CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

Ben had spent that entire afternoon glowering at the suit his mother had produced. It was black and there had been a hole in one of the arms, so he had thrown the suit to Briar and begged her to sew it up for him. Once she had finished, they had all rushed to the school, to attend Legacy Day. Blossom had been forced into a black dress (their mother had wanted her to wear something colourful, but a black dress was as far as Blossom would go) and Briar was in a navy blue dress.
When they pulled up, Ben had scrambled from the car as fast as his legs could carry him, leaving Blossom to trail behind and his mother to help Briar. He pushed through a crowd of people and searched for Dana or Fin or Lionel - someone!

Finally, he found Dana beside Ivy and hurried over. His grinned.
"Hey, what's-" He came to an awkward stop and turned, following the intent gaze that both Dana and Ivy held.
There was Brent Ferguson with his parents.

"If this wasn't Legacy Day, I'd say he'd want to kill us." Ben mumbled.
"I think he wants to kill us, regardless of whether it's Legacy Day or not." Ivy pointed out. "Where's Jace?"
Ben shrugged. "I think I saw him with Lionel but I didn't stop to talk to him."

The group slowly started moving forward until they managed to find Lionel and Jace. Then Blossom, Cinder, Hazel and Heather joined them. The group trailed after the adults and into the hall. Ivy remembered what happened at the Disco and shivered.
Mr. Heavern had clambered onto the stage and was tapping his microphone. Adults filed in and took seats, and the students did the same.
Lionel and Jace hovered beside their parents, who waved them over to some seats near the stage, which faced the crowd. It was easy to tell that neither boy liked the arrangement - they constantly tugged at their ties and shuffled their feet.

"Hello, everyone, and welcome to Legacy Day!" Mr. Heavern waved away the applause. "As always, I'll begin by reading out a part of the history textbooks and giving some background on our families..."
He continued. "Many years ago, our town was founded by several families that would soon shape the future of the town and generations to come. The families built this very school to educate and protect our young people. Since then, we have organized Legacy Days - to remember the families that influenced the future and the living proof of said families. One such family is the Carters, so without further ado, I am pleased to welcome Deputy Brendon Carter."

The father of the Carter family stood up and took to the stage. He grinned at the assembled group.
"Hello, hello. I am Deputy Brendon Carter and I am part of this town's police force. I have worked tirelessly to make sure that our young people are safe and in the best place possible. My own sons attend this school." He glanced to Lionel and Jace. "And I think that I am doing an alright job at that. There is still so much more to be done, but I find that it's good to reflect on how far we have come, by organizing a day such as this."
He stepped back and sat back down.

"Now we will have our awards ceremony." Mr. Heavern produced the certificates and smiled. "First up, we have an award for sporting success. For this award... Lionel Carter!"
The boy scrambled up the steps and onto the stage, accepting the award with a grin. The headteacher passed him the microphone with an encouraging expression. Lionel tapped the microphone and faced the audience. "Uh, hello. I'm Lionel - of course - and this is quite a big surprise. I'm not sure what I should be saying so I guess I'll just thank some people. Thanks to my dad for motivating me to tryout for the rugby team, thanks to my mum for always making me the best meals, thanks to my brother for being awesome and to all of my friends for being epic. Thank you, everyone, and I hope you have an awesome night!"

Mr. Heavern took back the microphone. "Next we have an award for Maths. The winner of this award is.. Finn Pevlone? How on- I mean, congrats to Finn!"
He paused awkwardly and narrowed his eyes at the crowd. "Finn? Finn Pevlone? Are you here?"

"Blasted kid." Ivy overheard Miss Cloud grumble from her place beside Brent.
Mr. Heavern shook his head and continued. "Right, now for our Science award. This award is being given to a pair and they are..."
His face fell slightly. "Brent Ferguson and Ivy Falleh."
The hall went silent and the parents that had no idea what had happened turned to face the two students, confusion written all over their features. More confused was Ivy, who pressed her back to her seat. She glanced towards Brent, who was looking between his parents and .
"Brent? Ivy? I have your award here." Mr. Heavern waved them to the front.

Ivy hovered beside Brent, her hands shaking slightly. How in the world had they ended up getting an award when all they had succeeded in doing was setting the classroom on fire? Ever since that day, they had worked in complete silence. It was most definitely not good partnership.
Mr. Heavern stared at Ivy. "Would you like to say a few words?"
"What?" She paused. "Oh, yes. I-I'm Ivy Falleh. I would like to say thank you to my parents and my sister. Dana may be the complete opposite to me but she's the best sister I could ask for. Thank you for choosing this dress for me. If I didn't have you around, I would probably end up looking like a granny. Anyway, I would also like to thank my friends. Finn, mostly. I know he's not here because he told me that - he thinks this day is a lot of BS - but I'd like to thank him for always being my best friend and doing the best pranks. Thanks, everyone."

Ivy found herself rambling and came to a stop. looked to Brent. "Brent?"
The boy cleared his throat. "Uh, yes. Thank you, everyone."
Mr. Heavern waited but the boy didn't say any more. "Alright, then. You two can both go and sit down again."

By the end of the award ceremony, Jace had received an award for medical intuition; Cinder had received an award in History; Blossom had gotten an award for English and Heather had gotten an award for health and beauty.
Ivy still had no idea why she had gotten the partnership award with Brent.

Thanks so much for reading!
I hope you all have a very good day!
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