Chapter 1Part 2
“You are to pick up the Walkers, Rigders, and Anderson parents. Tony will be taking the children and teens of those families got it?” I nodded and he waved me off. I followed orders and went to one of the pack’s blacked out suburbans. I looked at the list of what flights my three families are taking.
 I pulled into the Phoenix Airport parking lot. I had been driving for few hours and had set up a plan for how to time getting each family. The first family was the Anderson’s who would arrive at 8:30 a.m. I checked my watch. They would be landing in a few minutes. I went to the waiting area where they would get off, so they would see me when they did.
 A few minutes later a family of four came out through the doors and looked around. I walked up to them, “Are you the Andersons” and the mother nodded.
 “Parents can you get your stuff gathered, then follow me. The children will be going with Tony to go school shopping, eat, and then head home. I will take you straight home to attend the first meeting.” The parents nodded and they took the kids over to pick up their luggage. The children of the family consisted of a boy about 8 and a girl about 17. I pretended not to notice the girl staring at me.
 After they got all their luggage, the family, Tony, and I went over and they ordered some coffee to drink at Starbucks. I checked my watch, the Ridgers would be landing in a few minutes. I told Tony to stay with the family while I went and got the Ridgers family.
 When they landed I went through the same routine with them that I did with the Andersons. The family of four got some food at Subway to eat. I sat with them while they ate, Tony and the other family were at a store across from us looking around at stuff. I was talking to the Ridger’s twin teenage daughters and their parents when I checked my watch. The Walkers would arrive in about an hour, and then I would have to drive the all the parents back to the meeting. I would have to help my three families get settled in too, it was going to be a very long night.     

Chapter 2 part 1
 As I boarded the plane I readjusted my Victoria Secret’s Pink bag. It was a plain black tote with white lettering. I took my seat in the middle of the plane in between my parents. The plane was your typical plane the colors white, gray, and navy blue. I pulled out my Ipod Nano and set all my music on shuffle. While the music played I would close my eyes and imagine what the song was saying was happening to me.
 The song You Belong To Me from Disney Channel’s Let It Shine really stood out to me. I sung along in my head, and imagined it was happening to me.
 “You wanna know the truth?
Check it out!
How should I describe ya
Sweeter than Godiva
But your thought’s so deeper than a scuba diver
Whether you’re in sweatpants or dressed in Prada
You could make me dizzy like a race car driver
I wanna take you to a party
Hold your hand and show off to everybody
Me, I could be a Jeans in the Hood
‘Cuz you’re so fine you make me look good
(You belong to me)
Oh! You’re the passion in my life
You’re the secret I can’t hide
There will come a day
I can’t wait to say
(Baby you belong to me)
You belong to me girl
And if I let you know tonight
It’ll be alright I bet
You don’t know it yet
But baby you belong to me

Never had a girl get at me like this
She could read my mind, it’s like she a psychic
Every night I’m outside her window
But I can’t let her know how I feel though
Every time she hear my heart skip a beat and
I’m just hoping I can see her on the weekend
I’ll be your best friend, I’ll be your homie
Just stick around so you can get to know me
(You belong to me)
Oh! You’re the passion in my life
You’re the secret I can’t hide
There will come a day
I can’t wait to say
(Baby you belong to me)
You belong to me girl
And if I let you know tonight
It’ll be alright I bet
You don’t know it yet
But baby you belong to me

You’ve been looking for the one
I’ve been looking for a dime
Maybe we can both find it at the same time
I’m blinded by your shine
You’re kinda like the sun
Cause the world revolves around you ’til my days done
I tried to say something but you had me speechless
I had to hit the booth to tell my secrets
See I could spit a lie
But it’s more than my words
How can I describe what an angel deserves

(You belong to me)
Baby you belong..
You’re the passion in my life
You’re the secret I can’t hide
There will come a day
I can’t wait to say
(Baby you belong to me)
You belong to me girl
And if I let you know tonight
It’ll be alright I bet
You don’t know it yet
But baby you belong to me
You belong to me
But baby you belong to me
You belong to me
But baby you belong to me” the lyrics of Disney Channel’s Let It Shine, You Belong To Me still whirled around in my head repeating themselves. The song reminded me of true mates.


 I felt myself being shaken. My eyes fluttered open and I saw my mom smile at me.
 “We just landed. So get your stuff then were supposed to meet some members of the pack.” I nodded then grabbed my pink bag. Everyone started exiting the plane trying to get off first, and I let them. I wasn’t going to push through a crowd for no reason. I waited until most of the people got off, and then I started to exit the plane. I went down to a set of white double doors, and then I walked through them.
 I saw my parents talking to two teenage guys. One was about 5 “10”, was built very athletically, with dirty blonde short hair that was purposely messy, tan skin, and green eyes. The other was about 6 ft. tall, an athletic build too, but he had short brown hair with a reddish tint, his skin a medium between tan and pale, and green eyes.
 The one with blonde hair stared at me for a second, then turned back to talking with my parents. I looked at the group around us. There were three teen girls and a small boy in a circle talking. There was a pair of blonde twins, one waved me over, and I walked over to them. They were laughing when I got there.
 “He was so cute. I hope I see him again. It was a nice two hours.” The blonde that didn’t wave me over sighed dreamily.
 “Yah, I’m so sure you’ll see him again. Did it ever occur to you that his next flight was to Alaska.” Another teenage girl who had black hair with red stripes going through her hair laughed. I felt I could get along with these girls.
 “Why are you girls so boy crazy? Seriously, I’m starting to wish that one of you had a brother, or something.” I smiled at the boy, after he talked.
 “So what’s your story?” the teenage girl that waved me over spoke.
 “My name is Alyson Walker. I am 16, I will be a junior, and I moved here from Malibu.” The twins stared at me with wide eyes.
 “My name is Molly, this is my twin Michelle, and were 17 and juniors from Michigan.” The twin that waved me over smiled at me while she talked, and her twin Michelle waved at me.
 “I’m Ciara, 17, junior, and this is my brother Brice. Were from Texas” she just nodded in the direction of my parents.
 “Hot blondie staring at you twelve o’clock” said Molly, I rolled my eyes. Guys hardly ever stare at me.
 “Don’t joke with me on stuff like that.” I told them, Michelle giggled and hid her mouth with her hand.
 “She isn’t kidding, sneak a glance.” I slowly turned my head. Pretending I was looking out the airport window in the sitting area we were in I looked at the blonde. He was staring at me, like super staring. 
 I felt self-conscious suddenly and remembered what I put on this morning. I had on a gray tank top with lace at the bottom that peeked out of the bright pink Ambercrombie and Fitch Hoodie. The hoodie just said Ambercrombie and Fitch 1892. My legs were encased in blue skinny jeans that had a few rips on the knees and lower thighs, and for shoes I had on pink Vans that matched my hoodie.
The way the guy stared at me made me feel exposed and naked. I shivered, and quickly turned away. I looked back one more time and he smiled at me like I was a kid caught stealing cookies from a cookie jar. I knew he heard everything that we had said about him with his wolf hearing.
 “Alyson, come over here.” My mom’s voice called my name. I dreaded walking over there I would have to pass the blonde and stand next to him if I were to go over there.
 I walked over there, because if I didn’t my mom would be on my case or embarrass me. The blonde stared at me, and smiled when I walked over and stood next to him. The one with the reddish hair, could probably feel my discomfort, because he glared at the blonde.
 “Let’s go get our bags, the rest of the group will wait here.” I nodded and followed my mom and dad to retrieve my luggage from the luggage carousel. I turned back one last time to the group, and the blonde watched me still, I could feel his eyes on me even as my back was turned to him. I felt so vulnerable; one big werewolf rule is never turn your back on a predator. 
 While we waited for our luggage, my mom made small talk.
 “Aly, I want to let you know that your mother and I are going straight up to Heiber, but you’re going to stay here then head up there.” I looked at them confused.
 “Why, what am I supposed to do down here for a few hours?” My father looked at my mother.
 “You need to eat lunch, a big one since you have been traveling. And were going to give you money to go clothes shopping. It will give you a chance to bond with the teen girls, plus the weather is different down here so you will need a wardrobe adjustment.” I just nodded, who would pass up the chance to go shopping, parent free, at someone else’s expense. I only had one question.
 “Don’t all of us teens need a chaperone?” my mom went over and grabbed a few bags I recognized. She handed them to me and my father.
 “You guys have one already, here help me with this last bag.” My mom grabbed the last bag and then my dad helped her set down the huge suitcase. We all traded suitcases and bags until we all had our own things. We all ended up with two big suitcases, a bag around each of the handles, and one or two bags on our arms.
 We walked away from the carousel and headed back towards the group. I chatted with Molly, Michelle, and Ciara. When we got outside and to the parking lot there were two black Suburbans waiting for us, one for the adults and one for the teens. 
 Somehow most of the luggage fit into the adult’s vehicle, and only two suitcases needed to go into our car. The adults figured we would need the space after we went shopping. 
 Before we got into the vehicle, when everyone was saying their goodbyes, my mom gave me her credit card.
 “Here don’t spend too much, okay, have fun.” Mom kissed my head, and I hugged dad.
 “See you tonight” then they left and I turned towards the suburban, and joined in one the laughter of my new friends. I opened up my PINK bag, took out my Coach wallet and slid the card into one of the top compartments. I wasn’t really surprised my parents gave me their credit card, they trusted me. I had never given them a reason not to. 
 I felt my wolf suddenly perk up, I let her have my eyes and she directed my view towards the window. It looked like blondie and redhead were arguing. The redhead waved his hand, rolled his eyes, then walked over to the driver side of the adult’s suburban, and out of my line of view. The last words I heard were the redhead’s, and they echoed in my head.
 “Not my fault when you get in trouble with the alpha, and there will be consequences. If you hurt any of them it will be on your hands not mine.” He had said.
 The blonde walked over towards us.
Don’t walk over here. Don’t get in the vehicle. Don’t please, turn back and switch with the redhead. Please.
I thought this over and over again in my head, but of course the opposite happened. Just my luck. He climbed into the front seat, and looked through the mirror into my eyes, they suddenly glowed a shining purple that was so vivid I felt hypnotized. He smiled at me. His smile was sort of evil, not like supervillin evil, but like, “I know something you don’t ha, ha, ha!” evil.
 “Before we go anyone want to sit in the front?” no one said anything.
 “Alyson, will” Molly volunteered me, I just shook my head but she opened up the door, and practically shoved me out. I had no choice but to go sit up there.   
 When I did everyone still continued to joke, and they paid no attention to Blondie whispered in my ear.
 “So, your Alyson?” I nodded.
 “My name is Tony.” Tony, Tony, I repeated the name in my mind.
 “Do you always stare at girls like there a piece of meat?” I said the first thing that came to mind. He laughed.
 “Only the ones I find fascinating, besides you stare at me too.” I blushed, even though I didn’t mean to.
 “Where do you guys want to eat?” he asked as if nothing happened. What did he mean by only the ones I find fascinating. Was that a hit? Was he interested in me? The questions kept swirling around in my mind keeping me quiet until we arrived at a burger joint.

Chapter 2 Part 2
 I watched Tony pull out of the parking lot, and I followed in suit. Sometimes he was really frustrating. He couldn’t go two minutes without hitting a teenage girl, especially the one with the Walkers. She seemed nice, and she was… pretty. 
 I felt bad because unless she made it very clear she didn’t want him around he wasn’t going to leave her alone. He was just going to use her as a toy, and then leave for a nicer one later.
 I listened to the chit-chat of the adults when my wolf tried to take over. I felt my eyes glow bright purple, and then I heard it, I heard her. My heart raced as he tried to break free, he wanted to find her right away. Her voice something that I had never heard before, it was musical.
 
  My goodness, I wish he would just leave us alone. We are higher than him, don’t stoop to his level.
  
  Suddenly my foot stepped down on the pedal. I needed to get to the alpha now, because of the shortage of mates, anyone who has mating signs is to report to the alpha immediately. I guess we would be home sooner than we planned. I had to get to the Alpha before the meeting started.

Chapter 3 Part 1 I walked into Ambercrombie and Fitch and went into the girls section with Molly. I looked at a few tables, then a shirt caught my eye. It was a very simple gray long sleeve crop top. It was like my hoodie because it only said A&Fitch 92 New York. I picked up my size off the table.  I went down to a wall on the right side of the building. A shirt caught my eye. It was an off the shoulder tee, that was white, but in the middle there was a gray and white striped bow. I picked up my size of the shirt. I always had a thing for bows, on my accessories and clothes.  I looked at Molly, she had a few things in her hands also. We laughed, and then she pointed to another table full of shorts. I was attracted to the lime green pair. They were just so bright. I picked them up in my size, and they were the last pair in my size.   I hummed along to the music as a pair of earrings caught my eye. They were sunflowers, but the middle was brown, and the petals were a creamy yellow-peachy-white color with a tiny tint of light brown. I went up to the register. I didn’t look at the cost, I didn’t want to feel guilty, and the I left the store with Molly.   Ciara and I went into Victoria’s Secret while the twins went and got ice cream with Tony and Brice. I had picked out a few bra’s, some boyshorts undies, and I then went over to the pink section. I picked up a bright pink loosely hung tee that said LOVE PINK. On my way to the register I had picked out two tubes of Beauty rush in a sparkly light pink color, and a perfume bottle of PINK’s perfume Sweet and Flirty. When I checked out again I didn’t look at the price. You don’t need to feel guilty about this, they made you move, if you hadn’t moved you wouldn’t need to go shopping. I told myself.  Since they were still eating ice cream we decided to go into Holister. I didn’t pick up much there just a white skirt with a navy blue bow as a belt, a light washed denim jacket, and a pleated chiffon mini-skirt in the color of a light blue mint.  Then Ciara decided to go get ice cream, and Michelle told me she would take me to her favorite store. I never could quite catch the name, but it was really nice. While I was there I got a pair of aqua blue colored Converse, a set of bracelets with the colors blue, pink, green, and purple. Some were woven, some were like a pearl bracelet, and one had a peace sign charm. The last thing I bought was a pastel blue dress that had golden braided spaghetti straps, and a golden belt tied in a bow.  As I walked back with Michelle she started talking randomly, something she said really caught my eyes.  “Yes, that’s why I wanted to go dress shopping.” I couldn’t comprehend what she was saying there for a moment.  “I’m sorry, but what did you just say? I couldn’t hear you.” She laughed.  “I said tomorrow to celebrate all the pack coming together there is going to be a dance held. It’s going to be guys choice, and the rule is you must go with the first person who asks you.” why would they do guy’s choice? Shouldn’t it be girl’s choice?  “Why would they do that?” I asked her, obviously she knew more than I did about the dance.  “That’s what I heard, I didn’t confirm it. The invatations should go out tonight, I guess we’ll have to wait till then.” She shrugged her shoulders and by now we had walked back to the place where they had eaten ice cream, Tony said we would meet up here in an hour and now it was past an hour. Suddenly someone tugged my hair gently. They pulled my hair to face them. It was Tony, he handed me a lavender colored rose. Then he smiled at me. I smiled at him.  “Thanks, but what’s it for?” he just shrugged. He turned back to the group, and I blushed when Molly looked at me with her mouth hung open, Michelle just stared then smiled at me, and Ciara just raised one of her eyebrows.  “We better get going, so you guys can unpack and still be able to go to bed early.” And with that we headed towards the van so we could go “home”, which wasn’t really home at all to me.

Chapter 3 Part 2

I knocked on the oak door and waited to be invited in.
 “You may enter.” I took in a breath and walked in. My alpha smiled when I entered.
 “What would you like to discuss my Gamma and soon to be Beta?” I sat down in one of the navy blue chairs in front of his desk. I bared my neck, showing that I respected him, and then thought about how to say it.
 “Well, you see, when I was driving some of the pack adults here…” I scratched my head.
 “Which you did excellently.” He smiled at me, urging me to continue, but I didn’t really know how I wanted to say it.
 “Whatever you are trying to say, out with it. I don’t want any secrets between us.” I loved my alpha, he was one of the greatest people I know.
 “When I was driving suddenly my wolf went sort of on a rampage, and tried to come out.” This time he scratched his head in thought. He was trying to figure out what could have caused it.
 “Then I heard a voice in my head.” He looked at me suspiciously. 
 “What kind of voice?” he looked at me with worry set in his face.
 “What do you mean like what kind of voice sir?” 
 “Like male, female, good, evil, young, or old?” he stated.
 “It was female, good, and I’m pretty sure young.” He looked worried for a second before his face set in a huge grin. I obviously wasn’t in on the secret, and I wanted to know.
 “My boy I think you have found a connection to your mate.” I gulped.
 “How will I find her?” he grinned at me. This grin wasn’t just a grin, it was his, “ I have a plan” grin.
 “I have a perfect way to find her. At the dance tomorrow you will dance with every girl, that shall be the theme. Let me change the invitations, and then I shall send them out. Now that I think about it, moving the whole pack here. Three people have already found there mates, or have been connected and one of those people happen to be my son. This is very good considering the mate shortage.” I nodded and left knowing my situation would be in good hands. 

Chapter 4 Part 1
 I was shaking, I opened my eyes, not knowing where I was. I expected to see my bedroom cloaked with darkness because of the night. I didn’t all I saw was some blonde guy shaking me, he smiled at me.
 “Were here, sleepy head.” I saw some hair had fallen out of my bun. I stretched and got out of the van. The blondie grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the lit garage.
 “I already took care of your luggage, I’ll show you your room.” I just nodded I was too tired to argue, today had been… I didn’t even know how to describe today.
 We walked down a long hallway filled with doors. We stopped at one. With the numbers 317.
 “Why are the door’s numbered? I thought my family and I were going to have our own cabin.”
 “All of the pack is here because we don’t know if you guys are going to be here permanently or not so were doing things differently than we planned. For example you have a roommate” he opened the door to reveal Molly. I smiled at her and she smiled back.
“You will be sharing a bathroom with Michelle and Ciara. You can lock the bathroom door to not have them come in. And the guy’s rooms are in a wing that faces opposite of your dorms. Tomorrow I’ll come by here at 8:00a.m. to give you the full tour.” He walked out of the room and closed the door, I went over and locked it by instinct.
 “Looks like he really likes you” Molly got up from her bed. It was a simple room, if you took out all the furniture there would be only one big window in the back wall. The furniture was set so on the left and right wall there was a wooden bed nestled between the left or right wall, and the window wall. Beside both beds there was a simple oak desk and a wooden chair to match. On the other side of both desks there was an oak dresser with six big drawers. On the right side of the room the rest of the space was taken up by the bathroom, but on the left side there was a built in closet, for the two people to share. If you opened it up there would be a lot more space, considering it was a smaller walk-in.    
 I noticed she had chosen the right side of the room, and all her stuff was set-up and packed in. it looked as if she had been living here already.
 “How did you unpack so quickly?” she started laughing.
 “I started unpacking like two hours ago and finished a few minutes ago.” I looked at her wide-eyed when I started sleeping on the road I figured someone would wake me up.
 “Why didn’t anyone wake me?” she shrugged for a second, as if deciding what she should and shouldn’t tell me.
 “Well, you were sleeping when we pulled up into the garage, and Tony said he would wake you up and take your things inside. So everyone left you there. He took your stuff in and set it in the closet, and that’s all I know.” I looked at her, she looked like she was telling the truth, but my she-wolf said something else. She could be hiding something I suppose, I hardly know her so I don’t know if she is good at lying or not, and I don’t know what signals she gives out when she is lying. I told my wolf she gave a little humph, and settled back down. She was giving me a warning to let me know not to rely on my human instincts.
 “Are you sure that’s all?” she looked at me than suddenly grinned.
 “You talk when you sleep.” She giggled and I stared in horror. What had I said? I thought back to one time when I was on loopy gas. I had told Ashley that I was a mermaid and that I was on love with a chocolate bar, and a few other things. 
 “What did I say?” she looked at me for a second.
 “More than you’ve said all day. In fact sometimes in the car we would stop and listen to what you would say then come up with random stories about what you said.” I just stared which urged her to continue. 
 “What kind of things did I say?” 
 “Well it started when you were whispering the name Ashley. Ashley, Ashley, Ashley, and you would continue to say. Until you started twisting and turning saying mine, mine, mine, and that’s all you would say. So that’s pretty much it.” I blew out a sigh of relief, I felt better knowing I hadn’t said something completely embarrassing. I still wondered about why I had said mine, when we heard a knock at the door. Molly went over and looked out the peep hole, and then she unlocked the door.
 I turned back trying to decide if I wanted to unpack or not. 
 “Thank you so much” Molly told the person at the door.
I decided to unpack now so I wouldn’t have to do it tomorrow. I went over to the closet and pulled out the first suitcase. Then I set it on my bed and opened it, the first thing I pulled out was my Apple laptop. I set it down on my desk. Suddenly Molly thrust a red envelope in my hands, it looked identical to the one she had in her hands. Then she handed me a purple one, she didn’t have one like it, only the red one. 
 She tore hers open and looked at it for a second.
 “The red one’s the invitation to the dance.” I nodded and carefully opened mine, and I tried not to rip the envelope and succeeded. I turned the envelope over and read the back.
Alyson, it read in its elegant script, staring at me from the page. I pulled out a card, and in the same elegant hand written script, it read:

Dear Alyson,

We are having a dance party from 8.00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. tomorrow, July 29 in our Ballroom. Our program shall include a steak dinner, dessert and then dancing. Please dress in black-tie attire, and remember that your seating will already arranged. You will be free to dance with whomever you would like, but a few dances you will have a random partner. Hope to see you there. 
Please remember that this a pack event and that means no one outside of the pack is allowed entry. Meaning you must have an invitation to enter.

Sincerely,

Your Pack Alpha
A.K.A. Tomas Parker
 I reread the elegant script over. I knew exactly what I was going to wear. It will be a good chance to get to know my family better, I told myself. What’s the worst that could happen?
 Molly looked up from her card, she must of read slower than me. I was a pretty fast reader, she continued to stare at me for a second before she smiled. She ran her hand through her wavy blonde hair.
 “Are you going, I am, it sounds like a ton of fun.” I nodded in agreement. 
 I walked over to my bare bed and sat down on the blue mattress. I looked at the purple envelope in my hands. Molly watched me and I shrugged.
 “Open it, it’s the only way we’ll know what it’s about or who it’s from.” I nodded my head and I carefully opened the lilac colored envelope. I tried to not rip it and succeeded again like the red envelope. I looked for a name but one wasn’t on the outer side of the envelope. I pulled out a white card and on the front cover there was a picture of a purple rose like the one Tony had given me. I opened up the card, and read it.

  Roses are red and lavender too, what does it mean? It means I love you
-secret admirer

I looked at the paper with my mouth open. I never had a secret admirer; guys weren’t usually interested in me back home. I never could figure out why, Maybe it’s a wolf thing, I thought.
 “What does it say?” Molly looked like she wanted to rip it out of my hands and read it. I handed it to her and picked up my Ipad.
 Rose color meanings, I hit search and I clicked on the first thing I saw.
I scrolled down seeing many colors, but not the one I was looking for. Orange, yellow, blue, white. I scrolled down some more. Red, Pink, Peach, Coral, Black. I looked at the last one on the list. Lavender, the words stared at me. I looked in the column next to it.
  Lavender : Love at first sight, Enchantment.
 “Awww! That’s so sweet, I wonder who it’s from.” I wished I knew the answer. I looked at the clock, 11:43 p.m., and I yawned. 
 I looked at my suitcases. I got up, and decided I would unpack at sonic speed. Molly had offered her help, and I accepted while I stuffed the envelopes into my desk drawer and got to unpacking.
 We had the job done in about an hour, everything had been organized, and we picked up the room. I fell asleep wondering who could of sent the card. Tony? He did give me a lavender rose, but he didn’t seem like the type to go out on secret admirer. He would want to get credit, and there to be no confusion, but he might have. I didn’t know, I would have to ask him tomorrow at breakfast or on the tour.

Chapter 4 Part 2
 I looked around the ballroom, we still needed to add all the balloons, the table cloths, set the table, set up the D.J., and then finalize everything.
 I went over to help with the balloons, and I looked at my Alpha. His plan was outrageous, but it could work.
 He was going to make me talk to each girl in the pack. The first batch of girls I was supposed to talk to was the planning and set up committee. Later at dinner, a different set, and then at dessert I would go and sit with some more. Finally he wanted me to dance with some other girls, and then dance with girls who I think could be my mate.
 Alpha smiled at me. He wanted me to find my mate for a few reasons of his own. First, I would be stronger, which would make for a better Beta. Second he wants me to be happy; he was after all, my father figure ever since my dad left.
 I went over next to a girl I didn’t know and Mr. Parker nodded.
 “What’s your name?” the small girl asked me. She was small, and looked fragile, but I thought better of it. She had very pale skin, with a black bob, and blackish eyes. I didn’t feel any connection.
  “Brian, just call me Brian. What’s your name?” she nodded when I said my name.
 “Clara. We should get to work we have a lot to do.” I nodded and helped her finish blowing up the balloons.