Page 60 of It's in the Contract
Suzy’s fingers tap frantically. “Another good idea.”
“This place is amazing!” Zeke holds Mia’s hand, and they wander back toward us.
I smile at Zeke’s enthusiasm. “I’m so glad you like it.”
“The exhibits are so unique and awesome.” Zeke’s grinning, but Mia looks slightly bored and tugs on her hand to get it out of Zeke’s grip.
Suzy waves a dismissive hand without looking up from her phone.
“What?” Zeke turns to her in shock. “You don’t like it?”
Suzy shrugs and finally meets Zeke’s eyes. “Not my thing. I’m not as into art as most Seattle people are.”
“That’s us,” I say. “The land of fanatical art lovers.”
“Fart lovers, we call them,” Suzy says.
“Seattle, land of the fartists,” I say. Suzy looks at me and we both snicker.
Mia guffaws with laughter.
“Great job, you two,” Zeke says. “You got the four-year-old to laugh.”
Our snickers turn into giggles.
We keep walking, Zeke exclaiming over everything, and Suzy and I continuing to brainstorm. It’s funny, the Homecoming crown is all I want, along with everything that goes with it. Humbling Brielle. Showing the whole school what I’m really made of. Making my mom proud and giving Suzy her redemption.
But I find myself wishing that Suzy would put off the brainstorming sesh and just enjoy this moment.
We pass out of the main area into a hallway with costumes on display. Zeke oohs and ahhhs over what Dad and I call “The Nerd Culture Section”. It is very cool, I have to admit.
Zeke ogles the original costumes from countless movies—The Princess Bride, Star Trek, and the Wizard of Oz, but his favorites are the armor and swords from The Lord of the Rings.
I take a picture of us with swords from Lord of the Rings in the background, and I only hesitate for a second before posting it. This is so different from the image I normally try to present ofmyself, but that’s the goal. I caption the image with, “Branching out and trying new things, along with getting to know new people. Don’t forget to vote Callie for Homecoming Queen, my friends!”
Mia’s eyes are going a bit glassy, and she wanders from exhibit to exhibit. I follow after her, knowing Zeke is distracted. Suzy still taps away on her phone, engrossed by her music video planning session.
I follow Mia out of the hall of old movie sets and into a larger open room crowded with tourists—families gathering to take pictures and couples pointing out exhibits to each other.
“Uhhh . . . Mia?” I call. “We should go back to your brother.”
Mia turns to me with those huge brown eyes. She has pink beads in her curly hair today, and they click together when she moves. “Cheers.” She holds up the pointed string at the end of her leopard print sweats.
“Cheers?” I ask.
She just holds out the string, her little face scrunching up in frustration.
Finally, I get it. I hold out the string of my black cheer pants, and we tap ends together.
“Cheers!” Mia shouts in triumph. Then she dashes away and disappears into the crowd.
“MIA!” I cry.
Zeke is behind me in an instant. “Oh, no! Where did she go?”
The crowd suddenly seems enormous. I shove through people, some still dripping water on the floor from outside, and scan the room for a hot pink dress or black curls, anything to give me a clue.
“Zeke, I’m so sorry. I was trying to watch her. I was?—”
