The Tale of Your Ordinary Girl

Chapter 9- Luciana

"Mr. and Mrs. Blake." I greet them as they walk with my parents. "Momma, daddy!" I hug them and kiss my father's cheek. Ashton greets his parents formally.

"Tickets for the carnival. Mr. and Mrs. Blake, your mother and I will be at the raffles. You and Ashton go have fun." My father tells me handing me a few bills. "I'll see you two in front of the cotton candy machine by the raffle booths in 3 hours. Then we'll all go get dinner."

"Bye daddy. Thank you." I tell him taking the ticket and the money kissing his cheek again. Ashton and I walk into the carnival it was kinda awkward, but I waited for him to get off the rides and we walked silently between rides.

"Hi cutie," a blonde girl walks up and wraps her arms around his right arm. Another girl, brunette this time, pushes me out of the way latching onto his other arm.

"Fancy seeing you here." A familiar voice greets as I stumble into something hard, "What brings you here."

"My family is here with Ashton and his family."

"The guy with the two girls latched onto him?" Jonathan asks incredulously. "This guy is the one you spent your morning showing around town?"

"Yeah," I sigh, "So, what are you doing here?"

"I'm stalking you," he says seriously, I give him a nervous look stepping away from him, "I'm kidding, my mom wanted to see what the carnival was about, she's looking at the raffles."

"So are my parents." I tell him, "Maybe they'll run into each other."

"Maybe." Jonathan answers his fingers brush against my hand, he then reaches and takes my hand, "Maybe."

I smile and look over to him, "Let's play some carnival games." I tell/ask him, "Come on." He nods with a grin we walk to the first game.

"Step right up, knock over all the pins and win a prize," a game attendant calls, "You young man, how bout winning that girl of yours a prize?"

Jonathan looks over and back at me, he shrugs and nods. We both walk over to the booth, I sit on the booth and watch him. He exchanges three dollars for three balls. He pitches the ball perfectly, knocking all the towers down with the first throw, the attendant can't believe it. Jonathan smiles proudly. Retrieving two of the dollars back. The attendant stands astonished.

"Winner!" The man calls ringing a bell. "What prize would you like?"

Jonathan looks over to me. I see a small grey dolphin and point it out. He nods to the attendant and hands me the dolphin. I cradle it with a smile. "Thank you."

"Your welcome, now what next?" Jonathan asks.

"Carrousel?" I ask him eagerly Jonathan nods and we both race to the ride.

"Two tickets to ride." the man at the booth says. We both hand him two tickets. I climb on a grey horse toward the inside. Jonathan hops on the one next to me. What is it about him that makes me feel so safe? I see Ashton and the two girls making their way to me. And they come to ride. He pays for all three of them. The blonde girl comes over and looks at me.

"I want that horse." She tells me, "And that stuffed animal."

I don't say anything. I couldn't think of anything to say. Jonathan steps in. "She was here first." He says, "And I won that prize for her. Not you. So go find someone else to harass."

The blonde girl makes some high pitched weird noise, and stays where she was. Jonathan gets off his horse and hops on the back of mine. "Go along with it." He whispers. I nod cuddling the dolphin closer. The ride begins and Ashton and the brunette come over the blonde looks mortified that the ride would start without her seated and ready. Ashton takes a double take at me. Jonathan's arm is around my waist holding onto the post, the other is by my side holding on. All I'm doing is cuddling the dolphin. The ride ends and Jonathan walks off with me.

"My favorite ride almost ruined," I sigh and keep walking it's been a few hours, so I'm heading to the raffles cotton candy stand with or without Ashton. "Thank you for defending me back there."

"Any time." He tells me reaching for my hand again, this time I meet him half way.

I see my father and mother with Ashton's parents and a tall slender lady. "Daddy!"

"Hello sweetie." My father greets me warmly. "How was the carnival?"

"I enjoyed it," I tell him, Jonathan stands next to the tall lady with long hair, blonde just like Jonathan, "Daddy, this is Jonathan Pembroke, Jonathan, this is my father. Don Sterling. My mother Jean Sterling."

"Luciana this is my mother Cathy Pembroke," Jonathan gestures to the woman he was standing by, "Mom, Luciana Sterling."

"Pleasure to meet you Ms. Pembroke." I greet her as Jonathan greets my parents.

"Where's Ashton dear?" Mrs. Blake asks.

"I'm not sure ma'am," I admit two girls came and swept him away. Ashton strolls up looking at Jonathan who stays between his mother and me.

"Mother, father," Ashton greets his parents with a nod.

"Where were you?" Ashton's father asks, "We left Luciana with you we expected the two you two come back together. You were supposed to watch her and take care of her."

I take a step back both appalled and offended. "I'm not her babysitter," Ashton argues loudly.

"Luce," my father whispers to me, "you and Jonathan go find a table and some food for the five of us. We will join you later. The Blake's too maybe." My father holds out a few more crumpled bills."

"Okay daddy." I answer kissing his cheek, taking the money, and heading away with Jonathan.

"We can go to that booth there." Jonathan points out a booth with all kinds of food. "Looks like a good variety of food." I nod in agreement and we both buy food for our parents and selves.

"I have so much food, I must look like a pig." I sigh.

"Cutest pig I've ever seen," Jonathan says as we sit down separating our food by who it belongs to.

Ashton comes over with his and his parents food in a huff dropping it onto the table and sitting down. "This is all your fault." He tells me.

"How is it my fault?" I ask him.

"It just is." He huffs.

"It's not my fault you got in trouble for ditched me for two girls. That's all you." I point out taking a fry and dipping it the honey mustard.

"You could've covered for me."

"And lie to my parents face? Yeah. No thanks."

"If you didn't t want to get in trouble you shoulda stayed with her." Jonathan says, "You can't pin this one on her."

"No one asked you Blondie," Ashton snarls as our parents all walk over.

"We've come to an agreement, Luciana we'd like you and Ashton to spend time together, maybe you could rub off on him." Mr. Blake says. "Do you mind?"

"I, uh, I." I stutter, "I don't know if it's that good of an idea. What if he influences me?" I argue weakly. My father gives me a stern look, "Yes sir." I look down at my food. This is going to be a long pointless waste of my time.