Page 4 of Don't Let Me Go
“What happened?” I ask as I stare up at their faces in confusion. If I’m having trouble remembering the three most important people in my life, something must be seriously wrong with me.
“You fainted,” Tala answers, squeezing my hand.
“I what?”
“You fainted,” Duy repeats, picking a stray leaf out of my hair. “You just, like, passed out.”
Huh. Okay. Interesting.
Fainting would definitely explain the whole waking-up-on-the-ground thing. Except I’ve never fainted in my life. Did I forget to eat lunch this afternoon? Or did I lose my balance and bang my head when that earthquake hit?
Wait. What am I saying? What earthquake?
This is Florida. We don’t get earthquakes.
At least Ithinkthis is Florida.
That’s not something that would normally be up for debate, as I’ve never left the state. But I’m having a hard time shaking off theimpression that a minute ago, I was somewhere else. Italy, I think? Yeah, I was in Italy and—
“Whoa! What do you think you’re doing?” Audrey asks, placing a restraining hand on my shoulder when I try to sit up.
I’m looking for the volcano. I know that’s insane. But a part of me is certain that if I turn my head to the horizon, I’ll see it looming in the distance, spewing stones and smoke into the sky.
On instinct I sniff the air. But instead of the suffocating smell of sulfur, it’s the buttery aroma of freshly popped popcorn that hits my nostrils. Then I hear the incessant chipper polka of a merry-go-round mingling with the excited shouts from the Tilt-A-Whirl.
“The summer carnival!” I exclaim, letting out a sigh of relief as the world around me finally starts to make sense. “I’m at the summer carnival.”
“Umm?.?.?.?yeah,” Audrey replies, as if that should be obvious.
Whew.That’s a load off my mind. For a second, I thought...
Actually, I don’t knowwhatI thought.
I must have had a nightmare. An insanely vivid, detailed, andterrifyingnightmare. But at least I know where I am now. I’d recognize these garishly striped booths and blinking arcade lights anywhere. My friends and I have been coming here at the start of every summer for years. It’s more out of habit than for actual amusement, though Tala’s love of funnel cakes is as genuine as it is ferocious.
“Are you okay?” Audrey asks, still studying me. Lowering her voice, she adds, “You’ve been eating, right?”
My cheeks burn. “Yes, I’ve been eating.”
Jesus Christ, you go through one tiny anorexia phase, and for the rest of your life everyone’s the Food Police.
“Is that the truth?” Audrey demands, giving me a suspicious once-over.
It is. But before I can say so, a raucous and all-too-familiar shriek of laughter erupts nearby, causing the hairs on the back of my neck to stand on end. I peer over Audrey’s shoulder and spot a group of teenage boys clustered around the shooting gallery. They’re aiming air rifles at spinning targets while they thump each other on the back, hooting and hollering like wild apes.
I recognize them instantly. With their matching buzz cuts, blue varsity jackets, and gleeful howling, the Olympus High Thunderbolts (as our school’s football team is unoriginally named) are as impossible to miss as they are to avoid. And after some of my run-ins with those testosterone-fueled assholes, I try pretty hard to avoid them.
Thankfully, none of them seem to have noticed me.
Though I suppose it’s possible that they saw me faint and simply don’t care. That’s honestly the more likely scenario, given that most of the entitled jerks who go to my school wouldn’t bother to pour water on me if I was on fire. Unless, that is, they thought it would make for a good Instagram story. In which case theymightpour water on me but only after setting me on fire in the first place.
Such are the joys of being gay in the Central Florida public school system.
“Maybe you shouldn’t get up just yet?” Tala suggests as I force myself to stand. But if the Thunderbolts haven’t noticed me, I want to make a discreet retreat before they do.
“It’s okay,” I assure her, wiping the grass stains off my jeans. “I’m fine.”
At least, IthinkI’m fine. I don’t feel sick or unsteady. Whatever made me faint seems to have passed. Of course, if I’d lost a leg or was bleeding out of both eyes, I’d still insist I was fine if there was the slightest chance that any of my classmates might be watching. That’sHigh School Survival 101. Never show weakness and never give your enemies any ammunition they can use against you.
