Page 24 of It Started with a Sunset
But then the fire alarm sounded, blaring loud and obliterating all other sounds. Almost as one, everyone in the audience brought their hands up to cover their ears. About two seconds after that, the sprinklers in the ceiling turned on, apparently having wrongly assumed that the balloon was smoke and a fire needed to be put out.
Chaos erupted almost immediately. People could’ve guessed that a fire alarm might be false, but the sprinklers sending water down on all of them seemed to confirm that it wasn’t. Quite a few people screamed—whether it was from fear of fire or shock from the rain, it was hard to tell—and everyone stood and made their way toward the doors at the back and side of the room, knocking down chairs and stepping over fallen chairs as they went.
Brock immediately ran toward one of the sets of double doors and started ushering people out, and he could see that Summer, Elle, and Everett were doing the same at the other doors. All fifty ambassadors had mobilized, helping people make their way out of the jumble of chairs and get outside. Most of the prospective students were holding over their heads the drawstring backpacks they’d given them at check-in that were filled with their packets. Some parents used jackets or cardigans as shelter, and many just ducked and ran.
Once they’d gotten the last of the Aquamoose Tracks participants out of the ballroom, they headed out, too. And then he heaved a sigh of relief that the sprinklers had gone off only in the ballroom and not the entire building. When they got down the stairs and outside, they could see that Campus Security had led everyone to the grass on the quad.
People were shaking the water off their backpacks, brushing it off their arms, shaking out their hair. A loud, hyperactive chatter hung over the crowd. He took off his glasses and tried to find a spot on his shirt that was dry enough to wipe the water from his lenses.
Summer matched his stride as she ran her fingers through her hair, shaking out at least some of the water. “You had a dream that there was a flood during our presentations, right? Any other nightmares I need to be aware of?”
He shook his head and laughed. “I guess we’re in luck, because other than the one about forgetting the schedule, my only nightmare was that I wore my clothes inside out.”
“Whew. Okay, I’m going to go get us organized.” One of the Campus Security officers handed her a megaphone and she strode to the front of the crowd.
Brock watched in amazement as Summer got everyone’s attention and got them seated on the grass, sending a few ambassadors away to get chairs for the ones who needed them. Then she finished her presentation without the use of her slides or video and somehow managed to keep them engaged and laughing. She kept her cool so well and pivoted to do something different so seamlessly, even when everything (or at least water) came crashing down on them.
He looked around at the soaked crowd. Okay, maybe itwas, in fact,impossible to plan for every outcome.
“And we are now ready for the campus tours!” Summer said through the megaphone. “We’ll get you into groups with your assigned ambassadors and they’ll lead you on the tour. Right after that, you and anyone you brought with you will go with your assigned ambassadors to dinner at Aquamoose Eats, LBSU’s dining hall. That’s upstairs in the Student Center, right between the giant living room area and the now-flooded ballroom.
“Then you’ll say goodbye to your parents or guardians and meet right back here at six-fifteen. It’s a warm enough afternoon so, hopefully, you’ll be all the way dry by then. Thank you, everyone, parents and guardians especially, for being such good sports through all of this.
“Okay, look on the back of the name tag you’ve got on your lanyard—there should be a number between one and twenty-five. Since we’re no longer in the ballroom where there were numbers on the wall for you to find your group, we’re going to do this a little differently.
“Ambassadors one through ten—line up in order all along this side. Hold up your fingers high to show what number you are. Ambassadors eleven through twenty, you’re on this side. Twenty-one through twenty-five, you’re at the back. Alright, go find your group!”
As each of the groups headed in different directions to see the campus, Brock, Summer, Everett, and Elle all made their way to each other.
“Well,” Elle said, “this is definitely going to be one of the more memorable Aquamoose Tracks events we’ve held.”
“Did anyone get pictures?” Everett asked. “Because I feel like this should be documented. No? I might have to email the students and have them send in their pics. Maybe make a contest with prizes.”
Brock chuckled, and then met Summer’s eyes. “I am impressed at how well you pulled everyone together after all that.”
Instead of brushing off the compliment, she kept her eyes on him and gave him a very earnest, “Thank you.” Then she said, “And I’m impressed at how well you made your presentation of a potentially boring topic not be boring. It was rather riveting. I think this contest will end with us closer in points than I’d guessed it would.”
He smiled and chuckled. “Thank you.”
“No, really. I didn’t think that was possible, but you proved me wrong.” And then she gave him a look that made him feel like he kind of already won.
Chapter Eleven
Summer
As the prospective students picked up all the paper airplanes from the quad and sailed them into the garbage cans, Brock, Elle, and Everett joined Summer at the top of the quad.
“Congratulations, you two,” Everett said to Summer and Brock. “You’ve managed to smooth things over with the parents who weren’t so happy about the unplanned sprinklers, you got three hundred thirty-seven people toured and fed, you’ve got the parents off, the paper airplane contest was a success, Baldy the Aquamoose crowned the winners, and you did it all without another single big disaster.”
“I say that deserves a high five,” Summer said, and all four of them went in for an awkward group high five.
“I better go do my thing,” Brock said, and grabbed the megaphone, calling for everyone to gather in.
“You are all in luck, because Aquamoose Tracks is always on a Friday night and there is only one Friday night football game during the entire football season, and we always make sure that Aquamoose Tracks falls on the same night as it. So this is the only session you can attend all year where you’ll experience the thrill of an Aquamoose football game.
“We are going to head over to the stadium now. You’ll be going with the same two ambassadors you went on the campus tour and to dinner with; they’ve got your tickets. One of the two of them, along with the other roommates in their suite, will be your hosts for the night. They’ll let you know which dorm you’ll be heading back to right after the game. Now, who’s ready to experience a Lake Baldwin State football game?”
He waited for the cheering to die down just a bit, and Summer just smiled up at him. He was just so cute up there. This may not have been the role he would’ve chosen to play if Tess had given him a choice in the matter—she knew he didn’t prefer to be in front of a crowd—but he’d been a good sport and was actually surprisingly good at it. The students seemed to really love him. He had been growing on her a bit, too.
