Love and Fandoms (18 page)

MANDY

Mandy followed her
group into the haunted dungeon, holding back the huge smile she wanted to
release, but she kept it in check to stay in zombie character. She couldn't
help but give Kareem a wink as she passed him, though. He did such a great job
as the vampire master of the maze, amping everyone up for their trip into the
haunted dungeon. As she passed through the front door of the clubhouse, she
began her slow zombie shuffle. Luci, at the head of the line, didn't let the
group rush through in order to let them best appreciate the maze, so Mandy had
no trouble keeping up.

Last night had
been fun, but tonight, Halloween night, was shaping up to be even better.
Yesterday a few people attended in costume, and today well over half the kids
and teens alike were dressed up. Even some of the parents had on costumes,
which was beyond cool. The little ones wore Halloween classics and cartoon
princes and princesses, and they were all so cute. She also enjoyed the
costumes on the older kids, many of which were from fandoms she never would
have recognized before this year. Her favorite so far was a Jayne from Firefly,
which she finally got around to watching this week around homework, blowing
through the entirely too short series in three nights. She had plans to watch the
follow-up movie, Serenity, sometime tomorrow. The kid dressed as Jayne was
probably 12 or 13, and he wore a dusty brown sweatshirt, desert camouflage
pants, a bandolier across his chest, and the iconic orange and yellow knit cap
on his head. He also clutched a big plastic Super-Soaker, though the water
chamber was empty. She couldn't help but wonder if his parents had told him to
leave it that way, or if he'd already spent the payload. Either answer gave her
the giggles.

The group passed
through the short opening passage with a strobe light, disorienting some of the
younger kids, but, as with every group, they simply laughed and kept up. They
turned the corner and came to the first of the scares. A paper mache bat
swooped through the air a few feet above their heads, bringing a few screams,
followed by even more when a huge rubber rat, the size of a tabby cat, raced
through the middle of the line. It was all topped off with a gigantic rubber
spider, the size of a bowling ball with legs, in the middle of a cotton-string
web lowering down upon them. The group, as always, hurried under it, ducking
and shrieking in delight.

The next big scare
was the maze's only real set piece, the thing Kareem and his group introduced
in their skit. Doll and mannequin parts, all covered with fake blood, littered
the clubhouse kitchen area. Two of the teen group members were dressed in
butcher whites splattered with the same blood. They wore grotesquely-shaped
rubber masks and held plastic carving knives. None of it looked real, but when
viewed all together, it was scary enough. Sometimes the kids dressed as
butchers made like they were going to chase after the group, but usually they
simply stopped pretending to chop up the body parts and stared, which Mandy had
to admit unsettled even her.

Next came two long,
dark hallways where spooky storm noises and other horror sound effects were
piped in to set the mood, along with flashes that looked like lightning. Other
than that, though, nothing happened here. That in itself unnerved most of the patrons.
It also set up her favorite part of the whole maze — Wyatt popping out of the
wall. The bat, rat, and spider got a scream, the bloody butchers more of a
response, but after a long walk of nothing, him popping out almost always got
the loudest shrieks and yells of the entire maze. Wyatt, with his usual reserved
and quiet attitude, put on a show she'd never before seen from him, and she
loved it.

This time, as they
started down the first of the long hallways, she let her mind wander to Alex.
It was good he had to sit home alone on another Saturday night, and a special
one at that. He might actually realize how wrong he'd been last Sunday. But,
then again, last time he'd reflected and supposedly changed for the better, it had
only lasted a week. And judging from how he told the story of the near-riot, he
didn't think he had done anything wrong. No matter what, maybe it really was
time to call it quits. She told Luci as much yesterday, but now she needed to
make it true. After all, if it hadn't been for the addition of Wyatt, Kareem,
and Allyssa — at least until she'd decided to get so possessive of Wyatt — in
her life, Alex probably would have ruined her senior year. Tomorrow she'd stop
by his house and break up with him. Four years said she owed him that rather
than a phone call, text, or Facebook post. No doubt he'd attempt to stop her,
but unlike after the comic-con, there was nothing he could do or say that would
change her mind.

Allyssa would
prove more of a problem. She figured the reason she'd grown so possessive of
Wyatt this past week was because Mandy was having trouble with Alex, and she
viewed her as a threat. An ultimatum would probably come where Allyssa forbade him
from seeing her any more, but she'd worry about that if and when it happened.
Right now she needed to focus on Alex. He'd been such a big part of her life
these past four years, but she'd be okay. Sad? Sure, but she'd get over him.

She barely
registered the turn out of the second hallway to Wyatt's scare area. Tears
threatened to overwhelm her, and she had to stop. Not tears of sorrow or regret,
but happy ones. Life would go on without Alex, and she'd be a better person for
it. This was the best decision she could make, and there was no longer any
doubt about it.

"Mandy."
A whispered voice broke her out of her thoughts. "Mandy." She looked
up and saw Wyatt, sans-mask, his head out of his hidden window, staring at her
with a worried expression on his face. She'd lost her group.

She smiled at him,
and whispered, "I'm fine," as she walked towards him. Hopefully he'd
see through Allyssa's crap soon, but she wouldn't push. Well, much, anyway. As
she passed by him with as sultry a smile as she could conjure up in zombie
makeup, instead of high-fiving him, she caressed his cheek. His eyes went wide,
but she was gone before he could say anything. She giggled. Let him think on
that.

As she exited the
building, Luci stood waiting. "What happened? Did we lose someone?"

"No."
She looked over to the other tour guides and saw Allyssa entranced with her
phone. Good, at least she wasn't going to be suspicious of Mandy coming out
late. "I need to talk to you. Let's tell the other guides we need a
break." It would be no problem. There were a dozen of them leading and
following groups tonight, and there was never more than one or two groups
inside at a time while another watched the skit waiting to enter.

She led Luci over
to the other side of the church where no one was or had any reason to be. Best
not to be overheard.

"Okay, so
you're acting weird," Luci said. "What's going on?"

"I'm breaking
up with Alex. No matter what he says, it's over. And I'm fine with that. It's
for the best."

Luci gave her a
hug. "You know I'm here for you no matter what, but didn't you already
tell me this yesterday?"

"I was only
thinking about it. Now I'm 100% sure."

"That's
great, but you haven't even talked to him today. Why the big decision
now?"

"I don't
know. It hit me while we were going through the maze. It feels right."

Luci didn't say
anything, only stared at her, waiting for her to spill more. As always, it
didn't take long for her penetrating gaze to get to her.

"Okay, fine,
I'm crushing hard on Wyatt."

"Well, no
duh, but haven't you seen that he has Allyssa perpetually draped all over
him?"

"Yeah,"
she said in a meek voice. "But she doesn't deserve him."

"So you're
going to break them up so you can swoop in and save him?"

"No. Well,
not really. But if he picks up on my hints that she's not right for him, then
it's a good thing. Besides, I've loved him since we were kids. If junior high
hadn't intervened, he'd already be mine, and I'd be his."

"Might I
remind you that you were the one in a serious relationship since eighth grade,
while he pined after you?"

"I know, but
… Wait, what? No, he didn't. I would have noticed. He would have said … Okay,
he's Wyatt, so he wouldn't have said anything, but I would have noticed."

"Oh yeah? I
have an example for you. Sophomore year. The paint-sitting incident."

Oh, lordy, that
had been an excruciating lunch period. She couldn't remember why, but she,
Alex, and Luci ate lunch over near the math building that day, close to where
Wyatt and Kareem always hung out, though that hadn't been the reason. She kept
tabs on him, sure, but she never stalked him that blatantly. Anyway, somehow
she sat in or leaned against fresh red paint and both Alex and Luci thought it
was the funniest thing ever since it vaguely resembled a menstrual stain. Or so
they claimed. More likely it looked like she simply sat in red paint, but they
had her convinced everyone would laugh at her. Luci lent her a sweater to tie
around her waist until she could get to her soccer shorts, but, of course, her
15 year old mind had thought up too many horrible scenarios where people saw
the paint and laughed at her for the rest of her life. She'd gone around the
corner of the math building where no one could see and tried blotting as much
of it off as she could, which only made it worse. When she got to the point
where the paint wouldn't ruin Luci's sweater, they returned to their backpacks,
and she found a new pair of Spirit Shorts, shorts the school's student store
sold in case of emergencies such as this one. None of them had even thought of
those, and she never did find out who left that pair for her. So why did Luci
bring it up? What did Wyatt have to do with it?

"So?"
she finally asked.

"Didn't you
ever wonder who bought you those Spirit Shorts?"

"Yeah, but …
You're not saying Wyatt did that, are you? He would have said something …"
No, again, he wouldn't have. Not Wyatt.

"I saw him
sneak up and put them on your stuff. Remember? I was keeping lookout around the
corner while Alex was watching the other way. Wyatt moved so carefully to not
be seen that I knew he didn't want anyone to know. Who was I to rat him out?"

"I would have
liked to know."

"For what
purpose? I'm sure Alex, even then, wouldn't have been thrilled with that, so I
let his good deed go unnoticed, like he wanted."

Yeah, that made
sense. And then Mandy couldn't hold it back any longer. Tears poured out of
her. Not for her ending relationship, but for the one she wanted to start but
couldn't. She'd loved him when they were eight — sure, it was silly kid love,
but it was a form of love, nonetheless — and she loved him still, though now
she actually knew what it meant. She took a deep breath and got her tears under
control. She didn't want to think about what they had done to her zombie
makeup.

"Now that I
know, maybe I should step in and get him to drop Allyssa."

"As long as
you're subtle about it, I won't say anything, but I really think you should let
him make his own decision."

"Yeah,
because we both know how great he is with decisions."

Luci hugged her
again. "Then there's your answer." She started laughing.

"What's so
funny?"

"Nothing.
It's just, well, we've been friends forever, and this might be the first bit of
true drama you've ever brought."

Now Mandy laughed
right along with her. "Uh-oh. Kareem isn't going to want to hang out with
me anymore."

"He'll live.
Anyway, you should worry about Alex before you even think about Wyatt."

"You're
right. Thanks for everything, Luc."

"You know I
love you, babe. We should probably get back."

"Is my zombie
face all smeared?"

Luci gave her a
once-over. "Yeah, but it still looks very zombish, so you're good."

They threw their
arms over each others shoulders and headed back.

WYATT

Wyatt wasn't sure
whether he wanted the night to end or not. Scaring people was the best, but he
had no clue what was going on with the girls. Why had Mandy stopped in the
middle of the maze? When he'd gotten her attention, she gave him a weird look,
and then brushed his face with her hand. Now every time she passed, they still
high-fived, but it somehow felt different, more charged. And when Luci came
towards him, she still gave him a discrete thumbs-up, but her smile was a bit odd.
Something was going on, and he didn't think he was being either paranoid or
self-important to say it revolved around him.

Allyssa didn't
seem to be a part of it, and while she continued winking and waving, she seemed
distracted. The more he thought about it, the more he realized she'd been like
that all evening, even when they first got here. So, yeah, with all of that
going on, he wasn't sure which he wanted. Kareem's aversion to drama never
looked smarter.

Right at 10
o'clock, the lights flickered on, and Kareem's voice sounded through the
dungeon. "Great job, everyone. We're done. Come out front."

Wyatt brought the
mask and glove with him this time, figuring if he didn't, they might get lost
in the clean up. Unlike last night, Clay waited for everyone to gather around
before engaging the group. Wyatt stood next to Kareem and Allyssa, while Mandy
and Luci stood on the other side of the group. Both offered discrete smiles,
probably because of Allyssa, but by the way she fiddled with her phone, they
needn't have bothered. She barely acknowledged him, simply offering him a
"Hey, sweetie," when he came up next to her.

"Thanks,
everyone," Clay said. "Especially those of you who don't even go to
our church. It was super awesome of you guys to help out. All we need to do now
is go around and pick up trash and small items that might get blown away or
taken. Otherwise, teen group, we'll take care of the rest tomorrow after
church. We have plenty of hot dogs, chips, and sodas when we're done picking
things up, and The Chunky Cookie has a free cookie for everyone, so let's get
things done so we can party!"