Page 37 of 10 Things I Hate About Prom
We both deserve a little happiness.
“No way. Absolutely not. Not in a thousand years.”
Joaquin plants his feet firmly on the ground, steady as an oak tree and impervious to my attempts to tug him forward. I loop both of my arms through his crossed ones, pulling with every fiber of my strength, but he doesn’t budge.
“Pretty please?” I plead, clasping my hands together and putting on my best pout.
Everyone knows that the Terrordactyl, Dino World’s oldest and most iconic coaster with a record-breaking eight inversions, is best enjoyed in pairs of two. That way you don’t have to spend the entire ride worried about accidentally barfing on a stranger. Anyone with an intense fear of heights like Joaquin wouldn’twant to board a coaster with a 450-foot drop, but there’s no way I’m leaving without getting at least one ride in.
Joaquin shakes me off to wave his arms at the coaster. “That thing has more loops in it than my signature!”
“That’s what makes it so much fun!”
“That’s what makes it a death trap.”
I roll my eyes. “No one’s died on it, you chicken.”
“Yeah, and I’m not gonna be the first.” Joaquin marches over to a nearby bench, plopping down and folding his arms again. “Meet me when you’re done.”
Frowning, I eye the single-rider line. Can’t imagine anyone would be too pleased if I heave chunks of my barely digested Snickers bar all over them. My stomach is made of iron—it has to be when you’re an adrenaline junkie—but the first inversion of the day always throws me for a loop. Pun intended.
After carefully planning out my next move, I pounce, sliding up to Joaquin with a perfectly crafted pout. The kind that I know always breaks him.
“Quin…”
“Nope,” he snaps before I’ve even sat down, not looking up from his phone. “Put away that face. It won’t work.”
“What if I bought you funnel cake afterward?”
He scoffs. “You think I’m gonna want to eat after surviving that thing? Yeah, don’t think so.”
Dammit, good point. Despite that, I won’t give in that easy. “You wouldn’t want to disappoint your very best friend in the entire world, would you?”
“I don’t, but I will.”
All right, fine. Time to go for the jugular. “Well…you wouldn’twant your very best friend in the entire world to accidentally let it slip to the rest of the baseball team that you still sleep with a stuffed giraffe?”
That gets his attention, eyes wide as saucers.
“You wouldn’t dare,” he sneers.
My pout morphs into a vindictive smirk. “Oh, I would.”
Our eyes meet, locked in an unblinking war until finally, he gives in. “Fine. But if I die, it’s on you.”
Other parkgoers shoot us confused glances when I leap off the bench and punch the air. “I’ll deliver the finest eulogy you’ve ever seen. There won’t be a dry eye in the house, promise.”
I hold up my hand both to seal our agreement with a shake and hoist him off the bench. He groans as he slaps his hand into mine, giving me the drabbest handshake ever before begrudgingly heading toward the line for the Terrordactyl.
Joaquin is as stiff as a statue as I push him through the minimal line. Usually, the summer weekend wait times can be as long as an hour per ride, but thanks to our midweek trip, we’re up at the front in no time.
“Ready for the ride of your life?” I tease, whipping out my phone to film him as the ride attendant straps him in, his tomato-red face buried in his hands. He responds by flipping off the camera.
Strapping me in is a significantly easier process since my arms aren’t locked in front of my face. Joaquin is trembling like a leaf by the time the rest of the car is loaded up, biting down on his thumb so hard he’ll probably draw blood if he doesn’t let up soon.
“I hate you I hate you I hate you,” he chants under his breathas the car sets into motion, slowly climbing toward the sky for our initial ascent, leading to a hundred-foot drop that goes straight into our first loop.
“Let’s do deep breaths,” I propose. We have a solid ten seconds before the drop. Maybe if I can distract him with guided meditation, he won’t notice how high up in the air we are. “C’mon, in for five.” I take the lead, inhaling sharply.
