The Serpent Queen

Fire and Ice | Part Five

A few days later, Valley Fest was in full swing. The sun was out with not a cloud in the bright blue sky. The event was a mixture of a carnival and an exhibition show.

Everyone who was everyone in the Valley was there. All the Cobras were there as Johnny had a surprise for them later that night. But they were free to roam around during the day to do whatever they wanted.

Even Raymond who worked at the hardware store and sold Johnny the mirror was in attendance. He stood by a fried chicken food stand. The worker took the chicken out of the fryer, when the man had other ideas, "Actually, can you not... Can you leave it in a little bit longer? Thank you."

Phoebe and Hawk walked hand in hand around the event. The smell of many different foods and treats, like hotdogs, candy floss, warm popcorn and crepes, blew in the air. The laughter, screams and cries of children of all ages carried into the ears of everyone, along with the sounds effects of all the games. The sound of the music band playing on the main stage. Balloons of different shapes and sizes were also floating about in children's hands.

"Isn't this the perfect Saturday? The sun's out, I'm with my girl at Valley Fest having fun..."

"I'm your girl?" Phoebe rose an eyebrow at him. She was sure that was the first time she heard him refer to her as such.

"Yeah, the one and only."

Phoebe smiled. She had forgiven him for the jealousy episode last Sunday on the beach. But she couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit of tension still in the air. Maybe it was her imagination as she had nothing to be worried about. She had cast the issue of her dad and Kreese out of her head to enjoy her day.

She turned her head to him, "I can think of the other perfect Saturday."

"What?"

"The Italian night."

Hawk had to think about what she meant and then it clicked. The night of their first time. He chucked, "Yeah, that was a perfect night."

Phoebe jumped with the sudden loud sound of many trumpets being blown into. A marching band began walked through the event all in read T-shirt with 'USA' printed on them in the decoration of the American flag.

"Did that scare you?!" Hawk shouted into her ear so she could hear him above the noise of the band.

"No, I was just surprised! I wasn't expecting it!" She shouted back.

"Do you want to go on a few rides?!"

"Yeah! Let's go on the insanely fast and scary ones. I love them!"

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Later that afternoon, Hawk and Phoebe met up with a few other Cobras along with Demetri and Moon.

The group of seven consisting of Phoebe, Miguel, Hawk, Aisha, Bert, Demetri, and Moon, squeezed to sit on both sides of a wooden picnic table all with food and drinks in their hands. They each got something different and set it on the table. It was a sharing platter of sorts, just like their victory celebration after the dojo won the All Valley.

The Serpent Queen took a bite of her burger and then she noticed something missing in-between the several hotdogs, tubs of popcorn, plates of nachos, baskets of fries, burgers, small tubs of sauces, wands of candyfloss, plates of chocolate covered waffles and crepes, "Did anybody get that shitty nacho cheese?"

"Uh, no." Bert said. He sighed, "I forgot."

Hawk nudged her, "What are you talking about, babe? It's cheese."

She swung her leg over the seat, "That shit is not real cheese. It's certainly not a block of cheddar cheese, I'll tell you that." She glanced to the blond boy, "I'll get it, Bert. It's fine."