Checkers

Chapter 20 - The Kiss

Luke's suggestion left me wondering. I didn't go anywhere near Elliot but I wasn't so lucky the next day. Grandma V wanted all of us in her office bright and early the next morning because she had an announcement.

I got to her office last which was actually good since I chose to sit beside Luke and away from Elliot. Making quick eye contact with him only brought back the memory of Luke's words. Elliot didn't even acknowledge my arrival in the room.

"Wonderful," Grandma V praised as she clapped her hands to get our attention. "Congratulations on completing your second challenge."

I raised my hand after she was finished with her sentence. "Yes Francesca?"

I stood up and walked over to Grandma V and faced the boys as though I was speaking to everyone in the room, "For this next challenge, can someone please tell me if there is a hidden thing I'm actually being testing on?"

The boys exchanged glances and Grandma V turn faced me, "Are you saying that no one told you to pace yourself? Didn't the judge specifically say that the race wasn't timed?" 

"Well yes," I muttered trying not to let this be my fault.

Grandma made a small noise then added, "Well we will be sure to be clear on the next challenge which is precisely why I called you three here in the first place." 

I returned to my seat next to Luke and resumed listening to her.

"Now, you all know that the parade will be in three days time. Until then, you three will be busy decorating the float that you will be carried on. You will start today. Antonio has the design and will show you out to the float's frame," she explained and as if on cue, Antonio walked in.

"When do we have to arrive?" Luke asked.

"You are all scheduled to be there at 8 o'clock sharp." Grandma V replied.

I raised my hand again and Grandma looked over at me slightly irritated, "I have lessons in the morning."

"Ah, yes, Lady Monida has arranged for afternoon lessons until the parade is through," she answered.

"Alright," Antonio called out with a smile. He held up a poster that had a picture of a standard parade float on it. It consisted of three levels that looked similar to steps. On each step there was a chair and the entire thing was covered in flowers like all the traditional floats one might see in the Rose Parade.

"It looks great," I admired. "But what do we have to do?" The float looked pretty good in the picture what more work could we have to do?

"We will be putting on the flowers," Luke answered for Antonio.

"What?" I gasped. "That will take days!"

"That is why we are starting now," Grandma V cut in. She pointed to the picture and described where we would all be sitting on the float.

"Luke, since you are the oldest, you will be on the highest level. Now, it was very difficult for us to decide who would go on the middle level. We wanted to keep it by age but we decided that since Francesca is the only girl in the competition that she will sit in the middle. That, of course, means that Elliot will be on the lowest level," Grandma explained. I glanced over at Elliot who seemed preoccupied as he looked at the poster with mild interest.

"Alright then, I will let Antonio show you to your work," Grandma went on to say and with a slight curtsy, she left the room.

"Follow me," Antonio commanded leading the way out of the room.

He brought us through the halls and was conscious to keep my distance from Elliot. What if what Luke said was true? Was Elliot avoiding me? If he was then I didn't need to keep my distance because he would do that for me