The Fall of Candy Corn (3 page)

Under the circumstances, asking them if everything was okay seemed like the wrong thing. “What happened?”

“Pipe broke in the bathroom,” her dad said. “I heard water running, and I thought you must be awake. It didn't turn off, though, so I got up and found this,” he said, indicating the water around him.

“I'm sorry,” Candace said.

“It's not your fault, honey,” her dad said.

“I know. I just feel bad that it happened.”

“It will be okay,” her mom said tiredly. “We were thinking it was time to replace the carpet anyway.”

“Plus we've got insurance,” her dad said.

“So everything is going to be okay?” Candace asked.

“Well, not for several days, but it will all turn out,” her mom said, moving to join her on the stairs. “At least this didn't happen upstairs. Then we'd have two floors to worry about, not to mention water damage to the ceiling.”

She reached out and patted Candace on the knee.

“We should all pack some clothes and whatever else we'll need for a couple of days,” her dad said. “We're going to have plumbers and carpenters traipsing through here, ripping things out and setting up huge fans to dry everything out that they can. We'll have to stay in a hotel for a couple of days.”

“I know it's terrible timing with school starting today. You could stay with Tamara if you like,” her mom suggested.

Candace leaned down and gave her mom a quick hug. “Thanks.”

“We should all go upstairs and get what we'll need,” her dad said, starting up the stairs.

Candace stood up and made her way back to her room where she tried to decide what to pack.

Three hours later Tamara pulled up outside. Her eyes widened as Candace sloshed out of the front door with her snow boots on and several duffel bags slung over her shoulders.

“You know it isn't a snow day, right?” Tamara called.

Candace waved behind her to where water was still seeping out onto the porch. Tamara popped the trunk for Candace, and she stowed her backpack and other bags inside. Candace took off the snow boots and slipped on her school shoes. She then ran the snow boots back up to the front door and set them beside the porch.

Once she got into the car she heaved a sigh.

“Wow! Your parents finally took that whole sink-or-swim thing literally?” Tamara asked.

“Pipe broke,” Candace said. “It happened in the middle of the night. The first floor's flooded.”

“You can't stay here while they're fixing it.”

Candace shook her head.

“You wanna stay with me?” Tamara asked, eyes widening even more in excitement.

“I thought you'd never ask,” Candace said, forcing a smile.

“As if. This rocks! We are going to have so much fun,” Tamara said.

Candace relaxed into the seat. Tamara was right. It was an awesome way to kick off senior year.

Twenty minutes later they parked in the student parking lot. They sat for a moment in silence and stared at the cars and people streaming by. Some faces were familiar to Candace, while others were not. One of her classmates parked nearby. He got out with his kid sister, who was just starting high school, in tow. Neither of them looked happy to be sharing the same school, let alone the same car.

Tamara pointed to a group of freshman girls clustered together at the end of one of the buildings, obviously building up their courage. “Remember when that was us?”

“Please, that was never us. That was me, cowering in your shadow. Even back then you were completely sure of yourself. Course, it didn't hurt that you were already dating that junior . . . what was his name?”

“Stan. Or as I like to call him, Stank. What a creep!”

Candace laughed. “On that note, I think it's time we go forth and conquer.”

It was weird stepping foot on campus and knowing that she was a senior — top of the food chain. It was even stranger still to think that in a year she would be stepping onto a new campus where once again she would be at the bottom of the food chain. She took a deep breath and resolved that no matter how much planning she had to do for the next year, she wouldn't let it stop her from enjoying the current one.

“Hi, Tamara.”

“Hi, Tamara.”

Two girls stopped in front of them, blocking their path. One was brunette and the other blonde with Barbie-like appearances right down to the slightly plastic look of their smiles.

Candace scowled. Amanda and Kristen were snobs. They always had been. Candace knew Tamara had hung out with them some over the summer when she and Tamara were fighting. Nothing seemed to have changed. Both girls were eager to talk to Tamara but purposely ignored Candace. Any other year she would have just stood there and taken it. But it was senior year, and she wasn't the same Candace she had been before the summer.

“Ladies, we're in a hurry, so unless you have something meaningful to say to either me or my friend, kindly get out of our way.”

“What?” Kristen asked, momentarily thrown.

“You heard me. Come on, Tam,” Candace said, shouldering Amanda aside.

Tamara followed her, and, after they had left the Barbie twins behind, she started laughing. “Candace, I like the whole assertive thing. Did you see the look on Kristen's face? I thought she was going to hurt her brain.”

“I'm tired of being ignored,” Candace said.

“Good. Of course, that just puts you one step closer to the spotlight,” Tamara said.

“You are not even allowed to gloat,” Candace said.

“Come on! Not even a little?”

“Not even a tiny bit.”

Tamara sighed in exaggerated frustration.

The morning flew by, and her last class before lunch quickly arrived. Unfortunately, with Mr. Tuttle for history, her fast-paced day came to a screeching halt. She had to struggle to keep herself awake.

The man spoke in a monotone and read from his notes, never looking up. He also had the most irritating way of taking some interesting area of history and picking the most obscure, boring details to talk about. As a result, half the class was asleep by the time the bell rang for lunch.

Candace dragged herself to her feet, trying to shake off the malaise that had taken hold. Once outside the class, she flipped open her phone and saw that she had just missed a call from Kurt. She called him back, and he answered on the first ring.

“I was hoping you'd call,” he said.

“Lunch just started,” she said. “What's up?”

“I wanted to see how your first day back was going.”

“Nothing I can't handle so far,” she said. “So, you never told me, what are you doing for Scare?”

“I'm working as an umpire in the Horrific History maze.”

Candace wrinkled her nose. “Is it based on Mr. Tuttle's class? Because he can take any subject and make it horrifically boring.” She suddenly turned around, hoping that Mr. Tuttle hadn't magically appeared behind her. She was safe. The teacher was nowhere in sight.

Kurt laughed, and the sound made Candace feel warm inside. “Not quite. Think Lizzie Borden, Jack the Ripper, and Nero laughing and playing the fiddle while Rome burned.”

“You win, that is definitely more horrific than one of his lectures,” Candace admitted, shivering slightly just thinking about it. Maybe working Scare was a bad idea. She had never even attended one before. She was terrified of mazes, and, since Tamara hated to be scared, there had never been an impetus to go before. What on earth had she been thinking? For a moment she thought of calling it off. No one would blame her. She could say that she realized she just couldn't juggle school and work. Tamara would know the truth, though, and she'd never let her forget it, especially since she was paying for everyone in youth group to come.

“Candace, you there?”

Candace blushed as she realized she had just missed whatever Kurt had been saying. “Yes, I'm here. So, what's an umpire? I'm guessing it's not the baseball guy.”

Kurt laughed again. “Umpires are the ones who wear all black and are in the mazes to help people and keep an eye on the characters. Think of us as maze security meets guest services.”

“Why are you going to be an umpire? You're a mascot. Isn't this like the best time of year for you?”

He laughed. “It's a tradition that all mascots work as umpires for Scare. Since we wear costumes every other day that we work here, they lose some of their magic.”

“Ah, so wearing black clothes and standing in the background is like your costume.”

“Exactly.”

“That's cool.” She thought about asking him just how scary the mazes were but was too embarrassed. She didn't want her boyfriend to think she was a total wimp.

“Well, break's over. I gotta go,” he said.

“Okay, talk to you later,” she said.

“Bye.”

She stared at the phone for a minute. There was one person she could ask about Scare — one person she could trust not to laugh. She decided to call Josh after school.

After school they drove straight to Tamara's house. They unloaded Candace's bags and took t1hem upstairs to the guest room next to Tamara's room. Despite Candace's protests, the maid set about unpacking her things.

“There's no reasoning with her once her mind is set,” Tamara advised. “Best to just let her.”

“Miss Tamara, your parents are going to be late tonight. They said you and Miss Candace could do what you liked.”

“Thanks,” Tamara said.

Candace grabbed a pair of jeans and a tank top from her bag before the maid could transfer them to the closet, and she slipped into her private bathroom to change. Remembering that she wanted to give Josh a call, she slipped her cell into her pocket. A minute later she rejoined Tamara in the hall. Her friend had also changed, and they headed downstairs.

“Movies and pizza work for you?” Tamara asked.

“Don't they always?” Candace asked.

Her phone rang, and she nearly tripped on the last stair in surprise.

“Your pants are ringing,” Tamara said, smirking.

Candace pulled the phone out. “It's Josh,” she said before answering. “Hey! I was thinking of calling you.”

“Great minds think alike,” Josh said. “What's going on?”

“Pipes broke at home in the middle of the night. I'm staying with Tamara for a few days.”

“Bummer about the pipes. I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun though.”

“You know it,” Candace laughed. “The last time Tam and I got to have a sleepover on a school night was in fourth grade when her mom had surgery.”

Suddenly, Tamara snatched the phone from Candace's hand. Candace stared at her startled. “What?”

Tamara smiled impishly and spoke into the phone. “I'm sorry, I'm officially holding Cand's phone hostage.”

Candace tried to take her phone back, but Tamara kept dodging around furniture in the living room.

“No. Yes.”

“What's going on?” Candace asked.