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Chapter 8-3

Natalie

Earlier

Emma pouted, she looked to her side,
avoiding eye contact with Natalie.

"Fine," she said reluctantly.

"Thank you! I love you!" Natalie said.

They went back to the group.

"Jacob and I will catch you guys later tonight!" Natalie said.

"See you around guys," Jacob said.
The two walked to the field where all the carnival booths were.

~~~

"Woah! This is so cool!" Jacob said.

There was so much for them to see and do. "Let's try out this one J!" Natalie said. She led him to a carnival game with water guns. The ones where you shoot the water into the clown's mouth and have the balloon above their head pop.

"Oh sweet! That looks fun! Let's do it!" Jacob exclaimed. His energy was like that of a hyper dog; a grin plastered on his face. Natalie laughed and enjoyed how cute he was. They purchased their tickets. Three water guns lined the front—Jacob grabbing the left gun and Natalie the middle.

"Alright you two, first one to make the balloon pop gets a prize," The lady running the booth said, "3,2,1, GO!"

Jacob shot the water as fast as the gun allowed him; repeatedly pressing the water gun to shoot a constant stream. His fingers white, tapping as fast as he could. His speed surprised Natalie, who tried to keep up but quickly grew fatigued.

POP!

The sound startled Natalie and was quickly followed by a cheer from Jacob. "Alright! Better luck next time Nat!" He said.

"How am I supposed to compete with an athlete!"

"Which prize will it be, young man?" asked the lady.

"What prize do you want?" Jacob asked Natalie. She blushed, eyeing him, biting her lower lip. Her eyes skimmed over every possible plushie until she saw a cute stuffed yellow rabbit. Its fur, soft and clean with a little ribbon tie; ears much too big for its head.

"Why'd you pick that one? You like rabbits?" Jacob asked.

"It reminded me of you."

"Do I got big ears or something?"

"No silly! It's cuz you're really fast like one."

"I try to be, I hope to be faster than Dani by the end of the semester."

"Have you guys raced since that day?" She asked.

"Not officially, but we usually run together, she's the only varsity member I can keep up with. Even then, she slows down for me, she's amazing," he said, smiling at the thought.

"One time we were running and out of the blue I started singing Another One Bites the Dust by Queen and she sang along." He glowed at the thought of that memory, laughing to himself. Natalie rolled her eyes, disregarding all the praise he was giving Danielle.

"Natalie! Jacob!" Sam said. She skipped joyously to them, her beautiful gothic dress flowing as she held it up. Her shy boyfriend, Sebastian, followed closely behind; clumsily navigating through a sea of people. She jumped into both of them for a big hug, squeezing them tight in her arms. Jacob smiled and laughed, returning a similar embrace. Natalie tensed up in the hug, annoyance peeked through her friendly facade. she grunted in pain from the squeeze.

"Natalie, you look so cute!" Sam said.

"You too! Are you supposed to be a princess?" Natalie asked.