Chapter 3 – The Festival
"Finally you guys came." Said Ruby who was laying on one of the beds.
"The beds are really comfy." Said Lottie as she jumped on one of the beds.
"Are you going to share that?" asked May.
Lottie gave her a look. "Sure, why not?"
"I guess I should ask for a folding bed." Said Ebony.
Amber shrugged. "You can share with me Ebony." Said Ruby.
"Are you sure?" Ebony asked. Ruby nodded. The girls decided to share beds. In the boys' room, they all kept to their beds.
"Why do I get the folding bed?" Sammy complained.
"Because your body in one of these beds would be wasting space." Said Lex.
During the next couple of hours, the guys chilled in their beds while the girls got ready for the festival.
"It sounds so noisy next door." Complained Ram.
"Girls are probably fixing their makeup for the festival." Slade scratched his head.
"You going to the festival?" asked Lex.
"I really don't want to. A good sleep would be nice." Said Slade. "But I'm hungry and honestly I'd like to see this girl they call Princess."
"She's probably some babe." Sammy thought.
"You haven't reached puberty what would you know?" Lex laughed.
"She's probably twice your age anyway." Jay joked.
At five thirty, the Mallrats all met downstairs in the lobby. "Oh everyone's coming?" Gene asked standing next to two other guys that looked like troops.
"Yeah, we're all ready!" Gel smiled.
"Right." Gene shook his head. "Anyways, these are my cousins Ivan and Reed. They are heads of their stations here in Xelia, but since their family, they'll be more than happy to drive you to the festival."
Ivan was a little shorter than Gene, and had bright blue spiky hair. He had green eyes, fair skin like Gene, and like everyone else in Xelia, had the symbol on his neck. He wore the same black and blue uniform and instead of the red stripes Gene had near his eye, he had blue stripes. Reed was the same height as Gene, and like Ivan his hair was spiky, except his was dark brown. He also had green eyes, fair skin, and wore the same uniform and had the same blue stripes as Ivan.
"Are we all set?" Reed asked.
"Wow." Salene muttered under her breath. Reed saw this but smiled looking at everyone.
"Yeah looks like it." Said Amber holding baby Bray.
"Alright let's go then." Said Ivan who seemed more serious than the other two. The Mallrats got into two vans and they headed down the hill and to a place by the ocean.
"This is the beach park." Said Gene. "Events are held here, just like the festival."
The beach park was filled with Xegian residents roaming the grounds. There were booths everywhere, and there was a rectangular space left open, but no one set foot in it.
"Why the open space?" Lottie wondered as she got out of the van.
"That's actually where the performances happen." Said Reed.
"Well feel free to go around." Said Gene. "After the performances just meet us in that big white tent over there."
"Thank you so much." Said Amber.
"Where's the food?" Slade wondered.
"There's a bunch of people gathering over there." Said Ebony. "Must be the food you're looking for."
"Amber, I'm going with Lottie, May, Gel, and Sammy to check out the booths for a little while. That okay?" Salene asked.
"Yeah, but where are all of us going to meet?" Amber wondered.
"Jay!" A voice called. It was Bree running towards them. "The performances are going to start in about an hour, but you and your friends have seats reserved over there in that corner. So when you're ready, Ivan should be there to show you."
"Sounds good." Said Jack.
"Thanks Bree." Said Jay. "Alright everyone, meet in that corner of seats in an hour." The Mallrats went their separate ways. Jack and Ellie went off by themselves, Amber went with Ruby and Ebony, Lex went with Slade and Ram to get food, and that left Trudy with Jay.
"New place huh?" said Trudy.
"Yeah." Said Jay. "We might have to start making a living here."
"Listen Jay," said Trudy. "I think we should start over you know. Forget everything in the past, things were said and well, it's a new beginning here."
"You're right. It is." Jay agreed. "I think I should try to be on my own for a little bit. You know, without the whole relationship thing."
"Right." Said Trudy. After an hour of eating and roaming around, the Mallrats met up at their reserved seats.
"That everyone?" asked Ivan.
"Believe so." Said Jack.
"GOODEVENING PEOPLE OF XELIA!" said a teenage girl with bright red hair like Gene's.
"Mind if I sit here?" asked Gene.
"Sure." Said Jay. "Is that?"
"That's Gerie. Younger sister of mine." Said Gene. "Can you see the resemblance? She decided to dye her hair the same color as me."
"I thought so. You look so much alike!" said Ellie.
"TODAY IS OF COURSE OUR ANNUAL XEGIAN FESTIVAL!" Gerie spoke into the microphone in the middle of the rectangular space in the middle of the festival. "WE ACTUALLY HAVE A NUMBER OF PERFORMANCES TONIGHT. WE HAVE SOME OF OUR VERY OWN STUDENTS AT OUR LOCAL SCHOOLS, TALENTED RESIDENTS, AND OF COURSE THE TRIBAL DANCE FROM XELIA'S MOST ESTEEMED DANCERS. YES I KNOW YOU'RE EXPECTING MY LOVELY COUSIN TO START WITH A SPEECH, BUT THIS YEAR SHE THINKS FUN MUST COME FIRST! THAT'S ALL YOU WANT RIGHT!"
The crowd cheered. "Wow she knows how to work the crowd well." Said Amber.
"That girl doesn't need a microphone for anyone to hear her." Joked Gene. Gel giggled insanely.
"LET THE PERFORMANCES BEGIN!" Gerie ran off the space as colorful lights lit the festival. The first performance was a band called the Razzes. The crowd cheered the band as they performed two songs.
"That lead singer…" sighed May. She stared at the lead singer, who was lanky and had blonde hair.
"Oh no May has a crush." Salene rolled her eyes.
"Hey I saw you eyeballing Reed." May shot back.
"Keep that quiet." Salene blushed staring at Reed who was standing by the white tent. The next performances were singing numbers from local students, and a dance number from one of the schools' dance team.
"ALRIGHT XELIA! HOW BOUT A HAND FOR ALL THESE PERFORMERS?" Gerie came on the microphone once again as the crowd applauded. 'WE HAVE ONE LAST NUMBER BEFORE MY COUSIN'S BORING SPEECH. KIDDING! SHE'S GONNA KILL ME FOR THAT. ANYWAYS! GIVE IT UP FOR THE XEGIAN TRIBAL DANCE!" Gerie ran off with the microphone and everything was quiet.
Suddenly the sound of tribal drums filled the beach park. Along with the colorful lights, there were torches lighted at the corners of the performance space. With the music and drums sounding the park, a girl came running to the performance space holding two torches. The crowd erupted with cheers. She wore a red floral bikini top and matching shorts. She had tribal tattoos on her arms and lower back. The girl was wearing a mask covering her face as she played with torches. She threw one up in the air and caught it and began spinning the torches with confidence. She lighted the bare ends of the torches and once again spun them with precision.
"Wow she's really good." Said Trudy.
"What if she gets burned?" asked Sammy.
"She's done that for years and hasn't burned herself that whole time." Said Gene. Jay was rather amused. The girl continued her performance, and ended it by putting the torches together and swung it around, putting the crowd on their feet. The drums and music stopped and the crowd cheered. A person quickly grabbed the torches as she stayed in the center waiting. In a few seconds, about nine other dancers came in, all the girls wore the same floral bikini top as the first girl that came in and grass skirts. A spotlight was turned on showing all the dancers in the center. The first girl was still wearing her mask, but managed to have a grass skirt on.
"How'd she change so fast?" Trudy wondered.
"They must've been doing this for so long." Amber was impressed.
The drums began again and another music started playing. The first girl that performed threw her mask on the ground and began dancing to the music. They were much like hula dancers, except with their Xegian style to it.
"Wow this is good." Ram smiled.
"Right on." Slade agreed.
The first girl that performed stood out. Most of the crowd cheered for her when she went to the front of the line of dancers. "That first girl's really pretty." Said Ellie.
"Yeah she is." Said Jack as if he was hypnotized.
"Hey!" Ellie scolded.
"Watch it Jack." Joked Amber.
"She is really pretty though." Said Trudy.
"Who is she?" Jay asked as he stared at the unique dancer with long brownish red hair and light tan skin.
"Why?" Gene asked. "You want to meet her?" Jay stayed quiet as Amber and Trudy tried to act like they weren't paying attention.
"Hey that's Bree!" said Lottie as she pointed at one of the dancers in the front. She also noticed that Gerie, although the shortest, could easily be seen in the middle.
The dancers finished off their tribal dance after two minutes of a mix of belly dancing and hula. "I love this place." Said Ram.
"I want to meet them." Said Slade. "Get their autographs maybe."
"Snap out of it Slade!" said Ebony.
"Oh no Ebony. I think he's found love." Joked Ruby.
"Hey shut it the Princess is going to make her speech!" said Salene.
"WOW. Did you like that performance?" A voice sounded throughout the park as the crowd applauded. It was the first girl that performed with the torches. She smiled and waved at the crowd as she took a deep breath. "Okay here comes the speech my cousin's been so-called warning you about."
The crowd laughed. "That's her!" said May.
"Well people of Xelia, it's been what? A good three years?" she smiled at the crowd. "Truth is, I'm happy that the people are happy. I mean look at us, we have our own city! We have the food, hell we have a mall! We got schools for everyone, I think it's safe to say we've got it good. I think as your princess, I could not be any more proud of the people of Xelia. We celebrate together, and that's what a city does! Now of course I don't want to bore you, but nonetheless I'd like to thank everyone of you. Thank you for making this your Xelia, our Xelia, all of this was for you. Good night everyone and be safe! Thank you."
"That's her?" Jay wondered.
The park began to clear up slowly after the princess finished her speech. "So, shall we go meet her then?" Gene asked the Mallrats.