meeting I

I take the pill between my fingers and put it in my mouth, taking a sip of the mineral water out of a plastic bottle. I swallow in ease as the water makes a space big enough for the pill to go down my throat. I close the cap of the water bottle, walking to my bed, putting the bottle on the nightstand.

I crawl on my bed, my eyes are targeting on the phone that is out of its box. I sit in front of the phone, taking it in my

hand. I shake the phone in my hand, testing the weight of it. It is light, but not a "fake-phone" light, which is a good sign.

I put the phone down on my bed, my hands are working towards the box again. I take out the charger of the phone in my hand. I toss the box on my bed, holding "my" phone and the charger in my hands, crawling out of the bed.

I insert the charger into the plug and insert the charger cord into the bottom of the phone, where the charger port is placed. I turn on the switch, the phone turns on by itself as a sign of charging. I look at the phone to see the green on the battery symbol, confirming that it is charging.

I crawl to the center of my queen bed, pulling my comforter blanket to me. I lie down on the soft mattress, my head perfectly sink into a comfortable depth of the pillow. I pull my comforter on the height of my tummy.

My eyes are stuck on the ceiling. Not really thinking of anything. Just empty and staring.

I look to my left where the window is located, hoping to see the beautiful moon. Sadly, the night bulb is covered by the clouds. However, I keep my eyes on the window, letting myself slow down to be free from any thoughts or duty I have.

Finally, really letting myself free to be not doing anything.

Slowly, the light that I see is replace with darkness, drifting me into a dreamless sleep.

~*~

The morning sun rise, blessing the living things with a beautiful view to start their day with. The blue sky starts illuminating the town as the golden morning pass with the sun. The white clouds in different sizes and shapes decorate the sky. The chilly breeze sets up a light mood for the people, giving them a good start of a Saturday morning.

"What are you doing," Cameron says as he playfully collide his side body with Liam causing Liam's body to bump a little. "Walking," Liam answers calmly as he looks at his way. "Do you think they are awake?" Cameron asks as he looks forward.

"Of course, they are," Liam reply, taking a pause in his sentence, "we texted them and they replied." Cameron pout a little in acknowledgement. Both of the continues their walk to the houses of their friend's, taking them one by one by walking.

Minutes later, both of them reaches a big white house. The house gives a homely vibe with a sophisticated touch onto it from the outside. Both of them walk on the hard-rock path to the house, finally reaching the main door of the house.

Cameron doesn't hesitate to push the ring bell, both of them standing in front of the door. Not even in a minute, the door open revealing Halle. "Hi," Halle says with a excited smile on her face. "Hey," Cameron reply with a smile on his face.

"Let's go," Halle says as she gets out of her house, closing the door behind her. Three of them walk together on the front yard, getting out of the Caldwell's residence. As they walk besides the small road, Halle opens her mouth. "So, where is Emily's house?"

Cameron who is walking in between Liam and Halle open his mouth. "She lives in the residential area," he says, looking forward while his hands are inside of his pockets. "Which residential area?" Halle asks again. There are only two residential area in the town. The others are just independent resident or houses with neighbors surrounding them. If Emily doesn't live in one residential area, that means she is in the other residential area.

"The Oaks," Cameron answers. "Oh good, it is not far," she says with a small smile on her face. "This town is not even that big to start with," Cameron says as he chuckles, looking at Halle. "Yeah, you are right," she says in defeat.

Three of them continues walking, minutes by minutes getting closer to Emily's house.

~*~

Emily take the coat in her hands, putting it on as she inserts her hands into the sleeves. She checks herself in front mirror in her closet. The warm beige open front coat compliments her blue drop shoulder argyle sweater, her faded blue tone denim pants going along with her tops. She also puts on a pair of white sneakers with thick sole, giving her some extra height.

Deciding she looks alright, she walks out of her closet, switching the light off. She walks to her table, taking her purse along with her phone and keeping them in her jean's pockets. She looks at the clock that is right in front of her, telling herself the time. "8.09 a.m."

"They should be here by now," Emily says in her mind. She walks out of her room, closing the door behind her. She walks down the stairs to be met with her dad who notice the sounds of movement that she made. "Hey," her dad says as both of them meets at the end of the stairs.

"Hey," she replies with her low tone. "Where are you going?" he asks. "I'm going to meet some friends," she says as she takes a glance at the door before looking at her dad again.

"Oh," the dad gape. Without hesitation, the dad suddenly takes something out of his pocket. "Here, your pocket money," her dad says, handing her a dollar note that cannot be identify since it is covered by his hold. "Come on," her dad persuade her who is not budging.

She hand her hand to her dad, her dad passing the money in her palm. As soon as she hold the money, the father excuse himself. "Have fun," he says with a smile. The daughter watch as his father slowly disappear from her eyes.

She checks the money in her palm. 100 dollar note. She is not surprised. This is not the first time this happen and she also does not think that this is the last time this will happen.

She takes out her purse which is in her right pocket and keep the money inside, keeping it safe. Just as she is about to keep her purse into her pocket again, her house bell rings.

She looks at the door, walking to it as she keeps her purse in her pocket. She open the door, revealing the three people outside of her door. "Hey," Cameron says with a bright smile. "Hey," Emily reply to him, looking at the three of them.

"Let's go," Cameron says as he cock his head to the side. "Yeah," Emily says as she walks out of her house, closing the big heavy wooden door. Liam secretly looks at Emily from her head to her toe, checking her out.

A small smile form on his lips. Despite Emily's personality, the way she dress is a little bit bright than her actual behavior. Which is cute in Liam's head.

Emily walks closer to them, signing Cameron to start the walk. Cameron leads the way with Halle besides of him while Liam and Emily are quietly walking besides each other. The four of the reach the pedestrian after they are out of the Ryan's Residence, walking on the red brick path.

Cameron and Halle can be heard talking about random topics while the two people behind them are the completely opposite. As they are walking, Liam suddenly feel the need to break the silence. So he open his mouth. "You look pretty today," he says as he takes a glance at Emily.

The tip of Emily's lips can be seen minimally rising. "Thank you." Liam put his hands into the pocket of his black trousers, feeling a little sense of joy in him. "Where is Matthew?" Emily suddenly asks, putting Liam's attention on her again.

"He is waiting for us at the park," Liam answers. Emily nodded her head, signing that she heard him. Emily put her hands into the pockets of her coat, enjoying the chilly breeze. Liam and Emily continues walking quietly while the chatterbox duo leads the way.

~*~

He sits on the wooden bench as his elbows are resting on the brown wooden table. His eyes are focused on the screen of his phone, scrolling through his social media while waiting for his friends to come.

4 of them finally reach the park as the wide field can be seen by their eyes. Emily eyes lights up, feeling a kind of excitement in her looking at the big green field. Liam who is secretly eyeing her, quietly smiles as the rare view of the girl being sincerely invested in something.

4 of the walks on the pedestrian into the park, until they see a familiar figure sitting on a table while is immerse with in his phone. Cameron makes his way, walking on the green grass to the table, while the rest follows him like ducklings. "Hey," Cameron calls as he gets closer to the teenager boy in a black padded coat, stealing his attention.

Matthew look to his side to found a group of 4 people that he was waiting is finally here. "Hey," Matthew reply as he quickly stands up. "You are finally here," Matthew added. Cameron looks at him, "did you wait too long for us?" "No, I waited for like 10 minutes, which is moderate since you guys walk."

Cameron just nodded and move his gaze on the table. "May we sit?" he says before moving his gaze back onto Matthew. "Yeah, sure," Matthew says as he sits down, making Cameron walk to Matthew's side, taking a sit besides him.

Liam also walks to Matthew's side, sitting besides him, making Matthew in sits between him and his bestfriend while the girls are sitting the opposite of the boys, where Emily is in front Liam and Matthew while Halle is in front Cameron and the middle boy.

"So, do you bring the things needed?" Cameron asks as he looks at Matthew. "Yeah," Matthew replies as he takes out his black laptop bag that has been sitting on the grass for some time. He put the bag on the table, opening the zip, bringing out his laptop and 5 files which one of them is filled with paper along with a big pencil case, filled with stationaries so that they are able to compose their plans comfortably.

Matthew gives the 4 empty files with distinctive color to Cameron, while Cameron pass the other 3 to Halle after choosing a blue file. The other files are handed out to the other 3 where Halle picked red, Emily picked pink, which ended up Liam with an orange file. Matthew doesn't need a file since his work will be done in his laptop, and yes, this has got to do with their position in the team.

Matthew uses a laptop because it is easier for him to write reports since the errors can be corrected easily. He is the secretary of the team. While it is obvious that Cameron is the leader, he is also in charge of supervising them, ensuring that they are doing exactly what they needs to be doing.

Liam, the bestfriend of the team's leader is the one responsible for the activities that will be held at the event while Halle is in charge of the venue, including decorating and making sure that everything is neat and where they are supposed to be. Lastly, Emily is in responsible for the money in this event. At first, Emily did not really like the position that she was given as she kind of feels the pressure of people trusting her handling the money while she just move into the school for a week. But as Cameron and Halle convinced her with the reason she isn't familiar with the place and the people, Emily eventually agrees.

"So, first we will start with the venue," Cameron says as he looks at his team.

~*~

He walks besides the road, his head is hanging low. As he reach his destination, he pushes the door of the shop, ringing the bell that is on the door. The sound of the bell ringing catches the attention of the owner of the shop. "Harlan, you are here," the elder woman in her mid 60s said while looking at the teen.

Harlan seems like to be ignoring her words by the way he did not even look at her when she spoke, but she is used to it. Let's say, she understands him. She has known Harlan since he was a little boy who don't even know what money is.

He has always been reserved since he was a kid. So, understanding his current behavior is not hard since it is something that he brought to his teen age. He is still the same shy, naive, quiet kid that she knew.

It is not his fault he became that way. Sometimes it hurts her in the inside seeing Harlan not being as out going as other kids his age but there is really nothing that she can do. That is why she offers him to help her in the shop as he otherwise will be stuck in the depressing home of his.

Harlan walks into the room, where only staffs is allowed, taking out a broom to sweep the floor. This is his first thing to do when he arrived at the shop. He walks out of the room, where the displayed goods are, sweeping the floor in the morning.

Harlan started working here a few years back. The grandson of the grandmother is moving out of the town with his family, and Harlan being one of the person considered close by the grandma, she asks him to work in her handicraft and accessory shop. It is not a big shop, but it has gained attention for it's beautiful accessory such as handmade beaded bracelets, anklets, necklace, earrings and some knitted clothing which every piece of it is unique since the grandma just knitted with whatever she feels like knitting.

Harlan also knows how to knit. Thanks to the grandma who taught him since he was little to help him from his anxiety and to calm down his thoughts. Making handicrafts are now a form of therapy for him that he does almost every afternoon, the only door for him to escape his miserable life.

The grandma starts walks to the counter, turning and on the cash register setting it up just like what her grandson taught her while Harlan is still sweeping the floor. Both of them are working to get the shop ready for the day.

~*~

After some explaining from Cameron and Halle, now she understands how important this event is. So, since the town is not that big, there are not really a lot of students too. In Emily's batch, there are about 120 people and the total of students in her high school is about 650 people.

This event is held to raise funds for both of the school, by selling goods and holding some fun activities at the fair. With the collaboration of both school, the event will be big enough for the whole town to visits and enjoy. Now, Emily feels a little bit more pressured, but this is also a little bit exciting for her. She enjoys anything that uses her brain, and being able to be part of holding a big event is thrilling.

So, the event will be held at the town's public hall. Thankfully, the town's public hall is built on a big field, so it is spacious, allowing them to hold a big capacity of people so that it is not too crowded. Plus, they will also be using canopy tents outside of the hall, on a big field giving them more access to space so the people could enjoy the festival comfortably.

Now come to the activities.

"I've thought about the basics like balloon darts, face painting, board games. For the balloons, we can asks the workshop club to make balloon stand, and for face painting, we could asks the art students if they are willing to have a canvas that is replaced by a human face. And I am thinking to reserved two canopy. One for board games and the other one for video games," Liam, the one in charge in activities said.

We all nodded while Cameron open his mouth. "Video games?" he asks. "Yeah," Liam answers while looking at his friend. "I know it sounds kind of impossible since we will need some tv's and bunch of PS4 but it is just a proposal for now," he adds.

"Well, that idea is not bad actually. How many people that we know has PS4?" Liam asks as he looks at the people around the table. "I and Liam have one, who else do?" Emily looks at Cameron and decided to talk. "I do," Emily says in her low tone, stealing people's attention on her.

"Oh, really? Cool," Cameron says at her. "That means there are 3," Cameron says with a pause. "I think we will need at least 5." Liam looks at Cameron, "don't worry, I will take care of it."

Cameron nodded, "Okay, cool." "Next, on to the budget," Cameron says as he moves his eyes onto Emily. She looks at him back. "So, we have 300 dollars on the budget, do you think that we can make it work Emily?" He asks while looking at her with a light face. "I think so. I will talk to Liam about the cost and the activities."

A smile form on Cameron's face. "Good, seems like everything is going smoothly for now. I hope that we can keep up with this work pace," he smiles, looking at his teammates. "Sure," Emily says that is enough to be heard by herself.

Cameron looks at his watch, checking the time. "We still have some time before lunch. Let's get done what we can first."