Excluded [On Hold]

Excluded (Chapter Three)

Chapter Three

~Jayden~

Chris and I flew down in a hover-ship that only goes a few feet off the ground all the way to the center of Harmony.  There, the festival had just began.  It was around noon and was very nice outside.  There wasn't a cloud in sight and the air surrounding us was as warm as I would have liked.  Talk about perfect weather conditions.

"Are you meeting anyone there?" Chris asked me as I stuck my head over the side of the hover-ship, only to be slapped in the face by a leaf that had fallen off of a nearby tree.

"Yeah," I answered, removing the leaf and pulling my had back, leaning on my seat.  I began to count on my fingers.  "Justine, Shane, Adam, Aqua, and... uh, oh yeah!  And Evey."

"You be careful, yah hear?"

"Psh, that's easy." I waved his worry aside.

"I'm serious.  There is going to be a LOT of people, so don't get lost in the crowd or hurt."

"Yeah yeah."

Chris was sitting next to me, driving.  There were two vacant seats behind us.  Our- or should I say his- hover-ship wasn't very large.  There were some that flew high above any buildings and leaves that threatened to hit you in the face.  Some looked like boats, sailing through the clouds.  Chris's was pretty average, since this was the size most people had.

"Almost there," Chris informed me.  I leaned foreword as he took a sharp right turn, almost hitting him in the face because of it.  I could now see loads of people all filing into on area: the center of Harmony.

My face lit up as we came to a halt.  I instantly jumped out and ran over to get lost in the crowd.  I squeezed myself between people, eager to meet up with my friends.  I darted past many booths with people selling things, but I didn't give anything a second glance.  We had all promised each other that we wouldn't make any detours on our way to the meeting place.

When I reached our meeting place in front of a large building, Shane and Aqua was already there.

"Look who it is!  Jay!" Shane welcomed me when I ran up to them.

"Hi guys," I greeted them.  I looked around.  "Where are the others?"

"They aren't here yet," Aqua played captain obvious.  Then again, I did ask.

"That's right!  You, me, and Ah-coo-wah," Shane said.

"That isn't how you pronouce my name, Shane," Aqua scolded him.

"It's the best nickname I could come up with."  He rested his head on his palm, thinking.  "Hmm, what else could I call you?  How about... Aquana?"

"Better than 'Ah-coo-wah.'" She made a hand motion when she said her nickname.

Just then, Justine jogged over to us.  I looked at her hands.  Once again, she was wearing her white gloves.  She always wore them, I didn't understand why though.  She seemed to really like them.  They were plain white, only covering her palm.  It didn't cover any of her arm or fingers.

"Hey there everybody!" She jumped up with glee.

"Not everybody yet," Aqua corrected her.

Justine looked around, just as I had.  "Well, I guess we'll just have to wait until they get here."  She folded her arms and started tapping her left foot, waiting.

We didn't have to wait long.  Adam and Evey both arrived within a few minutes.  Once we were all gathered, we started walking around, stopping by some of the booths now and then.  We had lunch together, finding a table outside one of the buildings.  When we sat down to eat, I noticed Evey wasn't there.