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Chapter 12 | The funfair

Isabella:

"This would be the perfect date spot," Grace sighs as we enter the carnival that early October evening. The orange and gold coloured leaves crunch beneath our feet as we walk through the funfair grounds. "Sammy should bring you here," she adds turning to Mia who wraps her coat around her tightly to rejuvenate warmth.

"Yeah, we're planning to come again later in the month." Mia tucks a strand of her dark hair behind her ear. "It's so pretty here, especially in the night."

I nod in agreement, swiveling my head around to take in the view of the fair. It's Friday evening and Mia, Grace and our three mothers have ventured on a night out to the carnival that opens in our town every fall. It's packed to the brim with teenagers, little children and even elderly couples and the sounds of loud laughter mixed with the booming sound of fair music shoots a wave of nostalgia through me. The bright lights of each ride and stall are almost blinding to look at and I squint to stop my eyes from hurting.

"Where do you want to go to first?" Linh asks just as my mom and Eve reply simultaneously with "The teacups!"

Grace shoots them both a look. "You guys are lame."

I nod my head just as Mia says, "Yeah we wanna go on the vortex."

Our mothers look at each other for a beat and it's like they're telepathically communicating. They must have some sixth sense because without uttering a single word the three come to a decision.

"Fine," Eve sighs after a moment, "But keep your phones off silent so we can call you when it's time to leave."

I smile and bounce around on the spot. "Alright see you guys later!"

"Okay bye girls, remember to stay away from creepy men!"

"Yeah we don't want you to get kidnapped!"

Mia perks up beside me. "What if the kidnapper is a hot Italian mafia mob boss?"

Linh merely sends her a pointed look and Mia pouts just as Grace sighs and links arms with us both.

"You've been playing too much episode Mi."

She pouts in reply. "It's fun."

"Okay call us when it's time to leave!"

We bid goodbye, parting different ways and Mia, Grace and I saunter off into the direction of the scary rides whilst our mothers go off into the more quieter side of the fair.

We navigate our way through the bustling crowds until we spot the humongous ride, loud pop music blaring from the speakers and people screaming for dear life and Mia jumps up excitedly. I on the other hand wince watching the ride whizz high into the air and butterflies invade my tummy.

Don't get me wrong, I do like scary rides...but I also don't at the same time. The burst of adrelinine and that moment when your stomach drops as the ride throws you into the air is an amazing feeling, but I always seem to be filled with jitters before getting on.

The line for this line is fairly short and in the queue all I seem to spot are kids our age, a handful of people from our school at that. We find ourselves standing behind a group of teenage boys and Grace squeezes my arm eagerly. "Look they're cute," she whispers in my ear and I turn to the side so I slyly eye them. There are about five boys and one guy catches my attention the most. He's East Asian, around average height with dark curly hair and a sleeve of tattoos, he has stud in his ear and a gorgeous smile.

"He's peng," I hiss out of the side of my mouth and Mia furrows her eyebrows.

"Peng?" She repeats in confusion and I snort.

"It means good looking."

The two girls nod their heads, realization hitting them. "Ah, it's British." Grace gives Mia a knowing look before turning to eye the boys once again.

"Is that the one you were talking about?" Mia asks quietly, following my line of sight and gesturing to the boy I was referring too.

"Yeah."

"He's very peng indeed," Grace adds in a mock British accent before bursting out into a fit of giggles at her own joke. She's much louder than I guess she intended to be because the group of guys snap their heads our way and her eyes widen and she stops laughing abruptly. I briskly avert my gaze away from them, my cheeks flaming as I lock eye contact with the boy with tattoos but Mia remains unbothered and continues staring at the group.

"My friends think you guys are cute," she calls out to them, gesturing to the two of us, who are by now practically cowering behind her. I refuse to meet their gazes and instead just stare at Grace who shoots Mia and incredulous look.

"Mia," she hisses but her mouth falls open a moment later as one of the guys begins to talk to us.

"Hey."

I slowly look up to see a tall guy with sandy coloured hair but immediately breathe a sigh of relief when I realise he's only interested in Grace and hasn't even given me a second glance

"Hi." Grace fumbles around on the spot awkwardly and I step away from the two as they both delve into conversation. I move further back so I'm hidden behind Mia and lean against the railing of the line barriers. We've moved a long quite a bit so we're almost at the front of the line now.

Not going to lie but I'm kind of hurt that the guy didn't even acknowledge me but I guess I shouldn't really be surprised because I'm not typically someone who guys give attention to anyways.

Back in London, the people I would hang out with were quite attractive, so when guys approached us they would hardly even take notice of me. Now, I don't really care much about male validation anymore, but at the time whilst all of my friends would be flirting with cute boys and I would be standing awkwardly to the side, it kind of affected my already crippling self esteem.

"Bell," Mia whispers into my ear, nudging my rib with her elbow. "Why aren't you talking to the guy."

"Um-" but before I get to finish my sentence Mia calls out to him and my eyes dart between the two of them in both shock and panic.

"What the hell are you doing," I hiss at her but my best friend merely ignores me and continues trying to gain his attention.

"You perm boy," she nags her finger in his direction.

The guy stares back at her in complete bafflement, his eyebrows furrowed before pointing to him self confusedly.

Mia rolls her eyes. "Yes, you. "She then gestures to me. "My friend here thinks your hot."

My mouth falls open and I turn to Mia and send daggers in her direction but she ignores my murderous gaze and when I turn back, my breath hitches as I look up to see the boy smiling down at me.

"Hey, how you doing?"

I still for a second, my mouth still gaped open before I point to myself. "Me?"

He nods, grinning, whilst eyeing me up and down. His tounge darts out and he licks his lips. "How are you?"

"Uh, I-I'm good," I stammer, clearing my throat and trying to keep my composure together. "How about you?"

"I'm alright too." He comes to stands beside me to lean against the railing. "I'm Jake."

"Jake," I repeat smiling. "I'm Isabella."

"Nice." He nods towards the ride. "You excited then?"

I gaze up at the big hunk of metal repeatedly chucking and spinning people into the sky and grimace. I turn back to look at the boy. "Kind of."

He laughs but it sounds kind of forced, his eyes roam across my body and I can tell he's clearly not paying attention to what I'm saying.

"So-" I begin but he briskly interrupts me before I can continue.

"Can I get your snap?" Jake's gaze jumps back to mine and he looks at me expectantly.

I'm taken back for a second. "Um sure," I reply after a beat but just as I'm about to give him my username the line swiftly moves forward and the ride operator screams "NEXT" and before I know it, Jake's friends have dragged him by the arm and through the barriers. I'm about to protest and call out to him but Grace pulls me along and before I can even blink I'm strapped into the seat of the ride and Jake is out of sight.

The booming music starts up again and all thoughts about Jake are replaced by nervous jitters before the countdown begins and the ride whizzes into action. The rush of adrenaline hits me as we're thrown into the air and I hold onto the safety strap of the seat for dear life.

My eyes close shut and my hair flies across my face. For a moment my voice gets stuck in my throat and no scream comes out. The swarm of butterlies make an appearance in my stomach as the ride pulls up into the night sky again and as we descended I peek my eyes back open and quickly take in the view of the entire fairground. It's petrifying but also so beautiful. The wind whips my face as we fly down and the scream finally finds its way out of my mouth and I soon find myself shouting and giggling with glee as we drop for the final time.

"That was so fun!" Mia gasps the moment we jump down from the seat of the ride, patting down her hair and waiting for Grace and I to get out of our own seats.

We begin to walk towards the exit and I nod. "It was so scary at first but it was fun at the end."

"Scary?" Grace quirks an eyebrow. "That wasn't scary!"

As we join the crowd of people leaving the ride, I briskly scour the flurry of people to see if I can spot Jake but it's no use, he's dissapeared. I frown and tug my coat around my body before Mia begins to speak again.

"So Grace did you get blondies number," she asks as we go to stand to the side in order not to get trampled over and get in the way of people.

Grace sighs. "Nah he seemed a little douche-y, he kept looking at my boobs." She looks down at her chest. "Even though they're practically non existent."

"What about you and 'peng' boy?" Grace asks me afterwards, nudging my arm. "You guys seemed to hit it off."

I shake my head, my frown deepening. "No his friends dragged him away before I got the chance to give him my snap."

"He seemed kind of dodgy to me." Mia furrows her eyebrows and grimaces slightly before continuing. "I don't really know what it is...but there was this vibe about him that just makes him not trust him."

I shrug my shoulders forsakenly. "Oh well I'll probably never see him again anyway."

Grace pats my shoulder comfortingly and I replace the frown on my face with a smile and clap my hands. "Okay where to next?"

Mia swivels her head around before pointing to one of the other taller and much scarier rides at the other end of the fairground. "That one!"

"Okay do we have enough tickets left?" I ask, pulling out the small rectangular papers from my pocket and shuffling them in my hand. Grace looks over a my hands and frowns.

"We don't have enough."

Mia points her finger in the left direction and stands on her tiptoes to help see over the crowds. "I think I saw a ticket stand over there when we were walking to the vortex."

I follow my gaze to where her finger in pointing and I see the flashing lights of the ticket stand in the distance. "Okay, I'll quickly go get them. You two stay here."

Grace nods. "Do you want any of us to come with you or should we go get the snacks."

"Nah it's fine, I'll go by myself."

"Alright babe, you want anything?" Mia asks me as I shove the remaining tickets back into my pocket.

I shake my head hesitantly. "No it's okay."

She gives me a look and Grace frowns. "Are you sure? You haven't eaten much today Bell."

I nod and avoid their concerned gazes. "I don't want carnival food, I'll eat when I go home."

"It's okay to treat yourself sometimes Bella," Grace adds, biting her thumb nail nervously.

Mia nods. "Yeah, why don't we get you a small corn dog? You used to like those-"

"I said it's fine, I'm just not hungry," I snap and she jumps back in surprise, hurt lacing her features. I immediately wince my eyes shut. "Sorry," I quickly apologise, much more softly this time. "I didn't mean to shout."

Mia sighs and throws me pitiful look. "It's okay Bell." She squeezes my shoulder comfortingly. "We'll meet you here in 5 minuets alright?"

I nod my head and wave at them lamely as I stalk off in the direction of the ticket stand. After weaving through the crowd I finally find the stand and get in the queue.

I feel bad for snapping at Mia like that, especially seeing as she was just trying to help me. It's just today, for some reason even thinking about food just seems to cause a sickening feeling to surge through me. I pinch the bridge of my nose and force myself to stop dwelling and shuffle forward in the line. I feel a tap on my shoulder a moment later which snaps me out of my thought for real and turn around.

"Hi!"

I see a halo of curly hair and a smile etches it's way onto my lips. "Hey Luna!" I greet. "What are you doing here!"

She quirks an eyebrow and gestures to our surroundings before chuckling softly. "What do you think?"

I snort and tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. "Right that was a stupid question."

"You here alone?"

I shake my head. "Nope I came here with Mia and Grace and our moms. How about you?"

"I-"

"She came with me."

I swivel my head to see Ivy walking up to us, she gives me a once over and smirks to herself and I shuffle awkwardly under her gaze.

"Hi Bella!" She greets, smiling so brightly her pearly white teeth are almost blinding. "You tryna steal my friend like you're tryna steal my man?" She 'jokes' and my eyes widen a fraction as she nudges my shoulder and laughs sweetly.

"Um no," I chuckle awkwardly in reply. "Just here to get tickets."

Ivy kisses her teeth. "Okay well me too." She stands beside me in the line and I keep my gaze to the ground in front of me. "So I never got to ask...how was your date the other day?"

I side glance her way. "Date?"

She rolls her eyes. "Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about."

I quickly realise she's referencing to the night in Millie's a couple of days ago.

"Oh it was fun," I reply sarcastically. "Especially when he choke slammed the other guy and left me in the restaurant with no ride home."

Ivy laughs dryly "Sounds like fun."

We stand in awkward silence for a while and I slyly eye her from the corner of my eye. Ivy's face is pulled into a scowl that I noticed only deepens when I'm around her.

"Why don't you like me?"

Ivy snaps her head to look at me and she blinks slowly and my eyes widen as I realise what I've just asked, but I quickly decide to stand my ground and continue.

"I mean I've been told you're rude to everyone but I feel like you specifically don't like me."

She narrows her eyes. "I don't like that you suck up to my boyfriend."

I groan exasperatedly. "I don't suck up to Lucas!"

"Yes you do!"

"No I don't!"

"Yes. You. Do."

"No. I. Don't."

"Yes you d-"

"Um guys," a small voice snaps us from our elementary school style argument and both Ivy and I turn to look at Luna.

"What," Ivy barks but Luna doesn't seem to be affected by her friends clipped tone.

"The ticket guy is waiting," Luna points out and I slowly avert my gaze to the guy sitting behind the glass looking rather annoyed.

"How many tickets?" He asks through gritted teeth and I briskly shuffle closer to the stand.

"10 please." I shove a handful of dollar notes onto the shelf and the guy gruffs as he hands me back 10 crisp tickets in return.

I quickly mutter a thank you and begin to walk away just as Ivy grabs my arm. Her acrylic nails, which are actually really nice by the way, dig into my arm and I force myself not to wince.

"Just stay away from me and my boyfriend. I don't like you," she pauses and rakes her eyes up and down my body before continuing. "And trust me Lucas doesn't like you either." She drops her grip from my arm and smirks at me. "Trust me when I say you're not someone he'll be interested in, and it's just embarrassing seeing you try so hard to win him over."

I still for a second before inching closer to Ivy deciding that I've had enough. I lower my voice so I'm just about whispering.  "I don't know where you're getting this all from," I wave my hand around for emphasis and narrow my eyes. "But trust me when I say, I don't want your boyfriend," I scoff and chuckle dryly. "I mean I don't even bloody talk to him that much!"

When Ivy doesn't reply I sigh and continue speaking. "Look," I eye her just like she had done to me only moments before. "I genuinely feel bad that you can't trust your own boyfriend but for the record I think you should talk with Lucas seeing as this seems to be something that really bothers you."

I give her one last pitiful look, throw Luna a small smile and saunter away from them both, still clutching the tickets in my fist.

"There you are!" Grace exclaims as I approach the two of them. "We thought you got lost!"

"I wish I did," I mutter under my breath. "You'll never guess who I just bumped into."

"Who?" Mia asks, perking up beside Grace in intrigue.

Sighing exasperatedly, I delve into the story of what happened between Ivy and I only minuets before.

"No way she did not! Mia gasps, her mouth gaping open after I finish telling the two girls what went down.

"Who does she think she is?" Grace crosses her arms across her chest and stands tall.

I shrug my shoulders just as Mia speaks up again. "I don't blame her though," she begins and I furrow my eyebrows in confusion. "I mean if I was in her position I would be jealous too, I mean look at you and Lucas, you two are literally soulm-"

"Hey guys!" A voice interrupts before Mia gets to finish what she's saying. I look over my shoulder to see our moms walking towards us. Eve's cheeks are tinged pink, Linh is clutching cotton candy in her hand and my mom is siping on a slushie which she out stretches my way.

"You want a sip?" She asks me and I shake my head. She shrugs and continues drinking the blue liquid.

"You guys want to go on the Ferris wheel?" Linh questions. "The line is fairly short now."

Us three kids shake our heads. "The Ferris wheel is a tradition for the end of the night remember!" I remind Mia's mom and her eyes widen in recollection.

"Oh right!"

"We're going on that ride next." Grace exclaims, pointing excitedly to the tallest ride in the fairground and we all crane our necks to look at it.

My mom shudders. "No thank you that looks petrifying."

"Suit yourself V, but the scariest ones are the most fun!" Mia grins. She looks down at her phone for the time. "Should we meet you guys at the Ferris wheel at 9:30, it's just before closing time?"

Our moms nod in agreement.

"Okay see you guys in an hour!"

***

"I'm not going to fit with you guys!" I persist for like the 100th time and Grace shoots me a glare.

"Yes you will!"

"No trust me, I won't."

"You will!"

"No I won't! I didn't fit when I was a younger!" I frown and my heart squeezes at that memory.

When we were children I could never fit on the Ferris wheel seat with Mia and Grace, even though it was a 3 seater ride, so I would have to get on a carriage with one of our moms or I would take turns going with either one of the girls.

The ride operator taps his feet impatiently and throws me an annoyed look. "Lady just sit down or get off the ride, you're holding up the queue."

"Fine!"

Both Mia and Grace scooch to the side I squeeze in the middle of them both and surprisingly...I do fit. It's a fairly

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