Crushing Summer

by C. M. Stunich

  I realized then that I was holding my breath and blew it out in a rush, drawing everyone else's eyes to me. Julie smiled. Cage, too, which was kind of surprising.

  As if waking from a dream, Casper blinked his eyes rapidly and turned his attention back to the game.

  “I'm not very good at this,” he said, finally speaking to me. I guess he wasn't angry anymore about what happened at the beach. “Actually, I pretty much suck at it.” He tossed another ball that went wide and ended up landing in the open cash box on the table in the corner.

  “It's all in the wrist,” Cage said with a wink, reaching out and taking a ball from Casper's bucket. “May I?” Casper shrugged and studied Cage with narrowed eyes, like he was a wild animal, unpredictable and probably dangerous.

  Cage turned, adjusting his T-shirt like he wasn't used to wearing them, and pulled his arm back like he was at a bowling alley.

  “If you make it, the prize is null and void,” Owen said as Cage launched the ball forward. It flew up towards the roof of the tent, skimming the fabric and plunged straight down and into the bowl in the center, the one marked with the most points.

  “Woo-hoo!” Julie shouted, leaping up and down and spinning in a circle.

  “Julie,” Casper said, sounding exasperated. She ignored him and pushed her arms out in front of her, pulling a little dance move and biting her lower lip like she was really into the groove.

  “I will take the pink unicorn, puh-lease,” she said, focusing her moves on Owen. Cage and his brother both laughed while Casper watched his sister with a worried glint in his eyes.

  “Don't be an ass, get the stuffed toy, why don't ya?” Cage asked, giving his brother a look that said he better not mess around. Owen sighed and whispered something under his breath, but to his credit, he did dig out a stuffed toy and even bagged a goldfish to give to Julie.

  “Are you guys working the booth or do you want to hit up some rides?” she asked, turning to me and Cage. Casper ran a hand through his hair and ended up knocking his mask to the dusty ground by his feet.

  “Come on, Jules, you know you're not supposed to ride any of the rides,” he told her, bending down to pick it up. His voice sounded tired, like he'd been at it all day with her. Julie was big in spirit but weak in body. I felt like the universe was just being contradictory there. Why give a girl with such an amazing spirit a trial like this to face? It just wasn't fair. It wasn't fair for Casper either. He was a teenage guy and he deserved to have as good a time as the rest of us. I wondered where the heck his parents were.

  Julie ignored him and raised her brow at me, lifting up the edge of the mask to peek underneath it.

  “We're not working,” I blurted, desperate to spend a little more time with Casper. It seemed kind of contradictory considering I was out with Cage, but … When have feelings ever behaved logically? “I won't touch the Tilt 'n' Hurl, but if you're up for it, we could ride the Tour Cart.” I spoke up before Casper could protest. “It moves slow, but it takes you over the whole boardwalk.” I pointed up at the brightly colored cars moving across cables far above our heads. “If you've never been here before it's a good way to get a bird's-eye view of everything.”

  Julie clapped her hands together.

  “Perfect,” she said. “Count me in.”

  I looked over at Cage for confirmation, and he just shrugged, putting another cigarette in his mouth and holding out the box to Casper. Reluctantly, he reached out and plucked one up with his skull covered fingernails.

  “Smoking causes cancer you know,” Owen said, coughing into his hand and pointing at the No Smoking Sign on the side of the booth.

  “Thanks for the advice,” Cage said, lighting up. “Driving drunk is also illegal, if you didn't know.” The two brothers glared at each other for a moment before Cage reached down and hit a latch on the outside of the counter. A small door opened and we stepped out next to Julie and Casper, emerging from the shadows of the tent and into the wide open world of The Assignment. Heads immediately swung our way, and I'm sure I saw a ripple run through the kissing booth line. Fantastic.

  I swallowed and suddenly questioned my decision to hang out with Julie and Casper. They might've been invisible before, but with Cage and me by their sides, they might as well have neon signs strapped to their backs. Everyone would be curious to know who the two masked companions of the King and 'his' Crush were.

  “Um,” I said, taking a small step back as Casper put his mask back in place. “Maybe this isn't such a good idea after all.” The look he threw me was nothing short of contemptuous. It took me aback a bit as I struggled to explain. “It's not – ”

  “Too many eyes on you?” he asked me, wrinkling his nose and shaking his head like he couldn't believe he'd fallen for such a terrible joke.

  “Stop it, Casper,” Julie whispered fiercely to him, grabbing at his hand. He jerked his arm away and continued to glare at me.

  “Are we not cool enough for you now? Don't want to be seen with the horrible, diseased Outcast and her brother?”

  “That's enough,” Cage growled under his breath, taking a step forward and trying to diffuse the situation before it got out of control. “Keep your voice down.”

  “I don't want you to get hurt,” I whispered, but my voice was lost in the murmur of voices around us and the rapid-fire burst of a drum solo blaring from the speakers. I took another step towards them, but it was too late. Whatever was going on between Casper and me, as new as it was, was volatile. Every time I looked at him, it felt like I was being baked under the hot sun, held in the heat of its golden rays, paralyzed. I guess he liked me, maybe, and that was why he was reacting the way he was. I was hurting him, and I didn't even know him. This was a bad situation for everyone. I'd never had this problem with a boy before, so I had no idea how to act.

  “I'm such an idiot,” Casper murmured, finally taking his sister's hand and turning around. “Let's get out of here.”

  But it was too late.

  A hundred sets of eyes were leveled on the four of us. A hundred sets of eyes not including the worst ones of them all: Shayla Harold.

  “Come on, Shay, don't,” Cage said, grabbing at her arm as she appeared like magic out of the crowd to our left. Casper and Julie were still pushing and shoving, trying to work their way through the thick wall of people. No one budged. They stood their with frowns and smirks and glints in their eyes that scared the crap out of me. Mob mentality, not good. I cleared my throat, but nobody was looking at me.

  “Are you seriously kidding me?” she asked, every bit the mean girl I never thought she was. Shayla had always been popular, sure, but she'd always been nice. This was a side to the girl I'd never seen, and I didn't like it. Her words broke through the hushed murmurs and angry whispers, drawing Casper's attention back around to the Queen Bee. He paused and lifted up his mask.

  “You have a problem with us?” he asked her, his voice strong and steady. Even the black and purple bruises around his eyes couldn't deter him from standing up for his little sister. I might've felt a small twinge in my stomach then, like butterflies, but I couldn't tell if it was because I really liked Casper, or because I was terrified for him.

  “Actually, I do,” Shayla said, tilting her head to the side. Just over her shoulder I spotted a familiar blonde ponytail and a pair of sparkling turquoise eyes. Heidi. She wasn't looking at me, keeping her gaze focused ahead, but I could see the slightest quiver in her hands, like she knew she was doing something wrong and couldn't stop herself. By her side stood Justin Haldeman. Unconsciously, I reached up to touch my nose.

  Casper's eyes shot over to mine and held there for a brief second before moving back over to Shayla.

  “As Queen Bee,” she began, touching a hand to her chest. She didn't look so much like an angel anymore. Her eyes were narrowed and the skin on her face was tight. The worst part of it all was that she wasn't the most frightening person in the crowd. There were murderous faces out there, looks that I wouldn't wish leveled on
my worst enemy. “I have a duty to keep our public areas free of disease.”

  “Hey, screw you!” Casper screamed as Julie grabbed at the back of his shirt with pale fingers.

  “Don't,” she whispered, her soft voice carrying a lot further than I'd think was even possible. “It isn't worth it, Casp.”

  “Remove that … ” Shayla paused and wrinkled her nose, flicking her brightly colored nails in Julie's direction. “Thing before it infects anybody else.”

  “Shayla, that's enough,” Cage said, his voice hard as tone and his eyes still, like the frozen surface of a like. Unfortunately, Queen Bee was the one person in this game that the King didn't have any control over. He could plead with her, but she didn't have to listen. I even got the impression that she was trying to do the opposite of whatever Cage wanted. For what reason, I'm not sure.

  “Outcasts aren't welcome here,” she snapped as the crowd pressed in on the Alice siblings, and Casper's face went dark with anger. Julie continued tugging on her brother's shirt, but he wasn't budging. I admired him for that, but at the same time, I just wanted him to get the hell out of there. “Nor do I want to risk anyone else catching whatever it is that the two of you have.” Shayla smiled wickedly. “It's obviously contagious. I mean, just look at what you're wearing. They dress corpses in those sorts of things, don't they?”

  Casper launched himself forward, but the hands of the nearby Students stopped him, stringing him up between Anya Billingsley, this year's Assigned Jock, and Rush Coop, the school's only football 'star'.

  “Let him go,” Julie said, ripping off her mask and taking a step towards the Queen Bee. Shayla wrinkled her nose up and clamped a hand across her mouth. Most of the nearby Students followed suite.

  “Oh, God!” she wailed. “I hope I don't catch anything!” Julie opened her mouth to protest again and ended up coughing, flecking her lips with red. Instead of reacting like they should, instead of realizing they were taking it too far, the crowd reared back and spurts of laugher punctuated the brief silence between songs.

  “This has gone far enough,” Cage said, moving up next to Shayla and grabbing her arm. She ripped out of his grip and lifted her chin. I did notice though that some people dropped their hands from their mouths and looked around like they were confused. King vs Queen Bee. As far as I knew, this hadn't happened in the entire fifty odd year history of The Assignment.

  “How so?” snapped Anya, looking like the Hulk in her green hat, shirt, and pants. She was the tallest, most muscular person I'd ever met – even out of all the boys in our class. More power to her I'd always said, but now looking at her face was leaving a bad taste in my mouth. There was violence slashed across her features, burned into her flesh and searing through her eyes. And she wasn't the only.

  “Yeah, how so?” asked Rush, elbowing Casper's side as he struggled to free himself from the crush of bodies. “Our Queen doesn't want this bitch here or her pathetic brother contaminating the park. I say we through them out.” A dangerous rustle rippled the crowd, drawing up angry murmurs and harsh whispers. A baseball flew seemingly out of nowhere and hit Julie in the back. She didn't even flinch, just stood there with her pale eyes locked on Shayla's face, her small mouth sprinkled with red.

  “Let's all be adults here,” she said and again, her voice was audible over the rest of the crowd. Julie had that special something that turns ordinary people into rock stars, celebrities, politicians. She had charisma and confidence enough to take on anyone else here and yet, they were treating her like she was worth less than the dirt on the bottom of their shoes. My pulse started to pound in my head, like the beat of a drum, hard and fast, and my fists curled tight by my sides. “I'm the Outcast, that's okay. You want me gone, fine? Just let me and Casper walk and we won't come back.”

  Somebody – I couldn't see who – shoved Julie from behind sending her stumbling into the arms of a girl with blonde braids and eyes as blue as the cotton candy that was crushed under her foot. She pushed her back, and then everything just went chaotic.

  “Leave her alone!” Casper screeched, fighting like an animal caught in a trap, kicking and flailing his body around. Anya turned and dropped his arm, leveling a punch to his stomach in the same instant. Casper's face went white and he dropped to his knees at Shayla's feet. She, she was smiling.

  “Bitch!” someone called out as Julie was shoved again, sending her stumbling back and forth between my peers, between the people I'd attended kindergarten with, the girls I'd shared a locker room with, the boys I'd crushed on. The insults didn't stop there.

  “Ew! She touched me!” another girl shouted, using her foot to kick Julie in the side.

  “Stop it!” I screeched, fighting against the surging crowd. It was like trying to push my way through rock. Nobody was budging, no matter how hard I fought, no matter that I was the Crush. Even Cage was having trouble getting people to move for him.

  Julie collapsed next to her brother, panting for breath, blood dripping down the front of her face.

  Casper stopped fighting when he caught a glimpse of her expression, letting the blows fall as they may while he struggled to reach out for her.

  “She needs her shot,” he sobbed, voice broken by the savage beating of my classmates. I couldn't even believe what I was seeing. Who were these people? How could they even think that what they were doing was okay? I looked up and found Heidi staring at me from across the crowd. She looked sorry for Casper and Julie, but she wasn't doing anything to help. Beside her, Justin was shouting and pumping his fist, as much a part of the problem as the people in the center of the circle.

  Biting my lip, I looked around for another way forward, but there were people everywhere, pressing in on us, drowning us in suntans and summer clothes. It was a nightmare of the worst kind, one you can't wake up from.

  “I'm coming!” I called, but I doubt Casper or Julie could hear me. Casper was still shouting and struggling towards his little sister. Julie … Julie was lying still on the pavement, her eyes rolled up into her head. She was dying. She was dying, right here, right now, in front of all these people. Where were the adults? Why would anyone let something this happen? How?

  I dropped to my knees in the crowd and started crawling forward, over sandals and flip-flops, past stark white sneakers and bare feet covered in sand. I couldn't see Cage anymore, but I hoped he got there before I did. My progress was slow, and I'm not ashamed to admit that I might've elbowed a few people in the shins on my mission.

  Julie's face remained in my field of vision, white and still, frozen in time, sparkling with crimson. I kept my eyes on hers, willing myself forward. This was all my fault after all. All. My. Fault. I'd only met Casper and his sister a few days ago, and already I was putting their lives in danger. I didn't want to be Crush. I never wanted to be Crush. Why is this happening to me? How could this happen? I blamed myself in part, too, because I didn't speak up sooner. Why? Was I more gullible than I thought? I never wanted to join in The Assignment, but maybe I believed in the titles more than I wanted to admit to myself. It's hard to break tradition and because of that, I lost my voice – the one thing I feared most in the world.

  “Julie!” I called out as I emerged from the mass and scooted forward, grabbing her head and pulling it into my lap. I reached down and checked the pockets on her sundress. The left one was empty, but when I came to the right, I found the plastic card and the shot. I flipped the card over and skimmed the instructions.

  “Put her down, now,” Shayla said, moving over to stand beside me. Her face looked weird in that moment, like she wasn't even human. I peered up at her, at Anya beside her, at Rush on the other side. They were all staring at me, waiting for me to obey. It was beyond ridiculous.

  “No.” And that's all I said, just that one word. I lifted the needle up for examination and removed the plastic cap on the end, pressing the plunger down just enough that a small amount of the clear liquid inside dripped from the metal tip.

  Cage was there a moment
later, and when he saw I had Julie in my arms, he moved over to Casper. His arm pulled back and the next thing I knew, he was socking some guy in the face, sending him straight back and over the counter of the dart booth. Casper groaned and rose quickly to his knees, crawling towards Julie and me with blood crusting in his hair and staining his horribly swollen mouth.

  “Touch him again, and you're officially finished,” Cage growled, spinning around to face Shayla and her newfound followers. “You're pathetic,” he said to her as I pressed the sharp tip of the needle against Julie's pale skin. Her flesh puckered and my stomach flip-flopped in my belly, sending a wave of nausea over me that was so intense, I had to close my eyes for a second. When I opened them, I saw that her chest was rising and falling at a rapid pace and more blood was dripping from her lips. Gathering up my courage, I pressed down and watched the needle puncture her skin. Pushing the plunger down with my shaking thumb was not easy, and little spots of white danced across my vision, threatening to knock me out right then and there. I'd never had a thing about needles before, but apparently, sticking them into someone else's body was testing the limits of my tolerance.

  With a gasp, Julie's eyes snapped open and her body spasmed, ripping the shot from my fingers. The crowd pressed in closer before Cage's voice went booming above their heads.

  “That is enough!” he shouted at the top of his lungs and everything went quiet. “Go! Get out of here, go home. This party is over. The Walk is officially closed.” Groans could be heard from nearly every direction, but when Shayla didn't protest, people started to drift away. I can't even explain the relief I felt in that moment.

  “Casper?” Julie said, tears filling her eyes as she came to a sitting position and pulled the needle from her skin. “Casper?” She tossed it aside into the dust and the crushed bits of leftover popcorn, crawling over to the battered form of her brother. “Are you alright?” she asked, lifting his face up to look at her. With a whimper of pain and a cringe that made my whole body hurt in sympathy, he leaned back on his heels and nodded.