In my hometown, there was an annual fair that happened during the fall, and if you went on the first day and bought a bracelet, you didn't have to pay to get on the rides. Naturally, this made the first night the busiest night, and you were bound to run into everyone you knew at school during that night because nobody wanted to be known as the kid that "missed out."
In middle school, after I had become good friends with Paige, and by extension reignited my friendship with Isabelle, we sort of lost touch during the summer, so when we got back to school, it was natural that our first big celebration together would be the local fair. I had already promised my friend Jesse that I would go to the fair with him, but I didn't think it would be a big deal if we met up with Isabelle and Paige there, because, fortunately, he was a mutual friend of theirs as well. Secretly, I just wanted to use the irritated banter between Isabelle and Jesse as an excuse to bond with Paige. Also, in my plan, there was to be flirting.
My mom and I went and picked up Jesse and then we drove toward the fair grounds. We were about a block away from the grounds when I spotted Isabelle and Paige walking down the street, so I ordered my mom to stop the car...around the corner. Because, naturally, I couldn't have them seeing us stepping out of my mother's car.
We ran around the corner of the building and I remember cutting up the wheelchair ramp, not because it was the faster route, but because it would allow me to leap from the top of the stairs and land a few feet in front of the girls. This was important because I was wearing a Superman t-shirt, and had worn a light button-up shirt over top of it, undone, so that it would flow in a similar manner to a cape. I was...pretty awesome at thirteen years old.
When I landed, with Jesse running to keep up, Isabelle kind of screamed, because she didn't see me coming, and Paige just nodded, saying "nice shirt." Oh, yeah. I was in.
It was once we were actually on the fair grounds that I realized the fatal flaw of my plan. Jesse, being my friend, wanted to spend time with me, while I wanted to spend time with Paige. Most of the rides at the fair were two-seaters, and that meant that if I wanted to sit with Paige, Jesse would be left sitting with Isabelle, and the two of them didn't get along all too well. Another thing I hadn't realized, because he and I had never spoken on it, was that he, too, had a thing for Paige.
Waiting in lines for rides became something of a battle, as Isabelle, Jesse and I were each trying to make sure we were standing in the position that would allow us to sit with Paige, on occasion barging in front of one of our friends to allow us on before them. I think Paige noticed, because she eventually decided to sit with each of us in turn, which irritated Isabelle and Jesse since that meant they had to sit with one another 33% of the time.
Things were getting a little tense as we were all fighting for Paige's attention, and she started choosing rides that would cause the least amount of conflict, such as the haunted house, the house of mirrors, and a few rides that allowed four people to sit together, which really only lead to battles about which two would sit next to Paige.
Those four-seaters, of course, were the rides that spin, and after having ridden on two or three of them, we went and got some carnival food, which is probably never a good idea. This lead me to one of my most appealing moments, when, after being unable to finish my chocolate milkshake, I said something along the lines of, "oh, god, look!" and then positioned myself so that, while I poured my milkshake out, it looked as though I was vomiting. I intended this to be hilarious, but Isabelle just told me that it was disgusting, and Paige was too enthralled with whatever Jesse was saying to pay me any attention.
After we had eaten, and exhausted ourselves of the various rides, I somehow managed to get Paige's ear again, and I'm pretty sure that this forced the rivalling Isabelle and Jesse to brainstorm some perfect way to kill any chances I had with Paige, because the next thing I know we were playing carnival games.
There were a few different games to choose from, and I remember we all played that game where you throw darts at balloons, and we all lost, and there was another game we all played where, again, we all lost. And then, as we were passing the shooting challenge, Paige exclaimed "aww, that's so cute!"
When I turned to see the stuffed gremlin she was eyeing, I immediately had that heroic fantasy where I win the game's challenge and deliver to her her greatest desire of the moment. She would immediately fall in love with me and tell tales to our grandchildren about how I overcame overwhelming odds to prove my worth to her at the local fair that night. What I didn't quite understand was the knowing glance that Jesse shot my way.
I would soon realize that Jesse had walked us passed the shooting challenge on purpose.
I can't remember if the challenge was based on time or how many shots you took, but I know that, as I was going first, so confident that I would win over my lady love, I managed to shoot the target once, maybe twice, and I think it was only in the corner, so not even anywhere that would really count. The goal was to obliterate the damn thing, and I came nowhere close.
Paige patted me on the shoulder, laughing a little, saying that "[she] would have done just as badly," and then Jesse stepped up to the plate. He shot me one more sly grin before he turned toward the target and, as the carnie would tell us, became the only person that day to complete the challenge successfully. He chose the gremlin that Paige had had her eye on, offered it to her, and, suddenly, he was the hero of the night.
It kind of ruined the rest of my night, because now I was left, not only feeling bad about my own abilities, but jealous of my friend, and embarrassed that I looked like a failure in front of the girl that I liked.
Also, it wasn't great watching Jesse flirt so successfully with the girl I liked.
At the end of the night, when the four of us were parting, Paige gave a kind wave to me, and then, hugging the gremlin to her face, yelled out a thank you to Jesse. And then I had to ride home with him, all the while hating his entire being.
I felt a little bit better the next day when one of our classmates mentioned that the carnie at the shooting challenge told him that the only person to win was "some dorky eight-year-old." Yeah. Take that, Jesse.
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