"Is this really necessary?" I breathed in slight indignation, adjusting the bright pink blindfold placed carefully around my head and shielding my eyes entirely. The plum-colored Peugeot I sat in turned left when I heard Tess giggle softly.
"You just have to trust me, Matty. You'll love it." I rolled the one eye I was capable of opening at her nickname—which I decided she had somehow emulated from me—and sighed over-dramatically, crossing my arms and leaning back in my seat, which was strenuous to provide any comfort whatsoever due to my new height. Beside me, Tess scoffed playfully. "Could you be any more of a drama queen?" Mere silence followed, and all I could ponder was the dread of where she was taking me. Although Matt and I had been friends years ago, our interests greatly differed, and I was not prepared to do any 'fun' activity, especially with Tess of all people.
After a number of seconds, Tess scoffed again, only more hushed this time. "I know what you're thinking. Matt, that walking pig is going to pay for what she did to you, along with Freak Barbie." I squinted apoplectically at her comment, yanking my blindfold off.
"What did you just call m—?"
"Put your blindfold back on, you're ruining the surprise!" She yelled as she pulled the blindfold back over my eyes, an exuberant grin plastered on her face. I let out a sharp exhale, retaining tense facial features as fury flowed roughly throughout me.
The subsequent half hour was noiseless on my part. Tess, however, rambled on about her hatred of me and Emily along with a bunch of other gossip. It was obvious we had arrived once Tess cut off mid-gossip and proceeded to squeal with delight. "We're here! Oh, you're gonna be so excited!"
"Can I take off my blindfold now?" I said in one short breath. Though, instead of replying, I felt Tess pull the blindfold off herself. My eye unintentionally squinted at the bright light emerging from the sun, as all I'd seen the past half hour was pink-tinted darkness. When my sight finally returned to normal, bright colors clouded my vision. A ton of people roamed the area, some waiting in line, some being kids with faces full of lollipop. Around them stood different buildings and booths, but what really caught my eye was the large number of gigantic roller coasters scattered in various points of the cloudless sky. I looked to my left in unpronounced fear, Tess beaming wildly. For a split second, it almost felt like I would puke . . . again.
~
I attempted to look straight ahead of me, my hand glued to the giggling boy on my left. The world was spinning and I could feel something swirling throughout my stomach, preparing to escape my body. Matt looked over at me with a lively smile as he proceeded to drag me out of the deadly coaster cart. It tried to rise and I gagged, covering my mouth. When he finally noticed, he grabbed my shoulders in attempt to keep me on my feet.
"Sam, what's wrong?" I merely shook my head, too sick to respond, and when Matt called out for Khloe, it was far too late. I was bent over my knees, a waterfall of barf ultimately fleeing my mouth.
"Why . . ." I groaned once the puking took a beat. "Did . . . you . . ."
"Hey, take it easy, Sam."
"Bring me . . . here. . .?"
~
Needless to say, I never rode another rollercoaster after that, and tried my best to stray away from amusement parks or carnivals as much as possible. Yes, Matt's body differed greatly from mine, but I still retained my own mindset, and most definitely wasn't about to allow myself to deal with post-traumatic stress. The presence of Matt's obnoxious girlfriend surely didn't help; in fact, it heightened the stress and fear of my impending doom to the maximum level, nearing my breaking point.
"And so she gave me her card — payed for everything — just for us! Isn't that amazing?"
I swiftly snapped out of my lucid trance once I realized that Tess had been rambling on about something irrelevant to me for a number of minutes.
"I mean, she helped me set it up and everything in only twenty four hours!"
'Blah, blah, blah. . .'
"I knew you always loved these kinds of things, but when I realized we'd never gone to one together, I mentally fainted!"
'Blah. . .'
"And after what happened the other night, I just thought this would be the perfect time to actually do this and get away from those unstable freaks. Get ready, Matty, because this is going to be the best day of your life!"
'Ha. Ha. Ha.' I thought, bracing myself for the exact opposite. "And even better: you get to spend it with your favorite person in the world!" She playfully laid her head on my shoulder as I dramatically rolled my eye.
'Okay, Sam, calm yourself. Breathe. It's not that bad . . . It's not that bad. You're only about to do your least favorite activity with your least favorite person while in your ex best friend's male body.' I sighed. 'Piece of cake.'
~
Tess excitedly pushed me along the crowded streets of Carnival Calypso. "So," she said as I slightly shrugged her hand away from mine. "Where do you wanna go first? We could always hit the coasters, we could grab a bite to eat, we could—"
"You know, why don't we—" my eye scanned over a large, exotic looking purple tent with a sign plastered on it reading:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EMBRACE YOUR THIRD EYE!
{Bring your future to life}
Madam Zylah Fortunes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"—embrace our third eye," I remarked, feigning excitement in attempt to conceal my slight curiosity. Tess stared at me, her elated beam shrinking into a confused smile. She huffed a laugh.
"Very funny, now—" a pause proceeded as she read my humorless expression. Her slight smile quickly faded. "You're serious?"
I shrugged. "It could be fun. I mean, sure, fortune tellers are fraudulent a lot of the times, but . . . I don't know, it could be fun." In all actuality, suggesting that was only a getaway attempt from being forced into my worst fear or, even worse, spending quality time with Tess. At least, this way, I wouldn't have to deal with small talk.
Tess sighed. "Yeah, okay, I guess." I grinned as she once again grabbed my hand and pulled me (less vigorously, this time) to the giant "fortune telling" booth. Rows of beads hang from the entrance along with another sign reading 'Begin line here'.
It had been well over five minutes when a voice resonated from the tent, proceeding with an angry woman storming out. She was nearly out of sight when she spun on her heel to stamp over to us. "Don't waste your money. The lady's a fraud," she fumed.
"Well, if you didn't want the truth, why come here at all?" I turned to see an older lady in an intricately designed robe, her messy gray bun pulled back with warm-colored beads. She held a friendly smile and exotic, bright red and yellow makeup. "I merely give out honesty and nothing more."
The other woman scoffed. "Honesty? Honesty?! Do you realize what you just accused my father of?!"
"Not accused. Foresaw. And, if I'm honest, the jury won't take his case lightly." She smiled softly, turning to face me and Tess once the furious woman was finally out of sight. "I understand if Mrs. Scout made you nervous. I will say that my fortunes are anything but dishonest, and it is likely you will not be completely satisfied with the answers you receive." Tess looked at me nervously, a tiny gleam in her eye that gave off sheer terror and unwillingness. I arched my eyebrows. Is Tess . . . afraid of psychics?
My lips quickly pulled into an unintentional smirk. "Who cares? Let's do this!"
~
Hello! Yes, it is actually me, the author, making an author's note. Surprising, right?
I just wanted to say that although chapters take a while to create and are released slowly and gradually, I still care about this story and have it majorly planned out. So, to all my readers, thank you so much for reading the story! It's so crazy to see that people are actually reading it and enjoying it! It'd be even more awesome, though, if you guys could comment/vote more — that is something that motivates me greatly to get my next chapters finished and published.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this semi-long chapter; the next one will hopefully be up sooner rather than later!
~Ashley