September 22nd, Saturday Morning - Casey Silpetti
The next morning isn’t exactly the best morning, but Casey struggles to greet it anyway. She stands in the bathroom, tired from the constant waking and half sleep she got all night. A quick shower didn’t help much, and she envies Aiden in the other room, taking a quick nap while she gets ready.
The sunlight hurts her eyes, but at least most of the pain in her head is down to dull throbbing. Until she moves her head around, that brings it to a sharper focus. She sighs, unsure of exactly how much fun the day will be, and none too happy about the shaved spot on the back of her head where they had to give her stitches. It didn’t register much last night through the pain meds, but it upset her quite a bit this morning.
‘I wish I had something better than this,’ she thinks, looking at the bottle of extra-strength aspirin the doctors prescribed for her.
Suddenly, a thought comes to her. ‘Maybe I do.’ She remembers the bruise that May gave her, stepping on her foot at the dance, and how quickly the swelling went down when Veronica touched it. Faust told her that she had power now, maybe she could do like what Veronica must have done instinctively.
‘He said to start small… maybe this is small enough.’ She sits and tries to concentrate through the dull agony of her headache.
‘How do I do this? He said that I have to ‘impose my will…’ well, let’s see.’ She squinches her eyes closed, and starts picturing herself healthy and fine. She repeats over and over in her mind (and quietly out loud): I’m not hurt, I’m not hurt, I’m fine, I’m good… She focuses all of her concentration and everything into picturing exactly that, and nothing else. (Random Roll: 29)
A sudden rush flows through her, a feeling of almost weightlessness – like riding an elevator dropping down from a high floor. A flash of heat hits her as energy passes through her, originating from deep inside her somewhere. The energy, for lack of a better description, feels like Aiden. She remembers Faust telling her that she would gain power from people close to her; it seems that this is what he meant somehow.
The freefall feeling passes and a chill settles over her that also passes in time. The pain is gone from her head, as is the nausea that had been plaguing her throughout the night. She reaches back and feels her head, and feels hair and no stitches where she had been hurt, although the spot itself is still sore.
“Wow… it worked.” She sits there for a long moment, trying to wrap her head around what just happened.
She pulls the towel a little snugger around her as she steps into the bedroom to tell Aiden what she just did, but he’s still sleeping hard. She decides to spread out her outfit for the day, slip back on one of his t-shirts, and climb back into bed with him to nap a little more herself, now that she can without worry.
She sets the alarm to give them a few more hours, and slips into bed. She snuggles deeper into his arms, and falls asleep quickly.
——
The school grounds have been completely transformed for the carnival. A Ferris wheel stands tall in the quad, and numerous other rides and games pack the school grounds as sounds of fun cut through the air. The day turned out pretty well for the carnival. The sun is out, and while there is a nice breeze blowing, it’s still warm enough for short sleeves to be enjoyable.
Aiden is certainly dressed to enjoy himself in a pair of khaki cargo shorts, sandals, and an olive-green Guayabera style shirt with the top buttons undone. Casey is also dressed pretty casually in well-worn jeans, layered light pink and white tank tops and tennis shoes. Her hair is up in a high ponytail. He wraps his arm around Casey as they stand at the edge of the carnival, looking in at the crowd.
Aiden lowers his sunglasses with one finger, and looks over them at Casey. “Well, ready to go have as much fun as humanly possible before my sentence?”
She smiles up at him. “Your sentence? Is that what we’re calling it now?”
He pushes his sunglasses back up. “Yep. I’m just hoping to see a familiar face in the line…”
She elbows him in the side. “Oh, from what I’ve heard, you might see a few. You just better worry about any unfriendly faces.”
“They’ll be all smiles when they’re leaving, that’s for sure.”
She elbows him in the side again. “Hey…”
He swings her into his arms and leans her far back, being careful of her camera bag. “Don’t worry, I save all my best stuff for you.” He leans in and kisses her deeply. After a long moment, he stands her back up, where she wobbles for a moment on unsteady legs.
She suddenly feels something odd. A tingle, a rumble, the odd smell of ozone and burning leaves rushes over her, along with a chill breeze that seems to blow from nowhere.
“Someone need a room?” They turn to see Cadence walking up towards them, her blackberry bruised lips split in a toothy smile. She looks like she’s dressed to kill, completely different from anything they’ve seen her in so far. Well, she is still wearing the same clunky boots that she favors, but the dark gray pleated miniskirt and thigh-high black and gray striped stockings are definitely new. A black vest shows off her navel ring and the fact that all that’s under it is what must be a push-up bra. Sheer black 3/4 length sleeves and a black velvet choker complete her outfit, and for once her hair is loose and down. Her hair has deep red streaks added down her bangs, framing either side of her face.
Aiden’s jaw drops. “Daaaamn. I’m suddenly feeling underdressed!”
Casey can tell that the weird feeling came from Cadence, she can feel the other girl in some odd way, as though she were standing next to a live-wire humming with thousands of volts of electricity. If she concentrates, she gets that double-vision blur that she noticed before, can see a darker, more regal looking Cadence standing there in front of her.
Cadence snorts out a quick laugh, breaking the moment. Casey can still feel the other girl, but now it’s more subconscious. “Yeah yeah, save your lips Aiden. I figure if I’m going to risk guy cooties, I better at least get quality kissage.” She winks at Casey, and takes Aiden’s other arm. “Shall we?”
They walk into the carnival, stopping to buy some tickets for the rides and games. They aren’t in there long before they run into Bianca and Chris Ward. Bianca looks - as always - like a million bucks, dressed in a pretty white summer dress. It doesn’t look like she’s planning on hitting any of the rides considering her attire. Chris looks just as Casey remembers him, dressed in his ever-present slacks and button-up shirt, not a hair out of place.
Fetch loiters a few paces behind her, doing a decent job of fading into the background. He can’t be overly comfortable in his Secret Service suit, but you’d never be able to tell by looking at him. Casey has heard Veronica mention that he used to be in the military, and in the wars. Maybe that has something to do with the fact that he always seems calm, collected, and unruffled. Casey can’t tell for sure because of the sunglasses he’s wearing, but he seems to have his eyes on Bianca closely.
They’re all standing there chatting when Casey gets an odd feeling again, different from before but even stronger. Where before she could imagine it as a high voltage live-wire, this is standing next to a nuclear reactor. With Cadence she felt a chill breeze, now she feels the warmth of the full sun basking down on her as though she were standing on the beach.
She turns to the source of it, unsurprised to see Veronica running up to them. She has a bright halo surrounding her, almost blocking out her features as she comes up to them, but then Casey blinks and it’s gone.
Her friend is smiling widely, her jaw dropping when she sees Cadence. Veronica is dressed to have some fun today: layered combo of a white short sleeve t-shirt under a dark tank both cut short to bare her midriff, low ride jeans and sneakers complete an outfit that make her almost the opposite of her sister. Certainly it’s a look Casey’s never seen her have before, but she looks comfortable.
Tom walks up behind Veronica, carrying two sodas in his hands. He’s wearing a Harvard t-shirt and khaki slacks, and frowns a bit when he sees the veritable crowd that Veronica has run into.
They wander the concourse for a while before Harmony and Christian Rice join them. Harmony gives Casey a big hug, almost knocking her over. “How’s your head girl?”
Most of the group stares at Casey with questions in their eyes, not sure what’s going on. “It’s fine Harm. Y’all ready for some rides?” she asks the group a little overly bright.
Chris asks the question on most of their minds, “Casey, um, why is she asking about your head?”
She looks down at her feet as Aiden answers for her. “She hit her head, had to go to the hospital and all that.” He tilts her chin up so she has to look at him, “You’re ok now right? No more nausea? Not bleeding through the stitches?” They hear a small gasp and look around to see who it was.
Veronica has her hand over her mouth as she steps closer. “You had to get stitches? Does it hurt a lot?”
“I’m fine now.” Casey looks at Aiden, “Not nauseous, not bleeding,” she turns toward Roni, “and it only hurts now when I press on the spot where the board connected.” Casey notices Cadence perk up at the last part.
“What board Case?” she says warily.
The members of the group that don’t know what happened look at Casey expectantly. She gives Aiden and Harmony a look saying ‘Go along with me.’ “We went to Chance’s last night after dinner. It was a pool party. Someone decided to play a joke and toss me in the pool, but um, well, I can’t really swim and I freaked out and he dropped me. I hit my head on the diving board.” Casey can feel the energy from her friends rise, especially from Cadence.
“Who was it?” she asks icily, trying to stay in control.
“Cade, it doesn’t matter, it was a prank. He didn’t know I’d freak out.” She smiles around at the group. “Come on, it’s a carnival, let’s go hit some rides!”
For the next few hours, they wander the carnival, having one of the best days in a long while. They manage to cram everyone but Bianca, Chris and Tom into a Tilt-A-Whirl car and Harmony bribes the carnie to let them keep riding until they have to get out or puke. They head over to the ferris wheel, and pair up. Bianca staying on the ground, but insisting that Cadence rides with Chris. Casey pulls out her camera, taking shots from way up high of the whole carnival, plus her friends in the cars on either side of her as they go around.
They all play Skee-Ball, racking up tickets for prizes, with Christian coming out as the Skee-Ball champion and picking a giant teddy bear for Harmony. They come across wooden cutouts that you stick your head through, and Casey takes pictures of everyone taking turns, even the giant bear. Cadence finally convinces her to hand over the camera so she can be in a couple of the shots too. With growling stomachs, they all grab food: hot dogs, corn dogs, cotton candy, popcorn and lots to drink.
Aiden’s cellphone beeps, and he pulls it out to clear the alarm. He gives Casey a hang-dog look. “That’s my alarm, I gotta go.” He leans in to give her a quick kiss.
“Don’t worry Dennison, we’re here to save you. Ladies! To the ticket booth!” Harmony rounds up the troops, falling into role of field general like usual. She pulls a new chapstick out of her purse and hands it to Aiden. “You’re gonna need it, buddy.”
They hit the ticket booth and stock up before heading in force to get in the kissing booth line. As they get close, Casey can see May and Aiden standing behind Caitlyn and Jake, ready to take their places. Aiden has a suffering look on his face, and is trying to ignore a pouting May, who must have finally realized the error in her plan.
Cadence brightens up. “Hey, I forgot something, I’ll be right back!” She turns and hurries off.
Harmony watches her walk off with a frown. “Hey Connors! Suck it up; we need your help here!” She turns back. “Ok, Case, you first. I’ll follow you, then Bianca, then Roni. And Case, it’s not personal, but I’m gonna take up as much time as I can, k?”
Casey nods uncertainly, but on noticing the line of girls rushing to the ticket booth and to get in line, quickly follows along with Harmony. There are already a few other girls in line in front of them when Casey notices Aiden take Jake’s place. May motions to Caitlyn and Shelby, and the two of them pull out a roll of tickets and walk to the end of the line, snickering and sneering as they pass Casey.
The line slowly creeps up to the booth proper. Casey is just two girls back from Aiden when she hears a commotion starting behind her. She turns to see what’s going on, and notices Cadence stalking her way up between the two lines, cutting everyone – much to the dismay of the girls in line. In her hands is a roll of tickets that’s overflowing, there must be almost $100 in tickets in her hands!
She passes Casey with a wink and on making it up to the booth, turns and asks the guy next in line to kiss May if he minds if she cuts in. He stammers a yes and she turns and deposits the pile of tickets in front of May, whose sneer has fallen into a ‘deer-in-the-headlights’ look of pure horror.
“No way freak! I’m not kissing you!”
Cadence leans close and purrs, “But here’s my tickets. It’s all charity for the school and everything, and weren’t you saying how bad you needed it this year? Or are you just chicken?”
May’s face flushes an ugly red at that comment, and the line of guys behind Cadence start cheering and chanting ‘Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!’ Several cellphones and cameras are out, including Harmony’s, recording the events as May starts to look positively sick to her stomach. She looks over at Casey, and realizes that if she backs down she’ll never be able to live it down. She sits back down, resigned.
Cadence leans across the counter, her hand sliding across May’s cheek to cup the back of her neck, not letting her pull away, and kisses her. Actually, it’s not so much a kiss as it is a full-on, oral assault that’s clearly been perfected to bring the kissed to their knees. As if that’s not enough, Casey can feel a flare of power from Cadence as she drops the illusion of what she is for just a moment. It’s not quite the same thing that happened to her in the club thanks to Shelly, nowhere near as strong, but it’s still enough to overwhelm May.
“Holy crap Connors!” Harmony mutters behind Casey. She also hears Aiden in front of her, “Daaaaaamn!”
Cadence finally pulls away from May with an audible smack, leaving the blonde with her eyes closed and her mouth still hanging open. Suddenly her brain reboots, and her eyes snap open and her mouth snaps shut as she turns a shade of green that’s downright funny.
Cadence licks her lips, and shrugs before grinning evilly. “You know, for a cheerleader, I sure thought you’d be a better kisser. I’ve had much better, sugar.”
May scrambles back from the booth, frantically wiping her mouth and looking sick to her stomach as she runs off. Caitlyn and Shelby leave the line and run off after her, leaving the boy’s side of the booth unmanned, though the crowd doesn’t look too upset with that thought yet, still hooting and hollering over Cadence’s performance.
She turns and bows to the crowd before hurrying off. Harmony pats Casey on the back. “I don’t think you’ll need too much help with Aiden now, and we do need all we can get this year, so I’m going to go take over the other side for the rest of May’s hour.”
She cuts out of line and gets behind the booth, smiling over at Aiden as he says something to make her laugh. The line moves forward, and finally Casey is in front of Aiden.
Casey plops down a pile of tickets and they chat for a little bit, until they feel the line get restless. Aiden pulls her as close as he can with the booth there and kisses her deeply, until they almost forget anyone else is there. They break apart to the sounds of hoots, hollers, clapping and whistles from the others in line. They even hear a male voice from somewhere back in the line, “Can I kiss her instead?”
Casey blushes red and steps off to the side, standing there a little dazed as Bianca steps up and gives Aiden her tickets. She also chats with Aiden for a little bit until the line gets restless again, and she leans forward to kiss him, taking her time. Casey looks down at her feet, trying to ignore them. Bianca bounces over next to Casey as Roni steps up and hands over a bunch of tickets. “Come on Casey, we have to get back in line.” Casey nods and slowly heads to the end of the line, watching Roni over her shoulder.
Roni is obviously nervous, chattering with Aiden and wringing her hands. She closes her eyes and abruptly leans forward, lips puckered. Aiden smiles and forces himself to not laugh as he kisses Roni. Anyone looking, including Casey, can see her visibly relax. Roni pulls back, mumbling a quick, “Thank you,” to Aiden as she turns beet red. She practically runs to the end of the line to meet up with Casey and Bianca again.
They girls chit chat about the plans for tonight as they wait to make it to the front again. Aiden is trying to keep the line moving, but it’s already long and most of the girls are doing what Casey, Bianca and Roni did…getting their kisses and getting back in line. It’s just under 20 minutes later when they finally get back up to the front again, and the scene pretty much repeats itself, with Casey and Veronica both a little less self-conscious this time around. The third trip through the line takes over 20 minutes, and again, the scene repeats itself. They get back in line, just to be safe, but know they probably won’t make it to the front again before the hour’s up.
The hour finally ends, and Casey can see from her place in line that Aiden and Harmony are replaced by Vaughn and Tanya. She and the other girls cut out of line, and head over to meet up with them. They all head over to the benches where Cadence, Tom, and the two Chris’s are waiting with more food.
Aiden and Harmony both give Cadence a big high-five. “Damn Connors, why didn’t you tell us you were dropping a nuclear fricking bomb on May today?” She plops down next to Christian and grabs some of his fries, a huge smile on her face.
Cadence can’t stop grinning, but she shyly tucks her hair behind one ear. “Well, I’d heard that she’d been giving ya’ll such a hard time with that video cause she’s homophobic. So I decided to give her a legitimate target to hate, maybe she’d leave ya’ll alone.” She snickers. “I’ve even been starting some rumors around in gym that I thought she was hot, just to see if it might help with a meltdown today.”
Harmony cringes. “Ewww… you don’t really think she’s hot?”
“Oh, hell no! Besides, cheerleaders are nothing but drama, and trust me when I say I had enough drama with my last girlfriend. I don’t need anything like that again.” She smirks. “Besides, I wasn’t lying when I said that I’ve had much better kisses. And anyway, I prefer my girlfriends to be as smart as they are pretty. Good thing that’s not a problem at this school.”
Harmony hoots and leans over to high-five her again, much to everyone’s chagrin.
Bianca’s phone beeps, and she looks at it. “Hey guys, I gotta jet. See ya’ll tonight?” When everyone agrees, she turns to Veronica. “You gonna be ok, sis? Want me to call for someone—“
Roni cuts her off, shaking her head. “Nope. I’m glad I don’t have guards following me around everywhere now. I’ll be fine, I’m with everyone else. I’ll be home later!”
Bianca nods, and waves good-bye. Chris stands, “Well, guess I’ll be going too. Ya’ll have a good one!”
Aiden looks over at Veronica. “So where are your bodyguards?”
“Oh, the mayor told mom that something or another happened, and we wouldn’t have to worry about them anymore. Plus I have a panic button and all, so it’s all good.”
Casey and Cadence exchange looks and Cadence asks, “So tiger, no bodyguards at all, or just no extras from the mayor?”
“Well, we still have the Secret Service around, but not as much as before. Mostly just for mom, though Fetch doesn’t want us out of sight. But from what Mr. Walker said, we should be safe now, that’s why they’re letting me stay here without anyone. I don’t know all the details. And mom said sometimes we might have the guards from the mayor back, but only on special occasions.
Harmony just says, “Sweet! Y’all up for more games?” They all nod and head over to the midway to play some more.
Cadence wins the water pistol game three times with her deadly aim and ends up three goldfish. She gives one to Roni and one to Casey and keeps the third. “I’m calling mine…George.”
“Oooh, mine’s name is…Matilda,” Veronica says as everyone chuckles a little.
Casey grins big and looks directly at Aiden, “Mine’s name is Lobster.” Aiden turns red and tries to tickle her as she stays just out of reach, both Casey and Cadence cracking up while everyone else wonders what’s so funny.
“Guess you had to be there?” Harmony asks.
“Yup,” Casey answers as Aiden finally catches her, tickling her, then kissing her.
Aiden drags Casey over to one of the games off the path, the one that has the biggest prizes. It’s a knife-throwing booth, and depending on how many times and where you hit the target is your choice of prizes.
He puts his tickets down. “Pick out what you want, honey. Cuz I’m gonna bring home the gold!” He picks up the three knives, and throws the first one. It promptly slams into the back wall butt first, and falls to the ground. The second manages to stick for a second, and then fall out. The third misses the target completely.” Casey snickers at the look on his face.
“Oh yeah, Dennison, Sooo gonna take home the gold. Case, I would pick the smallest kewpie doll, maybe the guy will feel bad and give it to ya. Ooo, Christian! Look at that!” She grabs him by the hand and pulls him away.
“Let me help.” Cadence steps up, and puts her tickets down. She grabs one of the knives, and pulls Aiden down to her height. She whispers in his ear, showing him with her hands how to hold and throw the knife. At last, he nods and says “I think I got it.”
She nods, turns and throws the knife with practiced ease, barely even glancing at the target before it’s out of her hand in one smooth motion. It thunks into the center of the target. She picks up the second knife. “See, these blades are dull, and also unbalanced. It’s to make it harder to throw.” The guy behind the counter goes to argue, but the thunk of the blade hitting the center shuts him up. The third blade cuts a shining path through the air, and with a final thunk quivers next to the other two.
The proprietor glares at Cadence, and finally shakes his head and smiles. “What would you have, my dear?”
She points at one of the small stuffed tigers instead of one of the more expensive, larger stuffed animals. “I want that.” He gives her an odd look, shrugs, and hands over the tiger.
Aiden plunks down his tickets. Casey watches him pick up the knife and silently repeat Cadence’s words to himself. Behind her, she can hear Cadence and Veronica talking.
“You have to do me a favor and bring her home with you. I want her to learn what a real tiger is like, so that when I get her back I know she’ll be worth it. Can’t have a tiger who doesn’t live up to the real thing, now can I?”
Aiden throws the first knife. It hits at the very edge of the target, half on and half off, but sticks.
“What about me?” Casey can hear the grin in Veronica’s voice. “What if I get used to having my little tiger around, and then I have to give her up and over to you. Might break my heart, it would. I’d get all lonely.”
Thunk! The second knife hits above the first, still away from the center but completely in the target, and stays.
“Hmm, I couldn’t live with that. Let’s see…” She steps back up behind Aiden, tickets in her hand.
He stares at the target for a long moment, and then throws the third blade. It cuts clean through the air, and nails the bottom edge of the center ring. He jumps up in the air, shouting “Yeah!” Cadence claps on him on the back and he picks Casey up and gives her a big hug.
The owner takes Cadences’ tickets, and points to Casey all the stuff she can choose from. Behind him comes a rapid succession of Thunk! Thunk Thunk! He hangs his head without even looking.
Casey chooses a fluffy stuffed bunny, and after she makes her choice, he looks forlornly over at Cadence. She points out one of the oddest little stuffed pirates, it almost looks like a monkey or monster or something. She shows it to Veronica.
“Pirates don’t take nothing from nobody, and on top of that they always do their own thing. And this pirate isn’t just a pirate, but a goblin pirate. And goblins are even more independent than pirates. Just like me, I do what I want and I don’t care what other people say about it. I plan on living the life I want to, and having a good damn time doing it. So I’ll take home this goblin pirate, and teach it everything I can. And then we can swap in a week or so. Plan?” Veronica grins and nods yes, giving Cadence a little hug.
Tom, who hasn’t looked overly thrilled in a little while, looks at his watch. “Sorry Veronica, but I have to meet with one of my dad’s friends tonight. He’s on the staff at Harvard, so getting friendly with him will go a long way to help me get in. I’ll see you tonight?” He hugs her bye, and giving a cool look to the rest of them, walks off.
Casey whispers to Roni, “I don’t think he was too happy we were all here. Did you tell him it was gonna be a group thing?”
Roni bites her lip and shakes her head no. “But you’re still gonna double with us right?”
“Sure…just make sure he knows it’s a double date. I don’t want to dodge his evil eye all night.” Casey gives Roni a quick hug and turns back to the group, who are gathered around watching Harmony nail some milk bottles and winning another giant stuffed animal, this one a snake that she wraps around Christian, almost covering him completely.
Harmony whispers something into Christian’s ear, and he nods. She looks over at Casey. “Hey girl, I know you don’t mind riding with Aiden, so we’re jetting. We’re gonna catch a movie and an early dinner before heading over to mini-Kane’s. Call if you need anything. Peace out!” She gives all the girls the rest of her tickets and quick hugs and bounces off, practically dragging her bear, the snake still wrapped around Christian.
Now all that’s left of their group is Aiden, Casey, Cadence and Roni. Aiden, Roni and Cadence play Whack-A-Mole and win some little prizes while Casey takes pictures of them and the carnival. They all decide that nobody’s died on the mini-roller coaster yet today, so it’s probably safe enough to ride and head that way.
Walking down the concourse, Casey notices a group of women watching them walk. She takes a closer look, and notices that it’s Caitlyn and Shelby, and their mothers. The girls are obviously talking about them, and even point in their direction. The mothers notice Casey looking over that them, and the girls glare back at Cadence, who Casey notices has seen all of this too. Cadence smiles and blows them a kiss, which only infuriates them more, and all four of them turn and walk away.
“Well Cadence, I don’t think you made any new friends out of those girls today, but man…that was awesome, kissing May and all!” Aiden raves after he sees the air kiss. “I can’t believe she let you do it though.” Cadence just shrugs and they continue toward the coaster. They all ride it a couple times and then head over for more sugar…cotton candy. Aiden and Casey share one, and Roni and Cadence share one.
As they’re walking around, trying to decide what to do with the last of their tickets, they run into Kale. They all say hi and he manages to stutter, “You…you…ya’ll havin’ fun?” They stand around and chat for a bit, eating their cotton candy and Kale eventually relaxes enough that he’s not stuttering anymore.
The subject ends up turning to the school play and Roni excitedly says, “We’re all trying out! Well, not Aiden cuz he has soccer, but me and Casey and Cadence are!” Aiden gives Casey a questioning look.
“Yeah, we promised.” She addresses Roni, “But remember, don’t be surprised if they stick me in the back and tell me not to sing.”
Roni just brushes off Casey’s self-deprecating comment, “You’ll be fine. Maybe you’ll even get to be Dorothy.”
Aiden nudges her in the ribs, grinning. “Or a munchkin.”
Kale looks down at the ground, “Well, uh, I’d better get going. I’ll see y’all around.” Roni stops him before he goes and invites him over to her house tonight, making sure he knows he’ll have to leave early when the other guys do. He almost trips over his feet as he turns to go, “Yeah, sure, I…I’ll see ya then.”
Once he’s out of earshot, Roni turns to the group, “I don’t think he gets to have a lot of fun sometimes. You guys don’t care that I invited him, do you?” They all agree that it’s fine and decide to use the last of their tickets on the carousel.
They give their tickets to the operator and go to find their horses. Roni picks one on the outside and Cadence takes the middle one, right next to her. Casey climbs up onto the one on the inside in the same row and Aiden climbs up onto the same horse, behind her. “I don’t think you’re supposed to sit two to a horse,” Casey whispers.
He nuzzles her neck and wraps his arms around her to hang onto the pole. “I don’t care.” Apparently the carnie doesn’t care either since he doesn’t say a word. They finish their ride and head over to a picnic table to figure out what to do with the rest of the afternoon.
They don’t even all sit before Veronica is back up on her feet, pronouncing “I want a pretzel.”
Aiden chuckles. “Damn girl, where do you fit all that food?” he smiles at her.
She shrugs with a grin, and bounces off to go buy one. Casey notices Cadence watch her run off, an unrestrained grin on her face as well.
Aiden chuckles again, and Cadence realizes that both of them are watching her. She turns to them a little self-consciously, blushing red as she looks down and sweeps a strand of hair behind her ear. “What?”
Aiden just nods sagely. “Nothing. You’re just cute when you’re all happy like that. It’s a nice change.”
She tries to give him the evil eye, but can’t. So instead she changes the subject, turning to Casey. “Soooo… who all was at the party last night? And are you really ok?”
Aiden looks over, a little worry creeping into his expression. “Yeah hon, we’ve been doing a lot today, how are you feeling? Want me to check…” He leans over like he’s going to check her scalp, even while she’s making frantic ‘No I’m ok’ hand motions and scootching away.
Luckily, she’s saved from both of them by Roni running up, looking upset. Cadence is on her feet immediately, one hand going to Roni’s shoulder as she asks, “What’s wrong tiger?” She looks over Roni’s shoulder intently, trying to pick out who could have caused this.
A fat raindrop plops down on Casey’s arm as she stands too. The afternoon had gotten cloudy, and it looks like it had gotten overcast while they didn’t pay attention. Another drop falls; signaling the beginning of what might be a downpour.
“There’s a kitten stuck in the drain over there, and the water’s coming up in there!”
Cadence gets a sudden grim look on her face, and shoots a glance at Casey and Aiden, clearly asking for help. Casey grabs the fish and stuffed animals, and Aiden helps her. Cadence grins at them both in thanks, and turns back to Roni. “Where at, tiger? Show us.”
They follow her off the path, the rain coming down now in full force and quickly soaking them. They get to the side path where the drain opening is, unhappy yowling echoing up through the grill. Water is starting to move past them and fall down into the opening, and Casey can tell that it’s only getting worse.
Looking down, they can see the small gray kitten about four feet below them, already halfway submerged. Veronica looks stricken as it notices them and yowls piteously. Cadence looks upset herself, that protective look on her face that Casey has only noticed coming up when one of them is in trouble. Cadence kneels down and looks at the situation, calling out to the kitten in a sing-song voice, though still clearly upset.
A sudden flash lights up the park, and the boom of thunder causes them all to jump. Cadence suddenly looks pale, and she looks up at the sky, licking her lips nervously. She turns to Aiden.
“Alright cowboy, no time. So I’m gonna squeeze under the grate, and I need you to hold my legs and lower me down. I’ll grab him, ok?”
“No way, I’ll do it Cadence. That’s too dangerous,” he answers.
She shakes her head sharply. “No arguing Dennison. No way you’re gonna be able to squeeze under that. Casey can’t do it, because we can’t be hanging her upside down if her head was hurt.” She pulls off his baseball cap, startling him, and hands it to Casey. “In fact, can’t let your stitches get to wet, so put this on.”
“What about me? I can slip under there?” Roni asks.
Cadence turns and smiles at her. “If you went home all covered in mud and all, they’d never let you come out and play with us again. We can run to my place after I get him out, we’re closer to that than the cars.”
Another blast of thunder and she pales even more. Casey’s never seen her look this nervous before, and realizes that the lightning and thunder is scaring her to death, though she’s doing a good job not showing it.
Aiden hesitates, clearly trying to find another argument to use, when Cadence turns and gets down on her knees in the mud. She turns around, and tries to smile. “Aiden, if you drop me I’m gonna kick your ass.” She turns away, and then back again.
“And if anyone pulls out a camera-“ she mock glares at Casey, “or cellphone, or says one word about my underwear, they won’t find the body.” She sighs dramatically. “At least I wore the cute ones today,” she mutters.
She goes down on her stomach, and starts squirming her way through the gap in the drain opening. The water and mud make it a little easier, and with Aiden holding onto her ankles, she finally gets her chest through. “Ok! Lower me down!” she calls back, her voice echoing and mixing with the kitten’s howling.
Aiden starts carefully lowering her down, and sure enough as she gets over the edge, her skirt flips up and exposes her white boy shorts, a gothic Tinkerbell design printed across them. Luckily for her they aren’t sheer, but unfortunately if they get much wetter, they won’t do much for her modesty.
Which is the last thing on her mind, as another thunder-blast echoes through the air, and a vicious curse floats up from the drain. All that’s left of her on this side of the grate is her feet, and Aiden struggles to get closer to the drain without losing his balance as he kneels there.
“Got him! Pull me up, slowly!” The yowling stops and Aiden starts to slowly inch her back up, trying his best to keep her from getting scraped up to bad on the way out. He even does a good job of not paying attention as her rear end makes its appearance, Casey grabbing her skirt and pulling it back to cover her as soon as she can.
Veronica reaches down and takes the kitten from her hands, which she then uses to help move and squirm to get her chest back through. She stands up, smiling with victory as she looks over at the kitten squirming in Veronica’s hands.
Her hair is a mess, she pulls a clot of mud out from her cleavage, and her outfit is all but ruined. Her stocking are ripped, her knees scraped and bloody. She doesn’t even bother to take stock of herself, instead reaching out to take the kitten from Roni. “Here sweetheart, let me take him. I’m already a mess; we don’t want to get you all muddy.” She cuddles the kitten, cooing at it for a moment.
“Let’s get to my place, we can dry up, and ya’ll can wait out the weather.” They make their way through the trees and to her house, absolutely drenched by the time they get there.
As they walk up, Casey notices a different car parked next to her mom’s mustang. Cadence notices it as well, coming to a stop and cursing nastily under her breath. She turns to them, clearly upset.
“We can’t go in, guys. I’m so sorry.” She looks near tears at having brought them all the way out here in the weather.
