SURPRISE, SURPRISE

20 FEBRUARY, SATURDAY, AFTER DINNER

At the end of dinner, Dave and Sheryl went back up on the stage because they had some prizes to give away. At first, they had meant to play some table games with us and give the prizes to the winning table, but due to the lack of time, they've decided to let volunteers from the distinguished guests come up and try to win them.

They played the advertisement for the prize - it was really an advertisement - a mobile phone advertisement, and then thanked the prize sponsor, the mobile phone company. Usually, I wouldn't care for phones. But this phone, according to Sheryl, was a rare edition with only a hundred of them in production, six of them would be given out tonight.

And although Sheryl didn't say it, I knew that phone. It was the exact same phone Henry, Bell, and Ki carried. Except Bell's screen was cracked.

"I'm sure all of you are wondering, what must we do to win this phone." Dave said. No, not really. That thought didn't cross my mind till you said it.

"Now, to win this phone, its very easy... We just need six volunteers. All you have to do is answer one question honestly. The most surprising answer would get the phone."

I looked at Bell - he was the one with the cracked screen, but he didn't look the least bit interested.

"I'll leave it to you young ones." Alpha James leaned back in his chair.

I looked at Bell again, but he was ignoring his dad (as usual). I guess it was up to me. I raised my hand.

"Oh! Is that the Alpha Princess, herself?" Sheryl gasped, "Thank you, please come up stage. Any more volunteers? We need... let me see, we have one, two, three..."

"Two more!" Dave didn't have to patience to wait for Sheryl to do the math, "Just two more volunteers. Anyone? How about any betas?"

To my surprise, Ben raised his hand.

"Okay, come up." Dave said.

I growled at Ben, "Are you trying to pick a fight with me?"

"Don't worry, Sam." Ben said, "I'm helping you."

Yeah, right.

Eventually. we got six people up. You could tell Sheryl and Dave were really under time pressure. Even before the last person came up, they got started.

"Alright, this game is called Surprise, Surprise and its very easy." Dave walked up to the center of the stage while Sheryl herded us to stand in a row and face our audience. Ben stood next to me, brimming with confidence. I resisted the urge to punch him out of the competition.

"All you have to do is to answer one question honestly. The most surprising answer is the winner." Dave said, "Are you ready for the question, distinguished guests?"

I nodded. Yeah, bring it! I might not be very smart, but I think I was pretty honest.

"What were you doing this time last week?" Dave asked, "Very easy. Let's start with the Alpha Princess."

WTH.

What was I doing this time last week?

I blinked.

"Don't be shy princess." Dave smiled at me, "What were you doing last Saturday night?"

""Remember, most surprising answer wins." Sheryl coaxed.

I wasn't shy... I just had no idea. How the hell should I know? If I had my diary... I could flip to the page and tell you...

"She was throwing a pool party." Ben answered on my behalf.

"Oh!" Sheryl gasped, "In winter?"

Oh yeah. That's right... the pool party. (It felt like ages ago though).

I nodded.

"And how did you know, young beta?" Dave asked with a twinkle in his eye.

"I was at the party." Ben said.

"Alright! Whoa! I totally should have seen that one coming." Dave said.

Sheryl laughed, "Thank you beta, for the surprising answer."

Okay, yeah... was it just me, or were Dave and Sheryl working very hard to be surprised.

After us, the other four contestants answered things like meetings and paperwork and dinner, and Dave and Sheryl were similarly surprised. Surprised a meeting could run that long, surprised that an alpha would be so dedicated to work on admin overtime, surprised that dinner had to be so late. Sounded like Ben and I were the only ones goofing around, really. All the other alphas were really hardworking on Saturday nights.

Finally, Dave and Sheryl concluded that they could not decide which answer was the most surprising - which wasn't surprising at all, none of our answers were particularly exciting. I'm not sure if I were lucky or unlucky that it wasn't the night I was out running with rogues, or punching Alpha Jude's lights out, or anything actually unexpected like that. I wonder if it were the same with the other alphas. If last Saturday night just happened to be a boring one.

Anyway, we were all winners.

"Thank you for being so sporting." Dave said.

Sheryl took out the six boxes of brand new phones and handed one out to each of us.

As in seriously, who knew? Free phone, in my hand right now. Surprise, surprise.

"I knew it." Ben chuffed happily as we made our way down the side steps.

I turned to him, "What do you mean?"

"They're out of time, there are six prizes, they asked for six volunteers. It was a free give away." Ben said.

"Good thing they didn't ask me what I was doing later tonight." A passing alpha joked to his beta who met him at the foot of the stage. The alpha tossed the box to his beta, "That would be kind of RA."

Ben pushed me back to our table and pulled out my chair for me.

I sat down and plopped my prize in front of Bell, "For you."

Bell looked at it, completely unimpressed, "I already have one."

"I know, but your screen is cracked." I said, "Now you can use this."

"Okay." Bell said with zero enthusiasm.

I suddenly understood how a cat felt whenever it brought home a dead bird gift for its owner. I worked hard to get that! Okay, no. It was, as Dave had said, very easy... and I hadn't even done it myself. But I put myself out there to get that phone for him.

"If you don't want it, give it back." I said.

Bell took the box, "Ah no. I was just... surprised."

Eh? I watched Bell looking at the box in his hand. He was... happy?

Actually, I had no idea. His face was the same stony expression as always, but his mating bond leaked just a little happiness. He was such a dumbbell.

"Thanks." Bell mumbled to the box.

I gave him my widest smile, "You're welcome."

Hee hee hee. My mate is really cute when he's happy. Its like he didn't know how to process the emotion and got constipated. So cute! I planned to make him happy everyday!

Mum made some comment about young love and the adults laughed like they've been there and done that. I pretended they weren't there.

After that, we were told to make our way to the Silver Dome. Our butlers, I mean Deltas on duty would escort us pack by pack to join our entourage at the side entrance of the Golden Dome, and make our way across the red carpet to the Silver Dome Auditorium. Beta Robert showed us the slides with diagrams and explained it. We were not to stop at anytime on the red carpet, or interact with the reporters or public during this time.

To his credit, he did not mention stopping to autograph a toy pony as an example. Opps. My bad.

Anyway, we were to note that there would be members of the press present in the auditorium to report this historical moment. Beta Robert sought our understanding on behalf of his Alpha George and thanked us in advance for our indulgence. The ceremony would be broadcast live and we should not stand up from our seats during the ceremony. We should also turn our phones off or to silent mode... he went on and on. He was starting to sound like Mum worrying about me. I guess it had to be tough worrying about an entire auditorium of alpha wolves.

But then Alpha George stood up, "Alright, alright, already Rob. Let's get moving."

So Beta Rob bowed himself off stage and escorted his Alpha family to the Silver Dome.

The moment they left, the dinner hall started buzzing with new life - it was like how a classroom came alive once the teacher left. Mum and Luna Edith decided they needed to use the ladies. Mum decided that I needed to use the ladies too. I did not, but I didn't want to argue. Experience had taught me that it took less time to just accompany Mum to the ladies, do a quick one, and wash my hands, than argue with her.

Unfortunately, there was a line to the ladies room.

"Perhaps we should return to our table. Delta Sebastian will see us over to the Silver Dome soon. I will arrange with him to stop us at the washroom before entering the auditorium." Ki suggested.

"Oh Ki, that's brilliant." Mum sounded relieved.

Yeah, especially since we were going over first, there wouldn't be a queue at the ladies at Silver Dome. Ki was so smart.

We returned to our table. Delta Sebastian looked very relieved at our return. Now here was another dude under time pressure. I guess because the dinner happened so late, and the inauguration ceremony was live telecast, everyone was under the pressure.

"Why the hurry?" Alpha James asked the red ant delta assigned to him. This was when I noticed Gamma Michaels stepping up.

I couldn't hear what his red ant delta said, but Alpha James was unconvinced, "Even if you rush us over, we would only be rushing over to wait for the others."

Meanwhile, Ki was saying something to Sebastian. The two of them were leaning in together, and then Sebastian nodded his understanding and straightened himself before addressing us, "Alpha, Luna, if you would kindly walk this way please."

Hahaha. I still think Sebastian was exactly like one of those huffy butlers on TV. I happily followed Mum and Dad out, but not before noticing Ki dropping behind to talk to the red ant delta on Alpha James' side. And then I noticed Bell, standing arms crossed on the side, the new phone box still in hand. Our eyes met...

Ben pushed me forward, and completely cut into my view of Bell.

Hey! I nearly flared, but managed to hold back in lieu of all the other people around us.

{Don't rush me.} I complained into the mindlink.

{Understood Alpha.} Ben smirked without slowing down.

Grrr... Ben could be such a donkey sometimes. But I didn't make a fuss. I didn't want to get Ben in trouble with Harvey or Ki, or worse, his dad.

Maybe I was really too nice for my own good.

Just as I was thinking that, we stepped out.

{Smile and walk, Sam. Don't stop.} Ben bossed me through the mindlink as he nudged me out of the Gold Dome exit.

{I know already!} I shot back.

{You're not smiling.} Ben said.

Grrrrr.... And whose fault did he think that was?

I shook off the thought and smiled the moment I stepped up on the red carpet. Don't think about Ben! Think about... I decided to pretend I was Mum or Lola and smiled and waved at whoever yelled Alpha Princess! Or Princess! Someone yelled Princess Sam, which was weird, but I smiled and waved and pretended I didn't notice my names got mixed up. I decided as long as they didn't yell "Smurf" or "Cookie Monster", I would smile and wave. Wait no, I would answer as Cookie Monster too - due to our shared love for cookies.

Speaking of cookies, I was kind of hungry. You'd think a 10 course fancy meal should have left me with a full stomach, but 50 dainty bites wasn't going to cut it. A cookie or two wouldn't hurt. Wait, why was I thinking of cookies? Because... could it be? I looked towards the direction where the smell was coming from.

There were shops inside the Silver Dome. I could see their shop windows from the red carpet - and they were open - don't ask me why all the shops were opened so late, but one of them... I couldn't see it, but I could smell it, was definitely a cookie shop.

Trust me. My nose could smell a chocolate chip from more than 10 miles away. And there were more than one chocolate chip inside the Silver Dome.

The moment we crossed the red carpet, the red ants swung wide the heavy glass doors and we stepped into the heated space of what looked like a mall but smelled like coffee, cookies, and flowers.

I looked for the cookies, but only saw the flower shop, gift shops, craft shop... Luckily Delta Sebastian led us straight to it or rather, he was leading us to the ladies that was right next to the cookie shop.

Okay, it wasn't a cookie shop, it was a urm... I tried to place it, but couldn't. It sold cookies and ponies and bobba and it was called "My Dream Cafe". Such a strange and marvelous dream...