Gypsy Girl and Horse Lovin' Boys (12 page)

The rest of the day was just as awful. Shows for the rest of the day were canceled. Millie wouldn’t stop squawking. Cessie was in tears in our room. Mom sat at the table with piles of paperwork. I didn’t know how to help at all. Honestly, I felt totally responsible and didn’t know how to fix any of it.

“I’m so sorry Peppy did that to you. I’ve always known and warned people that Capuchins aren’t good pets, trying to do my part. I feel terrible that I allowed this to happen to my own daughter.” Mom’s eyes were teary.

“Are we going to have to leave?” I sat down across from her at the table.

“We’re waiting to find out.”

“Will we get Peppy back?”

“I don’t know.” Mom rubbed her face. “He had been one of the easiest to train.”

“He’s always been a little sensitive, though.” I rubbed the tabletop. “That was my fault. I was stressing and Peppy could tell when I took him out for the show.”

“It was that girl. Seriously, every show I go over our strict guidelines.”

“Yeah, the girl that did that was my fault too. That’s the one I was telling you about.”

“What? The one that posted videos and pictures?”

“Technically she had the friends do it earlier.”

“Maybe we could use that. You know, that she has been harassing you all this time.” Mom was so hopeful.

“There’s nothing we could use to prove it now. Josh deleted everything. It’s not on Rachel’s phone or even on the internet anymore.” I couldn’t handle anymore guilt. “Can we do the other venues if we have to leave here or are we going home?”

“Honey, I wish I had answers. I wish I had someone to talk to that could advise me what to do or how to fight this. I just don’t know anything. We are at the mercy of others right now.” She got up from the table. “I can’t do this. I need to go for a walk to clear my head. Stay here with Cessie.”

Mom changed her clothes and left. I went up to the roof and made sure no one could see me while I watched the arena. Noah should be showing soon. Kelly would be too. I didn’t have much faith that Josh and Noah could fix anything. Guilt consumed me all over again. Time only exacerbated my misery. I didn’t get to watch Josh, Rachel, and Bree either. I pulled out my phone and texted Josh.

Me: How did u do?

I watched the horses as I waited for him to text back.

Josh: I got 3rd. Bree got 4th. Rachel got 2nd . Next show I got 2nd. Rachel 3rd Bree 4th.

Me: Good job! Bree placed too. : )

Josh: Yes.

Me: Is Noah done now?

Josh: Yes. Waiting for awards. Kelly isn’t doing so well after we talked to her. Cross your fingers.

Me: She say anything?

Josh: Can I tell u about it later? Want to see u.

Me: Sure. Tell me how Noah does.

Josh: K. Awards about to happen
.

I pulled out the tablet to see what was on Kelly’s timeline. There were so many comments. Some were mean and of course they were concerned for Kelly. I needed to do something else. Nothing was going to be able to shake the gloominess or take away the fact that every single thing that had gone wrong was my fault. If only I had let my fear of horses keep me from Noah and maybe if he had been wearing that cowboy hat at first I would have stayed far away. There would have been no chance for Kelly to have a reason to hate me so much that she would work so hard to ruin my life, Peppy’s future, and my mom’s dream.

Josh: Noah took 2nd behind Kelly. Robbed again. Kelly was a mess and took first. We want to come over. Can we?

Me: Yes.

I thought about telling them no for a second. However, they were good at reminding me everything wasn’t my fault. What I really wanted to do was run or escape all that had piled on me. My body was in so much pain from the carnie, and my face looked awful, I was better off staying put.

I unrolled the rope ladder when I spotted them walking across the field. At least the day’s events were overriding my problems with them.

They sat next to each other on the roof across from me. I spoke too soon. They were both uncomfortable, not knowing how to act.

“I sure wish I was there. It sounds like you both did well today,” I said, trying to break up the awkward silence.

“No, Noah was robbed. Kelly didn’t even turn on her charm. She screwed up bad and still won.” Josh’s face flushed with fury. “Seriously, you need to protest. If she can pull what she did, someone needs to turn the tables on her to prove what a fraud she is.” He threw a little rock he picked out of his shoe off the roof.

“Don’t do that, you might hit someone.” I grabbed his hand, frowning at him.

“Sorry. It just pisses me off so much.”

Noah took his hat off and turned around to lean back on the pillow beside me. “The clouds sure are pretty today. I wonder if we’ll get a storm later. Clouds like that usually build into storms.”

I attempted to ease back onto all the pillows I could find and scrunched up my face in pain. Josh scooted over to help me. His eyes glassed over when he looked at my face.

“Now I have another thing to hold against monkeys. Along with poop flinging, don’t piss them off. They might attack a pretty face.”

I flushed. When I smiled, I was painfully reminded of the marks Peppy left on it. Josh leaned back on the other side of me.

We were quiet for a long time.

“Noah, do you think of Josh as the Robin to your Batman?” I asked.

“What?”

“Or is he more like the Chewbacca to your Han Solo?” I nudged Noah’s arm with my elbow.

“What are you talking about?”

“I told Sera that you always get the girl and I’m like your comic-relief side-kick,” Josh said.

“Josh is more like an Ewok than a Wookie,” Noah said.

Josh and I laughed.

“That’s what we said.” Josh’s hand covered mine.

I folded my arms across my chest.

“Well, I think he’s more like Patrick to my SpongeBob,” Noah said.

“Patrick is dumb more than he’s funny,” Josh said, miffed.

“If you look at it like that, SpongeBob and Patrick
look
funny more than they
are
funny. Robin is serious and Chewbacca doesn’t do much but roar and shoot a cool crossbow,” Noah said.

“If that is how
you
want to look at it, I’m Donkey to your Shrek.” Josh propped himself up on his elbow to argue with Noah.

“The ogre is shunned by everyone and gets Fiona, the only other ogre. I don’t think that fits your theory.” Noah casually rested one hand behind his head.

“But Donkey is funny,” Josh said.

“He has weird baby donkey dragon babies,” I said, wrinkling up my nose.

“If we’re Shrek and Donkey then Sera is Fiona,” Noah said.

“See, he gets the girl,” Josh argued

“He got the ogre. Donkey got the dragon,” I said.

“Then that doesn’t work,” Josh said. “What about Skipper and Gilligan?”

“Who?” I asked.

“Haven’t you seen Gilligan’s Island? The show is so old that everyone has seen it.”

“No, I haven’t,” I said.

“I’ve maybe watched it once. It was silly,” Noah said.

“And I like silly and I have watched them all.” Josh sighed. “Okay, Dr Evil and Minnie Me?”

Noah and I shook our heads.

“No Austin Powers?” He smacked his forehead. “Pinky and the Brain?”

We shook our heads again. He rolled his eyes and fell back dramatically.

“Napoleon Dynamite and Pedro,” Noah said.

“You’re Napoleon? I don’t think so.” Josh laughed. “You might be a country boy but you’re no Napoleon.”

“Winnie the Pooh and Piglet?” I scrunched down defensively.

“No,” both boys said in unison giving me gentle shoves to go with their protest.

“Megamind and Minion?” Josh asked.

“I like that one,” Noah said.

“I don’t know it,” I said

“Oh man. You haven’t seen Megamind? You need to discover the world of movies and mindless television. Home school doesn’t serve you well, Gypsy Girl,” Josh said, propping his head up on his hand again.

“Sometimes I wish you were more like Wilson.” Noah smirked at Josh.

“What is Wilson from?” Josh asked

“He was the volleyball on Cast Away.” Noah laughed.

Josh tried to hit Noah with his hat. I covered my face and giggled as they pretended to fight with me stuck in the middle.

“I don’t get it,” I said once they settled down.

“You need to watch way more movies on that tablet of yours,” Josh said, shaking his head. “I’ll make you a list.”

“You had Shrek and Fiona where you fit me in. How would I fit in with you two?”

“She could be Batgirl,” Noah said. “Or Roxanne Richey from Megamind.”

“Sera could be Sandy from SpongeBob,” Josh said.

“Or Pearl.” Noah protectively covered his face, ready for punishment.

“Nooo,” I protested. “I like Sandy. I don’t want to be the whiney whale.”

The boys laughed at me.

“Wait. I have the best. I think the best friendship of all time.” I held both hands up in the air to stop everything.

“Katniss, Gale and Peeta?” Josh butted in. “That’s the most classic love triangle. Because Peeta is short and blond and wasn’t her first choice. And he gets Katniss in the end.”

“No. I don’t like how all that ended up. Too much killing. Besides, we aren’t trying to be in a love triangle here,” I said.

“We’re not?” Josh asked.

“No,” Noah answered, totally peeved.

“No,we’re not. That’s not the best friendship ever. The best friendship ever is Harry, Ron, and Hermione.”

“That’s it!” Noah nodded emphatically in agreement.

“Yeah, that’s it. I’m Ron, without the ginger hair though. You guys fit the other two quite well. By the way, Ron gets Hermione in the end.”

“Oh stop. That’s in the very, very end after they’ve been friends for years and years. We’ve just started,” I said, nudging him in the rib with my elbow. “Besides J.K. Rowling regrets writing that ending now.”

“You just want to be friends?” Noah asked.

With an apologetic smile, I nodded. I already missed kissing him. Better to end it before we leave. “I like you both so much. I can’t stand getting in the middle of this amazing friendship you have. I only wanted friendship to begin with. The whole boyfriend thing kind of muddles that up and complicates everything, don’t you think?” I looked over at Josh. Both boys weren’t convinced. They rested their heads on their hands and stared at the sky, avoiding eye contact with me.

“I think I see a cloud that looks like Patrick,” Josh said.

“I see one that looks like a horse,” Noah said.

“Everything looks like horses to you, Noah.” Josh shook his head.

All the humor of their previous conversation dissipated with the shifting cloud formations.

Cessie tried to open the window to climb out to the roof. Josh had to move out of the way. She was crying again and looking for comfort. She curled up on my chest. “I miss Peppy. Will he come home?”

“I don’t know. Mom doesn’t know.”

“What will happen to Peppy?” Noah asked.

“The Handy Helpers organization will have to decide where he goes. They invested a lot of money in him already. He could go to a research center. Don’t worry, not a drug company, they send the monkeys to behavioral specialists. Or he could go to a Capuchin monkey rescue facility. They tend to be full though. Our show helps train him to get use to stimulating environments. He practices his assisting skills he will need to use, and changing up his environment all the time trains him for his future job of helping the handicap. We would be giving him up in a few months anyway and getting a new monkey to train. Wow, this could mess that up too. Everything our mom does could end because of this.”

“What? You train him for people with special needs?” Noah asked, sitting upright.

“Yes,” I said, confused at his sudden interest.

“Come on.” Josh was over the roof edge with Noah right behind him. They ran across the field and were gone.

“Where’d they go?”

“I don’t know.” I held Cessie’s head against my chest and wondered what they were up to now. I couldn’t believe I just broke up with Noah. Closing my eyes tight, I was sick of crying but I couldn’t help it. He was the nicest boy I’d ever met and I told him he wasn’t mine anymore.

Noah was right. A storm was building. At least we didn’t have to worry about cancelling the show.

Mom came home before it started to rain. The wind picked up and the Caravan started to rock.

She was still so distressed, she paced the Caravan.

“Seraphina, I wish you had let me know this girl was as much trouble as she was. You wouldn’t believe all the trouble she’s continuing to cause. She has made up a bunch of crap about Peppy. I hope she realizes she has endangered the life of that monkey.” She pointed emphatically at me. “By the way, what really happened to your face last night?”

I wanted to back away and go to my room. Mom saw the panic on my face. She reached for my arm. When I over reacted by pulling my arm away, I cried out from the pain in my back.

“I know Peppy didn’t hurt you that bad and there is more to that scratch than a tree that decided to jump out and try to take you down.”

I started to tremble.

“Why are you keeping things from me? If there are other things, I need to know. You better tell me. Is it those boys?” she asked. “Did they do this?”

I backed into the wall as Mom kept coming closer. I held out my hands to stop her and shook my head.

“Seraphina.” Mom grabbed my arm and poked my stomach, watching my reaction. When I winced, she lifted my shirt. “What is this from?” She pulled up my skirt too. “I saw those bruises on your legs the other day. Those were from her, weren’t they?” She pulled up my skirt even higher until she saw the scratches. “Seraphina Marie, you better tell me who did this to you right now. I will have all of those kids arrested for harassment if you don’t tell me.”

“No, mom, Please.” I started crying. “The boys saved me. A carnie attacked me last night. He took me down to the river, but before he did anything, Josh punched him and chased him off.”

“Why in the hell did you not tell me this? This is serious.”

“They went to his supervisor and he was going to have the guy arrested.”

“This was just some random thing?”

“I thought so until this morning when Kelly seemed to know more about it than she should and she wasn’t there last night.” Sobs started to fall out of me. Gross, the ugly cry.

“What else is there? What else are you keeping from me?” Mom trembled all over and gripped my arm tighter.

“I know the girls followed me and took pictures and videos of me several days ago but those are gone.”

“You told me about that. What else did this Kelly girl say?”

“She said I better watch my back and I would probably be leaving before Monday.”

“That’s a direct threat. Were there any witnesses?”

“Not that time.”

“Sera, help me out here!” Mom screamed with her eyes blazing.

I pulled my arm out of her hand.

Hail pounded on the roof and made it impossible to hear much of anything. However, Mom yelled louder than the pounding hail in frustration at the world.

I lunged for the door. Pea sized hail pelted my head and arms. A heavy rain splashed down over me. Most people had found cover. I ran, splashing across the field, and down the path. The hail stung and I was already soaking wet. I didn’t know where to go but my feet took me in the direction I never thought I would go on my own willingly. Straight to the horse barn. I ducked inside and finally found relief from the assault from the clouds. It looked like it really did wash me from head to tow. No need to shower later. My skirt stuck to my legs and I hugged my chest as I shivered from my sogginess.

I passed by kids calming their horses. Most of them were in their stalls. Lightning flashed and shook the barn when it struck somewhere nearby. Horses answered back in panicked whinnies and everyone ducked.

I finally reached Ezra’s stall. Tears streamed down my cheeks but no one could tell. Rivers ran down my face from my drenched hair. I drew in a deep breath as I opened the stall. At least I was rational enough to know the horse was the most docile creature I could encounter that afternoon. Amazing what ginormous problems snowballing at once could do to irrational thoughts. I backed against the wall and slid to the corner where no one could see me. I crouched down and sobbed into my arms. Ezra’s muzzle rubbed against my head. I didn’t mind. The horse’s soft lips nuzzling me was somewhat comforting. Maybe when I was done being miserable, I would be afraid of the horse again. At the moment, Ezra was probably the only creature that didn’t have a reason to dislike me.

I had no sense of time. I’d left my phone behind. After the storm had passed, I hoped no one would find me and that the horse stall would be the last place anyone would look. Maybe Noah wouldn’t even come by until later. I cried it all out and just needed to be alone. Ezra nibbled at the hay bits on the ground. Some of the fear crept its way back, but Noah was so good at pointing out Ezra’s mellowness that she was probably the only horse that didn’t terrify me.

Ezra worked her way over to me again. I held out my hand and the horse rubbed her upper lip over it as if I had something on my palm. Her mouth was soft and velvety like Cessie said.

“I probably should have been more afraid of monkeys all along,” I said to Ezra.

“Sera?” Noah’s head poked in from over the stall door.

I rubbed my face and tried to fix my hair as he entered the stall. No amount of attention was going to fix my limp rag status. Water still dripped off the ends of my hair and my clothes clung to me. The air was warm and muggy so why was I shivering?

He sat down on the wood shavings next to me.

“Your mom is worried.” Noah folded his arms, resting them on his knees, mirroring me, and touched my arm with a finger.

“How do you know?” I covered my face and rubbed under my eyes.

“She texted me and Josh after you left your phone.”

“Oh.” I hugged my knees and used them as a chin rest.

“Why’d you run off?”

“I don’t know. It was all too much I guess. Kelly, the carnie, Kelly, you, Josh, breaking up, Peppy’s gone, did I mention Kelly? Possibly leaving … ” I sighed when the tears came back.

“You didn’t have to break up with me. I didn’t want to.”

“I made of mess of everything over and over again.”

“You keep taking responsibility for everything that happens. Why do you keep blaming yourself?”

“Because I did. You don’t even know everything.”

“Yes, I do. I get it.” Noah was on his knees. He pushed my legs down and straddled them so I couldn’t go anywhere. He looked right at me. “You and Josh are awful liars. And yeah, I was mad and jealous as I should be.” He cupped my chin in his hand. “But I get it. You have a big heart.” He rested his forehead against mine. “We aren’t really boyfriend and girlfriend anyway. We never were. It was a fling.”

“It was better than that,” I said, drying my eyes.

“Yes, it was better than that. More than a fling, but nothing that was supposed to last. I was your first kiss. Right?”

I nodded in embarrassment.

“You were Josh’s first. I couldn’t have picked a better person to be nice to him.” Tears welled up in his eyes. “I still hate him for it … But not that much, don’t worry.” He looked at my shoulders and ran a finger over the embroidered flowers on my shirt. He lifted up my hand and held it so he could draw letters in my palm. I <3 U. K I S S M E ?

He turned his head to the side and a tear fell onto my palm.

I didn’t know what to do at first. I hesitated and he closed his hand over mine turning it into a fist. He was about to climb off when I grabbed his face with both hands before he could get away.

“One more, in case I don’t get to tell you goodbye,” I whispered. My heart beat so hard when I pulled him closer. Noah’s mouth eagerly met mine. He grabbed my lip in between his with the first kiss before he kissed me again and again.

When we stopped, he sat in front of me for a long moment with his eyes closed. He held my hand over his pounding heart. “I was so scared you would leave before I had another moment alone with you. I wanted just one more. One where I knew it could be the last time.” He pushed my dripping hair out of my face and gazed at me a long time with glassy eyes.

Noah shifted his weight as he tried to form words. He cleared his throat. “We need to go find Josh. We have a plan. Not sure it will work. But it’s better than nothing.” He stood up and pulled me to my feet. “You’re awfully wet. I think we should go see your mom to let her know you’re okay and so you can change. Josh can meet us there so we don’t waste any time.” Noah pulled me against his chest and held me tight. He pressed my head against his shoulder and kissed me. “Oh wait.” Noah pulled out his phone. He slid his finger across the screen and then held the phone up for a selfie.

“Try to look scary or silly. I want to show Josh we found you with a pic on Snapchat but let’s give him a laugh.”

“I could look like a sad puppy. I look pretty pathetic.” I smiled in the most pathetic manner.

“Yes, you do. Okay.” He pulled me close. I pretend pouted and Noah gave me an exaggerated sorry look. Then he sent it.

Josh: U found her?

Noah still had his arm around my neck as he used both hands to text Josh back.

Noah: Yes. Heading to her place now.

He never let go of my hand as we walked to the Caravan. He held it tighter as I slowed down and tensed up the closer we got.

“Is your mom going to be mad at you?”

“I don’t know. She was furious when I left and I know it wasn’t all my fault. Well, it is my fault. I told her about the carnie last night. She’s upset since so much crashed on us and it all points back at Kelly hating me. Why is she so awful?”

“There are a few reasons. It doesn’t really explain why she’s being so awful right now, though.” Noah clenched his jaw and didn’t say anymore.

I reluctantly opened the door to the Caravan. I walked down the short hall slowly. Millie squawked incessantly when she heard us, announcing our arrival.

“Hi, mom,” I said softly when Mom jumped up from the bench.

She enveloped me in a hug. “Why did you scare me like that? You and Francesca matter the most to me. I don’t want to lose you in all this mess. None of this is worth that.”

“I’m sorry, Mom. I was overwhelmed with it all.”

“I hope that shower or dunking helped. You better change before you get sick.” She kissed my forehead and pulled her shirt off her chest where I got it wet.

I grabbed a towel and went to my room.

“Where did you go?” Cessie asked.

“I was in the horse barn.” I waved my hand at Cessie so she wouldn’t look down on me while I changed.

“No way!” Cessie said.

“Yes, way. I was in Ezra’s stall when Noah found me.” I dried off as fast as I could to dress into my regular clothes. “Does mom know anything yet?”

“She thinks we might have to leave tomorrow before the fair opens. They’ll give her a final decision in the morning.”

“Oh.” I still didn’t know what Noah and Josh had in mind to help us out of our mess and we really needed to hurry. I struggled with my wet tangled-up hair. I braided it as fast as I could. “I think Noah and Josh have some sort of plan. Hopefully it works and we can stay and get Peppy back.”

“Then hurry. I don’t want Peppy to be afraid.”

“I know.” I tied the laces to my combat boots as fast as I could. “See you later.”

When I left my room, I found Josh and Noah talking to Mom.

“Wow, you clean up fast,” Noah said.

“I think we have a lot to remedy before this day is over. That is if I can go, Mom?”

“I would feel better if you’d stay home with all the craziness from the past twenty-four hours. You aren’t trying to stir up more trouble, are you?” She looked directly at Josh and Noah.

They shook their heads vehemently.

“We aren’t trouble makers at all. We just happened to know one, ma’am,” Noah said.

“First of all, I know your parents probably taught you manners, but I don’t like being called ma’am. It makes me feel like an old lady. I want to hear back from you when you accomplish whatever you are doing and then I’ll buy you all dinner if you come back at a decent hour.”

“Sounds great.” Josh rubbed his hands together. “I was running out of money to get me through the end of the week.”

“I got you covered if you need it, you know,” Noah said.

“Yeah? Thanks.” Josh turned away when his face reddened and he headed for the door. “Let’s go.”

The three of us walked across the field towards the carnival. We dodged puddles on the asphalt paths, which wasn’t hard. The crowds were non-existent due to the storm. Even though I had changed, my shirt and shorts stuck to my damp skin from the sticky air.

“What’s your plan?” I asked.

“You need to talk to her,” Noah said.

“What?” I stopped dead in my tracks. “I’ve talked to her and she’s been nothing but mean to me.”

“You just need to tell her about the plans for Peppy once you return home. It will make a difference.”

“I don’t understand how. She won’t care, if she did care a little bit you’d think she wouldn’t still be trying to get us kicked out and making it impossible to get Peppy back.” My eyes welled up with tears. “Who does that?”

“Tell her the whole story. If she knew it would have made her think twice from the start, I promise.” Noah squeezed my shoulder.

I turned to Josh. He nodded in agreement. “I don’t want to talk to her though. I want to stay far far away so she can’t do any more damage.”

Josh shook his head. “I don’t want to be telling you goodbye tonight if we don’t have to. You need to try.” He grabbed my hand, pulled it away from my body, and held it. Noah did the same with my other one. The three of us stood side-by-side with Josh and Noah looking at me full of hope. “It’s not just for you, or us. Do it for Peppy. For your mom and sister too.”

“You have to at least try and we will be nearby if she steps out of line. We’ll be close. I promise,” Noah said.

My face burned and my hands were sweaty. The awful anxiety building in my chest was worse than being near a horse. I struggled to breathe.

“Sera, she’s just a girl with some issues. I know you don’t know much about her but they’re big issues and she has heart in there somewhere. I spoke with her and she knows you’re coming to talk to her.” Noah leaned to the side to get me to look at him.