Chapter Seventeen

A Chapter by Emmy

Stella, Derek, and Ryan are going to the Octoberfest at the school, but who's this guy at the can-throwing booth? What's with this blonde stalker following them?

The large archway into the fair was elegant. Covered in purple and orange balloons, it must have reached ten feet tall! I held my hand over my eyes. The midday sun was too much for anyone's eyes. I looked at the thousands of signs showing where the food and games were. Around me, kids were playing at the booths. One turned to yank on her mother's skirt while she cried about how she wanted to play.

Another kid was throwing a baseball at a stack of cans. The kid missed and looked to his mother. The mother reluctantly took out a dollar and paid for another try. The seconmd try was to no avail. The mother gripped the child and walked off. She knew this game was a rip off. A third kid had a balloon in his hand. He let go for a second to look at the fish put out as prizes for the can-throwing game. The kid turned to find his balloon flew away. He ran to his father in tears. His father picked him up and walked off to buy another one.

I ran up to the can-throwing booth happily. I wanted to try too. If kids couldn't get it, I probably could! Ryan and Derek came over behind me. "You sure you wanna waste your money on this game?" Derek asked.

I nodded confidently. Derek shrugged as I handed the man the money. I took the baseball firmly in my hand. I narrowed my eyes and focused. I threw the ball as hard as I could, but I failed. I looked up just in time to see the ball hit the cans weakly and drop to the ground. I looked up to the other prize choices. There was this giant stuffed black cat with my name practically written on it. I huffed angrily when I realized I wasn't going to get my prize.

I stared at my feet for a moment when suddenly out the corner of my eye, I saw a hand slam onto the table. It wasn't a hard slam, but you know what I mean. The hand moved to reveal a dollar. I followed the arm back to Ryan's shoulder. "Let me try," he laughed.

I nodded and stepped aside. Why was I always so nervous? He lifted his hand with the baseball and turned his shoulder. He looked a lot like a pitcher in baseball. I stared as her pegged the ball towards the cans. A moment passed and the cans were scattered about the floor. Derek and I stared in disbelief. "Don't they glue the cans together?" Derek thought aloud.

"They didn't do a good job glueing, then," Ryan teased.

The guy at the booth looked stunned. He looked to Ryan and smiled. I tried to think of which teahcer he was. I haven't seen him around the school often, but he taught something. He had to work here in order to take part, unless he's a parent. He wasn't a very tall man, but he wasn't short. He was bald on his head with a small beard. It only covered his chin and nothing more. The beard was black, so I guessed his hair was black before he was bald. He looked very interested. "I don't know if you know me," he said," but I'm Coach Nichols for the school's baseball team."

I knew he worked here! I stopped paying attention to the situation and looked over to this girl peekign at us from afar. I narrowed my eyes to her to focus. She was blonde with blue eyes; the "fairest" appearance for girls. She wasn't lookign at me though. She was staring at Ryan and Derek. She hid and ran off and I bolted after her. "Be back later!" I called out as I ran.

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