Chapter 18

Two days have passed and the day finally came. Emily woke up early to help her mom with packing the boxes of cookies and brownies into the trunk of the car.

As Emily held the last box, she asked, "Is this all of it?"

Aunt Samantha came out of the house holding a clipboard in her hand. "I just checked and that's the last of it."

"But this last box can't fit in the trunk," Emily pointed out,

"Then carry it with you inside," her mom said, "Now let's go. We don't want to be late."

"Alright, Mom," Emily said as she went inside the car holding the box of cookies, "Also, how much do these cost anyway?"

"Oh, the box of cookies cost around $12 while the box of brownies costs $15," Aunt Samantha replied while getting inside the car in the front right seat.

Emily raised her eyebrow in confusion, "Uh,"

"You'll figure out why when you're older," Aunt Samantha assured her,

Emily's mom went inside the car, stuck the key in, and turning it and the engine started. "Okay, we're all set and ready to go," she said pressing the gas pedal and they are off as they ride towards the school.

About two hours have passed and they arrived at the parking lot near the school. Samantha went out of the car irritated while her phone won't stop vibrating.

'This punk won't stop calling and leaving voicemails. Well, it's not our fault that we didn't know that we ended up in heavy traffic,' she thought to herself. She then pressed a button on her phone and held it up to her ear and said, "Hello?"

"Where in the world are you?" Jonathan asked in the other line, "We just finished prepping the food stand and people are already asking for those cookies and brownies!"

"Cool your jets. We're on our way," Samantha calmly replied, "Where are you located?"

"In your heart," Jonathan said,

Samantha was confused, "Huh?"

"Nevermind," Jonathan replied, "Go inside the building and you'll see us in the gym."

"Oh, okay," Samantha said before hanging up the call. She then noticed Emily carrying two bags which contain the boxes of cookies and brownies each. "You good with that, Emily?"

"Yeah, I'm good, thanks," Emily replied, "Where to?"

"Jonathan said they're in the gym," Aunt Samantha told her,

"You go on ahead, honey," Emily's mom said as she picked up another pair of bags, "We'll be there as soon as we can,"

"Oh, alright. I'll see you inside." Emily said and walked towards the building. She also noticed that there were inflatable houses and kids jumping around and having fun in it.

When she went inside, she was surprised by the colorful designs in the hallways as students walked around. Some are wearing face paints. As Emily walks down the hallway, she could see many different booths.

'I guess I'll have to check 'em out later,' she thought to herself before heading straight for the gym.

By the time she got there, there are a lot of food stands and people lining up in one of them. Emily tried her best to slowly scoot her way through the busy crowd and finding the food stand that Jonathan set up.

"Emily, over here!" someone called out,

Emily turned around and saw Sarah waving at her in the distance as well as the food stand she was looking for. When she arrived there, Emily placed the bags behind the stand where Aceron and James were.

"Where's Uncle Jonathan?" Emily asked,

"Oh, he went to check on his daughter," Aceron replied,

"You don't say," Emily said,

"Now that you're here, I booked our tickets to the movie booth on the second floor," Sarah told her,

"Oh, really?" Emily said, "How much did it cost you?"

"Around 24 bucks," Sarah replied,

"Yikes," Emily's eyes widened after hearing that, "I'll be sure to pay you back soon,"

"You can worry about that some other time," Sarah told her, "For now, let's have some fun!"

Emily chuckled, "If you say so," she turned to Aceron and James, "My mom and Aunt Samantha will come by any minute now. I'll see you guys later."

With that, Emily and Sarah made their way through the busy crowd and out of the gym. Then, they continued walking down the hallway looking at the different booths until they saw a staircase leading to the second floor.

Suddenly, the speakers clicked and turned on. "Attention to all Marshals, please capture students who are wearing red t-shirts. Thank you" the principal said before turning off the speakers.

"What's going on?" Emily asked,

"Oh, well, these 'Marshals' are like police officers, and they are supposed to capture specific students and bring them to the 'Prison Booth'." Sarah explained, "So, be sure to not get caught,"

"Oh, I see," Emily said. Her eyes suddenly widened as she looked down realizing that she was wearing a red t-shirt, "Crud,"

"There's one over here!" someone said,

Emily looked ahead and saw two Marshals wearing black long sleeves and pants with matching white gloves walking in the distance.

"Give me one of the tickets," Emily told Sarah,

"Here," Sarah handed a ticket to Emily, "What are you gonna do?"

"I'll be in the movie booth as soon as I can," Emily assured her, "But what room is it?"

"JL-212, at 1 PM," Sarah said, "Good luck not getting caught,"

"No problem," Emily said before running down the stairs.

As Sarah walks calmly down the hallway, the two Marshals ran past her and went down the stairs hoping to catch Emily who was wearing a red t-shirt as they were instructed to do so.

On the other hand, Emily did her best to not get caught by the Marshals as she pretended to look around doing some sight-seeing but all she's trying to do is find a place to hide. She then spotted three other Marshals who saw her in the distance and started to walk towards her but Emily quickly left the scene.

As she is running, she looked at her watch. It was at noon. 'I've got about an hour before the movie starts.' Emily thought to herself, 'This'll be a piece of cake. I just have to run away and hide somewhere long before--'

She trailed to a halt when she stepped outside the school building and saw dozens of Marshals circling a tent filled with captured students. Emily was about to turn around and walk back in but she saw 5 Marshals about to walk out of the building eyes focused on capturing students wearing red t-shirts.

'I think I might take a lot longer before I get to the movie booth,' Emily thought to herself,