The Weight of the World Read online

  “Got enough Unicorn?” Ryan asked Diana. The stuffed toy was nearly three feet long and had a rainbow mane.

  “You can never have enough unicorn,” she said.

  “I didn’t think it was possible to win one of those things.”

  “I have good aim.”

  Ryan rubbed the back of his neck and glanced over at Astin. In mere seconds his conversation had turned from receiving praise to a lecture from Astin about pop music’s part in the decline of modern entertainment. Ryan looked back at Diana, revealing a dazzling smile.

  “Want a snow cone?” he asked.

  Diana and Ryan headed off towards the snow cone stand, vanishing into the swarm of bodies before Astin could see where they had gone. They stepped into line, standing behind a large woman with two large children. “Having a good summer?” Diana asked.

  “I’m working for my neighbor. He started a landscaping business and I’ve been mowing lawns since school let out.”

  “That’s no way to spend summer vacation.”

  “That’s a good way to make some money,” he replied. “He’s paying ten dollars an hour.”

  “I take that back, it’s an awesome way to spend summer vacation. You could buy a car by fall.”

  “I don’t really need a car,” he said. “I live a mile from school and all of my friends have cars.”

  “Except for me.”

  “Except for you. I can always borrow my Dad’s car to go out with you.” Ryan focused on the flavor menu ahead. It was a large, painted composite board with too many colors on it. He glanced at Diana only for a moment to see if he could read a reaction on her face.

  “I never knew... what is Tiger’s Blood supposed to taste like?” she asked with a small smile on her lips.

  “Crap,” he said. “It’s terrible. It’s only so popular because of the name.”

  “Blue raspberry it is, then.”

  Ryan ordered a pair of snow cones and paid for them. They walked away from the stand. Ryan looked down at Diana. “So what would you think,” he asked, “about going out with me sometime?”

  “Are you asking me out or just asking me to envision it?”

  “I’m asking you out.”

  Diana looked back towards the spot where they had left the track team. She could see Astin’s head above the crowd. He was straining to spot his sister. She was a goddess, but she was also a teenager and she didn’t want to miss out on growing up just because she could talk to animals. Ryan was nice and polite, and they had a lot in common. Astin was going to hate this. “I think that sounds... great.”

  “Great,” he replied with a broad smile.

  “Astin’s looking for me,” she said. She was the moon and Astin was the sun. She knew he started to get a little cranky after dark. It was probably time to take her unicorn and head home.

  “I’ll call you,” he said.

  “Goodnight, Ryan.”

  “Freedom!” Devon shouted as she flung open the driver’s side door of her little red convertible. Adam stepped out of the passenger’s side, considerably less excited about their excursion.

  “So this is the fair?” he asked.

  “This is an excuse for you to talk to someone besides my Mom... well really it’s an excuse for both of us.” Devon hadn’t been out of the house since the big blow-out last week between Frank and her father. She wasn’t allowed to talk to Frank and he hadn’t so much as texted her again.

  Devon and Adam crossed the street from parking to the fair. She paid for admission and their hands were stamped with bright red smileys. “Alright. Food is priority one. I barely ate all day.” Normally carnival food was not in Devon’s diet, but she had been sick all morning and now she was ravenous for something greasy and unhealthy.

  Devon and Adam crossed the fairgrounds through the sea of picnic tables at the center. Jason Livingstone was sitting at an otherwise empty picnic bench with three small children. The oldest was a girl with brown pigtails and cotton candy stuck to her left cheek. The boys were twins, still toddlers, and Jason was busy trying to wipe ketchup from one of their noses.

  “Dr. Livingstone,” Devon said. “Can we sit here?”

  “Beware of flying french fries,” he said, glancing back at Devon. He had been wearing a polite smile when he turned to see who had asked, but the moment he realized who it was, the smile faded. “You and I ought to talk,” he said. “I’ve had words with Celene.”

  Devon’s constant flirty smile was gone. She nodded. “Okay.” She glanced back at Adam and then remembered her manners. “Oh, hey, Adam, this is Dr. Livingstone. He’s the school nurse. Doc, this is Adam.”

  “School nurse?” Adam asked as he shook Jason’s hand.

  “A long story,” Jason explained.

  “Uh, so... Adam. How about you go find what you want to eat or something. I need to talk to Livingstone about...” she cocked her head and nodded, as if trying to gesture to her own stomach. Adam nodded. The tall stranger vanished into the crowd.

  “Cousin?”

  “Dead neighbor's grandkid.”

  “Huh,” Jason said.

  “He’s been my savior the last week.” Devon sat down next to Jason’s daughter. She realized that she didn’t know anything about his family. She was going to be a mother. She knew she had to get over her dislike of kids fast. “What’s your name?” she asked.

  “Haley,” the little girl said. “That’s James and that’s Scotty.” Haley put her food down and focused her attention on Devon. “I like your earrings,” she said.

  “Thank you,” Devon smiled.

  “She’s pretty,” said James, though his R was unpronounced.

  “So Dr. Davis told you?” Devon asked.

  Jason nodded. “She’s worried about you.”

  “Not like Frank and I haven’t done this before... granted I can’t remember it.”

  “You’re a teenager first and a goddess second. I think it’s best for The Pantheon as a whole if you avoid seeing an obstetrician,” Jason said. “My speciality was pediatrics but I can still help you. It’s not safe to see someone outside of the circle of trust in case there’s something abnormal about your pregnancy.”

  “Abornmal, as in?”

  “As in Pantheon.”

  Devon took a deep breath. “Well, shit.”

  “She said a bad word!” Haley shouted.

  “Sorry,” Devon winced.

  “You have my email,” Jason said. “We can set up an appointment and figure out your cover. If you have any questions, email them. Don’t rely on Google. The internet will scare the life out of you if you just start Googling symptoms. Okay?”

  Devon stood up. “Got it. Okay, so I’m going to go before we draw attention. Bye.”

  Devon started looking for Adam. She thought that because he was tall and kind of dreamy that he would be easy to see. There were just so many people here. Her neck was stretched high to look over the crowd; she didn’t even notice Evan until she had collided with him. He was the same height as Devon-- therefore smaller when she wore heals-- and he nearly fell over when she walked into his back.

  Evan Fuller was anything but steady on his feet. He was an awkward teenager who walked with a limp. Devon yelped when she crashed into him and grabbed his arms to steady herself as she wobbled on her stilettos.

  “Devon,” Evan breathed as he turned around to see who had tried to bowl him over. This was why summers in Florida were dangerous for teenage boys. Too many hot girls with sun-kissed skin, walking around in barely anything. He recognized her figure, dressed in cut-off short shorts, before he saw her face. Evan could see a bright red bikini top through her thin white t-shirt and it took all of his willpower to force his eyes to meet hers. “You okay?”

  “Yeah, yeah I’m fine. Just looking for someone.”

  “Frank?” Evan asked, guessing the obvious.

  “Actually, no. Haven’t seen him in a week. I’m looking for this guy Adam. My parents have me carting him around to entertain him.”<
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  Evan started to ask about Frank, but he closed his mouth before any poorly chosen words had a chance to topple out. “How’s your summer?” he asked.

  “Suck. I won't be going to any of Teddy Wexler's parties this summer. I’m grounded for pretty much ever.”

  “What did you do?”

  Devon snorted, “Got knocked-up.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “You heard me,” Devon said, looking Evan square in the eyes. He had nice, kind eyes. She could see real sympathy there. “I’m pregnant.”

  “Oh.”

  “How’s your summer?”

  “Well,” Evan said. “I’m not pregnant?”

  Devon smiled at his bad joke.

  “I finished my Night Prowler.”

  “Your what?”

  “It’s an all-terrain go-kart I’ve been working on for a couple of years. I built it from scratch. You can race it on mountains. I’m hoping to take it somewhere for a good test drive this summer.”

  “Oh, that’s neat.” Devon was already looking over his shoulder for Adam. Evan was very familiar with reading signs of disinterest.

  “Well, see you,” he said.

  “Huh?”

  “Good luck finding your friend.”

  Adam wandered through the crowd with a fresh twenty-dollar bill crumpled in his fist. He wasn’t really interested in the ferris wheel or trying to win any prizes. Ferris wheels were only fun to ride with a girl and the prizes were all useless crap.

  In this crowd he knew no one and nobody knew him. He examined the occasional face, looking for someone he might recognize.

  Peter Hadley’s was the first face his eyes fell on that seemed as disinterested in the fair as he was. The weedy teenager was propped against the striped side of a food concession hut, flipping through a menu on a cell phone and looking lost. He looked up and his gaze caught Adam’s. He did an awful lot of staring, but Peter found that he didn’t really like it when the eyes were on him.

  “Can I help you?” he asked, shoving his phone in his pocket.

  “Sorry,” Adam said. “You were just interesting.”

  Peter laughed bitterly. “Am I?”

  “You’re the only person here who doesn’t seem like he wants to be here.”

  “I was hoping to run into someone.”

  “A girl?”

  Peter squinted. “A friend,” he said, ignoring the fact that Penelope Davis was a girl and that Adam was spot on in pinpointing Peter’s hopes. “Who are you?”

  “Adam,” he said. “I moved in next to Devon Valentine. Do you know her?”

  “Peter,” Peter introduced himself. “And yeah, I know Devon. Everyone does.”

  “Her family is nice,” Adam said, omitting any mention of the current drama.

  “There you are,” said Devon as she found Adam through the crowd. She stopped next to him and nodded to Peter. “I guess you two have met.”

  “Is he a friend of yours?” Adam asked.

  “We were kind of kidnapped together this winter,” Peter supplied.

  “Come again?”

  “Some delusional psychopaths. It was in all of the papers. There were a bunch of us.”

  Adam’s blue eyes were wide and wondering. The pair seemed incredibly casual about being the victims of such a potentially scarring crime.

  “Mom texted. She wants me home so she can be sure I’m not with Frank.”

  “It was nice to meet you, Peter,” Adam said.

  “Yeah,” Peter replied.

  Peter turned his back and slipped into the crowd, ready to go home.

  Summer vacation was no excuse for June Herald to slack off. Keeping busy was the easiest way to keep her mind off of her ex, Zach. It wasn't easy to forget him when they met once a week for The Pantheon. She had to look at his stupid face every Sunday afternoon.

  She had gotten the idea for the fundraiser from a news article back in March. June had formed a group (she had borrowed members from student council and Valerie Hess' virgin club) dedicated to buying Kindles for the special needs students in the Miami school system.

  June had set up a booth just outside of the south gate to the fairgrounds. She had built elaborate displays out of foam core and plastered them with colorful stock images of multiracial children reading. Two younger girls flanked the booth and handed neon fliers to people who passed by. June stood close to the table, ready to pitch her plan to anyone who approached.

  The fair had been mildly successful, so far. June had spoken with a mother of a visually impaired child, who invited her to come speak at her church. A few teachers from the district had signed up for her email list, too.

  It was some time after nine when the trouble started. June was showing her Kindle to a curious elderly gentleman when another man stepped in. “I've got the Fire,” he offered, “if you'd like to see it.”

  June looked up from her Kindle. The younger man was perhaps in his early forties with a high hairline and large ears. He was wearing blue jeans and a t-shirt with a brown curdoroy blazer. His black hair was slicked back and his brown eyes trained on June. “It's in color,” he said, flashing a smile. June returned the smile and flipped her long red hair, despite her unease. Was he hitting on her?

  She looked down at his screen, as a courtesy, even though she had seen the Kindle Fire and wasn't that impressed with the battery life. Her eyes fell on a verse of poetry in the text. Golden-throned Hera, among immortals the queen. It was a page from Edith Hamilton's Mythology. She froze. It had to be coincidence. There was no way this man knew.

  “That's very nice,” she said. She forced a smile back on her lips and nodded her head. “Though, perhaps it is more than the schools need. Battery life is a more valuable feature for this application.”

  The man nodded. “You have a mailing list?” he asked.

  June turned to the table and picked up the clipboard with the email sign-up sheet. “We do. We'll be sending out periodic updates about the campaign.” She handed him a pen and watched carefully as he signed his name.

  Julius Spade. She committed it to memory.

  “Have a good night,” he said, handing back the pen and slipping his Kindle into the interior pocket of his blazer. “I'll be keeping an eye on you.”

  Nick Morrisey watched Tyra Washington walk away from him, her dark hair swaying wide with her fury stomp. He had pretended to look hurt until he was sure she wasn’t going to look back, then he leaned against the light post behind him and pulled out his cell phone to set his Facebook status to single.

  He looked up from his phone just in time to see his fellow Pantheon member, Valerie Hess, wave goodbye to a female friend. She was one of the only people wearing long pants and her modest lavender blouse might as well have been a nun’s habit, seen among the crowd of girls walking around the fair in shorts and bikini tops. She was alone. Nick turned his red visor upside down, jammed it down over his mop of black curls, and swooped in.

  “Heya, Hess. How’s the summer treating you?”

  Valerie took a deep breath and let it out, steeling herself to deal with Nick. “Great. Relaxing. How is your summer?”

  “Rescued a kid from a rip current this morning,” he said, as if that happened pretty regularly. “Saved his life. It kind of brought me back to my unfinished business.”

  “As a lifeguard?”

  “You,” he said, stopping in her path so that Valerie had to focus on him. She was a pretty Chinese girl with a quiet presence. Nick liked bombshells, but what he really liked was to ruffle Valerie’s feathers.

  Valerie rolled her eyes.

  “You have to admit,” he said, “we have great chemistry.”

  “You have to admit, you like girls who put out in under two weeks and I want none of that.” Valerie was incredibly annoyed, but she kept her tone level. She remembered how he had stood outside the abstinence club pledge drive this winter and made fun of her choices. There was no way she would ever consider getting caught up with a guy like hi
m.

  “We’re Pantheon, Valerie. We need someone to lean on.”

  “The Pantheon has fourteen other members; I like all of them better than you.” Valerie stepped around Nick and kept walking. She felt anger surging up behind her and stopped. Nick was really mad.

  “You’re really kidding yourself,” Nick said when she turned around.

  “I think you’re the one who’s kidding himself.”

  “Just admit it. You may have pledged yourself to those virgins, but you still want me. You always have.”

  Valerie shook her head.

  “You wouldn’t be the first.”

  “You’re delusional.”

  “I can have any girl I want. I'm a god. Think of all of the power we would have if we paired off, Valerie. Zach and June are over. Frank’s too stupid to take control. It’d be me and you, in charge. We could take the reigns from Zach.”

  “I don’t really want to lead The Pantheon. Zach saved all of our lives in February. And you’re nothing special. You have any easy time with easy girls, Nick. You’re just the same as everyone else when it comes to dating girls with standards.”

  That stung. Nick knew that all of his targets over the last few months had been easy. Tyra had put up the most fight, taking three weeks, and all it had finally taken for Nick was to get her some jewelry. None of his pursuits were really a challenge.

  “Alright, you’re on.”

  “What?”

  “You’ll see,” Nick said. He had a sudden smirk on his face and a twinkle in his eye. The cloud of anger had dissipated around him and left the buzz of excitement. Valerie wasn’t sure if the change she felt was a relief. “Expect a call from me,” he said.

  Nick left Valerie standing there, confused.

  Her watch beeped. It was time for her to head back to the booth where she was working with the Olympia Heights Senior High abstinence club. They were trying to catch incoming freshmen before the summer even started. Valerie was President. She fiddled with the gold cross hanging around her neck as she returned to her post. She knew that Nick was a troll. He wanted to get under her skin, and yet she couldn’t deny him that pleasure because she just couldn’t shake his threats from her mind. What was he going to do?