𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐑 - marcus baker

two

That was the thing about Sadie and Monroe. Even though they got to be too much sometimes, they were the best people I've been around. They were always there for me and I was there for them.

I slowly ate my pretzel, making sure to save them a piece each too. Good thing I didn't throw my soda, it goes great with the pretzel, though the cheese would be great too.

"Hey, Aylin.  Where are the girls?" Max smiled as she sits in front of me, her friends surrounding her.

"Ferris wheel.  Only sits two people, so I decided to sit this one out."

"Okay, do you mind watching my bag? We're going to go on the slingshot but I don't think they have lockers," she asked and I gladly agreed.

She dropped her drawstring bag on the table and they all walked away, Ginny thanking me as she left.

In only a few minutes, Sadie and Monroe returned to the table.

"How was the view?" I asked them as they plopped next to me.

"I don't remember.  Two random girls were screaming, kind of weird," Monroe laughed as she drank some of my soda.

"Okay, so there's a ride that seats like 15 in one row, wanna go?" Sadie asked as she grabbed one of the two pieces left of my pretzel.

"Sure," I smiled and she gave me a weird look.

"Where's the cheese? These aren't good without cheese."

Not wanting them to worry or confront Marcus, I lied.

"They just forgot it, and it's not that bad."

She shrugged and Monroe grabbed the last piece.  As they finished their pretzels, I put the drawstring bag on and stand up, ready to go to the ride they mentioned.

"Is that Max's?" Sadie asked as she rubbed her hands together to get the crumbs off her hands.

"Yeah, they went on the slingshot."

She nodded and they both stood up.  I followed their lead to the ride, which was a little far.   Once we get there, I was a little surprised albeit it was a little small.

It was a row of about 15 people on both sides of the ride.  Once it started,  it rose and began to spin in a circle.  That was the least of my worries, though.  Not only did the entire ride spin, but individual sections of seats spun in whichever direction gravity decided.

Growing up, I never really enjoyed roller coasters or rides in general.  They always seemed irrational to me. Why would you risk everything to get an adrenaline rush? On top of that, pay for it? It made no sense to me. But now, why wouldn't I? There isn't that large of a risk factor, so why wouldn't I want the adrenaline rush? Have I done any research to calculate the risk? No. Do I plan on it? Also no.

We got in line, and it was still relatively short.  There were maybe two turns before us, so we were mentally preparing ourselves as we watched people buckle themselves into the seats.

The operators began the speech that was required for them to give, and we watched the ride slowly start.

"Aylin, your mom won't care if you come over to my house tomorrow, right?" Sadie asked nonchalantly.

"You're not allowed to have people over, why would I go over?"

"That's what we're telling your mom.  There's a party.  It starts at like six."

"Okay, sure.  You're going too, right, Monroe?" I asked her to make sure.

Monroe's parents were a bit more struct than Sadie's and mine.  Sadie pretty much did whatever she wanted whenever she wanted and I just needed permission.  Though it was granted about eighty percent of the time.  Monroe, however, got maybe sixty percent.  The rest was dedicated to tutoring, though she never needed it.

"Yes, I'm allowed to go to my cousin's house and he's going to cover for me," she smiled excitedly.

"He sounds hot," Sadie smiled at Monroe.

"You're gross," Monroe made a disgusted face at her.

With that, we continued talking about the party and how it's supposed to be "legendary". Of course, that's what everyone was saying. They were excited about our junior year ending, so we finally get to be seniors. Party time.

Eventually, the line moves up and we're putting our things in Max's bag and the bag in the locker.

We took our seats and buckled up before Monroe forced us all to hold hands. Of course, it is our fault after all. She jokes about how we 'peer pressured' her into getting on the ride. The ride operators run around making sure everyone's belts are buckled correctly as they give us the speech about our hands and feet in the ride. Before we knew it, we were spinning in the air and Monroe was screaming like she's never been on a ride before.

Sadie and I laughed at her as she squeezed our hands. I don't know about Sadie, but my hand might need to be amputated after that.

"I hate you guys," Monroe wiped her tears as the ride stopped.

"My hand is purple," Sadie laughed as Monroe began to fix her hair.

We got off the ride and grabbed the bag before opening it to grab our things.

"Hey! Guys!" Ginny yelled at us from the end of the exit gate.

We walked to her and I handed Max her bag.

"We have to go, my mom wants us home," Norah frowned.

"Okay," I smiled and we all walked to the van, almost forgetting about Marcus.

Max called him and in a few minutes, he took his seat in the middle row of the van.

"Yo, what happened to your shirt?" Max laughed at him.

"Shut up. I fell."

Why didn't he tell the truth? I a bit confused, but I eventually dropped it.  

Ginny dropped everyone at home, saving the twins for last.  By the time she dropped me off, Sadie, Monroe, Norah, and Abby had already been dropped off. That left Marcus to let me out of the back row.

He looked me in the eyes as he leaned forward to pull the chair out of my way.

"You owe me a shirt," he whispered so that the girls in the front couldn't hear.

"You owe me so much more than that, Marcus," I whispered back a little louder than he did.

"What, Aylin?"

"Nothing," I said, not taking my eyes off of Marcus.

I got out of the car, not bothering to move around Marcus when I walked by. I pushed him back a little when I bumped into him. Without looking back, I walked into my house. I let my parents know I was home before heading to my bedroom.

To sleep I went.