Chapter 13
I widened my eyes at the enormity of the place. When I pictured a small town halloween carnival, I didn't expect the carnival to be bigger than the town.
"This is..."
Lou smiled at me when I didn't finish the sentence.
"Cool huh?"
I laughed and did a one-eighty, taking in my surroundings. They wouldn't open the gates to the public for a few more hours, but Jo's mom needed help setting up her game booth so she said if we helped her, we could get early admission. The girls thought this would be a great opportunity to give me a tour of the place.
"This is actually pretty impressive," I admitted.
The girls exchanged looks with beaming smiles on their faces, then took me on a tour of the carnival.
"This," Grace pointed to a big area filled with booths, "is where you can play all the games. There's ring toss, a dunking booth, face painting, et cetera. If you want to play any of the games, you can to go buy some tickets from over there." She pointed to the entrance of the carnival, then started leading the group to a different area.
"Way back there," she pointed to a cluster of trees lining the corner of the carnival. "is the haunted trail. It's not that scary, but it's loads of fun. And lastly, over here," Grace pointed to a huge stage with a instruments strewed on it and gigantic speakers attached to the sides of the covering, "is where they have live bands play. Most of the time they are just local bands and artists, but they're still enjoyable."
"You forgot to tell her the best part," Jo exclaimed.
"And what would that be," I questioned, glancing between Grace and Jo.
Grinning devilishly, Jo said, "when the band or artist takes a break, they have people from the audience come sing karaoke onstage."
They all grinned at me and I already knew what they were getting at.
"Just because I have acting experience does not mean I sing. This isn't Disney Channel; not all actresses are singers."
"So you don't sing," Kallie tried to clarify.
"No. Mostly."
At there questioning eyes, I added, "I've sang before, but it's definitely not something I would make a career of."
"You know what I just thought of," Lou said out of nowhere, looking at me. "Are you going to be bombarded tonight? I mean, by fans wanting pictures and autographs with you."
I hadn't really thought about that since the school has been so accepting of my privacy.
"Maybe I can put my make up on a bit heavier than normal since it's halloween."
"What about the papparazzi? The carnival is open to anyone so they will be able to get in with no problem."
The girls all seemed worried about my fame and for the first time since I've been here, I felt bad for potentially ruining their night because of my fame. Back home, being famous wasn't an issue because everyone I hung out with was either famous themselves or accustomed to the lifestyle.
"Johnny will be with me the entire night incase things get out of hand, but if you guys would feel more comfortable, I can paint my face or something."
"No. No. We don't want to make you feel uncomfortable. I just want to make sure you're not going to have to fight off the papps the entire night," Lou hurriedly said.
"There's no guarantee of that, but I appreciate your concern. Don't worry. if things really do get terribly out of hand, Johnny has already mapped out every exit for me," I pointed. Jokingly, I added, "I'll survive the night."
They all seemed to relax when I told them this, except for Lou who unfortunately couldn't help, but worry about all the 'what ifs' in life.
We continued our tour, them showing me the entrance to the haunted house/trail (they didn't want to ruin the fun by going in during daylight), the trick-or-treat area and, of course, the food.
This was going to be a good night. I could feel it.
****
Two milkshakes and three pop corn balls later and the carnival was in full swing.
We had brought our costumes and make-up with us so that way we could get changed here. Johnny came too, but agreed to do his own thing so I could enjoy time with my friends. If things got out of hand, I would call, and he would be here quickity split.
Currently, we were walking around checking out other peoples' costumes. Some people really went to all out for the occasion.
The cutest group costume I saw was this big eight-person family dressed up as a roller coaster. It looked like the whole family was leaning side ways and it was adorable.
In a moment of distraction, I tripped over a power cord laying on the ground and fell into a very hard chest.
"Why do we always meet like this," the guy asked.
My heart involuntarily sped up when I looked into Nol's warm brown eyes. He had a playful smirk on his lips, but something different in his eyes. Whatever it was, I wanted to keep staring into them because they felt safe, but obviously, I couldn't without looking like a creep.
"Sorry," I mumbled, pulling myself upright.
He held onto me, even though I was now standing up, and looked like he was about to say something. Then one of my idiot friends cleared her throat.
He quickly let go of me and changed the expression on his face into something less serious.
"Hey ladies. Are you all enjoying the carnival so far?"
LIke normal, Lou let out a little squeak and a nod, Kallie shrugged her shoulders and looked around with a bored expression on her face, Grace spoke a quiet yes, then ducked her head and Jo cheerfully let out a 'yes', grinning ear to ear, then winked at me.
"Do you mind if Beau and I join y'all," he motioned to his friend that I had only just noticed standing there.
When the girls skeptically looked at each other, he added, "We're loads of fun."
I let out a big laugh and answered for the group, "You two can only join if you answer three simple questions."
I gave the girls a wink as the boys looked at each other then agreed.
"First one," I held up one finger, while Beau crossed his arms and Nol squinted his eyes at me. "What is Neville Longbottom's toad's name?"
"Easy. Trevor," Nol immediately answered, with an I-got-this look on his face.
"Kallie, your turn."
She thought about it for a moment, then smiled.
"Okay. I have one. What band is currently meshed with McFly right now?"
The boys looked at each other, Beau chewing on his lip, then his eyes lit up.
"Busted."
"Correct," Kallie muttered, looking slightly deflated.
"Jo, you want to take the last one?"
"With pleasure," she answered with a devilish grin. "What is Grace's favorite color?"
Grace's face instantly turned red and she protested for Jo to pick another question, but Jo just laughed and wrapped an arm around Grace. I looked at Beau, understanding what Jo was trying to do and was surprised to see his cheeks turn pink.
Nol was smirking as well, but let his friend take all the attention.
"Powder blue," he said, scuffing his shoes on the cement.
"Correct," Jo exclaimed, grinning madly at her embarrassed friend. "Gentlemen. You are officially free to join our group."
With that she started leading the group throughn the maze of people. Nol sidled up beside me and immdiately started a conversation.
"Are you enjoying the carnival?"
"Not as much as I'm enjoying your costume," I had only just noticed the huge cape like thing he had on as well the magnifying glass that was sticking out of his pocket.
"Yeah. It was a last minute thing. I hadn't planned on dressing up, but my sister really wanted me to so I dressed up as Sherlock Holmes. I think I did, at least."
We were at the back of the group, blindly following Jo to wherever she was taking us. I took in all the booths as we passed, smiling at crazy costumes and the enormity of it all.
"You really are enjoying this aren't you," Nol asked, giving me a soft smile.
"Yeah," I replied. "I am. I just love how the whole community is here and having a good time. Most of the cities where I've lived have beem too big to have any kind to close knit community. There were carnivals and things like this, but they didn't feel the same."
"So do you like being here? Meeting all these people?"
I finally looked at him and saw the real meaning behind his questions. He didn't want to make me uncomfortable by asking me directly, but instead, lined the question with something softer. Easier.
"I do. I really do."
A smile radiated off his face and he bit his lip. I could tell he didn't know how far to push me so I was going to give him lead. I started to reach out my hand when a deep, man's voice had me clenching my hands back together.
"Welcome to The Cord. The origin of all nightmares."
I finally saw where she had led us and did not like the sight of it. I had never liked scary things so as the haunted trail stood before me, I became very nervous.
"Parts of the trail get pretty narrow so you have to stand in rows of two or three. Don't pull on anyhting that may pop out at you and make sure your shoes are tied. Y'all will have to wait just a couple of minutes until the group ahead gets farther into the trail. I'll tell y'all when it's time."
With that he walked through an open doorway and left us to wait.
"This is always fun," Nol said, looking through the gate that led into the trail.
"I'm not sure I would call a haunted trail fun," I nervously chewed on my lip and stared into the dark woods.
"It's really not that scary. They just try to hype things up so it will seem more exciting. It's mostly just for fun," he gave me a reassuring look, but I still didn't feel reassured.
"Promise?"
He grinned and looked me in the eyes. "I promise, but just in case I'm wrong, I give you full permission to tell my mother."
I laughed and felt some of the tension roll off of me. He had a nack for making me feel better even when I was being stupid.
The burly guy from before came back out and showed us the way to go. We were just passing through the open gate, when I felt Nol's fingers intertwine in mine. I smiled at him and saw he was mirroring my expression.
That is, until some guy with his head chopped off started chasing us.
****
New Chapter. Yay!
So this chapter is just about the halfway point. I'm not exactly sure how many chapters I'll end up with in the end, but somewhere between 20-30 probably. I know. That's a terrible range, but when it gets closer to the end, I'll have a more exact number.
I hope you're enjoying the story thus far. I'm enjoying writing it.
The song is "The Fall Song" by Bridget Mendler.
xx