Chapter 21: Day Trip

“Alright guys, you remember Mr Owen. Hes gonna come out with us today. Can we say good morning to Mr Owen?”

“GOOD MORNING MR OWEN '' the children's voices sounded all at once.

Giana opened the door and began leading all the kids out of the door. Owen stood at the open door high fiving the kids as they walked out of the door. Once the last child was out he locked up the door and followed the class.

The class walked out of the preschool and began walking down the sidewalk away from the school. Giana had amazing control over her class as they followed her with no problems. Not one student acted out or stepped out of line. At the stop sign the class crossed the street. They walked down a couple blocks and stopped at a little convenience store.

Owen took groups of three into the store and each child was able to get a few things before exiting the store for the next group to enter. As the line got shorter and shorter Giana took a look around to see how many students were left. As she approached Gloriana she looked down and pulled back from the class.

“Gloriana whats wrong sweetie?” Giana asked he quietly as to not embarrass her.

“I cant go into the store.” she said sadly.

“Why is that? Can you tell me?” Giana asked.

“I dont have any money. I didnt know I needed money.” Gloriana was on the verge of tears.

“Oh sweetie… yes you do your daddy left it with me yesterday when I told him about it.” Giana knew she was lying but didnt care the smile on Glorianas face as she finished her sentence was enough.

Giana took Gloriana into the store just the two of them and she helped Gloriana get the things she wanted and Giana used the cash she had brought for lunch on the items. Gloriana smiled and skipped out of the store and got back in line. Giana and Owen counted that each student was there and then began on their way again.

The group walked for another 10 mins and arrived at a small field. The kids all placed their items down and ran off into the grassy field. There was laughter and happy screams as the kids played and kicked soccer balls. Giana and Owen were sitting under a tree while the kids played.

Owen and Giana were really good friends. They had known each other since third grade and he had always been her best friend. He was really the only person she spoke to freely about everything going on in her life. He knew her family so it made it easier for her to talk to him.

What Giana didn't realize is that she was being followed. A white car had been watching her since the time she pulled into the parking lot at work. The person watching her was also taking a few pictures.

Giana sat under the tree with Owen talking about what had been going on in her life. Owen couldnt believe what he was hearing. Giana had been through so much in such a short time.

“Gi you should have told me sooner. I would have came and stayed with you or you could have come over to my house.” Owen said.

“I’m staying at Mikes so I’m okay there. I don’t want to be too far from my mom.” She replied.

“Understandable. Anyway have you thought of that masquerade ball coming up in town?”

“Yea. I have been working on my dress at Mikes. By with everything going on I don’t know if I want to go.”

“You have to go Giana. I’m going with Jenna. Meet us there.” Owen pleaded.

“If I get my dress done in time fine.” Giana laughed and nudged him.

Giana laid her head on Owen’s shoulder as she laughed. The person watching snapped photo after photo of her and Owen.

After a few minutes the kids came running to them and kicked the soccer ball at them. Both Owen and Giana jumped up and immediately picked their teams. The kids loved how involved they were.

When it was finally lunch time Giana and Owen set out blankets for all the kids to sit on. Owen walked over to a car parked by the field and pulled out two large coolers with wheels. He pulled both coolers to the blanket where Giana was sitting on.

They both began handing out lunches, drinks and fruit to each kid. Again Gloriana sat away from the group. Giana called Gloriana over to her blanket patting the blanket next to her.

“Gloriana, come sit with me princess.” Giana smiled as she said it.

Gloriana got up and walked to sit down next to Giana. Owen could tell something was up so he went and sat with a group of boys. Giana placed a small lunchable, fruit juice and an apple to Gloriana. She hugged Giana as if Giana had saved her world and hugged her.

“You never have to worry when you're with me. I’ll take care of your stuff when we're out if you need me too.”

Gloriana’s eyes lit up. She really loved how nice Giana was and wished her mom was just like Giana. They both opened their lunches and Gloriana told her all about her uncle being in town and how she's going to spend the night with him. Giana listened and cou;d hear the absolute happiness and the joy twinkling in her eyes.

After lunch the kids helped clean up and asked if they could stay a bit longer before going back to the classroom. Giana and Owen agreed so Owen ran to his car and swapped out the soccer ball for a kickball. The kids all cheered because they loved playing on teams.

This time the teams were blues verses yellows. Giana was yellow team and Owen Blue team. Each captain whispered who was what color and lined the kids up in a line. As each kid got to the front of the line they whispered the color in each kids ear. Each team stood on their side and the game quarter was flipped.

“HEADS” Yelled Giana as her team cheered.

The quarter landed on tails and the blue team rushed to line up prepared to kick the ball. Giana laughed because she knew how competitive her class could be. Before the game started she held up her hand getting everyones attention.

“Okay so whichever team wins gets five extra Star Dollars this week. Sound good?” she asked.

“YEAH!” all the kids yelled in unison.

“No Cheating this time Owen” Giana teased.

“Me? Cheat? Never…” Owen teased back, nudging her to the side as they both laughed.

Click…Click…Click… the person behind the camera snapped picture after picture.

Giana, Owen and the rest of the class played hard. After about forty five minutes of playing kick ball the score was tallied up.

“Well the team with the highest score is….”

The kids were all waiting as Owen dragged out who the winner was. Giana thought it was funny but the kids looked ready to jump him.

“Our Kick Ball Champions are… THE BLUE TEAM!”

Owen yelled excitedly and the blue team jumped up and down cheering. Both teams high fived and began gathering all their stuff to go back to the classroom.

It was already a little after one and she wanted the kids to relax and watch a movie while they waited for snack time. After everything was cleaned up and the kids all lined up single file.

They followed Giana out of the field and up the sidewalk. She still hadn’t noticed the white car taking pictures of her but Owen noticed a glimmer of light shine off the windshield. He chalked it up to a glare from the sun.