After spending the night in Kent's dorm, we traipsed back to mine to get dressed. I silently prayed Divina had some form of clothes on when we walked in. I knocked just in case. A small "come in" could be heard from the other side so I opened the door and we walked in. Divina was up, in sweats and only just pulling a shirt down. I instinctively clamped my hand over my eyes. "Are you decent?" I said. "Yea your good." She spoke back. I took my hand down and went to my bed to charge my phone.
Yoko was passed out still, so I tried to keep my voice down. "We have to go down to that outreach thing today, don't we?" Both twins nodded at me and I hummed in response. None of us were dressed in uniform yet, and we had an hour until we had to be in the quad. "I'm getting dressed, Div you should probably wake your girlfriend up." The siren looked down at the sleeping vampire with a smile.
"I'll leave you to it." I spoke again, grabbed my uniform in one hand and Kent's hand in the other. We traipsed all the au back to his room and I plopped back down on his bed. "Go get dressed, fish boy." I spoke up when I caught him staring at me. "You first, mermaid." He grinned and walked over to his closet. I groaned and rolled off his bed. It would be great to just lie in bed all day.
Finally we were both dressed after some complaining and jokes on mine and his end. We met up with Divina, Yoko and Bianca in the quad before the hour was up. Principal Weems walked out in front of all the students gathered with us. "Ahem, attention everyone. All students will report for their volunteer jobs at 10:00am sharp, followed by a community lunch at 1:00pm." As she spoke the teachers milled through the group of students, passing out folders with our jobs.
"As you know, this year outreach day culminates a very special event. The dedication of a new memorial statue in the town square which will also include performances by Nevermore students." Weems continued her speech. "As representatives of our school, I trust you will be on your very best behaviour." She scanned the crowd and he eyes landed on a specific someone. No doubt a particular pigtailed upstart.
The kids all dispersed then, and I turned to Kent who was next to me. "What'd you get?" He opened his folder. "Pilgrim world. You?" I opened mine and a grin spread across my face. "Pilgrim world." We found the others after and it turned out we all had pilgrim world. Even Yoko. Everyone headed out to the buses waiting for us and all the Nevermore kids travelled down to Jericho. I had only been to this town once, when Kent took me out to that fancy restaurant.
It was only a short drive down the windy roads and the buses parked by park. Everyone hopped out and Divina and Kent ran ahead, laughing at eachother, while I walked behind with Yoko and Bianca. "They're so cute, adorable." I spoke to Yoko with a smile in my voice. Even with her sunglasses on, you could tell she was giving Divina heart eyes. "They are. We are so lucky."
When we got to the park, there were to sets of stands to sit on. One for the Nevermore kids and one for the normies. I found the twins beckoning us over to where they'd saved us seats. We clambered up to the middle row and waited until everyone was settled. Principal Weems and Mayor Walker came together in front of us all. "Alright, everyone take a seat. We have a special announcement."
Once the clapping stopped the mayor started again. "Welcome, welcome Nevermore academy. Now, on behalf of the entire Jericho community, we are so, so pleased to have you here today. Your generosity and hard work are truly.. outreachous!" He attempted to make a joke, but the crowd was silent. "Okay, everyone. We'll see you back here at 1:00 for lunch. Enjoy!" Principal Weems spoke up and everyone left.
Our little group went to pilgrim world and joined the group of other students. Unfortunately for me, my nemesis-in-training was also in attendance. Wednesday had joined Eugene up the front of the group. A spritely lady dressed in.. questionable clothing grabbed out attention up the front and informed us we'd be working in the fudge factory.
——
Pilgrim world was certainly entertaining. In the span of a couple of hours I had seen Wednesday sneaking off to the meeting house, Eugene sneaking off to the meeting house, and both getting in trouble. Now we go back to the park for lunch. And that statue unveiling. Our group walked back, laughing and gossiping about what we had seen and heard. I held Kent's hand the entire walk back.
When everyone was back in their seats the Principal and Mayor stood in front and have another speech. "It is my honour to celebrate our town's history and Jericho's noble forefather, Joseph Crackstone. Now, he believed that with a happy heart and an open ear, there was nothing our town couldn't achieve.
"So together as one, our community and our friends at Nevermore academy, we've built a monument to celebrate his memory. Now may the spirit of Joseph Crackstone be memorialised for eternity!" The band that was set up on the right of the stands started playing a very peppy version of Fleetwood Mac. I noticed Wednesday down there with them playing on her cello. Then a sparking caught my eye by the popcorn cart.
I told Kent and pointed it out, he was confused and didn't know what I meant. "It's gunpowder. She's gonna blow the statue up." A look of realisation dawned on his face and I laughed into my hand. He was just a bit slow sometimes, but I still loved him for it. We alerted the others; Bianca, Divina and Yoko, and waited patiently until the sparks had reached the edge of the fountain.
Then we ducked down as the water burst into flames. It caused utter chaos amongst everyone there. The students all ran screaming, the teachers that were there all had expressions ranging from scared to absolute confusion on their faces, and Wednesday was still sitting in her chair, playing her cello. Only now, it was a intense collection of staccato notes.
The fire brigade had been called and they finally put out the raging fire that had melted the statues' face down. Principal Weems was furious. She had collected Wednesday immediately after she left the park for the bus. I didn't hear the conversation but I knew she was the first suspect. All the Nevermore students were loaded onto the bus almost directly after everything had calmed down. It was sad to say, but the normies would blame us no matter who lit that fire.
