What The Jocks Want

Test Your Strength

What the Jocks Want: 5

Chapter 5: Test Your Strength

Trembling, I step down from the metal plate that leads to the ride. My hand is still in iron grip with Ted's, and no doubt my face is deathly pale.

"THAT WAS AWESOME!" Tara yells, doing a victory dance. I'm too shaken up to laugh at her.

I am never...ever...EVER doing that again.

Ever.

"Let's go on that one" Tara yells, running towards it. Tiredly, Ted wafts a hand after her.

"We'll wait here for you" Ted tells her feebly. I would giggle, but right now I can't feel anything but relief and dread.

And Ted's warm palm against mine. My hand tingles, and I can feel myself starting to sweat.

I push that though to the back of my mind. I'm not thinking about that, I'm not thinking about that, I'm not thinking about... Great! Now I'm thinking about it.

Wow, his hands are really soft! I wonder if, like Patty, he uses some form of moisturiser. I bet he does. I bet he 'borrows' it from his mother. I cough, since a tickle is emerging in the back of my throat.

I realise I'm standing completely still, holding hands with Ted in the middle of a fairground. He tugs my hand, and instead of letting go (like I was sure he would have by now) he uses it to lead me to where Tara is standing, or dancing about.

"Look how cute that pink monkey is!" Tara squeals, and we look to where she's pointing.

Hung above the sign for Test Your Strength, is an overly fluffy bright pink monkey with a daft smile on its inanimate face. The love Tara has suddenly developed for this monkey is undeniable.

Ted releases my hand, and it stops tingling. Huh, what a coincidence...

He rolls up the sleeves of his shirt, and he marches towards the game. It turns out that the game is Test Your Strength, and Tara whoops in delight, because having a brother on the football team must come in handy when it comes to hitting people and moving heavy stuff.

Ted hands over the couple of dollars it takes to play the game, and the bored sales guy hands him a mallet. I have to laugh, I mean, it looks so funny! Ted jaw clenches, and Tara and I watch.

He takes a deep breath, and the suddenly swings the mallet, causing an ear splitting thud on the dusty board Ted has just whacked.

The dial shoots about half way up, but then dropped back down to the beginning. Tara's face falls. She tries to act like it doesn't bother her, when obviously it does. I feel so bad for her, so god only knows how her big brother Ted is currently feeling.

"That sharks nice" I point to a bright blue shark toy with a dopey grin on its face. Oddly enough, it has the same grin as Ted. It's on the shelf of conciliation prizes, and Tara sniffs, wiping her nose with her sleeve.

"You have the shark then Marnie" Tara says, and I look at her sad little face, crumpled up. Ted plucks the little shark from the shelf and thrusts it into my hands. I grin at the fluffy shark grinning at me.

"Hello Tigger!" I say brightly, naming my shark there and then. I then fish into my pockets, and pull out a couple of dollars, all that I've got left.

"You said you didn't have any money!" Ted realises, and I shrug, handing the money over.

"It’s for emergencies only, and its 2 dollars. You really wanna argue over 2 dollars?" I ask him, and he shakes his head. The bored sales guy takes the mallet from Ted, puts it back in a large pot, gets it out again and hands it to me.