a Disney character, but he couldn't seem to figure out who it was," she explained. Tia looked confused. "Then I decided I'd ask you since you're the Disney expert. So, do you know who I'm named after?" she asked Tia.
"Hmm, 'Vanessa'? Give me a sec," Tia replied, and she began counting off characters on her fingers. After less than ten seconds, she spoke up again. "Well, the only Vanessa I know of in a Disney cartoon is the one in Little Mermaid – when Ursula turns into a human," she said. "Is that it?"
Vanessa applauded. "Well done! How'd you get it? Nobody ever picks it up," she said. Tia shrugged.
"I'm unhealthily obsessed with Disney, remember?" she smiled.
"It's not an unhealthy obsession if what you're obsessed with is worthy of obsession," Elijah said.
"Uh, what?" Tia asked, confused that he was speaking normally to her.
"Well, I mean, Disney is epic – like one of the greatest corporations in the world – so it's okay to be obsessed with it," he clarified.
"Exactly!" Aladdin said, before Tia could reply. "I mean, me being named after a character as badass as Aladdin makes me cool," he agreed. Tia laughed.
"I guess that's true," she agreed. She then looked around and noticed that they were the only ones left in the gazebo. "Oh, crap! We're going to lose Figg!" she cried.
"Hey, calm down. It'll be okay," Aladdin cooed, patting her shoulder. "I'm sure they haven't gotten far. Besides, you don't even like seafood. We could go someplace else," he said. Her eyes grew round with shock.
"What?! No way. We could get lost and in trouble. As captains, that is a very irresponsible thing to do. They chose us for this trip because they know we're responsible –" Tia babbled until Elijah interrupted.
"Just calm down, okay!" he exclaimed. "For crying out loud. I think they just rounded that corner. There's no need to panic, especially in this broad daylight," he said, sounding very annoyed at Tia's pointless panic attack. Tia looked affronted, but she breathed in and followed Elijah out of the gazebo. Sure enough, the group had just rounded that corner and were walking down the street.
"You need to relax, girl," Vanessa whispered to Tia. "You're going to scare Elijah off."
"WHAT?!" Tia exclaimed. "What are you even getting at?" she asked, not bothering to whisper. Elijah rolled his eyes, confusing her bewilderment with panic.
"Are you seriously still panicking? Why are you thinking up worst-case scenarios for?" he asked but he quickly wished he hadn't because it reminded him of his mother. This quietened him down and he didn't even hear Tia scold him for butting into other people's conversations.
-
By the time they'd all finished their seafood, with Tia eating a tuna sandwich and all the rest having rather generous servings of salmon and crab and other nasty food Tia could never bring herself to taste, it was past five p.m.
"What's next on the agenda, miss?" asked a boy named Cameron, as the waiters and waitresses cleaned up their table.
"The next thing we're going to do is something that may scare some of you. But there is something I must tell you all," Figg begun. Tia and Aladdin looked at one another, confused and a little sceptical. "One of the main – uh – components of this trip will be that in which we try and get you to confront your fears," she explained. There was a unanimous gulp from the group. "I know, I know. But as leaders, we have to be role models to the other students at our respective schools. We have to smile in the face of adversity and have the ability to overcome any obstacle that stops us from achieving our goals. That means, that every two days, we'll be facing a different fear."
"So, what's the fear we'll all be facing today?" a girl asked. Tia was just dying to know what it was. She'd be fine, as long as it wasn't heights.
"Today's fear is the fear ... of heights!" Figg finally revealed. Tia groaned, as did a few others of the group. "I sense some discomfort. Don't worry. The idea of this trip, as I said, is to get you all to confront your fears. If you're afraid of heights now, you're going to go home completely fearless, trust me," she smiled at them. For some reason, this did not make Tia feel any better at all.
"Of all things! That's the worst thing she could've said," Tia whined to Aladdin, Vanessa and Elijah, as everybody returned to their own conversations, waiting for Figg to pay and come back to the table.
"Fear of heights never made much sense to me," Elijah remarked.
"Oh, is that so?" Tia retorted, angrily. "What are you afraid of then? I'm sure it's completely rational."
"I'm not afraid of anything," he responded.
"Ha! Not afraid of anything, my aunt Petunia! I'm going to discover your fear before this trip is out and expose you," she said.
"Good luck discovering something that isn't there," he argued. She glowered at him.