18 Things (27 page)

As we waited in line, I felt light-headed just from the rush of screams flying above us.

“It’s gonna be fun. I promise,” Nate said, squeezing my sweaty hand, which only made my stomach drop more.

“I’ll hold you to that.” Wheels scraping against metal never sounded so scary as the passengers roared to a stop in front of us. Shuddering, I heard the click of a camera as I securely pulled down the lap bar.

Nicole laughed as she checked out the photo on her tiny LCD screen from the seat in front of me. “You should see your face right now. You’re as white as a ghost.”

“You laugh now, but we’ll probably be ghosts after this ride.” I looked at Nate next to me, and he grinned widely.

But his eyes were big and soft, almost sultry as he studied me.

I looked down at my feet.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Clicking my heels three times in hopes I’ll be whisked away in a whirlwind.”

“Oh, you’ll be whisked away alright,” Kyle said behind me as loud music by Republica blared around us, singing about being ready to go. “This baby goes up to 120 miles per hour in three-point-eight seconds.”

I turned to Nate again. “And we’re sure people have lived through this to tell the tale, right?”

“All the time. We just saw many of them get off the ride, remember? Let’s take a deep, cleansing breath. In, out, in, out. There we go. That’s better.” He placed his hand on top of mine. “I’ll buy you a T-shirt if you can make it through this without puking on me. Deal or no deal?”

“Deal. How tall is this thing exactly?”

“420 feet.”

“Keep arms down, head back, and hold on,” the automated recording said.

A motor revved, and we were launched into the sky.

I squeezed my eyes shut and counted to ten before we stopped abruptly. “That’s it?” I asked, keeping my eyes closed as people screamed. “Why are people screaming if it’s over?”

“Uh, stay calm. Don’t open your eyes.” Nate’s voice sounded shaky, so of course I opened my eyes and discovered we were stuck at exactly 420 feet in the sky. “I told you not to open your eyes.”

I peered over the side and vaguely registered an elevator coming up, but mostly the thought I was about to die registered. “What the heck!”

Nicole turned around. “You looked down, didn’t you?”

Sean angled himself in his seat to face us, too. “Man, I’m gonna crap my pants so many times I could fill my own personal septic tank if they don’t get us down in a minute.”

Tammy snagged my sleeve from behind. “I hope you wore your good shoes because this could be a long walk down.”

Throwing my hands in the air, I figured I was entitled to a meltdown right about now. “I knew this was a bad idea. This is why I don’t ride roller coasters. I mean, who in their right mind thinks making a ride this tall is a bright idea? They just want to pat themselves on the back, and who cares if someone is killed in the process? Isn’t 420 like the universal sign to get high? That should’ve been our first clue to stay far away from this thing. Nobody in their right mind would board this crazy train. Usually I’d be the girl at the bottom, taking a video of the stupid morons who decided to ride this thing, not the girl stuck up top because of some life list—”

Nate seized my arm and shouted, “Olga, will you go to prom with me?”

I gaped at him. This was so random. “And why are you asking me now?”

“I was going to ask you soon, since it’s only six weeks away, and thought why don’t we save ourselves the heartache of finding a date and go as friends?”

The part of just attending as friends felt worse than being stuck up here.

“And of course, in case we die.”

I shoved him lightly, afraid if I hit him too hard, he might fall out of the cart. “Not funny.”

But somehow, he did make me laugh, even as nervous sweat poured down my forehead. Or maybe the perspiration just came from being this much closer to the sun. I swore I could’ve reached out and touched its rays. Even the helium balloons from below popped before they made it this far.

The Jedi Order chanting “say yes, say yes, say yes” snapped me into focus. Our fellow thrill seekers joined them. Funny how a situation like this bonded people together so quickly. Before I could answer, a man literally stepped out of an elevator and stood on top of the track, adjusting something. Just seeing that took ten years off my life.

The chanting halted, and Kyle shouted to the worker, “Dude, they probably don’t pay you enough to risk your life like this.”

He smiled. “Just hold on tight, folks. We’ll have you down in a sec.”

“What happened?” Tammy asked, clearly annoyed.

He scanned the gages inside a box as he answered. “Well, on rare occasions, a combo of weight distribution, the force of the launch, and the wind can stall the coaster on top of the tower.”

I heard Nic suck in her breath. “Define rare.”

“I believe this is the third time in the ten years since its opening,” he answered, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead with a gloved hand.

Kyle snorted. “Weight distribution. I knew I shouldn’t have eaten so much at lunch.”

“Yo, how much longer we stuck up here for? We’ve been up here at least twenty minutes.” Sean’s eyes glistened as if he were ready to cry.

The worker chuckled. “It’s been about three minutes, and you’ll be down in about ten seconds. Hold on tight.”

My heart jumped in my chest, and I barely breathed as we nose-dived to the ground. When we came to a screeching halt, I turned to Nate. “Yes.”

Everyone cheered. I knew it was because we were all safe, but it felt like I’d just done the scariest thing by agreeing to attend Senior Prom with Nate. The g-force of the roller coasters at Cedar Point had nothing on falling in love.

“Following the light of the sun,
we left the old world.”
―Chris Columbus

icole and I pulled into the senior parking lot at Grand Haven High on Friday, April first, and a large crowd stared at something in the sky. Local news crews gathered everywhere, and Nicole barely squeezed into a parking slot.

“What in the world?” I wondered aloud as Nate opened my door, unusually silent. Upon hopping out of Nicole’s Honda, I discovered the nine-foot monkey statue from the entrance of the local Jungle River Mini Golf, standing atop our school’s roof. I turned to Nate.

“Oh my gosh! I can’t believe you did this. It’s so awesome! I thought you said pulling off the perfect practical joke would be too obvious for April Fool’s Day?”

“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He leaned toward me, and his eyelashes fluttered against my cheek. “We figured the fact it was so obvious added to its perfection,” he whispered in my ear, sending chills up my spine.

We met up with Sean and Kyle in the lobby. I noticed they all dressed alike, even Nate wore his Cantankerous Monkey Squad shirt underneath his heavy checkered flannel. They greeted each other with fist bumps as Nicole, Tammy, and I rolled our eyes.

“So is this the extent of our senior prank, or do ya’ll have more plans for the day?” Tammy asked.

“Let’s just let this be a wait and see kind of thing,” Nate said, divulging nothing.

“Well, I don’t know if you fellas know this or not,” I scolded in my best redneck voice. “But stealing is in fact a punishable crime in these here parts, and Jungle Golf will be darn tootin’ mad when they discover their monkey has been abducted.”

“True,” Nate said “But no monkeys were harmed during the operation of our prank, and if they don’t come for it themselves sometime today, we’ll return it to them tonight.”

“You morons!” Nicole let out an exaggerated sigh. “Don’t you think they’ll have a stake-out tonight and wait for something like that so they can arrest you?”

Sean half-shrugged. “You girls worry way too much.”

The bell tolled and I waved, hurrying off to class.

A couple hours later, I dropped my book bag on the cafeteria floor with a loud thud. “Is your band’s CD playing?”

“Sure sounds oddly familiar,” Nate said, offering his arm and ushering me toward the food line.

People around the lunchroom flashed a thumbs-up toward him.

I honed in on his guitar solo as we moved through the line. “Okay, you have to tell me how you guys did this.”

He pumped ketchup onto his hamburger. “I’d tell you, but then we’d have to kill you.”

“Whatever,” I said, adding chocolate milk to the last space on my lunch tray. “I guess nothing says Cantankerous Monkey Squad better than a publicity stunt. Your only problem is the music clearly pins the prank on the three of you.”

“Maybe.” He stole a fry off my now loaded tray. “Or it could just be a fan, or arch-enemy trying to make it look like us. There’s no hard evidence. And maybe I’ll get special treatment since my best friend is the probable class valedictorian.”

He playfully elbowed me.

There was the dreaded ‘friend’ word again
.

Setting my tray on the lunch table, I cleared my throat. “Don’t you dare drag me into this.”

He rubbed his goatee. “Hmm, dare? Now that I think of it, I did win a dare when your parents came to your last cheerleading game. I never did cash in.”

I shifted my legs underneath me in the plastic chair. “You know, dares died out with middle school.”

“Poor, Olga,” Sean said. “Too chicken to accept the terms of a dare rightly won.”

“All right,” I agreed, knowing if I didn’t, I’d be labeled as a wuss forever. “What are your terms?”

The drama teacher, Ms. Frost, entered the cafeteria with hurried steps, her arms swinging at her sides. We directed our attention to the melodrama unfolding on stage with the rest of fifth period lunch. Our cafeteria also served as our auditorium, and from the look of things, Ms. Frost came to put an end to the boys’ prank. The guys must’ve hooked up their stereo equipment with the CD playing on a loop through the stage’s loudspeakers and not the main office, to make it difficult for someone like the lunch duty ladies to locate the source of the prank through all the wires.

Ms. Frost pulled the plug, and then, giving a steady stare at the band, indicated with her index finger that the boys should follow her.

They did, but first Nate turned toward me with a rueful smile. “Aren’t you coming?”

“What?” I eyed him nervously.

He swiped his hair to the side of his face and laughed. “You helped us, remember? United we stand, together we fall.”

I nodded slowly and stood, understanding these were his terms.

“Wait up!” Nicole and Tammy shouted. “We’re coming, too.”

Nate put his arm around me as we walked down the hall toward the main office. “I didn’t really expect you to follow, but thanks. Lunch just wouldn’t be the same without you.”