“Whatever, coward,” I muttered as I scrambled to catch up. From in front of me, Steve gave me the finger and kept walking.
When we reached the parking lot, both of us stopped.
“Whoa.”
“Holy shit,” Steve added.
The entrance to the aqua park was awash in flashing red and blue lights. Half a dozen cop cars were parked haphazardly, some halfway on the sidewalk. News vans with antennas raised formed a second ring. Police bustled under the welcome archway with its smiling sea creatures, walkie-talkies in hand. Beside the giant clam fountain, reporters clustered, microphones to their mouths as their nearby camerapeople crouched with their heavy black cameras, thick cables snaking on the ground.
“. . . and we are hearing that a mass of protesters . . .”
“Channel Islands Aqua Park is refusing to comment. A number of arrests . . .”
“. . . free. I repeat. The shark is free.”
Careful to stay in the shadows, Steve and I skirted the chaos, dodging behind a group of onlookers who were jostling to get a better view of the action.
“Has anyone see my son, Steve?”
Across the lot, Steve’s parents pushed their way through the crowd, looking concerned and confused. Beside me, Steve stiffened.
“Uh, I may have emailed your parents on the way here,” I muttered.
“Oh god.” Steve paled.
“I, uh, didn’t tell them anything specific, if that helps. But, um, sorry.” I cringed, but Steve just sighed.
“No. You did the right thing. I need to talk to them.”
I watched the red and blue lights dance across his face as he stood, staring at his parents but not moving forward. “You want me to come with you?”
Steve snapped out of wherever he’d been and smiled at me, though it was a bit shaky. “Yeah. But I should do this on my own. Could you wait?” He looked at the ground, embarrassed.
“Of course. Sure. I’ll be under that palm tree.” I pointed to a palm a bit farther into the parking lot, away from the police’s notice.
“Cool.” He nodded, suddenly determined, and walked toward his parents, hands in his pockets, feet bare.
“Oh, um, maybe don’t mention the shark part? Specifically? Because I think they’re arresting people. But the feelings stuff. Share that,” I called after him.
Steve gave me a thumbs-up.
I couldn’t hear what Steve told them, but I saw his mom give a great heaving sob and pull him tight. He and his dad thumped each other on the arms and looked awkward, but they were talking. They talked for a long while. I crouched on the ground under the palm tree and waited. Eventually, Steve’s dad hugged him and stepped back. Steve walked over to me.
“My dad admitted he was scared.” He said it like the words were another language.
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“It’s . . . really weird. I never thought . . .” He trailed off.
“They okay?” I asked.
Steve shrugged. “Who the fuck knows? It’s a total shit show. But I think it’s going to be better now. Not good. But better.”
“That’s good. I’m glad.”
“Thanks.”
The moment stretched and became super awkward. I stood up, brushing off my pants. “So, um, I guess . . . good night? Are your parents going to drive you home?”
“What the hell are you talking about? It’s prom.”
“Yeah. I know.” I gestured to our rumpled tuxes. “I just thought—”
“You thought I would miss this? It’s Cardi fucking B, Cam. At our prom. You can tell how messed up I was earlier because there’s no way I would have killed myself before seeing my girl Cardi if I was in my right mind.”
“Are you sure?”
“Look. I asked my parents to get me a therapist or whatever. I’ll deal with it. By the way, you should consider a therapist, too. Maybe we can get a Groupon?” I laughed but nodded; it was probably a good idea. Steve continued, “But right now, I’m feeling kind of okay. And there’s no chance I’m sitting this out. Anyway, I should probably apologize to Kaia.”
“Oh shit. Kaia.” It was dark outside, which meant prom had started at least an hour ago. I pulled out my phone. There were a thousand text messages. And a lot of them were in caps lock. Steve looked at the screen and then back up at me.
“Uh-oh.”
“Yeah.”
Visions of Kaia ripping me limb from limb were interrupted when someone shouted, “Cam?” I turned. Nearby, an officer had thrown open the back doors of a paddy wagon and ushered a string of people in zip-tied handcuffs inside. One of the arrested shouted, “Cam! We did it!” It was Todd, a little scuffed up, but smiling.
I waved back. “Congrats.”
“Oh my god. That must be Steve!” Behind Todd, Patrice bounced up and down in excitement, ignoring the frustrated admonishments of the police officer.
“Patrice!” I called. “You were right! It is Fault in Our Stars. Actually, it’s a little more like Here on Earth. With a touch of A Walk to Remember! And some Sweet November! Whatever. You get it. It’s totally a cancer love story!”
Patrice punched her fists in the air. “Yes! Knew it!” She was grinning like a maniac as she climbed into the van.
Steve cocked his head. “Do I really want to know what you’re talking about with those criminals?”
I grabbed his arm and tugged him toward my car. “Nope. Not important. What is important is that we are going to get you and Kaia back together.”
20
Kaia was missing. Steve and I pushed our way through the crowd in the Radisson ballroom. We couldn’t see her sparkly yellow dress anywhere. She hadn’t answered any of our texts.
“Kaia?” I called.
“Anyone seen Kaia?” Steve added. Almost the entire junior and senior class milled under crepe paper kelp, and from the looks some people were giving Steve, Kaia hadn’t exactly kept things a secret. A video projected fish on the dance floor, where clusters of kids showed off to some old funk, but she wasn’t among them. I checked the tables scattered around the edges, but the aqua and indigo balloons that gave the impression of bubbles obstructed my view. So did the plastic crabs and octopuses that dangled from mobiles. The decorating committee had gone all out, but it wasn’t making it easy to find one tiny and probably very pissed off girl.
A couple of guys from the baseball team pushed past Steve, knocking him into a life-sized papier-mâché mermaid, and I wasn’t entirely sure it was an accident. I jerked my chin toward the stage and shouted over the 90s hip-hop. “Let’s try up there.”
We got past Cardi’s security with Steve’s easy grin and, “Recognize me? I’m the sad cancer boy.” Once backstage, it was a swarm of very serious, very intimidating people in black shirts and zero sign of Kaia. Cardi’s roadies were putting the final touches on her elaborate stage show and Steve was immediately distracted.
“Holy crap, is that a swing?” Steve asked a burly dude who was testing the wires attached to a glittery swing thing. The guy nodded. “What’s Cardi do? Sit on it?” A grunt was the only response, but it was enough. Steve bounced. “Yes! That’s my girl! Flying in like a superhero. Can I see?”
“Steve! Focus!” From behind the curtain, I scanned the crowd. Still no Kaia. “I’m going to go out onstage and see if I can spot her.”
Steve didn’t even bother looking at me as he examined an intimidating-looking harness with an excess of straps. “Cool. Sounds good.” He held up the tangle of black fabric. “So this goes under her costume?”
I sighed, leaving him to his Cardi fanning, and stepped onto the stage. Squinting in the bright lights, I edged my way to the DJ and shouted a question in his ear. He handed me a mic and cut the music.
The crowd murmured and rustled uneasily. A few people began to chant, “Cardi! Cardi! Cardi!” but it petered out when they saw me.
“Hi, everyone. Sorry to interrupt your evening.”
“We want Cardi!” yelled one of Steve’s bro friends.
&nbs
p; “Cardi will be on soon. I just need your attention for a second. Has anyone seen Kaia Gonzales?”
“Why are you always looking for Kaia?” It was the Cardi lover from Steve’s party. And she had a point.
“I promise, this is probably the last time I’ll be looking for her.” After Kaia heard what I had to say, she’d never speak to me again. “But, um, has anyone seen her? Student council? Yearbook? Anyone?” Various clusters of people on the dance floor shook their heads. “Okay, well, um, if anyone finds her—”
“Cardi, Cardi, Cardi.” The chant started again.
“If anyone finds her, can you tell her that Cam Webber has something to—”
“Sorry!” From the back of the ballroom I saw Kaia push her way through the double doors. She hurried forward, a few strands of hair from her tight bun slipping from their place. “I was just helping some people find the Lopez quinceañera. Someone said I was needed back—” She stopped when she saw me standing onstage. “Cam. Where have you been?”
Now that I was actually looking at her, I didn’t know what to say. People had cleared out of Kaia’s way, making a rough semicircle on the dance floor. Her dress shimmered softly under the wavy blue lights that were supposed to simulate the ocean. She looked up at me with annoyance and confusion. Which sucked so much. Because I still really, really liked her. “I know. I’m late. I’m sorry. But there’s something you should know.”
The DJ chose that moment to put on some Ed Sheeran, thinking he was doing me a favor.
A girl in a purple ball gown cried, “Oh my god. I didn’t know people actually did this!” and clutched her friend’s arm.
“No! No!” I waved my arms. “No music! This is not, um, one of those sort of grab the mic and interrupt prom things. Thanks, but . . .” The DJ cut the song. “Thanks.”
“Is this a fancy way of apologizing for ditching me tonight?” Kaia asked. “If it is, you’d better hurry up, because we are running low on punch and the dessert table needs refreshing and—”
“Okay. Okay. I know you’re busy. Let me just. No. Actually, do you mind if we do this off the stage? I kinda just came up here to look for you. Not to . . .” I gestured weakly at everyone watching us. “Make a big thing.”
Kaia crossed her arms. “Time is ticking, Cam. I’ve pretty much given up on my cheesy romantic prom dream. I’m basically just a caterer in a fancy dress.”
I closed my eyes. I guess I was doing this in front of everyone. Squaring my shoulders, I opened my eyes and said, “Kaia, that picture you saw of Steve with that girl wasn’t real. I posted it to try to make you think he cheated on you.”
“What?” She wasn’t even angry. Kaia just looked even more confused as my betrayal sank in. The rest of the room, however, had already formed an opinion of me.
“You suck!” someone shouted from the back.
I nodded in agreement with this accurate assessment, then continued, “And it’s not just that. I have to be honest. I only did the whole Save Steve thing to impress you. It wasn’t really about Steve at all. I only did all that stuff because . . . um . . . I hoped you would like me more.”
The purple ball gown girl said, “Awwww.” But her friend next to her said, “It’s kind of creepy.”
Kaia just stared at me, baffled. “Cam . . . that’s crazy.”
I nodded. “I recognize that now. Look, I know I messed up really bad. I know I’m not ‘Best Person.’ I’m just kind of an average person.”
Kaia didn’t correct me. There was a beat of awkward silence. The only thing that seemed to move in the whole ballroom were the projected fish slowly circling on the dance floor.
“So Steve didn’t cheat on me?”
“No.”
“Oh.” She blinked a few times. “But then why . . .”
From somewhere above us, someone called, “Hold on. I can answer that.”
The entire room strained to locate where the voice was coming from. There was a click, then a quiet hum as an electric motor kicked in, and then, descending from the rafters on the glittering swing, was Steve Stevenson.
The DJ, clearly seeing his moment, leaped back into action, and Ed Sheeran resumed on the PA. With another punch of some buttons, the lights dimmed and a bubble machine kicked in, sending a cascade of iridescent bubbles floating out over the room. They gently popped against Kaia’s cheeks as she stood frozen, staring at her ex-boyfriend sitting on a swing eight feet above the stage, clad in a rumpled tuxedo and missing his shoes.
“Steve?”
“Cool, huh? Cardi’s people let me try it out.” He gave a little rock and almost slipped off. The crowd gasped. “Don’t worry. I’m all good. There’s a harness, too.”
“Steve . . . what are you . . . why . . . ?”
“I’ll explain, but . . .” Steve beckoned Kaia forward. “Can you come up here? Cam started talking and I was already strapped into this thing and it’s super hard to get out of, so I just went with it, but you’re kinda far away.”
A dazed look in her eyes, Kaia ascended the steps through a curtain of bubbles. Steve waved to someone offstage and the swing began to lower again.
“I’m sorry I lied to you, Kaia,” Steve said as he descended. “I only pretended to cheat on you because—” With a jolt, the swing lurched and then halted. The crowd gasped as Steve was flung forward. He grabbed for the cables holding the swing, but missed and tumbled off. He dangled almost seven feet from the stage floor, spinning gently in a safety harness.
“Steve!” Kaia exclaimed.
I ran forward, but Steve waved me away. “It’s cool. Uh, Kaia, I’m just gonna wait a sec until I stop spinning.”
She nodded. “Um. Yeah. Okay.”
Dangling above her, he waited for the spin to slow. A cloud of bubbles wafted between them. Kaia tried to wave them away. Steve tried to kick at them as he spun. “So many bubbles.”
“Comes with the undersea theme,” Kaia said through the puffs.
“No, no. I get it,” Steve said, still precariously spinning. Finally, the bubble storm passed and they could see each other. “And you did a great job. I love the . . .” He looked around for something specific. “Kelp.”
“Thanks,” Kaia said, and smiled awkwardly.
Finally, the harness contraption settled into a gentle sway. Steve reached for the bar of the swing dangling nearby but couldn’t quite grasp it. He looked to the wings for some guidance. “Are we stuck?” A roadie shrugged. “Okay then. I’ll just do it here.” He shifted in the straps and looked down at Kaia with big apologetic eyes. “I’m sorry I lied to you this morning. I just went along with Cam’s ploy so you wouldn’t have to deal with my crap. I know it was stupid and selfish. But I panicked. Because, well . . .” In the pause, I could feel the entire room lean in. Kaia, too. Steve’s eyes flicked to mine and I saw a flash of fear, but he continued, “I got some test results back, and . . . the cancer’s not going away.”
There was a soft inhale from the crowd.
“What?” Kaia asked, shocked.
“Yeah, it looks like I might be getting sicker. A lot sicker, maybe. And it might get ugly.”
“Oh god, Steve.” Kaia stretched her hand to where Steve dangled above her. Steve extended his. Their fingers brushed. Tears sprang to her eyes. Then, as if feeling the heaviness of the moment, Steve gestured to himself and tried to lighten it. “I mean, you can kiss this hotness goodbye.” It lacked his usual confidence, but Kaia still stifled a laugh through her tears. “I was embarrassed,” he continued, sincere. “I didn’t want you to see me like that. Weak. Maybe even dying. So I pushed you away. Got you to break up with me rather than admit the truth. Because I’m a coward. But even if I am, there’s something I want to ask you.”
The room stilled. Guys put down their drinks. Girls made hopeful fists. Couples held each other close. Kaia wiped a tear from her cheek as Steve continued, “I’m still afraid, Kaia. But I’m not afraid of you seeing me weak anymore.” He smiled, vulnerable and honest. Steve gestured to the
harness. “So, if I can ever get out of this thing, I wanted to ask if you would—”
“Steve, stop,” Kaia breathed.
There was a murmur of excitement. Everyone could see how desperately she wanted to just pull him down and wrap her arms around him.
“Jump up and kiss him!” yelled the girl in the purple ball gown, and the room tittered.
“Are you sure no one can get me down?” Steve called to the wings again. “Because I feel like I could do the whole making up with my girlfriend thing a lot better standing on two feet.”
“Steve . . . ,” Kaia repeated.
“What?” Steve asked, his eyes once again on her, his expression open, ready to give her whatever she wanted.
“Steve . . . I don’t love you.”
What? The? Fuck?
The crowd let out a mix of “Ohhhhhhhhhhhh” and “Whaaaaaaa?”
“Did she say she didn’t love him?” I asked out loud. I must have misheard.
“Oh, thank god!” Steve exhaled. He slumped. Then the cables hissed and he fell toward the stage, stopping with a jerk just before he crashed.
“Jesus! Can someone help him?!” Kaia asked, flustered.
“I’m okay,” Steve said, and gave a thumbs-up to someone offstage. Shaking, he righted himself, only to discover his feet still hovered a foot off the floor.
I started across the stage. Steve was getting so humiliated. I needed to stop it.
“Please turn off the music!” Kaia said, brushing away another cascade of bubbles while trying to steady Steve. “This is crazy,” she said as she tugged the buckle on the harness, trying to free him. A burble of discontent spread through the room. I thought I heard a “boo.” Then a couple more. Were people booing at Kaia?
“Wait! No!” I hurried to the center of the stage. “Hear him out, Kaia!” Steve needed to finish. He needed to tell her he loved her. “Steve . . . ,” I begged.
“Cam, stop . . . ,” Steve said as he waved Kaia off from trying to free him.
“Can someone turn off the bubbles?” Kaia stomped toward the wings.
“But you two—You have to—” I grabbed Steve by the hand and pulled him after Kaia, the wires zuzzing as I tugged him toward her. The crowd cheered. Kaia stopped. I gave Steve a push, but maybe it was a little too hard, because as Steve sped toward her, Kaia jumped out of the way and he sailed past.
Save Steve Page 22
