Wandering Fireflies

Chapter 9: The Festival

Song: Stranger Things by Kygo ft One Republic

"Guys, we have a problem." We all snapped our attention to Benji. Katja looked like she was about to pass out.

"Oh no. What is it?"

"Apparently, there's going to be a snowstorm on Sunday, so we might get caught in it and who knows the delay it could cause..."

"Easy. We just leave right after our performance. It's in the evening but it's not too much of a problem to drive at night. We'll just take turns keeping Benji up. Problem solved," said Ariadne.

"Thank the Universe, I was just about to have a heart attack!" Cried our ever so dramatic Katja. "So...we good to leave now? We got everything? Wait a sec - where's Zaavan?" She looked over at me.

"Oh he's still sleeping..."

"WHAT?! Why didn't he come with you?! We're going to be late! Vance, why didn't you wake him up? Ugh, can you go get him please?!" I get that she was stressed, but how could I face him after last night?

"Um...I can call him?"

"VANCE!"

Kennedy rolled her eyes. "See what I mean? He always freaks out like this for no reason."

"Okay, I'll just go get him," exclaimed Ariadne in an exasperated voice. Se didn't need to though, because just then, we saw Dashiell walking towards us with an exhausted looking Zaavan by his side. I swear I nearly stopped breathing.

"Guess who was still asleep-"

"Great! We have everyone. Now let's go!" We started walking in the opposite direction of the parking lot.

"Wait, aren't we taking the RV?" asked Benji.

"We can't. There's no way we're going to get parking when we get there, so we'd have to park far away and then walk," replied Katja. "Instead, the organizers arranged for transportation. They got us bicycles so we can bike there. It's not too far though - just half an hour." We arrived at the bike shack and Ariadne got busy with the paperwork.

This was bad. This was really bad. I couldn't bike anymore, it just reminded me of aunt Lucy. There was no way I would be able to get back on a bike.

"We all good?" asked Katja.

"Hey, you guys know what? I didn't really get to work out all break so I was thinking that Vance and I should jog there. You know, to get some exercise in..."

"Biking is exercise too," retorted Kennedy. Zaavan gave Katja a look that I couldn't read, but clearly, she got some sort of message.

"You know what, that's smart. You guys go ahead, we'll meet up there." With that being said, Zaavan and I broke into a jog and made our way to the festival.

"Why did you do that?" I snapped once we were out of earshot. He simply shrugged.

"The second we got to the bike shack you looked like you were gonna pass out...so yeah." He looked away, suddenly nervous. "Hey, about last night..." I stopped dead in my tracks. Why was he bringing that up? Why couldn't he just act like it didn't happen?

"Look, it was nothing. Just forget about it."

"Stop saying that!" he snapped. "Seriously, you were crying, okay? You seemed really freaked out..."

"It's none of your business, okay?!" I was hysterical at this point.

"You're seriously starting to piss me off man. You know that your life is screwed up and you're freaking out about it, yet you will do nothing about it. I don't get why people like you just wait for others to come save you while you do nothing about your life yourself to change it. And the worst part is when someone does come by and is actually willing to help, you don't let them." Wow. Zaavan was usually pretty chill. I've never seen him all worked up like this before. "Nothing is going to change unless you- " At this point, I couldn't take it anymore.