urging, Prissie anxiously smoothed her hands over her skirt. She wasn’t wearing anything fancy today — a faded pink gingham sundress and sneakers. But April and Jennifer both wore shorts, while Margery and Elise sported mini-skirts, so she didn’t think she’d stick out too much. Before she stepped out from behind their stall, her grandfather slipped her a little spending money. “Tomorrow’s the last day of the fair,” he said gruffly. “Treat yourself to some favorites.”
“Thanks, Grandpa!” she said softly, carefully tucking the funds into the small backpack that doubled as her purse. Adding a couple of bottles of water from the cooler, she met Koji’s gaze. “You’ll be okay?”
He curved his thumb and forefinger into the accompanying hand sign and echoed, “Okay.”
While she was settling up with her family, Elise scooted around the side of their stall and smiled at her brother. “Hey, Neil! Remember me?”
The sixteen-year-old looked up from where he was cleaning out the kettle in preparation for the next popping. “Uhh, sure. You’re one of the girls who hangs out at the field during practice.”
She pouted, then prompted, “I’m Elise, one of your sister’s friends.”
“Nice to meet you.”
Prissie knew her brother was only giving her run-of-the-mill courtesy, but as Elise practically batted her lashes at him, her annoyance flared. “I’m ready to go,” she announced crisply, gesturing for Elise to precede her to the front of the booth. With a last wave to her family, Prissie followed her friends through the crowds.
One of the first things she noticed was that all four girls had an assortment of beads and bangles dangling from their pockets. When she asked April about the odd accessories, her friend extracted her cell phone from her pocket and passed it to Prissie. “Oh, wow,” she murmured, slowing her steps as she looked over all the doo-dads attached to the phone’s strap.
April pointed to a tiny stuffed rabbit. “This is from my sister because my birthday was on Easter this year, and I won this one at the arcade next to the pizza place.” There was a tiny pair of fuzzy dice, an ornate letter A and even a flash drive hanging amidst the odd collection.
Prissie thought it looked like an oversized charm bracelet. “This is so cute!” she said enviously.
“You should totally start your own set.” April unhooked a strand of sparkling crystal beads in shades of silver and gray that reminded Prissie of April’s eyes. “Here,” she offered. “You can have this one.”
“But I don’t have a cell phone.”
“Well, until you get one …” April replied, her eyes roving. “Ha! This will work!” Prissie stopped walking and peered over her shoulder as her friend deftly attached the decoration to her backpack’s zipper, where it sparkled in the sunshine.
Prissie was touched by the gesture. “Thanks, April,” she said sincerely.
“Sure!”
For the next couple of hours, they roamed through the fairgrounds, tallying up how many things could be sold on a stick and sampling most of them. Going with the flow, they ended up on the edge of the crowd that had gathered to watch a square dancing demonstration. A little farther along, they ran up against a watermelon seed spitting contest. They played a ring-toss game for about twenty minutes. Eventually, Margery insisted on showing Elise the bazaar set up in half of one of the exhibition halls, where local artisans sold everything from handmade jewelry to tie-dyed scarves. Prissie was glad to be with her friends again, but it bothered her that, for the first time ever, she wasn’t suggesting what to do next. She didn’t even feel like part of the decision.
Margery had always willingly fallen in line with Prissie’s plans, so much so that Grandpa teasingly dubbed his granddaughter the queen bee of her set. But now, her closest friends kept laughing over inside jokes and making references to phone calls, text messages, and past conversations she knew nothing about.
Normally, she would have told them all about her ribbon from the baking contest, but Prissie suspected that Elise would put her down. She’d rather keep her happiness to herself than see it trampled on.
The summertime separation had always been difficult, but up until now, everything went back to normal once classes started up again in the fall. This year, Prissie doubted that school would automatically fix things. She strongly suspected that the only reason she’d been included at all was because Elise wanted to get closer to Neil.
“Should we do some rides?” Jennifer suggested.
“Not until after dark; it’s way better