Frost on the Green (The Green Girl sequel) ✓

Chapter 8

Caden's POV

It's time to wake up, wake up, wake up...

And then for some make up, make up, make up...

I rolled in bed and turned Alice's alarm off.

"Why can't you change your tune?" I inquired, moving back to my previous position and wrapping my arm around my girlfriend's waist.

"Caden, we've had this conversation before," she muttered sleepily.

"You said it was a parting gift from Skyler for when you moved in with your aunts. But now he lives right across from us. Don't you think we've enough of him already?"

"Perhaps," she yawned. "But as I said before: it is a pretty affective alarm. We should get up or we will be late for classes."

She rose up and I made our bed while waiting for my turn in the bathroom. Once I was done with my morning grooming routine, I sat on the table and nibbled on the toast that Alice had made.

"I'll be coming home later today," my girlfriend announced, taking a sip of her tea. "Beth wants to go shopping for the fair after classes."

Ah, yes. The three-day annual festivities back at my hometown were less than a couple of weeks away. As per usual, day one would be a historical lecture at the town hall, day two – a reconstruction of a battle and day three – an evening carnival. Many of the people would get dressed up because, as Alice once put it, the last day was "pretty much like Halloween but without the trick or treating." Kee, Sky, Ash, Beth, Alice and I had decided to skip the first couple of days but attend the carnival.

"So what is Beth dressing up as?" I asked, taking another piece of toasted bread.

"She doesn't know yet. We'll just go through the shops and hope to get inspired," Alice said the last word in a different intonation so I knew she was quoting her best friend. "Wouldn't it be great to go back to that town though? And I don't mean simply because of the fair, although that is definitely a bonus. I can't wait to see some of the people there even though I'm nervous about having to sleep under the same roof as Elanor again. At least it's only for one night."

I cleared my throat.

"Yeah, about going back there..."

"You still want to go, right?" She questioned, suddenly anxious that I might've changed my mind. I could see how badly she wanted to attend the festivities even with her mother being there.

"No, I want to go. But I don't think Elanor is going to be the worst of our problems."

Alice gave me a quizzical look.

"Gavin's back in town."

Her green eyes widened in surprise before concern spread across her pretty face again.

"When did he return?"

"Logan told me about it after my first day at the Academy," I started to explain and she frowned slightly. Maybe I should've told her sooner? "Look, at first I didn't want to make you worry about me and then I just kind of put it at the back of my mind."

"Oh."

I grabbed her hand and squeezed it.

"You aren't mad at me, are you, my little Alice?"

"There you go again using 'my little Alice' to appease me," she commented with a hint of a smile. "And I'm not angry; I'm just nervous to meet your father."

"Wait, you want to meet him?" I blurted out in surprise.

She pouted again.

"Why wouldn't I? I'm your girlfriend, Caden, so you will have to eventually introduce us to each other."