“He’s hideous,” I proclaimed. “I love him.”
“And now you have to carry it around for the rest of the night, right? As a trophy to show you’re with a guy who’s really good at throwing things at other things?”
“I don’t mind,” I said, not wanting to tell him the full truth. That at least three good fantasies I once had about him involved exactly this kind of thing.
I texted Kendall.
Everything OK?
She answered back:
Yup.
Not great or any other adjective that might indicate they were doing more than taking pictures of sheep.
I started to type, asking her if she wanted to meet up with us.
But then I stopped after the want. What did I want? I did not want her to meet up with us, yet.
Instead I wrote:
Text me later.
Much later, I hoped.
“Let’s ride the Ferris wheel,” I said to Camden.
“Now that the temporal anomaly has been fixed, I’d love to.”
“You’re a geek.” Then I kissed him.
It wasn’t as romantic as I thought it might be, since it stopped and started so much. But for those thirty seconds when it was our turn to hover at the very top of the wheel, I rested my head on Camden’s shoulder and hugged my penguin. The breeze there felt like no breeze I’d ever felt before, and from up high the entire fair looked like something we could simply scoop up and tuck inside our jackets. Freeze it, frame it, call it perfect.
When we got off, we spotted Max and Eliza waiting in line for the swinging pirate ship. People were staring at them in their costumes, but they didn’t seem to notice.
“Oh, good!” said Eliza. “I really don’t want to go on this. Max doesn’t understand what a pukefest it can be. Also, I think his wig will fly off.”
“But it’s a pirate ship!” Max said, jokingly pushing out his lower lip. “I love pirate ships!”
“It looks innocuous,” I told Max, “but I’ve seen it make grown men cry.”
“We’re going to get something to eat,” said Camden. “Come with us instead.”
Eliza patted Max on the back. “Sorry, kid. After dinner we can go on the helicopter ride, and you can make whirring noises while you make it go up and down.”
Max stepped out of the line and gave Eliza a dirty look. She didn’t see it, but I did.
The fair had gotten really crazy now; it always ended up stupid-packed after work hours. I’d seen a few people from school so far, but they hadn’t recognized me. I hoped more would show up. I wanted them to see me, and to see me with Camden and Eliza and Max. I loved the thought of them gossiping tomorrow. Did you see that guy Ari was with? And she was wearing a wig!
We were waiting at the Greek gyros stand—the one my mother always said was surprisingly authentic—when I heard someone call my name.
“Ari?”
I turned to see Brady. And Lukas. And a bunch of other people from school.
“Hey, Brady.”
“Why are you guys dressed like that?”
“It’s a long story,” I said.
“It’s really not,” said Eliza, stepping up next to me. “It’s a cosplay thing. We were here taking some photographs.” She turned to me. “See? Short story. Not even. Just facts.”
I looked at Lukas, who quickly shifted his glance from me and examined Max. He laughed. “Dude. Silver Arrow, right?”
Max smiled hesitantly. “Yes.”
What Lukas knew about Silver Arrow, he knew from me. It felt wrong, stolen, hearing him say the name. His eyes slid over to Camden and me again, then quickly back to Max, not sure what to do with the situation.
Without Kendall here, I wasn’t sure either.
Then suddenly, from somewhere, somebody shrieked. We all turned to see a ripple in the crowd surrounding the next booth.
There was a guy doubled over, vomiting.
“Classy,” said Eliza.
A woman came up to the guy and grabbed his shoulders, but he sank onto his hands and knees and kept retching.
We all looked at one another. Even Brady and Lukas. Lukas and I exchanged a glance and I shrugged. It seemed rude to act as if this wasn’t happening, but it also seemed rude not to.
Camden was the only person not ignoring it. He was staring.
“Camden,” I said, nudging his hand. “Don’t.”
But Camden froze, his eyes locked on to the situation like he was seeing something we weren’t. I turned to look at the guy again.
Now the guy was convulsing.
“Oh my God,” I said. “He’s having some kind of seizure.”
“Camden!” shouted Eliza. “Go help him!”
Max gave Camden a gentle shove on his back. “You’re the hotline guy. You go talk to him, keep him calm. I’ll get help.”
Max took off running toward the first aid tent, but Camden didn’t move forward.
Now the guy was flat on the ground, his body doing things he had no control over. The woman sank down on her knees next to him, holding out her hands like she knew she wanted to put them on him, but wasn’t sure where. She didn’t seem all there.