Was it my imagination or did I see Will narrow his eyes for a second? “Yeah, we knew each other at school. I believe you were in my Calculus class last year.”
Ian answered, “I remember you, Will. You were the math brain, if I recall. You used to correct Mr. Underwood at times. I have to say that I enjoyed that.” Even as Ian was complimenting Will he had a little smirk on his face. What is it with guys? Do they have to be competitive about everything?
Right at that exact moment, Rainy, Eve and Annie appeared in the front hallway, all glammed up for the fair. They just stood there smiling, looking between me, Will and Ian. I knew they were hoping for some major drama to occur. Well, they were going to be sorely disappointed because nothing was happening, at least not in the open. Finally, Eve yelled, “Hey mom, remember you said that I could borrow your car to drive to the fair tonight?”
“No, I don’t remember, dear. Your grandma and I have our meeting at the church and we need the car. I’m sorry,” Mom responded from the kitchen doorway.
“Mom, how are we supposed to get there?” inquired Annie.
Will quickly spoke up, “You girls need a ride to the fair? You’re certainly welcome to come with me.” He suddenly appeared very happy. Boy, he sure jumped on that opportunity fast.
Rainy turned her head and noticed Will. “You’re familiar. Actually, you remind me of the math brain that won the math league contest last year. That’s not you, is IT?” Rainy squinted her eyes and studied Will’s face for a minute. “It does look like you. I remember seeing you at the awards assembly. You were standing up on stage with all those other geeks. But you look a lot cooler than that guy looked.”
Will tried to look deferential. “Actually, yeah, that would be me.”
Rainy, who’s not exactly known for her tact asked, “What happened to you? You look REALLY different.”
Will responded with wide smile, “Well, you’re welcome to ride with me. I plan on parking over by the band shell. I have a good friend playing with the ‘Two Timers’. “
Rainy squealed, “You know someone in the ‘Two Timers’? I love that band. I saw them play in Boston last winter. Can we go with you?”
Will perked up even more, if that was possible. “Sure, love to have you. Let’s get going. The parking lot fills up quickly over there.”
Annie and Eve waved at me as they left. Annie added, “Bye, you guys. See you there.” Rainy was busy chattering away with Will.
I was feeling a twinge of jealousy watching Will leave with three attractive girls and looking so happy. What the heck is wrong with me? Why am I being so greedy? After all, I’m with Ian. I’ve been looking forward to this moment all week.
Ian cleared his throat. He’d been watching me the whole time. Hope he can’t read my mind. “So, are we ready to go?”
“Yeah, sure, let’s head out,” I answered. “Bye, Aunt Amy and Grandma,” I yelled toward the kitchen.
As we were riding in the car, I made a point to try and see Ian’s aura but it was too dark to see much of anything. It has been bothering me that I’ve never been able to see any colors at all around him. It was unusual for me to go this long without getting some kind of a read on a person. I felt like he was deliberately holding himself close to his chest, almost as if he sensed that I had an intuiting ability and he was blocking me out. Was he trying to hide something? The fact that he used to date Tonya didn’t help matters. What kind of a guy dated Tonya?
Ian turned and smiled at me as we pull into the parking lot. Why was I dwelling on all these paranoid thoughts? I always do this to myself. It was as if I had to ruin my own good time. I smiled back at Ian, determined to thoroughly enjoy myself.
As we arrived, you could see swarms of people walking towards the fairgrounds from every direction. This should be great. The closest thing to this that I’d ever been to was a church carnival when I was a little kid. Uncle Frank didn’t like us going to country fairs. He said that it was a waste of money and that all the junk food would make you sick.
As we were walking, Ian started talking about what he wanted to do. “I haven’t eaten dinner so why don’t we first grab a bite to eat and then walk around and check things out. Let me know if there’s anything you want to do. I love the rides, but it’s best to get your food half way digested before you go on those. Greasy foods and crazy rides can result in disaster!” He grinned at me.
As we were walking around I noticed a couple of things about Ian. He seemed to know lots of people. I hadn’t really seen anyone that I knew yet, although I wouldn’t expect to. Occasionally, I would see a group of kids that looked familiar to me and I presumed that they went to Woodley High School. I also noticed that just about every girl we passed gave Ian the once over. Then, they checked me out with a mixture of envy/dislike in their eyes. I have to say that I was new to this experience.
I had to admit that Ian looked like a blue jean God, although that’s not what necessarily attracted me to him. In fact, I’ve always been mistrustful of very attractive guys. They’re usually too full of themselves to be good friend/boyfriend material. They get accustomed to being the object of crazy girl worship which tends to result in an insufferable ego. Nothing is more unattractive than a guy with a big ego. So far, Ian doesn’t seem to suffer from that affliction. He exhibits a strange combination of shyness and cockiness. It’s very appealing. Maybe other girls see the same thing in him.
“We’re almost up to the counter. Do you know what you want to eat?” Ian asked.
“How about a hot dog with the works?” I answered. I loved hotdogs.
As we sat down to eat Ian suddenly laughed and asked, “Have you noticed something about the guys around here?”
“No, I don’t think so. What’re you talking about?” I asked, puzzled.
“All the guys are checking you out and then they’re looking at me like I’m a lucky guy.” He responded, smiling at me.
“What?? You’re crazy. I haven’t noticed that at all.” I looked at him dubiously. Is he joshing me?
“I’m not kidding. You’re a knockout and you don’t even know it,” he said in more serious tone.
I shrugged and just looked at him. How do you respond to that? Is he just trying to flatter me?
We head to the band shell when I get a strange prickly sensation around my neck and back. I hate that feeling because I’ve had it before and it never leads to anything good. It’s almost like someone’s shooting tiny darts at me. I stop and turn around. Wouldn’t you know, it’s Tonya. She’s with her gang and she’s glaring at me with a look of pure hatred. What is it with her? Ian turns to see what I’m looking at. The minute Tonya sees him looking she puts on a big phony smile.
Tonya strides over to us and puts her arm through Ian’s. “Well, Ian. It’s so nice to see you.”
“Hi, Tonya,” Ian leans in and gives Tonya a quick hug. Then, he disengages himself and takes a step back from her arm hold. “Have you ever met Tess?”
Tonya’s eyes quickly narrowed when she glanced over at me but she answered casually, “I’ve seen Tess around school.”
“Tess is new in town so I’m showing her some of our famous sights,” Ian said while smiling at me.
Tonya stepped toward Ian with part of her back to me. “Well, Ian, if you’d like to join us later you’re welcome to.”
Ian glanced between Tonya and I before he responded, “Thanks for the invite but we’ll be doing our own thing tonight.”
“I’ve missed you, Ian,” she says to him with a fake innocent look. “When will I get a chance to see you again?”
“Now’s not the time, Tonya. Besides, we’re a done deal. You know that. Nothing has changed,” Ian said in low firm voice.
Tonya’s sweet talk quickly transformed into anger, “I think I understand.” She made a point to stare at both of us. Then, she stalked off to her gang.
“Tonya seems a little perturbed,” I remarked while smiling. I couldn’t help myself.
Ian didn’t say an
ything at first. Then, he said in a flat tone, “She has a crazy streak. That’s why I stopped seeing her.”
“Did you go out with her for very long?” I asked innocently.
“We went out for a few months last year. After a while, this other side to her personality emerged. I didn’t like it and I broke it off with her. She tried to come on to me a few times since then, but I don’t think she was really interested in me. She just liked being the one in control and she didn’t like getting dumped.” Ian looked at me and shrugged.
Ian didn’t seem too comfortable so I figured it was time to change the subject. I blurted out, “Hey, I think I can hear some music. Is that the band everyone’s talking about?”
Ian turned his head to listen. “Yep, that’s the ‘Two Timers’ all right.” He grabbed my hand and started pulling me in that direction. That was fine with me. When we got there, a slow sappy country song was playing so we got to dance real close. That felt like heaven to me. I fit into Ian’s arms perfectly. Ian was a good dancer in general which is fortunate considering that I was NOT.
When the music speeded up Ian showed me how to dance to the fast country songs. It took every ounce of my self-control to avoid looking like a total klutz on the dance floor. Ian didn’t break out in uncontrolled laughter so I figured I was passable. The entire time I was thinking that I better not see anyone with a camera or I’d have to break their arm.
I got to dance one more slow song with Ian. I was thoroughly enjoying myself when I made the mistake of opening my eyes and seeing Will dancing with Rainy. I couldn’t stop staring at them. They were both laughing, having a good old time. And what was THAT? Will had dimples! I’m a big sucker for dimples. How come he never showed that dimply smile to me? Here I go again. I gotta snap out of this! I’m acting jealous and I’m dancing in Ian’s arms. I can be such a jerk!
I made a point to avert my eyes from Will and Rainy and looked toward the band. What?? It’s HER again! Tonya and her group were right by the band, stirring it up. Everyone was looking over at them because their loud antics were impossible to ignore. Of course, that was their intent. Big shiny Tonya was smack in the middle, her bright red mouth opened in a cackle of laughter.
Out of the corner of her eye she looked my way and we locked eyes for a second. So this was her game. She planned to catch my attention; that’s why she parked her flashy loud self, right there. As she sneered at me she brought her blood red fingernails up to her mouth as if to hide her mocking smile. Her face reminded me of a shark after an attack with her cold fish eyes and blood red teeth. I put my head down on Ian’s shoulder and smiled back.
25. Mayhem
After we finished dancing, we decided to squeeze in a few rides before it got too late. The only ride without a long line was the Ferris wheel, a favorite of mine. We climbed on, buckled in and started going around. Something about going on rides makes me laugh really hard and if I’m not careful, I’ll laugh and snort at the same time. That’s not too attractive so I tried hard to control myself.
As we rotated around, nearing the apex of the wheel, the entire Ferris wheel apparatus abruptly jerked and stopped moving. By that time, we were at the worst possible place to stop, the pinnacle of the wheel. The seat we were in swung wildly back and forth. Ian grabbed and held my hand to be a nice guy. I have a bit of a problem with heights so I started feeling a little woozy. I didn’t tell Ian because I was afraid he would think I was a loser (especially after the incident under the tree). We were looking around wondering what the heck was going on. A man on the ground with a speaker horn yelled to us that it was just mechanical difficulty and to be patient; things would be working shortly.
Ian turned to me and wise-cracked, “Hey, we’re alone up here and we’re stuck. This isn’t such a bad situation after all.” Then, he leaned in to kiss me. At first I was startled, but it was a nice sweet kiss, not a slimy barracuda kiss. I snuggled in closer to him and put my head on his shoulder. Something was starting to feel a little weird though. The seat we were in was swinging harder even though the Ferris wheel was completely still. Why would our seat be swinging at all? I certainly wasn’t anything we were doing because we were sitting still. I noticed that the seat in front of us was also swinging higher.
“Ian, what’s going on here?” I asked while clutching his arm.
“I don’t know, Tess. This is really strange. You can hold onto me, but I also suggest that you hold onto the front rail here,” cautioned Ian. I could tell that he was trying to keep his voice calm for my sake but it still sounded strained.
Our seat was at the point where it was going all the way to the horizontal position and back again, a 180 degree swing. If it didn’t stop it would soon flip over into a complete circle. That’s impossible, isn’t it? I could hear people screaming all around me. The seat in front of us was on the verge of flipping around, too. There was a little girl and her mother in that seat. I couldn’t even watch.
“Hang onto the bar with both of your arms, Tess, and don’t let go under any circumstances,” yelled Ian. Suddenly, our car flipped all the way around and WE WERE HANGING COMPLETELY OUT OF OUR SEAT!!! Both of us were hanging directly from the bar. The seat was still swinging but it stopped going around, probably due to our weight on the bar, so the seat was stuck upside down.
In the next seat, I saw a woman holding the bar with one arm and her child with her other arm. Oh, my, God! She isn’t going to last and there’s nothing we can do! Then, I heard a horrifying scream from behind me and the sound of a THUD on the ground. In the background, I could hear yelling and screaming from the fair grounds.
I anxiously turned to see how the woman in front of us was doing. She was whimpering, “Please, someone help us. I can’t hold on for much longer. Please . . . please . . .please”. It turned into a whisper. Her little girl was crying hysterically. Then, the woman holding her daughter just let go without saying a word. I heard a WHUMP when she hit the ground.
My arms were burning. I didn’t know how much longer I could hang on myself. Ian managed to pull himself up over the bar so that some of the weight was on his chest, then he inched over to me. “Tess, can you pull yourself up at all? If you can’t, then wrap your legs around my body. I can take a lot more weight than you. It will help take some of the weight off your arms.”
All of a sudden, I felt another jolt. CRAP. I’m losing my grip. The loudspeaker came on again, “Everyone, please stay calm. We are using a hand crank to mechanically wind the Ferris wheel down. We are moving as quickly as possible.”
“Ian, I’m having a hard time. My arms are on fire,” I cried urgently.
“Tess, can you shimmy up my legs with your legs to lift yourself up a little on the bar. I know you can do it,” Ian coaxed.
“I’ll try. I don’t want to pull us both down though.” I wrapped my legs around his legs and I was able to crawl up an inch or so. It helped relieve the pressure on my arms a little.
Gradually, the Ferris wheel was circling down. We were closer to the ground, but still had some distance to go. “They’re taking forever,” I moaned.
The Ferris wheel moved down the length of two more seats. I was beginning to think that I was going to make it. Suddenly, a quick stop and a hard JOLT. I was done for! It was enough to shake me lose. I hung by one hand and then couldn’t hold on any longer. Ian tried to grab me with one hand but I was going too fast by then. At least I knew to bend my knees and to try to loosen my body. I hit the ground hard. I could feel a searing pain from my toes, up my back and through my neck. As I hit bottom, I collapsed. Then I felt nothing.
Gradually, I was becoming aware of my surroundings. I was vaguely conscious of the sounds of people screaming and feet running around me. Wasn’t someone going to help me? Why was I just lying there?
Owww!! Someone BIG stepped on my foot. What the heck?? I better do something. I opened my eyes and tried to move my limbs. They felt like blocks of cement. Inch by inch, I was able to move my legs. Next, I pushed myself up an
d took in what was happening. I SAW TOTAL PANDEMONIUM! People were frantically trying to push their way out of the park, carrying children in their arms or on their shoulders. The side entrance nearest to me was completely jammed. Fortunately, I had landed in some hay that was stacked up against an animal tent. I could hear the animals’ frantic bleating inside. I realized that I was lucky. The hay must’ve cushioned my fall and I wasn’t in the direct line of foot traffic, otherwise I may’ve been trampled.
I managed to slowly pull myself up. I was feeling very unsteady on my feet but able to start limping along. I headed against the traffic back into the fairgrounds because I had to find Annie and Eve. I also was thinking about Ian. What could’ve happened to him? By now, I figured out that more was going on than a malfunctioning Ferris wheel.
The stench of burning rubber permeated the air and above me were spirals of dark smoke. Oh . . . . my . . . . God . . . . What was THAT? I had glanced over to my right and saw a giant mess of cables and wires tangled with the chairs, chains and big pieces of metal. I think it used to be that circular swing ride. What happened to it? I started to limp over there to get a better look when I realized what else was in the pile. BODIES! They were scattered in the debris. One girl was sitting up in a daze and holding out her arm. HER LEFT HAND WAS MISSING. She was crying with blood all over her. Her face was all cut up. Someone was standing over her, trying to help so I continued to search for my cousins. Could Annie or Eve be in there?
All of this was so shocking and disorienting for me. It was difficult to recognize where I was because there was so much chaos around me. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see something large and brown running OVER the people that were lying on the ground. IT WAS A BULL! There were other bulls running all around! They must’ve gotten out of the rodeo tent. Then, I walked by a tent that was on fire. I think it was the food tent where we had the hotdogs earlier.
A Girl Between Page 12
