✸ ANYONE ELSE chapter twenty-six ━━ the tower of terror's history
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THEY STARTED AT the Cousins Beach arcade, where they decided to play laser tag. It was dark inside, and it took Julie's eyes a couple of seconds to adjust to the change of lightening.
The teams were as always named team Belly and team Conrad, but instead of the teams being Julie and Conrad against Jeremiah, Steven, and Belly, it was now girls versus boys.
As soon as they had figured out the rules, they started. At first, it went well for the girls, but the boys ended up winning when Conrad shot Belly.
The next game was climbing, and the boys took the victory once again when Steven beat Taylor to the top and Cameron joined the boys team, making the numbers equal.
Now, it was time for the Twin Fight.
Jeremiah and Julie were always up against each other. And they always fought in Ring Toss.
"Are you ready, little brother," Julie teased him as the two stood in front of stand.
"I was born ready, twin sister," He emphasized the last words, shooting her a glare for calling him younger.
Jeremiah was up first, since it was his right as the youngest, and he turned to give his sister a smug grin when he threw a perfect shot. "Beat that."
"I will," she said, before throwing a perfect one herself.
They continued like that, almost entirely flawless, until it came to the last shot for Julie. She was one point ahead, so if she just got this one right, she would win.
She smiled, readying herself before she threw the last ring. It soared through the air for a short moment before landing on a stick.
Taylor let out a shout of victory and pulled the older girl into a hug while Skye and Belly high-fived.
Julie smiled in victory at her brother who only shook his head in disappointment. He had been the winner once.
FIVE YEARS EARLIER
The first time Jeremiah had won over Julie in Ring Toss, had been when they were twelve years old.
Up until then, the girl had won every single time they had played and her twin brother saw that as a huge hit to his pride.
His sister couldn't be better than him at something. There was no way.
She wasn't very competitive, he knew that she usually hated competitions, and that just made it even worse. He had to win at least once, and he was certain that it was going to be that day. That was why he suddenly got the courage to heighten the bet.
"The loser has to ride the most terrifying ride on the whole boardwalk!" He exclaimed, lifting in eyebrows in anticipation when his sister hesitated. "Conrad can choose which one."
Their older brother smiled smugly at the idea. "It has to be the Tower of Terror." He decided as soon as Julie had nodded in agreement.
Both twins looked at him with wide eyes for a quick moment before regaining themselves. They weren't afraid of it.
"Okay," Julie nodded her head in confidence.
"Okay." Jeremiah repeated.
They started playing when it was their turn, and for once in his life, Jeremiah was right. This had been the day where he won.
Julie looked horrified when she found out that she had lost. She couldn't ride the Tower of Terror!
No matter how much she wanted to run home to her mother and hide under her bed, that wasn't an option. She was twelve years old. She wasn't a baby anymore, so she had to do it.
Steven seemed to notice her discomfort, because as they stood in front of the queue he asked: "Should I go with you?"
She was stunned for a moment—her mind couldn't understand why would he would want that—but she quickly shook her head yes.
"If you want to," She hesitantly added.
"I want to," Steven smiled and led the way for them as they stepped into the line.
Once it was their turn, the two preteens found a spot next to each other and secured themselves in the seats.
Slowly, they began to move upwards, and Julie bit down on her lip, trying to mask her fear.
"Do you want to hold my hand?" Steven asked as he held out his hand towards her.
She only nodded, twining their hands together tightly as they continued moving up.
When they reached the top, Steven was sure that his hand was about to fall off from how tightly she was gripping it, but he didn't let go. He didn't let go before they were safely on ground and she had stopped shaking. He didn't let go before he was completely sure that she didn't need it anymore.
Letting Julie Fisher go wasn't in his nature. He had been there for her when they were twelve and scared of heights, and he was going to be there five years into the future when she was scared of life.
✸ author's note ✸ i just published my percy jackson fic if you want to check it out (it would mean the world to me so pretty please? 🤗🤗)
