by Susie Salom
A powerful pluck comes to the middle cable and I start walking. I think about Reed, and how we’ve already made so many circles of infinity, and I know in my heart that being able to make out the stars in another person is not just important during combat. It’s probably more important when you depend on each other and are on the same team. And all of a sudden it hits me.
Some moments, we can actually sense—not through our eyes and ears, but through the stars in the houses of our power—that there’s this strong, true thing, always waiting to flow into us. So the next time the cable does something I don’t totally understand, I get still. Because I trust that the power at the other end will sooner or later tell me whatever I need to know. If I can just be patient enough to listen to the part of it that already speaks inside of me.
The end of the maze comes. By the time we all make it out together, I’m actually sweating! Brooke slides my blindfold off and is smiling at me as Reed and Donna high-five. I fish out the earplugs and hear Marcy and even Meowsie cheering from their seats, which are close to the exit of our maze. I’m so happy to see and hear again! But another, more quieter part of me looks straight at Marcy, remembering how sometimes she takes out her hearing aids so she can feel the special power of the mystery. I’m relieved to be out of the maze but at the same time, it’s weird. Because if I had the chance, I think I’d actually do it all again. Like somehow there’s more treasure in there, if I’m not too chicken in the face of the great unknown to go back in after it.
“You were this close to hitting a wall!” Brooke tells me.
“Really?” I laugh.
She nods with a laugh, too. “I can’t believe we never came up with a signal to say, ‘No! Wrong way!’ ”
“That’s just what I was thinking when I was in there!” I tell her.
“After that, I tried my best to just, I don’t know,” she says. “Communicate with you to stop—and you did. I couldn’t let you hit that wall.”
I laugh and she bear hugs me. As I sink with relief into her hug, the sounds in the arena overwhelm me. I can’t believe I never noticed before. How we’re always swimming in this confetti roar and don’t even realize it’s there. Brooke and me let go as a scratchy voice comes on over the speakers. There’s a lady with a microphone on the big, foamy platform set up in the middle of all the mazes. I imagine they look like enormous circuit boards, tossed all over the floor.
“Well done, teams. You’ve done an excellent job representing your middle schools and you should be proud.”
Brooke, Reed, Donna and me all clap and kinda put our arms around each other in a line as we wait to hear what comes next.
“Now, we need you all to be in attendance at the awards ceremony when the winners will be announced, after the judges have had an opportunity to evaluate your performances and tally up your scores.”
People are shushing everybody all over the floor and the lady smiles.
“So, again, well done. And we’ll see you tomorrow evening.”
As we’re all getting to our cars outside, I search the parking lot for some sign of Sheroo. Though the bigger part of me knows there’s not really a chance she’ll still be here.
I let out a huge sigh and feel a tug on my cape. I turn around and see Reed.
“You were great in there,” he tells me. “I was worried about you at the first, but you were really, really great in there.”
He squints at the tip of my fedora in the sun, and that’s the moment I finally let myself accept how I really feel about him.
“We were really, really great in there.” I smile at him. “English Boy.”
That night is the Georgia O’Keeffe Harvest Carnival and, just like they promised, Mom and Dad get Uncle Jack to take me and Meowsie.
“Hey. Let’s go to the thing at your school and then we can come home and watch the old Clash of the Titans,” Meowsie tells me as I’m in the bathroom getting ready.
I tip my head in the mirror and smack my blue lips. “You just want to see Andromeda’s bahameda as she comes out of the bath.”
“Kyle.”
I wanted to make my own costume this year, just like Mom, only I can’t sew dragon heads or whatever so mine’s a little more easy. I needed to wear my fedora so the whole rest of my idea came from that. With a classic white tee, I have on blue jean shorts, striped blue tights, blue suspenders, skinny blue tie, blue lipstick and, of course, my blue fedora. I thought about making my whole face blue but then decided I didn’t want all that paint on me. Instead, I just got some blue glitter to go around my eyes. Looks pretty kick so I think I made the right choice.
“What are you supposed to be anyway?” Meows asks me. “You look kind of … aqua.”
“What are you?” I ask him.
His outfit is pretty normal. The only thing sort of different is that he has a goatee painted on.
“I’m Mr. Arriéta.”
“Really?” I turn from the Meows in the mirror to the real Meows standing behind me. “That’s pretty cool. You look good as Mr. Arriéta.”
He tugs at his shirt. “Well, what are you?”
I dab just a little more glitter by one of my eyes to even them out and turn my head to inspect my work just like Mom inspected hers. Then I stand up straight and look at the only face I have.
“I’m a defender of the Blue Fedora Code.”
Soon as we get to the carnival, Meowsie and Marcy find each other like magnets. They come up with a strategy to have the best chance on the cakewalk and Meowsie starts to sink the entire ten bucks Uncle Jack gave each of us before we left the house at that booth.
I wanna scope out my options. As I look around, I have to admit I’m pretty curious to know what Reed’ll come dressed as. Maybe something from Wolverine? Or, ooh! Something British. Like a guard in front of Buckingham Palace or the guy from David Beckham.
Brooke makes her way through the crowd to me with a sneaky grin on her whiskered face. She’s dressed up as a black cat—which isn’t the most original idea in the Milky Way but she looks cute. From the way she’s twirling her tail, I’m pretty sure she knows how cute she looks, too.
“What are you supposed to be?” she asks me.
I’m not in the right mood to go into the whole Blue Fedora Code right at the moment so instead of answering I ask her if she’s seen Sheroo.
“Yep.” She nods. “She and Smiley are at the fishing booth. Smiley’s so sweet. Dressed up as a cotton-tailed rabbit.”
Smiley is Sheroo’s baby half sister. Her real name is Melissa but everyone calls her Smiley.
“Have you seen anyone from NAVS?” I ask. “Cameron or Donna—”
“No, I haven’t seen Reed.” She looks at me with those sharp, smart eyes of hers. “And Cameron’s still out of commission,” she adds. “Think he will be for at least a week. But Donna’s hanging out somewhere. She came dressed as—”
“Don’t tell me. A dolphin.”
“Surprisingly, no.” Brooke nods over at the space between the cakewalk and the ring toss. I turn to look and see Donna signing something at Marcy, who came as a sunflower. She laughs at whatever Donna just told her.
Donna’s costume takes me completely by surprise. She’s pretty striking with her red hair pulled back and a crown of violets around her brow. She’s dressed as a medieval maiden.
Brooke and I look around at the rest of the booths. For most of them—except the cakewalk and the eighth-grade dunk—you collect tickets that you can exchange for prizes at the end of the night. I spot the prize counter and see that one of the things you can pick are stickers of bats. Scratch ’n’ sniff!
“What do you think bats smell like?” I ask Brooke.
She shrugs. “Guano, maybe? Cavern.”
“What does cavern smell like?”
“Guano?”
Thank you, Brookipedia.
I move up to the counter and ask the parent volunteer what the bat stickers smell like.
“Licorice,” she says. “They’re one of the
most popular prizes tonight. That and the spooky caramel apples from Yankee Doodle Candy. Everybody waits all year for those.”
Brooke taps me on the shoulder and I turn around. From across the room, Sheroo is staring the both of us down. She’s not with Sasha or Mercedes or any of her other new friends. She’s just standing a few yards from the fishing booth dressed like a flapper. Her costume is so great. She looks incredibly cool with a big feather sticking out of her headband, a super-long pearly necklace tied in a knot and a dress with strings that swish like crazy every time she moves.
I feel that familiar crunch between my ribs. Last year, it was so much fun when the three of us hung out. Brooke was the smart one, Sheroo was the crazy one and I was—what was I? It’s hard to know which one you are when you’re with your friends. But anyway we were the perfect trio. We drew SKB in bubble letters on all of our binders with metallic paint pens, and Sheroo even carved our initials onto a table in the library this one time when she was supposed to be reading a book about some war but was bored. She didn’t get in trouble, though. I guess Mrs. Cromeans didn’t make the connection.
“Incoming,” Brooke says. Then she snaps the piece of Dubble Bubble she’s been chewing. It’s Halloween, the candy event of the year, and as Sheroo walks up to us my stomach’s so tight I can’t even think about enjoying all the sugar.
“Hey,” she says.
“Hey,” I echo.
“Hey.”
Brooke rolls one of her hands to keep the convo moving along. She looks at Sheroo, then me.
“You guys do realize how ridiculous you’re being,” Brooke says, after Sheroo and I have been having a staring contest, practically.
“You’re not helping,” Sheroo tells Brooke.
“Well, what will help?” Brooke asks. “Cloning Reed?”
My face goes hot and I look around to make sure nobody heard what Brooke just frisbeed out there.
“I mean, let’s face it, people can’t exactly control who they have crushes on.”
“Brooke,” I say through my teeth.
“What? It’s the truth. You guys should just put all this behind you and be friends again,” she goes on. “It’s not like the two of you are the only ones this stupid argument has affected.”
We both look at Brooke.
“Who else?” Sheroo asks.
“Hello?” Brooke flips her tail. “You think I like seeing my two best friends in the world split up over a guy?”
“Well, this isn’t really about a guy anymore. Is it?” Sheroo says.
I am totally and completely stumped. And alarmed.
“Look, the point is, if you were in love with Reed all along,” she tells me, “you should have just said so from the start.”
In love with Reed? All along? Saying so out loud?
“This isn’t about Reed,” Sheroo goes on, and I want to beg her to keep it down.
“This isn’t?” Brooke asks.
“Okay, maybe it is, kind of,” Sheroo concedes. “But it’s about more than that and Kyle knows it!”
“I am not having this conversation right now,” I say. Because, first of all, I kind of have no idea what she’s talking about and it’s scaring me. What else could this be about except her crush on Reed? But, second of all, hello? Having a big, ol’ heart-to-heart about all this super private stuff way out in the open in the middle of the carnival? We might as well be on a sunken stage in the Civic Center.
“Well, when will you have it?” Sheroo demands.
I stare at her, then look at Brooke, then back at Sheroo.
“Just—” I shake my head and drop both hands, turning on one heel to make my way to the doors of the auditorium. I push out into the cool night air. Sheroo is hard on my heels but, out of the corner of my eye, I can see Brooke has turned her back and stayed inside.
“So, it’s true, then?” Sheroo trails me down the steps. I go to the sidewalk and turn the corner toward the outdoor basketball courts. “Why can’t you just admit it?”
“Sheroo, you’re embarrassing me.”
“Look, will you just quit walking?” she tells me.
“No.”
She follows me all the way to the sidewalks by the gym. There’s still a lot of construction going on and I wonder when the heck they’re gonna finish.
“Perfect,” I mutter.
“Finally!” she huffs after I stop, the strings on her dress swishing back and forth like spaghetti car-wash sponges.
But I don’t stop for her. I stop because, of all people, Ino Nevarez is sitting on the rock wall near the gym—by himself. He’s not even wearing a costume. I blow out a long breath and wonder how all of a sudden this night got so Count Crapula.
“Kyle, all you have to do,” Sheroo says, “is be honest with me. Look, I’m sorry I got mad at you at the beginning of the year over that note for the NAVS meeting. That was”—she takes a breath and lets it out—“just stupid of me. But it was also stupid of you not to be honest with me and just admit that you like him, too.”
“Sheroo, where are you going?” Sheroo’s baby sister Smiley pops out behind us. “Mom said we’re a’posed to stay together,” she says in her tiny voice. I turn to look at her in her bunny costume. She looks cute enough to squish. Her little nose looks just like a mini strawberry.
“Go back inside, Smi,” Sheroo says. “I’ll be right there.”
“No.”
“Smiley, just gimme a minute!”
“But Mom said!”
“Well, go find Mom!” Sheroo yells.
But Smiley ignores her. Instead, she climbs over the orange tape surrounding the bar with the basketball hoop attached to the backboard. It’s been yanked out of the asphalt, base carved straight out of the ground. It’s standing but it doesn’t look super stable.
“Smiley,” I start, “I wouldn’t—”
The sound of her scream splits the air like a piccolo being snapped.
“Smiley!” Sheroo kicks off her heels and kneels by her sister. “She’s stuck!”
Smiley makes a funny sound as the long bar attached to the backboard has now tumbled completely and has pinned her little chest to the ground.
“Get it up!” I yell.
I try to lift it off Smiley but there is just no way.
“Sheroo, run!” I say. “Go get help! I don’t think she can breathe properly!”
“Oh, my God!”
“Sheroo, please, just get a hold of yourself ! She’ll be okay if we help her.”
Smiley makes another strange sound, her face getting as pink as her nose as she flails her hands. I had no idea these backboards were so heavy!
I try again to shove the bar off Smiley’s chest. Sheroo is just sitting there, flailing her own arms and crying her sister’s name. The bar barely budges. I need help. Fast. I’m shaking as I try to get my shoulder under the bar when all of a sudden it starts to come up. It’s working!
“Pull her out!”
It’s a guy’s voice, like a roar. I look over my shoulder and see that Ino has forced the bar up just enough so that Smiley can wriggle free.
“Pull her out!” he growls again, his face purple.
I gather Smiley’s legs and swing her out from under the bar, which Ino drops with a horrible clang. He slumps on the ground and takes a heavy breath.
“Smiley!” Sheroo tries to grab her but I stop her.
“No, don’t move her more yet! Smiley, can you hear me?” I ask.
Smiley starts to whimper.
“Can you move your arms by yourself ?” I ask. She moves a few of her little fingers.
“Girls, what—” Mrs. Malagares is standing on the other side of the rock wall. “What are you doing out here? Why did you leave the carnival?”
“I’m sorry,” Sheroo sobs.
“What in God’s name—?”
Mrs. Malagares scurries to Smiley, who’s still huddled near my lap.
“What happened? Melissa!”
She scoops up her youngest daughter an
d turns on her oldest.
“Are you insane? You were supposed to be looking out for your sister, not—” She casts a glance at Ino, still catching his breath. “Get inside. Now!”
Sheroo scrambles to her feet and grabs her shoes, making a sprint for the sidewalk.
“Kyle, you too!” she shouts at me.
“Yes, Mrs. Malagares.”
But then she ignores me as she carries a whimpering Smiley behind Sheroo and just keeps bawling her out.
I’m shaking. I’m shaking and my hands are Popsicles. Smiley would have been crushed if that bar had fallen on her harder. She wasn’t breathing right. I don’t know how long she would have lasted. I look over at Ino and think he might be shaking, too.
“You okay?” I ask him.
He looks at me with clear green eyes.
“Thank you,” I tell him, still so shocked I can hardly believe we’re having this conversation. “There’s no way I could have helped her by myself. ”
He pushes himself up and wipes his palms on his pants.
“All gravy, Wonder Woman.”
Then he climbs the steps in the opposite direction of the carnival and disappears toward the dark entrance to the gym.
Brooke rushes me the minute I’m in the door.
“What happened?”
I just look at her and swallow. She pulls me by the tie toward a booth in the corner.
“Sheroo’s family left! Mrs. Malagares was talking all mad to Principal Bracamontes and then she dragged Sheroo and Smiley to the car and just took off!”
I tell Brooke what happened and watch as her eyes bug out.
“Do you think Mrs. Malagares is taking Smiley to the hospital to get X-rays?”
“I might, if I was her.”
“I hope she’s okay.” Brooke wrings her hands. I hardly ever see her get this emotional.
She starts to calm down, though, as we do the beanbag toss—which is easy but at least you’re guaranteed tickets that way—and the suction darts—which are a little harder to hit the bull’s-eye, but I still try. I miss, but still score a ticket for landing inside one of the inner circles.
