Carnival Hearts

The Carnival

Nathan had woken up earlier than he intended to. He had planned to sleep in the whole day. But then he remembered the carnival.
He quickly got up, now with a feeling of guilt in his stomach. He texted Delaney.

Delaney the Pidgeon

Nathan
delaney i'm not sure if i should do this

Delaney
What? you said you would yesterday!

Nathan
i know! but that was yesterday! this is today. i was just upset yesterday for how my mom acted and i was feeling confident. now i'm not so sure..

Delaney
Nathan. cmon don't you just wanna get out of the house for a bit? your friends are expecting you. you don't wanna let them down, do you?

Nathan
why're u acting so rebellious delaney? you never do that. what's up with u??

Delaney
I'm sorry. i honestly don't know. i guess everything with your mom has me upset and now i just wanna do anything to make you happy

Nathan thanks delaney. i'll sneak out meet me at 6:45 k?

Delaney
ok see u then

Nathan suddenly had a feeling of excitement that replaced his guilt. He was excited for tonight. Even though his mom had been mean to him, he was happy. He couldn't wait for tonight. He was going to have so much fun and he would be distracted from all of his thoughts about his mom. He also wanted to see if Dante would be at the carnival, too.
The only times Nathan went out of his room was to get food from the fridge and to go to the restroom. He did not interact with neither his mom nor his sister. He knew it was his sister that told his mom. That little 9 year old brat that sticks her nose in to everyone's business.

Time skip

       It was nearing 6:45 so Nathan got ready. He was nervous. He had never sneaked out before. He slowly got his bag and opened the window, trying not to make any noise. He was glad they had not gotten a 2 story house when Nathan begged for one some years ago. There was still some daylight so he could see where he was stepping. He saw Delaney's car parked on the street and went running to it. "Get in! Get in!" whisper-yelled Delaney. "Ok I'm coming!" said Nathan. Nathan got in the car and closed the door.
       They drove until they reached the place where the carnival was. "Damn, that place is packed," said Delaney in awe. It was. There were so many people  in the carnival. The line was so long that it reached the parking lot. "Hey Nathan, Delaney!" yelled Mark as they got out of the car and started walking towards the long line. He was in the middle of the line. "We figured it would be packed today so we decided to get here a bit earlier to be in the front of the line," said Rachel as Nathan and Delaney ran up to them. "Hey guys. Thanks for saving us the long wait," said Nathan. "Ah it's no big deal. We didn't have anything to do today anyway," said Carlos, eyeing some blond chick near the front of the line. "Hey Nathan, check out that cutie over there," said Carlos, motioning over to where the blond girl was standing. "You think she's cute?" asked Carlos while fixing his curly dark hair. "I erm," said Nathan while shooting quick glances at Delaney who looked at him back. They both laughed a little. "What's so funny?" asked Carlos. "Oh nothing. Yea she's cute. You should ask her out," said Nathan. "I wanted her for you- ok never mind. Yea I should ask her out," said Carlos.

Time skip

"I can't believe the line took that long!" explained Mark as they walked up to get their carnival bracelets. "Well that's what we have to go through if we want to have a good time," said Rachel. "Which ride do you guys want to go on first?" asked Nathan. "I dunno. I kinda want some cotton candy," said Delaney.
As they went over to the cotton candy stand, Nathan and his friends saw a big group of kids bunched up. Nathan noticed some were from school. "What's going on there?" asked Carlos. "I don't know. Let's check it out," said Rachel.
Nathan tried to squeeze himself through the bunch of people who were standing there yelling "Get em! Get em!" Finally, he got through enough to see what was going on in the middle. He didn't like what he saw.
There in the middle were two kids fighting on the ground and Dante fighting there, too. What the hell? Why is Dante there? I thought he was different.. thought Nathan sadly as he made his way back to his friends.
"So? What did you see?" asked Mark eagerly. "Oh nothing. Just a couple of kids fighting," said Nathan, trying to hide the hurt in his voice. "Fighting? Why isn't there any carnival employees trying to stop them?" asked Delaney. "Oh I saw some trying to squeeze in through the circle, but they weren't making much progress," said Carlos. "C'mon, let's go. We can get cotton candy later," said Rachel.
"What did you really see, Nathan?" asked Delaney quietly as they walked a little farther away from the group. "I saw Dante and two other kids fighting.. I really thought he was different Delaney! I thought he was different.." Nathan said softly. "That's ok Nathan. There are a whole lot of other people out there for you," said Delaney nicely.
"Guys! Hurry up! We're gonna get on the Fireball!" yelled Mark. "Coming!" yelled Nathan and Delaney at the same time.

Time skip

         It had been getting darker and Nathan still hadn't gone on the ferris wheel. That had been one of the rides he had been looking forward to the most.
         "Hey guys do you wanna go on the ferris wheel with me?" asked Nathan. "No I'm kind of nauseous from all of the rides," said Delaney. "Same here," said Carlos. "I'm really hungry and I haven't eaten anything since 4:00," said Mark. "I wanna go eat with Mark," said Rachel. "Are you kidding me? Ok fine I'll go by myself," said Nathan as he walked off to get in line for the ferris wheel. "Just my luck," said Nathan under his breath as he saw Dante in line with his friends for the ferris wheel, too.
        Dante saw Nathan get in line somewhere near the back. "Hey Nathan! Come up here with us!" yelled Dante. Great. What does he want now? thought Nathan angrily.
         Nathan made his way to where Dante and his friends were. "Hey Nathan," said a popular jock from school named Bernard. Nathan had just realized Bernard was there. Hey, thought Nathan, that's Delaney's crush. Maybe I can put in a good word for her.. "Um, Nathan?" asked Bernard while fumblimg with his thumbs. "Yea?" asked Nathan. "So um, you know your friend Delaney? She's uh, she's kinda cute," said Bernard, rubbing the back of his head with his hand. "You think so?" asked Nathan. "Yea. I do. Can you do me a favor? Can you give my number to her please and tell her to maybe say hi?" asked Bernard who was now blushing and handing a small slip of paper to Nathan. "Yea! Sure!" he grinned. "Save my spot, I'll be right back," said Nathan as he ran towards Delaney.
        "Hey Delaney!" yelled Nathan as he reached her. "Hey Nathan. Weren't you going to go on the ferris wheel?" asked Delaney. "Yea. I still am. But Bernard asked me to give this to you and to ask if maybe you'll say hi to him," said Nathan smirking. "B-bernard?" stuttered Delaney. She was blushing madly. "Yea, Bernard," said Nathan, still smirking. "All right, see ya!" said Nathan as he ran back to the line where Dante was, leaving Delaney speechless.
         "Hey just in time," said Dante as Nathan went over to where he was. Nathan didn't respond. "So um Bernard went with his other friend on the ferris wheel. Can you ride with me?" asked Dante. Wow, he just left didn't he? Just like a cliche story. Nathan shrugged. "C'mon, it's our turn," said Dante as he led Nathan to where the ferris wheel compartment was. Just as they reached it, they heard shooting in the distance.