A Graveyard of Stars

Chapter Eight

"How many times do I have to say sorry?" I whine.

"I just can't believe it," Craig mutters, leaning his head back to stare at the sky full of stars.

"I can," Will chimes in, leaning against the back fence.

"It's alright, Dani. It was self-defense," Abigail encourages, sitting next to me on the back steps of the fun house.

I grin innocently toward Craig. "See? Even Abigail knows I didn't do anything wrong."

Craig looks down at me. "Tell me exactly what happened again."

I sigh heavily. "We were walking through the fun house and it was pitch black. Honestly, I didn't even know which way was up or down at that point. So, when someone wrapped their arm around my throat I threw my elbow back into their gut. The person yelped and next thing I knew-"

"-we're being kicked out of the fun house," Will finishes my sentence before chuckling softly to himself.

I stand and brush myself off. "What I did was justice. They're not allowed to touch you in there."

"The girl was part of the house. It wasn't like she was going to slit you open with her rubber knife," Will taunts.

"Keep it up over there and I'll-"

"You'll what?" Will walks toward me, smirking. "Elbow me in the gut? Or perform some other act of violence?"

I stand and start toward his direction. "I'll show you an act of violence-"

"Okay, okay. What do you guys want to do next?" Craig ponders, purposely stepping in my path. Will smiles playfully at me and before I know it, I'm smiling back.

"Another fun house?" Will suggests.

"Yeah, right. I say we get some food." I propose, glancing around at the others.

"I'm still full from dinner. Come on, another fun house." A ghost of a smile is playing on his lips when he sings, "Let's time how long it takes for Dani to get us kidded out again." Abigail giggles.

"No."

"Let's flip a coin." He begins digging through his jeans pocket. "Heads we go to another fun house, Tails we get food. Whatever you want."

Craig points toward the Ferris wheel. "I think we should-"

"What? Put that coin away. Rock-Paper-Scissors." I place my fist on the flat of my palm.

"Rock-Paper-Scissors? Seriously, Dani? How old are we? I'll race you for it." Will gets in the position to sprint and points ahead. "Through the crowd, to the bench on the other side."

"Guys!" Craig hollers to get our attention. I glance at him and notice he's looking very annoyed. "We can do both but you two need to shut the f-"

Before he can finish his sentence, I'm running through the crowd toward the bench. I know Craig is going to be pissed I dramatically cut him off but he'll get over it. I'm pretty sure Will followed suit when he realized what I was doing. Once I've made it to the center of the crowd, I'm desperate to get out. It's extremely difficult to focus with all these people surrounding me. The gleaming lights around me are uniting and shining off my irises. Having a head start works in my favor though. There's no way Will can beat me. The crowd might slow me down but it'll sure as hell slow him down too.

By the time I make it to the bench I'm breathing so hard I worry I'll need medical attention. I place my hands on my knees to steady my heart rate. Will thought he was going to beat me. Well, being a cocky bastard catches up with you. I catch my breath enough to do a little victory dance. Leaping into the air, I bump my fists above my head.