The Fall of Candy Corn (8 page)

She headed for the History Zone, hoping to catch Kurt before he left. Just as she entered that part of the park, people were streaming out. She could tell from the costumes they had to be coming from the Mummy's Curse. There were mummies, people with animal heads, and a guy who looked like he was being eaten alive by scarab beetles.

Suddenly one of the mummies collapsed onto the ground. Several people dropped down to check on the person. Someone in black clothes got on a walkie-talkie.

“We have a mummy down. I repeat, a mummy is down.”

Candace bit her lip. Josh had warned her that every weekend at least one mummy fainted from the heat of the costume. This must be the first one, and Scare hadn't even started yet.

Suddenly the guy covered in scarab beetles noticed Candace. “Hey, look! It's Candy!” he said, pointing to her.

Several people came up to her, talking all at once.

“Wow, it's really you!”

“I'm so sorry about what happened. That must have been terrifying!”

“Kurt told me about how the psycho locked him in the bathroom. He said he could hear you screaming but couldn't come to help.”

“Did the guy hurt you?”

“Wait, Kurt said what?” Candace asked, not sure if she had heard right and unclear who in the group had said it.

“All right, coming through!” a loud voice boomed.

Everyone turned to see paramedics with a stretcher. The group moved closer to the fallen mummy.

“Heat exhaustion,” one of the paramedics said. “Happens every year.”

“What did Kurt say?” Candace asked again. No one was listening though.

Candace shook her head and kept walking. Kurt couldn't really be helping spread the urban legend, could he?

She made it to the entrance of the Horrific History maze just in time to catch Kurt as he was leaving.

“Hey, there's my Candace!” he said brightly, as though nothing had happened earlier.

“Hey,” she said.

“How'd it go?” he asked.

“Good, but I'm exhausted already. I can't imagine how I'm going to survive the weekend.”

“It's amazing how much adrenaline can help with that. Once people are running through the mazes laughing and screaming, it will give you a boost. You'll probably sleep half of Monday, but I guarantee you'll make it through the weekend.”

“I hope so.”

“It's going to be an awesome year, I can tell. Everyone's already really excited. Your maze is incredible. It will have them lining up halfway across the park.”

“About that. Kurt, did you tell people that there really was a psycho killer who chased me through the park?” she asked.

“No. Other people told me that,” he said with a smile.

“Did you tell them it wasn't true?”

“I tried, but gave up. People would rather believe it's true.”

“So, what did you tell them?” she asked.

“I might have said that the psycho locked me in one of the bathrooms so that I couldn't come to your aid.”

“You didn't!”

He smiled impishly. “And it's possible I said that I could hear you screaming but couldn't crawl out of the window because it was too small.”

“Kurt! How could you lie like that?!” she asked, amazed.

“And it was probably me that mentioned that I broke my arm trying to batter down the door.”

She stared at him in disbelief. Now it was easy to see why she was fighting a losing battle in proclaiming the truth. For every truth she told, Kurt told a lie, and so the legend only grew.

“You're not helping, you know.”

“What? People are going to believe it anyway. All I'm doing is adding a little flavor, making it a little more interesting. That's all. A year from now people won't even be able to link it to us. Might as well have fun with the urban legend while we can.”

“You are unbelievable! Forget the fact that you're lying, how can you stand to draw that much attention to yourself?”

“Hello? Look what I do for a living. What's a little more attention?”

“Okay, fine. But please think about me. I really don't want or need this kind of attention. I'm tired of being stared at and talked about and questioned about things that never happened. It's humiliating!”

“Candace, I'm sorry you feel that way. Really I am.”

“So, will you stop helping the story along?”

“No.”

What could she say to that? She just stared at him, wondering if there was anything anyone could say to change his mind. She thought wildly of trying to get her father to get an injunction that would keep Kurt from talking about those things. However, that was only likely to draw even more unwelcome attention.

“Sorry,” he said.

She turned and walked away, not trusting herself to say anything to him at that moment. She was angry and profoundly disappointed.

“Candace, you okay?”

She turned and saw Becca. The other girl was dressed up like a pirate and walking with some of the others from the Muffin Mansion. Becca separated from the group and came to a stop by Candace.

“I'm mad at Kurt,” Candace blurted out without thinking.

“I'm sorry. What happened?”

“He's telling people that I really was chased around the park by a psycho killer. He's not helping me clear it up; he's feeding the fires of curiosity and making the legend more bizarre. I asked him to stop, and he won't.”

Becca put her hand on Candace's shoulder. “That stinks. Try and see it from his point of view though.”

“And that would be what exactly?”

“When else is Kurt in his entire life going to have the chance to be this famous?”

“What?” Candace asked. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Everything actually. For right now, the story is exciting. Everyone wants to hear about it, and he gets to be famous. I'm sure he's also adding little touches to make himself sound heroic too.”

“He's claiming he broke his arm trying to break down a bathroom door to save me.”

“See? When will he ever get to be that kind of hero in real life?”

“You never know,” Candace said.

“Exactly. And neither does he. With guys, it's usually about ego. The story makes him feel important, special. He probably doesn't want anybody, including you, taking that away from him.”

“But he's lying,” Candace protested.

“Yeah. I'm not saying it's right. I'm just telling you what's probably going on inside his head.”

On Friday morning Candace woke up with full-fledged butterflies in her stomach. She turned off her alarm and considered retreating back under her covers. It reminded her of how she had felt when she first went to work at The Zone. Come on, Candace, she lectured herself. That turned out pretty well.

She was at least grateful to finally be back home in her own bed. She'd had the best night's sleep she'd had in days. She dragged herself out of bed and got dressed. Then she headed downstairs to catch a ride from her mom. Tamara had some kind of appointment and had told Candace she couldn't give her a ride to school.

Candace found her mom in the kitchen, downing her morning cup of coffee. Her mom looked at her over the brim of the cup and said, “Nervous.”

It wasn't a question, but a statement. Candace had known her mom long enough to tell the difference.

“Is it that obvious?” Candace asked.

Her mom nodded slowly, as though she didn't have enough caffeine running through her system to function fully yet.

“It's going to be okay though, right?” Candace asked.

“I don't know,” her mom said.

Candace stared at her for a minute. “What do you mean?”

“I can't promise you everything is going to be okay. I don't know that it will.”

“What happened to the standard ‘everything will be okay'?” Candace asked.

Her mom shrugged. “You're practically an adult. You'll be eighteen in a couple of months. I think you're old enough for the truth.”

Candace slumped. “I like the platitudes better,” she grumbled.

“Don't we all,” her mom said, draining the last of her coffee. “Ready to go?”

“No.”

A few minutes later her mom dropped her at the corner by her school. As Candace trudged through the parking lot, she noticed Tamara's car. That was weird. She had assumed Tam would be missing homeroom for whatever it was she had to do.

“Way to go, Candace,” a guy said, walking toward his car. He gave her double thumbs-up, and she smiled.

“Thank you,” she said, not sure what he was praising her for.

A couple of freshmen giggled and waved to her. Candace waved back. “What is happening?” she said under her breath.

A moment later she spotted the first banner. At first glance it looked like any of the billboards around town advertising Scare. Looking closer, though, she saw what the difference was. There was a picture of her in her Scare costume.

She stumbled and nearly fell. As she stared in horror, the words underneath the photo came into focus. Come see senior Candace Thompson at her night job. Come tonight with Valley Church youth group and get in free! There was also a contact number to call for details.

“Tamara!” Candace hissed.

As though on cue, her friend appeared. “Surprise!” Tamara said, a huge grin on her face.

“How could you do this to me?” Candace asked.

“You pretty much did it to yourself,” Tamara said. “I figured I'd just make sure you have a good opening-night crowd.”

“But, but I don't want people I know to be there! First church and now school! I won't be able to show my face anywhere by the time you're through!”

“That's what friends are for,” Tamara said.

“You keep saying that, but I don't think this is what friends are for,” Candace said, gesturing toward the sign. A passing junior mistook the gesture and gave her a high five as he walked by.

“Look at that, you're famous. Now I'm the one in your shadow,” Tamara laughed, clearly enjoying herself.

Candace wasn't going to be able to make Tamara see just how embarrassing the whole thing was. She stared at her friend in bewilderment. She knew that Tamara thought she was doing a good thing.

Let it go Candace. This can only end in tears, probably your own. She closed her eyes. God, please help me to get through this without completely humiliating myself, she prayed.

She heard a series of wolf whistles followed by a guy saying, “Way to go, Candace!”

So much for complete humiliation. She opened her eyes and squared her shoulders. “Let's get this day over with,” she said.

By the time Candace made it to drama, she was exhausted. She had kept a fake smile plastered on all day and had answered dozens of questions, many from people she didn't even know. When the drama class gave her a standing ovation as she entered, she figured it was the crowning moment of the school day and did the only thing she could. She took a bow.

“I didn't think people got applause until after they performed,” she joked.

“Depends on the circumstances,” Mr. Bailey said.

Candace took her seat and was grateful that after the initial outburst, the class became less about her and more about improvisation. Better yet, when her turn came, she got to act out the role of an old man, which was as far from a cotton candy vendor as she could get.

The moment school let out, she called Kurt and told him what Tamara had done. Kurt just started laughing.

“It's not funny!” Candace protested.

“Sure it is. Besides, that's awesome. Just imagine, everyone you know will come see you.”

She rolled her eyes in frustration as she realized she had chosen the wrong person to vent to. Kurt spent his days as a costumed character. He enjoyed showing off.

“This is completely humiliating,” she said.

“Get over it. You'll be fine. And just imagine how cool this will make Scare for everyone who knows you. You should be happy that you're not wearing a mask. This way everyone will know who you are.”

“Great,” Candace said.

“It's going to be an awesome Scare. All the mazes look awesome.”

“I haven't had a chance to look at them all,” Candace admitted.

“You totally should. You're lucky, though, you're working in the coolest one. Candy Craze is going to draw the biggest crowds this year. Lines will probably be at least an hour long.”

Maybe most of the people she knew would give up and head for the mazes with shorter lines. She could hope at least.

“Which is your favorite?” she asked Kurt.

“Well, obviously I have a soft spot for Candy Craze.”

“I would hope so.”

“But my favorite has got to be Tombstone in the Old West part of the History Zone. It's killer.”

“Very funny.”

“As far as the rides go, I think the River Styx overlay of the Odyssey boat ride is way cool.”