JADE

JADE [11]

REMEMBER: VOTE FIRST!

(Wednesday) (January)

-BLUE-

I CAN'T remember the last time I've been to a carnival. I never had time to be a normal teenager like my friends.

But somehow today that's where I winded up after Lehi happily suggested the idea to Kevin. Two hours after I got both myself and Lehi ready, I finally grew enough balls to call Brandon before that same yellow Jeep Wrangler from Monday pulled up in front of my house, shocking the hell out of me when no one other than Ramiah came out to open the doors for us. He greeted me and I returned it skeptically as I looked back and forth between him and Kevin. None of them responded to my unvoiced question. Kevin introduced Lehi and she hugged the man because his car was yellow and shaped like a box, verbatim. I shook my head and Kevin laughed.

She shrieked excitedly the entire time she was in the car and I let her excitement speak for me. It was our first time in a Jeep Wrangler.

On the ride out of Kinspring city, I quietly thanked God for my chatty daughter because the ride would've been an awkward one if she wasn't there to talk both guys' ears off. She asked them questions and they both answered happily as if they were amazed and captivated by her. And like always, she never leaves me out of anything, so she randomly created a game that required all of our participation. The one-and-a-half-hour drive seemed way shorter right then. Especially since Ramiah was driving ten miles under every speed limit because supposedly, there was a baby in the car.

Lehi quickly reminded him that she was a big girl and that she was in a booster seat, and not a baby's.

"I want to go on this one, mommy!" Lehi points and drags me towards the all yellow ride that has a big lighting sign on top of it, reading BumbleBee in huge letters. I watch the kiddie version of the Ferris Wheel that's merely twelve feet off the ground with a smile as I trail behind her speedy little legs.

"I thought you were going to take a break" I remind her for the second time. This ride is going to be her seventh ride, back to back since her dad got her a fast pass and she doesn't have to wait in line for too long, and I wonder how the hell a child has that much energy to spare.

"I can't"

My eyebrows furrow and I turn to look at Kevin. He shrugs with a smirk. "What do you mean, you can't?" I look down at Lehi.

"It's a lotta fun!" She exclaims and her eyes light up like a child on Christmas. The ride stops and the children are given a few seconds to breathe again before they're being ushered off the rides to make available spaces for the upcoming kids.

Lehi quickly attempts to rush in line but I grab her arm. She opens her mouth to protest but I beat her to it "This is your last ride, Mook. You gotta eat before you go on any others, got it?"

"Yes, okay mommy" she rushes out and twists her arm from my grip so that she can go in the line. As she tries to step in the line, another kid attempts at the same time and they bump into each other. Kevin steps forward but I'm quick to put a hand against his chest. Kids are brutal and careless sometimes.

The boy turns to look at Lehi with a huge frown on his face and unexpectedly pushes her onto the ground. This time I'm quick to step forward because what the hell, he's way bigger than her. And he's a freaking boy.

"Excuse me–" I start to say to the chunky ass little boy that pushed my daughter, after getting her off the ground of course, but Kevin doesn't let me finish.

"Keep your hands to yourself little buddy. She's a girl!" He scolds the kid and before he can say anything else, Lehi walks up to the kid and swing, nailing him right in the face.