A kart careened into the tire wall near us, spinning in a full circle before hurtling back after the others.
“Whoa,” I breathed.
“This,” Lee said, “is going to be incredible.”
It was scary, how easily we’d been able to organize this. What had seemed like the ultimate crazy fantasy as a couple of kids had been organized with a phone call, a couple of emails, an online order from a costume-rental store, and a trip to Target.
The contents of said trip to Target were now being unloaded from my backpack in a set of changing rooms near the track: we filled up the blue and red water balloons; a couple of the black ones we filled with whipped cream—although, honestly, I was sure more ended up on the floor (and in Lee’s mouth) than in the balloons; three cans of silly string. Plus, Will had left us three giant red foam cubes from the children’s soft-play area.
Lee and I stepped back to survey our arsenal.
A buzzer went off on the track, and we scooped up our stuff and headed out to set up the karts before everyone else arrived, stashing random combinations of weapons into each one.
And then we headed back to get ready.
There were eight of us: Rachel and Amanda joined me in the women’s changing area; Levi, Ashton, Jon, and Warren were back with Lee.
Amanda buckled her helmet and wrestled her costume over the top of it. She planted her hands on her hips, twisting and turning to pose for us.
“How do I look?”
Rachel and I cracked up as Amanda pouted, full-on voguing.
Only she could pull off a gorilla costume, I thought, trying not to roll my eyes.
Meanwhile, Rachel and I applied our fake mustaches carefully in the mirror.
“You a-ready?”
“I’m a-ready,” I confirmed. We met the boys out near the main entrance to the changing rooms, and it was impossible to keep a straight face. But this was why we’d decided to meet up now: get the giggles out of the way before we went out there.
My stomach flip-flopped and my heart was racing. I felt kind of sick.
I wouldn’t trade this moment for the world.
Lee stopped joking around with Ashton to curtsy to us in his cheap, crinkly pink dress, blond wig spilling out from under his yellow helmet with a crown sticker slapped on the front. “You guys ready?”
“As I’ll ever be!” Rachel exclaimed.
He looked at me.
I launched myself at him, throwing my arms around his shoulders and hugging him tight. Our helmets knocked together and he cried, “Hey, hey, watch the dress!”
“Best summer ever,” I whispered to him, and drew away.
Lee turned to the group, clapping his hands. “All right, folks, listen up. We’ve got one shot at this, and only one. I want to see foul play. I want to see underhanded, dirty tactics. I want to see you trying to run each other off the track and…”
I’d ended up standing next to Levi, who was wearing a yellow shirt and purple dungarees. A squiggly mustache was stuck badly above his top lip. He hooked his thumbs through the straps of his dungarees and grinned.
He leaned toward me, not daring to look away from Lee’s serious pep talk, to whisper, “I can’t believe you guys pulled this off.”
“Don’t jinx it,” I whispered back. “We haven’t raced yet.”
Lee glanced our way with a reprimanding scowl, not faltering in his speech. Levi bumped my arm with his in lieu of a reply.
“Three laps, just like in the game. Winner takes all.”
“I have a question,” Amanda piped up, raising her hand as best she could in her costume. “What does that mean?”
“It means you win the fifth-grade state-spelling-bee trophy Elle has so kindly donated for the cause.”
“I NEED that trophy,” Jon Fletcher announced, bending forward and rubbing his hands like he was gearing up for a football game.
Lee wrapped up the speech with a shout of “Let’s go kill this!”
We all cheered, and the door behind Lee opened.
Noah slipped in, saying, “Sorry, I just— Oh my God.” He snorted, shaking his head. “I was expecting this, but…I still wasn’t expecting this. You guys look sick.”
“But me especially, right?” Amanda said, jumping forward. She crouched, hooking her arms inward and growling, stomping one foot, then the other, making Noah laugh.
“Good luck out there, Evans,” Levi told me.
“Please,” I scoffed. “I don’t need luck.”
“As if.” Levi put his hands on his hips, head wobbling as he gave a dramatic, movie-villain-esque chuckle. “You’re going down. I’ll destroy you out there.”
“Looking like that, you won’t.” Taking pity on him, I reached up to fix his fake mustache, pressing it into place properly.
He blushed. “Thanks.”
A throat cleared behind me and I turned to see Noah looming behind us. I grinned up at him and gave a twirl. “Cute, huh?”
“I just wanted to come by and say good luck out there. There’s a hell of a crowd.”
“Didn’t you know?” Levi joked, grabbing my shoulders to shake me gently. “Elle doesn’t need luck.”
I didn’t miss the look Noah shot Levi, or the way a muscle jumped in his jaw.
Oh God, I so didn’t want to deal with this right now.
I blew Noah a kiss, knowing I couldn’t give him a proper kiss with this helmet on. “See you in the stands!”
I made my way back to the doors as everyone started to get in line to head outside. I took the first spot, just ahead of Rachel and Lee.
“All right, gang,” I shouted over my shoulder. “Let’s go!”
I wanted to push open the doors in one grand gesture, so they swept forward as they opened on either side of me. It wasn’t as smooth as that, though. The doors were heavy, so I fumbled, Lee laughing behind me, and just held open the one door instead.
The whole thing was far from graceful. Amanda’s and Jon’s costumes both got stuck in the doorway and Jon’s giant spiky turtle shell got caught on the door handle. It took three of us to free him.
But then we were back on track, walking out under the bleachers to a roar of cheering, with the music from the video game playing over the speakers.
The sound was deafening. I drowned in it, exhilarated, having to work hard to keep a serious face. Walking up to my go-kart, I stole a glance at the big screen, where our little slow-motion parade was being shown in HD.