ring toss? My social club is sponsoring the game. All proceeds go to support the Humane Society.”
“Sounds great.”
Lucas neglected to mention that his social club’s ring toss booth was right next to The Clubhouse’s lemonade stand. And, of course, being the president of his social club, Aaron was front and center working the stand.
As Lucas and I walked by Aaron and his friends, I heard Evan’s voice practically yelling, “Hey, Aaron, isn’t that your little friend? What’s taking you so long to score, buddy?”
When I looked at Aaron, I thought I saw some pain in his eyes but it just as quickly faded, replaced with his cool and collected façade. I turned away in disgust. I figured he was playing along because he was with all of his friends. I hoped he would defend me or our relationship, but he didn’t, which was disappointing.
I followed Lucas to The Geek Patrol’s booth. There were only a few elementary age kids playing. The sign said: Three Rings for a Dollar. I pulled two dollars from my pocket and handed them to the guy behind the booth. He took my cash and handed me six rings.
Lucas stood close to me as I attempted my first toss. I was lucky to keep the ring in the booth but it wasn’t close to landing on a bottle.
I knew when I glanced over toward Aaron, he would be staring right at me and he was. I turned away and tried my second toss. It was no better. It landed on the ground far from the bottles.
“Do you mind if I give you a hand,” Lucas asked.
“I’m not very coordinated,” I admitted.
“It’s okay.” Lucas carefully took my wrist into his hand and guided my arm in the tossing motion I
would need to score. “Just make sure you’re looking at the bottle you want to land on and make sure your arm is aimed in that direction.”
I snuck a quick glance in Aaron’s direction and noticed he was now glaring at Lucas. He looked pissed. I had told him that Lucas was a friend, like a brother, but I guess that didn’t matter.
“Now try it again,” Lucas encouraged.
This time when I tossed the ring, it was at least close to the bottle. It bounced off of one of the bottle tops.
“See, you’re getting better.” Lucas had a big grin on his face. He carefully grabbed my wrist again and showed me a little flicking motion. “Right before you release the ring, be sure to flip it liked I just showed you.”
“Okay,” I said and tried it again. When I tossed the ring, it almost landed on the bottle.
“So close,” Lucas said. “I know you’ve got this.”
When I snuck another peek at Aaron, I noticed a little blonde was hanging on his arm. When she caught sight of me looking at the two of them, she leaned up and whispered something in Aaron’s ear.
Then Aaron’s eyes locked with mine for a moment. His stare was so intense, I shuddered. I wanted to turn away from him but I couldn’t. The blonde then laughed. As she whispered something else in Aaron’s ear, he continued to stare at me. The scene was completely unsettling. I wanted to turn away but I couldn’t take my eyes off Aaron. Then the blonde went in for the kill. She reached up and kissed Aaron. He closed his eyes and kissed her back. The two of them were practically making out in the booth.
I gulped. I could feel the rings I had been holding drop from my hands. I felt like everything was happening in slow motion. I could hear Lucas say, “Rainy, are you okay?”
When the blonde girl extricated herself from Aaron’s lips, the first thing she did was turn toward me and give me an evil little grin. I saw Evan pat Aaron on the shoulder in a that-a-boy motion. The only thing I didn’t see was Aaron looking at me.
I felt like I was suddenly being crushed by the world around me. The only desire I had was to flee. I
took off running as fast as I could.
“Rainy, wait,” I could hear Lucas yell. I just hoped he wouldn’t follow me.
I had no choice but to run past The Clubhouse’s lemonade stand. I didn’t know if I was being paranoid or if I heard them laughing at me as I ran by. At that point, I didn’t care. I just kept running. I felt as if I
could just run far enough or