At six in the morning on the day the three friends are to leave for the camp, Dr. Miles drop Huzey and Xhemin off at the terminal. A cloud of dust followed Dr. Miles" old truck as they navigated the winding dirt road to the Hamps.h.i.+re"s terminal with the sound of a local morning radio show echoing off inside it, giving the three pa.s.sengers an early taste of entertainment. "It seems that the sun takes longer to come up these days" Xhemin murmured as the truck pulled off at the side of the road. They had reached the terminal.
"Longer nights, shorter days" Huzey agreed as he went to grab his duffel bag before he pushed the door open. When he stepped out of the car, he instantly spotted some of their cla.s.smates messing outside their chartered bus.
"Zip up your coat dear" Dr. Miles called on to remind his granddaughter who followed Huzey out of the car.
Xhemin did so as her grandfather told her and went near the driver"s seat " Thanks for the ride grandpa. See you after the camp"
"No mischiefs at the camp" He reminded her again as he reached outside the car"s window to fix the girl"s bonnet " This is your last camp, do your best and make every moment count"
"I will" She smiled and gave her grandfather a bow before she went to give him a peek on his cheek.
"Huzey you are in charge" Dr. Miles turned to the prince now who was busy unloading some stuff from the back of the truck.
"Yes granddad" Huzey answered and few minutes after, the two children watched the old doctor"s car drive off.
"It"s freezing," Xhemin said in response to the wind that just blew in a morning breeze. Her teeth were chattering then.
When Huzey heard her, he put his arms around the girl"s shoulder and pressed her body toward his "Here, I"ll keep you warm" He said to her but his attention was somewhere else.
His eyes wandered off the terminal looking for Ziggy. The Montreal young sire decided to spend the night in his apartment last night to get some of his stuff that he will be bringing to the camp— that"s why he wasn"t with them. He gave him a ring before they drove off, yet he didn"t get any response from him until now and that kind of worry the prince. Did that best friend of him manage to wake up on his own morning alarm? Or did he not?
With his other hand around Xhemin, Huzey took his phone from his pocket and texted Ziggy.
"Were here. Where are you?"
"Are you awake already???"
"Are you texting Ziggy?" Xhemin asked when she noticed Huzey tapping endlessly in his phone.
"Yeah. No response at all" He simply sighed.
"Try calling him"
"I already did" He announced and settled out after a minute " Perhaps I"ll try again"
But then, a familiar SUV pulled into the side of the road and a minute after Ziggy stumbled out of the pa.s.senger seat looking very exhausted and p.i.s.sed off, his cheeks fluffed with anger and also, he looked like he just woke up.
"What"s wrong?" Huzey asked the approaching Ziggy whose face cannot be painted, and whose hair was all messed up. This is probably one of the days that Ziggy isn"t camera ready. If paparazzi had been following him now, they"d surely capture one of Ziggy"s bad hair days.
"I"m really going to fire out that body guard of mine!" Ziggy groaned angrily.
"What happened?" Xhemin asked in a calm voice. When it comes to Ziggy and Sam"s cat-and-dog relations.h.i.+p, she had made it a habit not to rush on picking Ziggy"s side, especially when she knew this best friend of him had prejudices with bodyguards, not only with Sam.
"That woman dared to pour out cold water on me while I was sleeping…" He started his nagging by narrating how Sam poured a bucket of water on him when he failed to wake up on his alarm.
"Did you sleep through your alarm?" Xhemin questioned him, folding her arms.
"Xhemin!" groaned at the Little Misus. The former made it sound like it was his fault after all. "Seriously? Even if I did sleep through my alarm, a bodyguard has no right to wake up their bosses with a bucket full of cold water!"
Xhemin just rolled her eyes and made a kissy face at Ziggy "You should be thankful he woke you up. Also Sam is a man, so stop hara.s.sing him and referring him as a woman" She was envisioning Sam having a hard time waking her master up and left with no choice but to use the bucket of water trick. Ziggy left Richmond ranch in a late hour of the night and since he still needed to pack up the thing he will need at the camp after that, she was very sure he had slept late and exhausted.
"Whatever Xhemin Lae!" More annoyed than before, Ziggy spin off to the charter"s bus direction without waiting for his two best friends. He didn"t even care to pick off some his stuff that Ellie, the Montreal"s butler, unloaded from his ride.
"Good Morning Ellie" Xhemin greeted the butler as soon as Ziggy went off. The butler just gave him a nod of acknowledgement before he went to follow his master.
"He needs to work on his temper, really" Xhemin blurted when she was left with Huzey alone in the road.
Huzey ruffled Xhemin"s hair and said " And you need to stop p.i.s.sing him off. It hurts him a lot when you take Sam"s side"
"I"m not taking Sam"s side. I"m taking the side of the person who"s on the right side" She corrected him.
Later on, it was time for the group to leave so the children filed up in the bus. The three friends slid in the seat in the middle, but even if they sat together, Ziggy refused to say a word to Xhemin. When Huzey noticed it, he shook her head at Xhemin.