by K. D. Kinney
I grabbed a towel and went to my room.
“Where did you go?” Cessie asked.
“I was in the horse barn.” I waved my hand at Cessie so she wouldn’t look down on me while I changed.
“No way!” Cessie said.
“Yes, way. I was in Ezra’s stall when Noah found me.” I dried off as fast as I could to dress into my regular clothes. “Does mom know anything yet?”
“She thinks we might have to leave tomorrow before the fair opens. They’ll give her a final decision in the morning.”
“Oh.” I still didn’t know what Noah and Josh had in mind to help us out of our mess and we really needed to hurry. I struggled with my wet tangled-up hair. I braided it as fast as I could. “I think Noah and Josh have some sort of plan. Hopefully it works and we can stay and get Peppy back.”
“Then hurry. I don’t want Peppy to be afraid.”
“I know.” I tied the laces to my combat boots as fast as I could. “See you later.”
When I left my room, I found Josh and Noah talking to Mom.
“Wow, you clean up fast,” Noah said.
“I think we have a lot to remedy before this day is over. That is if I can go, Mom?”
“I would feel better if you’d stay home with all the craziness from the past twenty-four hours. You aren’t trying to stir up more trouble, are you?” She looked directly at Josh and Noah.
They shook their heads vehemently.
“We aren’t trouble makers at all. We just happened to know one, ma’am,” Noah said.
“First of all, I know your parents probably taught you manners, but I don’t like being called ma’am. It makes me feel like an old lady. I want to hear back from you when you accomplish whatever you are doing and then I’ll buy you all dinner if you come back at a decent hour.”
“Sounds great.” Josh rubbed his hands together. “I was running out of money to get me through the end of the week.”
“I got you covered if you need it, you know,” Noah said.
“Yeah? Thanks.” Josh turned away when his face reddened and he headed for the door. “Let’s go.”
The three of us walked across the field towards the carnival. We dodged puddles on the asphalt paths, which wasn’t hard. The crowds were non-existent due to the storm. Even though I had changed, my shirt and shorts stuck to my damp skin from the sticky air.
“What’s your plan?” I asked.
“You need to talk to her,” Noah said.
“What?” I stopped dead in my tracks. “I’ve talked to her and she’s been nothing but mean to me.”
“You just need to tell her about the plans for Peppy once you return home. It will make a difference.”
“I don’t understand how. She won’t care, if she did care a little bit you’d think she wouldn’t still be trying to get us kicked out and making it impossible to get Peppy back.” My eyes welled up with tears. “Who does that?”
“Tell her the whole story. If she knew it would have made her think twice from the start, I promise.” Noah squeezed my shoulder.
I turned to Josh. He nodded in agreement. “I don’t want to talk to her though. I want to stay far far away so she can’t do any more damage.”
Josh shook his head. “I don’t want to be telling you goodbye tonight if we don’t have to. You need to try.” He grabbed my hand, pulled it away from my body, and held it. Noah did the same with my other one. The three of us stood side-by-side with Josh and Noah looking at me full of hope. “It’s not just for you, or us. Do it for Peppy. For your mom and sister too.”
“You have to at least try and we will be nearby if she steps out of line. We’ll be close. I promise,” Noah said.
My face burned and my hands were sweaty. The awful anxiety building in my chest was worse than being near a horse. I struggled to breathe.
“Sera, she’s just a girl with some issues. I know you don’t know much about her but they’re big issues and she has heart in there somewhere. I spoke with her and she knows you’re coming to talk to her.” Noah leaned to the side to get me to look at him.
“Why couldn’t you just tell her?” I drew in a deep breath.
“I could, but you know your story better than I do,” Noah said.
“Where is she?” My hands trembled. I wanted to tuck them under my arms but Josh and Noah were squeezing them tighter.
“In the horse barn,” Josh said.
I rolled my eyes. “On her terms too?”
“That’s how I found you. I had just finished talking to her. You went in there on your own already today. That is huge.” Noah bumped against my shoulder.
“I didn’t know The Dark One was lurking nearby.”
Noah tilted my chin up to look at him. “If you call her that now, it doesn’t help you at all.”
“I know.” I hung my head. “Okay.”
The three of us continued to walk to the horse barn. The closer we got, the more I struggled to find courage. I found a smidgen of it and let go of their hands and folded my arms, stopping at the door. There was a flurry of activity with horses and kids roaming in the center. I looked back at Noah and Josh before taking a step inside.
They motioned for me to keep going.
I knew right where Kelly and her horse would be. Maybe she already left and I’d be off the hook. However, once I fixed my eyes where I needed to go, Kelly was standing right there talking with Bree and Rachel. The three of them turned their attention to me as I walked down the center alone. Occasionally horses led by kids that were oblivious to my terrible fears startled me. When I fixed my eyes back on Kelly, she stood by herself, leaning against the stall door with her horse’s head over her shoulder. Rachel and Bree went to their horses’ stalls to watch.
Josh and Noah were a short distance behind, heading for their horses’ stalls. Surrounded by all of them, I was comforted that I had real friends willing to stick up for me.
I exhaled slowly as Kelly glared at me. I was finally standing right in front of her.
“The boys said you wanted to talk to me. I don’t know why. It was your crazy monkey that tried to attack my face first.” She stroked her horse’s nose.
“No. My mom was very clear about food and drink in the front row before she started the show. You knew what trouble you would cause with the banana.”
“I didn’t agree to stand here and listen to accusations towards me after what happened.”
“Well, Peppy’s attack may have cost him his future, and everything my mom has worked so hard for.”
“I don’t see how. Your little pet is under observation and you’ll get him back if you had the proper permits to have an exotic animal like him. If not, you didn’t deserve him anyway.”
“We have all his paperwork and he wasn’t a pet. He performed in the show this summer as part of his training to become a service animal. We get a new monkey every year. My mom loves training them for Handy Helpers. This Peppy was our fifth and has been the easiest to work with. She has been very successful training monkeys and now my mom may never get to train another one. There were very special circumstances with very rigid guidelines that allowed her to train monkeys for that program. This may have cost Peppy his chance at ever graduating. His whole future is uncertain now.”
Kelly’s face fell. She looked at the ground and turned side-ways. “I didn’t know.”
“You don’t know a lot of things about us, Kelly. But you sure have done a great job of ruining my mom’s job, her dreams, and our future by trying so hard to humiliate me. Seriously, you already did a great job of humiliating me before today. Why do you care that Peppy was training for Handy Helpers? Why does that make a difference now?”
“It does. It changes everything. I have to go.” Kelly gave me an apologetic look before she ran off down the corridor.
I watched Kelly leave in disbelief. What the heck? Why can’t these guys quit leaving me hanging?
21
I scowled at Noah as he and Josh walked over to me.
“Why don’t any of you tell me anything? I have no idea why she just ran off.” I pointed in the direction where Kelly left.
“Whatever you said worked.” Noah hugged me. “I’m sure she’s going to try to fix it.”
“Why? Because she has a soft spot for convicted monkeys?” I asked.
“No, because she has a soft spot for service animals,” Noah said
“And that was all she needed to know? I don’t get it.”
“The reason why Kelly is so awful might not change your feelings for her that much. Her family trains Labs and Goldens as service animals. They’ve been training them for the past few years after her special needs little brother died. She wasn’t always like this. The sicker her brother got, the more obnoxious Kelly was because he was getting all the attention. She complained all the time back then and everyone always felt sorry for her.” Noah tugged on the bottom of my shirt. “Her dad tried to make it up to her while her mom doted on her brother. That’s why she gets everything she wants now, horses, the lessons, everything. Except her mom. After Kelly’s brother died, her mom brought home puppies and spends all the time she spent caring for her brother training dogs now. That’s when everyone noticed Kelly change for the worst. However, she does help train the pups and she likes it. I’ve seen the old Kelly when she helps kids with special needs ride her old horse. Costing Peppy his future will not go over well with her mom if she found out. And Kelly does appreciate what animals can do for those that need them.” Noah squeezed my arm. “That’s Kelly’s soft spot. You nailed it.”
“I don’t know if it will matter. The report has been filed and is in process. Peppy won’t be released to us until they close the investigation and receive all the paperwork from Handy Helpers and from the vets in Arizona. Since it’s so late in the day today and tomorrow is Friday, I don’t know if that’s enough time.”
“Let’s hope for the best,” Noah said.
Rachel and Bree gathered around us.
“We told Kelly off for getting your monkey hauled off. At least you found her soft spot,” Rachel said.
“I didn’t think she had one,” I said.
“Guess what?” Rachel tugged on my arm. “I know why she’s all bent out of shape over Noah liking you. His mom offered Kelly some great stuff if she could get Noah to like her this week.”
“My mom wouldn’t do that.” Noah gave Rachel a push. “She chases all the girls away.”
“I’m serious. Your mom was worried that you might be gay and that Josh was your boyfriend. She wanted to find out if you’re still into girls and she likes Kelly. Your mom offered her some really good stuff.” Rachel wouldn’t stop nodding.
“Why would she think that? I talk about girls all the time.” Josh flushed.
“She might have thought it was a front or something.” Bree shrugged.
Noah was three shades redder than Josh. “That is just … ” Noah stammered. He covered his face. “My mom would do something like that.”
“You think it’s true?” I asked.
“Yes,” all four of them said in emphatic unison.
“Thank goodness I don’t live here.”
“Before you leave, I want more pictures of you and I together to rub in her face. That is if Josh doesn’t mind.”
Josh snorted. “Actually, I would pay money to be there when she saw them. Especially if you posted some really good ones. Like kissing ones.”
They all snickered. I wasn’t so sure though.
“We totally should,” Noah said, raising his eyebrows at me.
“Isn’t that kind of like cyber-bullying your mom?” I asked.
“Not really. She’s a cyber-stalker. She gets on my brothers’ Facebook accounts to snoop on people. She needs to stop meddling. I already don’t do a lot of things because I don’t want to deal with her. This would be perfect because there is no way she would have access to you. I mean, you could block her on Facebook if your worried. That’s about as close as she would ever get. You could just be that anonymous girl that she finds out about after the fair. Then Kelly doesn’t get anything from my mom either.”
A smile slowly spread across my face. An excuse to kiss Noah and have evidence? I nodded my consent, ignoring how shallow I had become.
Josh, Noah, and I went back to the Caravan. I thought Mom planned on having dinner with us, but she didn’t. Instead, she gave me money for food for all of us. I was quite relieved Mom stayed behind even though Cessie had to tag along. However, the worry over Peppy weighed on Cessie and I felt it too. The possibility of it being our last night loomed over us. We bought all our fair favorites and went to one of the comedy shows. After that, we went on the rides. We weren’t having much fun until Josh took out his phone.
“Okay, you all are so boring. Can we at least try to have some fun or pretend like it’s fun so we can remember this night fondly?” Josh asked.
He led us to the Hall of Mirrors and took pics of us posing as if we were lost and posted Vines of us attempting to find our way out when we accidentally-on-purpose walked into the glass walls, plastering our bodies in silly poses against the glass. By the time we actually found our way out, we couldn’t stop laughing. He led us to the Funhouse next.
Josh followed me taking selfies of us on the moving walkways while Noah helped Cessie through the obstacles. I grabbed Josh’s phone and took pics of him when we crossed the sliding floor and again when air blasted him in the face at the end. He grabbed me and had me take a selfie of us with his face pressed against mine. In the next one, he held the phone and kissed my cheek. My eyes widened when he took it. Josh snorted when he saw the pic. I tugged on his shoulder to get a look and giggled at my goofy face. By the time we reached the end, Noah was glaring at Josh.
“When are you two taking selfies to show your mom, Noah?” Josh asked, diverting Noah’s negative attention. “I think she should be all gypsy when you take them.”
The sun splashed the clouds with orange, yellow, and pink as it began to sink below the horizon.
“I don’t think we have time for me to change.” I tugged on the bottom edge of my Minnie Mouse T-shirt. “I don’t know how early we might be leaving tomorrow.” My eyes shifted towards Cessie to stifle all the kissing talk.
Josh nodded.
“Hey, I need an excuse to ride the little coaster. Will you come with me?” Josh ruffled her hair and motioned his head in the direction of the kiddie rides.
Cessie eagerly took his hand and pulled him towards the coaster.
I bumped my shoulder against Noah’s. “Are you mad again?”
“Yes.” Noah shoved his hands in his pockets. “Josh sure knows how to mend things in a hurry.” He glanced at me and smiled.
“Where to?” I asked, hooking my arm in his. “This is pretend for your mom right?”
“Sort of.”
“I thought we weren’t a thing anymore,” I said.
“Do you want to do this? Because if you don’t, I don’t either.” Noah brushed his fingers against mine.
I held onto his arm. “I do,” I whispered in his ear and was about to kiss his cheek before I changed my mind. I clung to him instead while he led me to the giant Ferris wheel.
I stood in line with Noah’s arm around my shoulders. I watched the crowd that passed by while we waited. I spotted Kelly hanging on some boy’s arm. We made eye contact. I didn’t know what to make of everything I knew about her now. I struggled to understand why all the things Noah shared with me would drive her to behave like a spoiled brat.
The boy was about to bring Kelly to the line for the Ferris wheel too. She pulled him away, before leading him in another direction.
“That was close,” I said.
“What?” Noah asked.
“You didn’t see Kelly?”
“No, I was watching you.” Noah bit his lip when he smiled.
“Stop that.” I hit him lightly on the chest and smiled up at him. He played with my different colored strands of hair that p
oked every which way at the end of my braid. He pulled me closer to him and kissed the top of my head.
“I really hope I get at least a few more days with you,” he whispered.
“Me too.” I inhaled Noah’s wonderful manly smell.
When it was our turn to board the Ferris wheel, Noah and I had the whole hanging bucket to ourselves.
“Josh is much better at this than I am. I hate taking selfies.” Noah fumbled with his phone.
“I’m not much better.” I took the phone from him, held it up, and played with it for a minute until I could see both of our faces on the screen. I took the first one. “That was crappy.” I got ready again. “Now kiss my cheek.” I waited for him. The look on his face made my heart flip and ache at the same time. How was he able to make me feel so many feelings at once? Noah looked at me for a long moment with such sadness and the kiss was so sweet.
“You need to make this fun and not like I’m about to go away forever. Come on.” I poked his side. He jerked away but came back quickly giving me a bear hug. I took a pic. He turned his hat backwards, like Josh, before his forehead rested on mine. I took another one. Then he kissed me, really kissed me, and I melted. I wasn’t sure I got the first one right so I took another pic, maybe two more. I was preoccupied with his kiss that was much longer than I anticipated. The Ferris wheel came to stop when we were at the top. He held my face and kissed me hard the way he did in the Caravan before Cessie caught us that night. Or maybe it was like when he pressed me against the wall in the horse stall and kissed me. That time was almost too much. My knees even went weak, until Josh caught us.
When the ride moved again, Noah paused. I wasn’t holding the phone up anymore. My hand rested against his chest. I wasn’t sure why I loved to feel how hard his heart was pounding. It did give me thrill. Maybe it was because his racing and pounding heart that was matching my own reassured me how much he liked me. Noah leaned back against the bucket seat with his arm still around me.
“I don’t know if I could just like you as a friend,” Noah whispered. “I feel too much for that.”