“Nope!” Kevin positioned himself beside the nearby display case that housed all the horror-related items. Visible against the white tile below were two sets of footprints. He pointed at the floor, then at Persey. “Now crouch down like Laurie so we can get this show on the road, will you?”
But Mackenzie was like spilled glitter: you couldn’t get rid of her that easily. “Kev,” she said, dialing up the sugary sweetness, “you did such a good job with Riot’s pose. Could you demonstrate to Wes? He’s not going to know how to hold me.”
I seriously doubt that.
She leaned over Persey and grabbed Kevin’s arm, leaning in. “Pwetty pwease?”
“Go,” Persey said, shooing Kevin off. If she had to listen to Mackenzie’s flirty voice for one more second she was going to vomit up her airplane pretzels. “Or we’ll never get out of here.”
With his back to Mackenzie, Kevin rolled his eyes, then plastered on a goofy grin and hurried off.
Persey perused the horror section while waiting for Kevin to return. Her brother loved horror movies, especially those by John Carpenter, and when she was little, he’d routinely tortured Persey by making her watch them. She’d spend most of the movies with her hands over her eyes, too scared to peek, even when her brother would crack jokes. She was never sure if he was trying to lighten the mood or lull her into a sense of security so she’d open her eyes and see something she could never unsee.
It was amazing she could identify Laurie Strode at all: she’d barely seen any of that movie. Just heard the screaming.
Meanwhile, Mackenzie led Kevin back to Marvel corner, where Wes waited, leaning lazily against the wall. She helped position Kevin, one arm behind her back, as she sunk into a dip, then placed her hand daintily behind his neck and brought his face to hers for a kiss. Just before their lips met, she shot Persey a triumphant glance.
Persey merely sighed. Everything was a competition for girls like that. Even when the other party couldn’t have given less of a shit.
“Is everybody in position?” Arlo called from upstairs. “Ten minutes on the clock.”
“Hold up!” Kevin said.
“Uh, Kevin,” Neela said, leaning over the banister. There was laughter in her voice. “You need to make like Madonna and strike a pose.”
Persey smiled as she crouched down, attempting to line her feet up to the prints on the floor. If it wasn’t for this competition, we might have been friends.
One by one the lightbulbs flared to life. Wes’s and Mackenzie’s came on simultaneously as Wes bent her backward, but before his lips touched hers, thankfully. Wes still tried to kiss Mackenzie of course, and for a moment, Persey almost felt sorry for her.
“Save it,” Mackenzie said, turning her face away from Wes.
Seven of the eight lights were on; only Kevin’s remained dark as he sauntered back to Persey. “You ready for this?”
“The competition?”
He shook his head. “To see if you were right. Again.” Then, without waiting for her to answer, he took his position behind her, like Michael Myers holding a knife.
The eighth light buzzed to life, and as it did, the floor beneath the fire pole slid open.
It was a circular hole around the metal post, which extended down into the darkness beneath, where the tile floor had split in the middle and slid away.
“Are we supposed to slide down?” Mackenzie pushed Wes off and stutter-stepped toward the fire pole, leaning forward when her toes met the lip of the hole, trying to catch a glimpse of what lay below. As she did, one of the lights on the wall went out. But the trapdoor, thankfully, stayed wide open.
Kevin eyed the light bulbs closely. “I think that’s the plan.”
“Looks kinda dangerous,” Mackenzie replied. “Can’t someone else go first?”
Not quite so ballsy as she wants everyone to believe.
“I’ll go—” Riot began, following Mackenzie to the edge of the trapdoor. But he never got to finish his sentence. The instant he broke his pose, another light went out and the round door slammed shut.
“What’s happening?” Arlo’s head appeared over the edge of the banister, as another light went dark. “Why are all the lights going out?”
“Don’t break your pose!” Wes shouted. Arlo jumped, startled at being snapped at instead of being the snapper, but hurried back into place. “Fine. Now what?”
“Looks like the powers that be want us to go one at a time,” Kevin said.