Chapter 4

About five hours later, I woke up to the sun shining bright on my eyelids. Blinking them open, I slowly sat up and looked out the window to see where we were now. We were driving next to a large green open field with some volleyball and basketball courts on the right side of it, along with a baseball diamond.

There were a couple of soccer nets out in the field, already set up for a game. Then across the road from the volleyball courts (still to my right) was the welcome center, where my foster dad parked on the side of the roundabout there to let the office know that we're here. After my foster dad made a quick visit to say hello and to get the keys to the trailer, he pulled back out onto the main road (The Acres Road), and we drove deeper into the trailer park.

We drove past another massive field with a large playground in the middle and behind it was a bunch of trailer lots and tenting spaces for people to bring their own trailers/tents and rent out the space for a week or for the entire summer. Joe switched on his left turning signal and turned onto Buchanan Street, before parking in front of our new trailer number fourteen.

I hopped out of my foster dad's truck with my brown leather purse over my right shoulder and followed him into the large tan colored trailer. Inside, it was massive. To my right, was the living room area (had a big grey couch along the back wall and right across from it was a wide, tall shelf with a big tv in the center), and then to my left was a big fancy kitchen, (it even had a dishwasher) and by the glass sliding door was a little round table, with four wooden chairs tucked in all around it.

"Wow, what a nice trailer. I've never been in one of these before" I commented, as I strolled by the kitchen slowly and walked into a small bedroom behind it.

"That's because we never went camping when you came" answered my foster dad, as he was checking out the place too, starting from the living room area.

The trailer is basically one massive room with a kitchen, a dining room and a living room combined (except for the small bedroom and bathroom, those are separate rooms). I went back out to the kitchen area, exiting the small bedroom.

"And why not?".

Joe turned to me and let out a small sigh.

"Because me and your foster mom were always busy with our jobs to do anything extra like that"-Joe glanced at the refrigerator, before looking back at me again.

"Can you help me bring in the food we brought?" he asked, changing the subject.

I shrugged my slim shoulders.

"Sure".

While we were carrying boxes full of groceries from the truck to the trailer, my foster dad explained to me that we'll get a tour of his workplace (the SRC center) and are invited to a fancy dinner after. I brought in the last medium sized box of food and set it on our small round table, since the kitchen counter had no space left.

"I think you better go put on something nice, we're going to leave here in fifth-teen minutes" suggested Joe, as he began to put away the food that needs to be kept cold into the fridge.

"But don't you need help putting away the groceries?".

Joe turned down my offer.

"No, I don't. I can finish this job before we go".

I exited the trailer and went into the backseat of my foster dad's to look for my red and black buffalo checkered dress that I packed. After searching through two big bags of my stuff, I finally found the outfit in the third bag.

I brought the outfit into the bathroom of the trailer and changed into it. Then I took my hair out of a bun and slid a red hairband just behind my ears, letting my long curly hair be pushed back slightly. Scooping up my maroon t-shirt and black shorts, I checked to see how my foster dad was doing with the groceries and shockingly, he was already done.

I only took a few minutes in the washroom to change.

Maybe he finished while I was in there?

I left the trailer and went back to the truck, where I saw him pull out a black and white tuxedo suit out of the backseat.

"Where did you get the money to buy that??" I asked, as I passed by him and went to the other side of the truck to drop off my clothes I was wearing earlier.

I opened the right backseat of the truck and neatly folded my other outfit as I listened to my foster dad's reply.

"I've had this suit for years V. In fact, I married your foster mom in this suit. Now it only comes out for special occasions".

"What do you mean by now it only comes out?" I asked, raising my left eyebrow up and tucking my other outfit into one of my duffel bags.

"I mean I used to wear it whenever I went to a party or when I went on a date with your foster mom, even before I met her" he explained, before closing the left backseat truck door.

I closed my side's door and walked with my foster dad up to the trailer again as he carried his suit.

"But don't those events count as special occasions?" I asked, before opening the glass sliding door for him.

"Well, yes. Some were formal occasions, but not all were like that. I mostly wore the suit to look good, especially in front of Sherry".

Joe went into the small bedroom, closed the door and changed into his tuxedo as I waited in the living room for him.

My foster dad must have had rich parents if he bought that suit.

Or maybe his second job pays well.

"Ready to go?".

I shifted my gaze to my foster dad, who was standing by the door, slipping on some polished black leather shoes.

"Yeah, let's go have some fun".

Later, me and my foster dad arrived at the SRC center in his truck (since the building was about a kilometer away from our new trailer and we just didn't want to walk that far). Joe parked the truck on the side of the loose gravel road and together, we walked towards the front entrance, along with some other dressed up couples. Inside, the place was extraordinary. Just behind the front desk in the lobby in huge letters was 'The SRC Center' and directly below that it said 'Where Mysteries Unfold'.

Clever slogan.

We didn't have to wait long for a tour guide to come to us and tour us (plus some other couples) around the building. That's when the adventure really began. The lady started us off by showing the group the large, nine foot tall display case to the right of the lobby, where it held all kinds of artifacts, weapons, jewelry, and magical items.

There was a unicorn horn, along with a tuft of its mane, a magician's wand, ancient books and a small diamond bracelet (which I would love to wear as I stared at it). From there, we were taken to the elevator and we toured the first four floors. The first floor was just a science lab and kept all the special artifacts/items safe from ending up in the wrong hands. The second floor was the interrogation floor.

There were tons of sound proof rooms everywhere except for the center, there was a long table with computers on it and a chair for each one. And on the third floor were just shelves of a crap ton of important files.

Then we finally reached the fourth floor, where a fancy restaurant was buzzing with excitement. Me and my foster dad sat down at an open booth, with our stomachs growling with hunger. We both ordered butter chicken poutines when the waiter came by and then we waited patiently for our food.

While reading an article about that diamond bracelet, I looked up and noticed that a few feet away from my table, was that same tall big teen boy with emerald green eyes and short, wavy brown hair. He was sitting on the left side of his table(opposite from me, I was sitting on the right) with his parents in a black and white tuxedo, matching his rich parents.

The teen boy was busy picking at his medium rare steak when he looked up in my direction and saw me looking at him. Our eyes met each others for a moment, before we both looked away.

It's the same boy that I saved at Taylor's party in Manhattan I thought, as I stared down at my phone.

Thankfully, the waiter brought our hot poutines. While I was digging into my meal, I glanced up and this time, I caught the teen boy looking over at me. He quickly took his gaze off of me for a moment, before he briefly looked back at me again, with his cheeks red. I gave him a little wave and a smile before he did the same back to me.

"See someone you know?" asked my foster dad, noticing that I was waving to someone.

"Oh, yeah. It was just someone I saw at my friend Taylor's party" I quickly explained, shifting my gaze back towards my foster dad.

"So you met a boy at that party?".

I took another bite of my butter chicken poutine.

"I don't really know him, dad. I just...did a card trick for him".

"Are there any other boys you've met at the party that I don't know about?" asked Joe, as he was finishing his poutine.

"No dad, it was just him. There is-".

Before I could finish my sentence, I heard a man clear his throat and we (me and Joe) turned our heads to see a handsome man and his wife, along with the teen boy at his side, standing in front of our table.

"Sorry to interrupt Mr. Riverock, but I wanted to chat with you before you start your new position tomorrow. This is my wife Scarlet Melo and my son, James Melo".

My foster dad shook both of his boss's wife and his son's hands, greeting them politely.

"Hello I'm Joe Riverock and this is my daughter, Vanessa Riverock".

Now it was my turn to shake hands. I firmly shook both Scarlet's, James's and his father's hand. Once I was done, Mr. Melo (James's father) continued chatting with Joe.

"How would you like to come to my office and we can chat about the matter there, where it is more quiet?" offered Mr. Melo.

"Sure, it would be an honor to," he replied, accepting the offer.

My foster dad got out of his seat and followed Mr. and Ms. Melo out of the fancy restaurant. Taking Joe's seat was James.

"You're a little far from home," he commented, with a friendly smile.

"Yeah, my dad had to bring me along to his job here since there's no one to watch me down in Manhattan" I explained, in between mouthfuls of poutine.

"Is that the only reason why you came up here? Because of your dad's job?".

I nodded my head.

"Yeah".

As I stacked my plate on top of my dad's, James asked me another question.

"Do you want to go to youth group with me tonight?".

"Sure" I replied, as he and I stood up from the booth, and started to walk towards the elevator.

"How long is the event?" I asked James, as I walked beside him.

"It's only two and a half hours. It runs from seven to nine thirty".

Me and James stepped into the open unoccupied elevator, before it closed its doors and took us down.