The Girl Who Wore Jordans

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

       “You look nice,” Eric commented, nonchalantly gripping my hand in his own.

       “Thanks, so do you,” I returned. “So, what is this place?”

       As we neared the entrance to the place that still remained a mystery to me, Eric simply laughed softly. “Ever been to a carnival?” he asked.

       Thoughts of the various carnivals I had been to over the years formulated in my mind, and I nodded in response.

       “This one’s referred to as the ‘Westie Carnival’, and it comes here every September, and leaves at the beginning of October,” Alex explained informingly.

       “Oh,” I said, assuming the carnival was some longstanding tradition the suburban city had. As we approached the large gates, I could only imagine what lay within.

       “Do you like Ferris wheels, Liz?” Alex asked, as he walked beside the boy I presumed was his best friend who was also holding my hand, a rather comforting sensation.

       “Yeah,” I said, looking beyond at the small line that was waiting to get onto the fairgrounds.

       “So does Eric,” he noted, as I realized he was playing the role of the wingman. I had witnessed and been apart of many a scheme involving “wingmen”, most of which resulted in humorous disasters. By the end of the night, I’d be able to evaluate Alex’s job, and whether or not he had been successful in his mission.

       The eight of us joined the short line, and waited until it was our turn to address a sketchy looking woman with piercings all along the ridge of her ear, and in several other places on her body. Alex, Eric, and I stood at the back of our group, and were last to communicate with her.

       “How many?” she grunted in a surprisingly high-pitched voice.

       “Three,” Eric answered as I held open my mouth to respond.

       “That’ll be thirty-six dollars,” she said, as the three of us shuffled around. I opened my purse, as both Alex and Eric withdrew wallets from their back pockets. After sifting through all the unneeded crap, I found my own wallet, and pulled it out.

       “I got this,” Eric told me, handing the lady a few bills as Alex did the same.

       “No it’s fine,” I objected, taking the needed amount of cash out of my wallet.

       “Liz, it’s already taken care of,” he said gently, pointing to the money he had given the woman. I exhaled, remembering that it was “customary” for the boy to pay for the girl. Etiquette and society could be so stupid sometimes…

       “Thank you,” I settled on.

       “You two done?” the woman asked, clearly annoyed.

       “Yeah, sorry,” I said.

       “Enjoy your visit,” she robotically mumbled, pressing a stamp dipped in purple ink on our hands as we passed by her. Once we had walked a few paces away, I looked down at my hand and saw that the stamp was merely a simple five-point star.

       “So,” Lauren started, after we had caught up with everyone else, “what should we do first?”

       “The airplanes!” Brendon said energetically, causing Tara to giggle, and Joey to hit him on the shoulder.

       “Airplanes?” I questioned.

       “The airplanes,” Brendon repeated seriously. I gave Eric a quizzical look, wondering to what he was denoting.