The Lying Game

29.

W I L L I A M

The teachers open up the doors and all the little children are bunched up at the door They see Emani and their mouths drop open and eyes light up. "Ms. T! Hello Hug" All the kids run up and bombard Emani with hugs.

"Hello hug!" She hugs them back with the same amount of excited energy. "Ashlei I love your hair!" A girl with braids that go into a high ponytail with the ends dyed pink flips her hair.

"Ms. E! Ms. E!" A girl bounces up and down. "Dance party" She sings and starts doing a little dance. "Dance party"

"Dance party" Emani sings echoing the little girls' tune. "Dance party" Emani begins doing a little dance as well. Soon all the other kids join along and start singing the words "Dance Party". Emani laughs with all the kids and their smiles grow from her laughter. Her eyes glance at me and she's brought back into reality.

"Kids this is my husband, Mr. Harrington."

Their tiny bodies turn towards me. They're big eyes look at me as if if they're examining what kind of person I am.

"Where's the cake?" One of the little boys asks.

"Yeah Ms.T, you said you would bring cake." Another girl chimes in.

Emani's face drops but she smiles. "It's on it's way." She glances at me and gives me a wary look. The children high five each other with excitement. Emani bends down to their height and whispers something while looking at me. The children run my way and they all hug my legs.

"It's a hug avalanche!" Emani says with a big deep voice.

"Woah you kids are so strong I'm falling." The children laugh as I pretend to fall to the ground. "Guess it's time for the tickle monster." I try to tickle all of them as giggles escape from them left and right. "Now it's the roller coaster ride." The kids that are hanging on to my legs and arms I lift up and down while making roller coaster noises.

"I want a roller coaster ride."

"Yeah, I want one too,"

"I want a turn"

Some more kids try to get on me as well.

"Okay everyone off of Mr. William." Emani says. The children protest in groans but obediently get off of me. I stand up while holding two kids hands. A boy with dreadlocks and a thumb in his mouth and a little girl with two puffs on her head wearing a tutu. They were the quietest ones and latched their hands onto mine as soon as I got up.

"Are you seriously Ms. E's husband?" Ashlei asks me.

"Yes, I seriously am." I chuckle at her forward personality.

"Do you love her?" She raises an eyebrow and leans in.

I force a smile."Of course." My eyes meet hers for a split second before looking back at Ashlei.

"Okay that's Perfect." Phoenix walks up beside me. "We have enough here, Let's keep going." He nods at Emani. I sigh, I look behind me and see the camera men and photographers with their cameras pointed at me. I barely noticed their presence. It's frustrates me how we had to come here as a publicity stunt as another last minute attempt of gaining voters before the election. I objected but as usual I got no say. Emani was onboard and okay with us coming. It still felt wrong to me. These kids shouldn't be used as props for a commercial but they should be the highlighted protagonists in the first place.

"Everyone say goodbye to Mr. William."

"Bye Mr. William," They all say in unison.

"It was nice meeting all of you." Their teachers begin to escort them out of the parking lot. The boy and girl are still holding my hands. I let go and bend down in front of them. I hold out both of my hands in front of the boy. He excitedly slaps them.