“Hello?”
“Hey, we have a situation.”
“What kind of situation?” Having this call in front of Gideon felt too much like my worlds colliding. The two were not supposed to meet.
“The kind where something went wrong with another team’s job and they need us to clean up.”
“What do you need me to do? I’m working the carnival today. It’ll be hard to get away.”
“I know, I know. I’m going off the script. I have an idea you should be able to complete during the carnival. Just keep doing what you need to and be ready. I’m going to herd them to you.”
“What are you talking about? What sort of job is this?”
She huffed, obviously annoyed that I couldn’t keep up with her evil plan. “It’s a setup. We need to put two people together and hope they stick in time to go to the dance tonight.”
“Are we matchmakers now?”
“Sometimes.” She sounded distracted. “This is not my kind of thing. I’d rather anything else than this, but no one else could pull it off today.”
I’d never asked what happened when you failed at your assignment. If work well done earned a reward, the opposite must be true. Whoever screwed this up was bound to be punished.
“Ok. Just tell me what I need to do.”
“That’s the spirit.”
Haley clicked off the line and left my snappy remark to die on my lips.
“What’s happening?” Gideon asked.
That question had at least a dozen answers, most of which Gideon wouldn’t care to know.
“I’m to play cupid in some desperate fool’s attempt to find a date for Homecoming.”
Gideon smirked in a self-satisfied way. “I told you. Something interesting always happens at the carnival.”
CHAPTER 19
THE CARNIVAL WAS well underway by the time Haley texted me with instructions. Despite the nice weather, the debate team’s car wash wasn’t shaping up to be the fundraiser we needed. Our team even wore coordinated red tees that read “Will get dirty for dollars.”
Haley: u need 2 come by the main stage in 20 mins
Me: Fine. What do I need to do?
Haley: crash the stage and steal the microphone
Me: Pardon? You must have made some typos.
Haley: nope
Me: ...
Haley: crash the stage and make a pitch for the car wash
Haley: I can do the rest
What was Haley thinking? Me, crash the stage? There were probably things in the universe less likely to happen, but I couldn’t think of any.
Gideon had wandered off to find some funnel cakes for us, so I handed the reins to Gigi and took off to think of a plan. The main stage was at the center of the carnival and the source of noise that could be heard for miles around. Each year, student council hosted a battle of the bands to raise money for some part of the school that was crumbling—the weight room was this year’s lucky recipient. Most of the money seemed to go to athletic equipment.
“Ember!”
I turned to see Chase walking up, arms laden with the cheap stuffed animals that lined the game booths.
“Hey,” I said. “Do you think you have enough teddy bears?”
Chase’s grin stretched across his whole face. “I have a gift for ring toss.”
Being friendly with Chase still left me feeling like I was in an alternate universe, even as my heart skipped enough beats to be dangerous each time I saw him. “You can say that again. What are you doing with all of those?”
“My little sisters love them. I was commanded to come home with no less than six this year.”
How much did he have to spend on ring toss to win—I counted—seven bears? “Looks like you have an extra.”
“Actually, this one is for you.”
Chase handed me a white bear with a little red rose in its hand.
“Thank you,” I said softly.
A cute boy giving me a bear he won at the ring toss booth. It sounded like something that happened sixty years ago to couples in old movies. It was also unbearably sweet. The kind of thing that should have me gagging but instead put a strange pressure in my chest, like the air in my lungs was trying to escape through my heart.
Chase looked away with a pleased, shy expression. He shouldn’t have given me the bear. He should have found someone else who could say more than thank you. Someone who could tell him yes when he asked her out on a date.
“I can’t accept this,” I murmured and tried to hand it back.
He gently stopped my hand and shook his head. “I insist. You’d be doing me a favor. I have two sisters and seven bears. That’s bound to cause a fight when one ends up with four. They’ll probably agree to split the bear in half, so you’re really doing it a favor, too.”
I chewed on my lip, wanting to hold on to the bear and knowing I shouldn’t. “Ok, thank you.” A buzz in my pocket reminded me I had somewhere to be. “I better get moving. Lots to do today.”
Chase fell into step beside me as I continued toward the main stage. “Where’re you headed?”
“I’m going to make an announcement for the car wash.”
Chase looked questioningly at me. “I didn’t know they did announcements for that kind of stuff during the battle of the bands.”
“They don’t,” I muttered. “We’ve got a good team and several of us have a decent shot at Nationals. We need to raise enough for everyone to go.”
“Do you have a plan?” Chase asked, amusement sparking in his brown eyes.
“I’m thinking of one.”
“Are you going with anyone to the dance tonight?” Chase’s gaze was firmly fixed on the ground.
Was he asking me? “I’m not really the ‘dance’ type. I’m just hanging out with Gideon, watching movies.”
His shoulders relaxed. “I’m not, either. Well, not much of a dancer, I guess.”
“Are you saying you can’t dance?”
Chase’s cheeks tinged pink, but he didn’t respond. Interesting. Something Chase Merriman couldn’t do.
We came to the main stage at the center of the carnival. One of the bands was in the throes of a song on the stage, guitar and drums raging. I cringed at a discordant shriek of feedback coming from one of the amps. These guys needed some serious help. Not even the Red Court could rig a win for them.