Project: High School

Chapter 20 - "How dare you break my husband?

The excited screams of little kids as they run around, their tired parents struggling to keep them in eyesight. The smell of cooking meat, smoke from the open grills, and the delicate scent of sugary sweets. The bright sunlight and heat that radiates from the asphalt.

These are the things that surround Katy, Nelly and Richerson as they make their way down the "main street" of the fair. Katy's head swivels around as she tries to take in everything at once, her eyes glittering with excitement.

The trio wander around the food stalls for a bit, arguing over whether they should get cinnamon buns or cream puffs. Ultimately, Katy won and they got the cinnamon buns.

"So, now that we have some food, where do we want to start?" Richerson asks through a mouthful of cinnamon bun.

Nelly turns around to look at him with an expression of disgust, "We can start by eating with our mouths closed, how does that sound?"

He looks sheepishly at his wife, and she just sighs, knowing that she would lose the battle to his puppy eyes.

"Nelly! Rich! Come look at this!" The two adults look at where they had last seen Katy, only to find her fifty odd feet ahead of them standing in front of a carnival game.

She's bouncing on her toes as she waits for them to reach her before excitedly racing towards the ticket booth. Richerson watches her as she waits in the line to buy carnival tickets with a small smile.

Nelly wraps her arms around Richerson's waist and rests her head on his shoulder as she also watches Katy.

"When was the last time she went off base like this?" She softly asks. Richerson doesn't answer, instead squeezing her hand. She sighs, knowing what his silence means.

"How much must that little girl suffer before they stop using her?"

"I don't kno--"

"Who are you calling little?" Katy's voice comes from behind Nelly, causing the two to jump in alarm.

"Holy --" Nelly slaps her hand over Richersons mouth before he finished the profanity. She smiles a bit shakily at Katy.

"Where did you come from? I thought that you were getting tickets?"

Katy grins, a hint of teasing in her voice as she hums, "Maybe I was, maybe I wasn't... I'll never tell."

"Wha--"

"On a different topic, do you think you two could beat me?" As Katy interrupts Richerson, she waves her hand toward the booth they were standing by.

Lined up on the counter are water guns on swivel platforms. At the back is a mesh screen hooked up to a score board and a shelf behind a plastic shield filled with different prizes.

Richerson immediately nods, "Of course."

At the same time, Nelly immediately shakes her head, "Nope. Neither one of us have a chance."

"Hey!" Richerson exclaimes indignantly, "You're supposed to be on my side!"

Nelly crosses her arms across her chest, "And how did that treat you last time?"

Inhaling sharply, he opens his mouth....just to close it a few seconds later when Nelly raises her eyebrow.

"OoOoh. Richy got in trouble!" He turns to grab Katy, but she quickly scampers out of reach.

He takes off after her when she turns and sticks her tongue out at him. Nelly watches them chase each other down the road before making her way to sit at the booth.

The teen in charge glances at her, "Aren't you going to go after them, ma'am?"

Nelly gives them a motherly smile, "Would you make yourself a witness to a murder if you had a choice?"

Their face pales, and they quickly turn away, throwing her a fearful look before resuming their happy-go-lucky smile as they greet passersby. Nelly snickers to herself, more than amused by their reaction.

As she waits, she scrolls through different house listing pages. Pausing every so often, she looks through the photos and reads all the information but ultimately finds something she doesn't like about it. A full 15 minutes she does this, changing websites occasionally, before she hears Katy's laughter from the crowd.

Richerson quickly maneuvers through the crowd, focused solely on his wife. Reaching her, he pecks her cheek before turning to scan the crowd with a triumphant smirk. The smirk slowly fades as seconds tick by, and Nelly watches him with amusement.

"What exactly are you hoping to achieve here, love?" She asks, glancing down at her phone to check the time.

It's barely 11:12.

"I'm looking for Katy. She challenged me to a speed check."

"Speed check? I thought the military used long winded terms for things..." Her brow furrows and Richerson gives her pat on the head.

"They do, Katy made up this one, hence the simple name." He turns back to the crowd. "One party has to move incognito through the crowd and the other has to reach the goal before them while also trying to eliminate the other team. Elimination is simple, if a member of the first party is spotted by someone from the second, their tapped out and have to do 20 extra pushups during warm up."

Nelly tilts her head, "Where do y'all find a crowd on base?"

He chuckles, "We don't. 50 percent of the time, Katy manages to get permission to take two platoons off base and the other 50, she just sneaks us out."

"Which is a lot easier than one would think."

Katy is standing on the other side of Richerson smiling like a crazy lady. After a few moments of no response, Nelly pokes him in the ribs but gets no response.

She stands and gives Katy a look of annoyance, "How dare you break my husband?"

Katy just smiles, shrugs, and turns to the teen behind the counter. Nelly huffs in her direction before turning back to her husband. Pulling him down to her level by his shirt, she gives him a kiss and starts to pull back just to have him pull her back to kiss her once again.

Completely ignoring the moment between the two, Katy pipes up, "I can tell you that many girls are heart broken now, seeing that you're taken Rich." She spins around an leans on the counter. "The guys too, cause of you Nelly."

Both Nelly and Richerson turn to glare at her.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I ruin the moment?" She pouts dramatically, clearly being a sarcastic pain in the ass.

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:| So tired....

Did you know that, if you sneer at any other method of measuring liquids, you could be held in contempt of quart?