“I don’t think we’re all that different,” she said.
But she couldn’t really be sure about that. She barely knew him. She didn’t even know if he was a Christian. But how did you just casually drop a question like that into the conversation? Her mind began to teem with other questions. She pushed them to the side. She didn’t want to get all intense on him. She wasn’t shopping for a husband; she was just trying to enjoy a simple date with a guy who liked her too.
15
The closer the Scavenger Hunt got, the more nervous Candace became. It was bad enough that Josh’s team was spending time getting in shape by jogging, but what was worse was there were teams far more fanatical than his. With her new schedule, she got to The Zone before the gates officially opened in the morning. Not one, not two, but five teams were there early in the morning getting into shape by running. One person on the team would shout a destination, and the entire group would change direction instantly and race off. More frightening, all five teams were practicing with their members roped together. It was like every morning was a trial run for the real thing.
She had been driven by some competitive urge to challenge Josh and his team, but now she began to think her team would be lucky to survive the event, let alone finish. Just watching them all running around as she set up her cart in the morning made her feel drained. At least it gave her something different to worry about.
She was still upset about her fight with Tamara. Her friend’s birthday was in a couple of days, and they should have been celebrating together. The year before they had spent the weekend at San Simeon touring Hearst Castle and playing at the beach. She wondered where Tamara’s parents were taking her this year and whether or not she had found a new friend to go along with them. It seemed hard to believe that they’d been friends since kindergarten and in just a couple of weeks it was over. Friendships didn’t end like that, did they? It was just a fight. Shouldn’t they say they were sorry and forgive each other? It’s what God would want. There was a verse about not letting the sun go down on your anger, and she thought about it every night while she was falling asleep. A dozen times Candace had thought about calling, but she was still too hurt to do so. Tamara was a Christian too, and she didn’t seem to feel the need to call. Hadn’t Tamara been the unreasonable one? Shouldn’t she have to call first? Candace wanted to make everything all right, but every time she reached for the phone her own pain and anger were too much for her.
At least things were going well with Kurt. It bothered her a little bit that it was easier to talk and confide with Josh than Kurt, but she thought that they were probably more naturally reserved and nervous around each other because they were dating. Well, that, and kissing was a lot more fun than talking. She was also still bothered about his lack of forethought about the future. For all she knew she was just a summer fling to him, and he would forget about her once she was in school and he wasn’t. Those kinds of thoughts only led to more discontent, so she thought it best to avoid them whenever possible. Her last summer of high school was already more than half over, and she intended to get as much enjoyment out of the second half as she possibly could. Except for missing Tamara. Josh was awesome, but as cool as he was and as easy to talk to, he could never replace her.
Wednesday afternoon as Candace was about to get off work and head home, Martha swung by her cart.
“Just a reminder, you’re working the event tomorrow over in the picnic area.”
“Don’t you mean the Party Zone?” Candace joked.
Martha smirked. “Very good.”
“I can’t be the first person to think of that name; I mean, come on.”
“You know, I’m not sure,” Martha said. “Anyway, tomorrow —”
“I won’t forget,” Candace assured her. “It’s my one shot to do something different.”
“Feeling pretty cocky since you mastered the mysteries of the cart, huh?” Martha asked, a twinkle in her eye.
“You might say that. Certainly feeling more adventurous.”
“Good enough. Good luck tomorrow.”
“Thanks.”
Later that night, while IMing with Josh, she noticed that Tamara was online for the first time in days. She thought about sending her a quick happy-early-birthday message but decided against it. Her birthday wasn’t until Friday. Maybe she’d send her an ecard. She thought about surfing for a good one, but glanced at the clock and realized that she needed to get some sleep if she didn’t want to be dead on her feet in the morning. After saying good night to Josh she signed off.
In the morning Candace reported early to the picnic grounds. Decorators were already there setting up with what looked to be hundreds of helium balloons. Tables were set up to accommodate about fifty guests, and there was a stage for live entertainment. It looked like it was going to be some party.
A man in a chef’s apron walked up to her. “You’re Candace, right?” he asked, holding out his hand.
“Yes,” she said, shaking it.
“Great, I’m Murphy. Grab a serving uniform from that rack over there and meet me back here in twenty.”
Candace moved to the rack and discovered that the serving uniforms for the women resembled the serving wench costumes from Medieval Times. She grabbed one that appeared to be her size and held it up to herself.
“Nice, huh?” said Glenda, one of the girls who ran an ice-cream cart, rolling her eyes as she found one for herself.
“All I have to say is that if it’s as low cut as I think it is, I’m not wearing it,” Candace said. “I don’t care. I draw the line at that.”
“You and me both. Check this place out, though. Someone spent a bundle on this.”
“That’s for sure,” Candace said. “The Party Zone never looked so good.”
“I like that! You should tell that name to someone in management. It makes perfect sense. I don’t know why no one’s ever thought of it before.”
“It seems like a no-brainer to me,” Candace said.
They retreated to the nearest restroom and changed their clothes. Together they surveyed the damage.
“Why on earth do we have to wear these?” Candace asked.
“I’ve worked these things before. The planners have like a dozen uniform choices to choose between. Obviously this group opted for the medieval theme. The ones that look like band uniforms are so much better.”
“How did you get your bra straps not to show?” Candace asked, frustrated as she tried to tuck the left one under her sleeve for the third time.
“Safety pins. Never leave home without them. Here, let me fix it for you.”
A minute later everything was pinned in place, and Candace turned back to the mirror. The outfit was cut way lower than anything she had ever worn before, and she blushed. She turned sideways to look at herself. “This is embarrassing,” she said with a sigh.
“It could be worse. At least the skirts are long.”
“Yeah. What do you think we should do with our regular uniforms? I have no desire to try and walk over to the Locker Room looking like this.”
“I’ve got an idea — follow me.”
Candace followed Glenda back to the picnic area. “Give me your clothes. I think we can stuff them under the table with all the hot dog buns on it, and no one will be the wiser.”
Holding both their uniforms, Glenda walked over to the table. She lifted the skirt of the table and thrust their clothes under.
“Done, and now we know where to grab them if we want to make a quick exit,” Glenda said.
“I think you’re my new hero,” Candace said.
“Everyone’s got to be one to someone, I guess. Murphy’s signaling me. I’ll catch you later.”
Candace stood for a moment just staring at all the activity. She looked around at the balloons and bunting and wondered again where Tamara was spending her birthday.
She didn’t wonder long.
As if by magic, she saw Tamara standing near the stage dressed to kill and larger
than life. And in one horrible moment Candace realized that this was Tamara’s party and she was there as a servant, not a guest.
Candace wanted nothing more than to turn around and leave. But walking out would be tantamount to quitting her job, and she refused to give Tamara the pleasure.
“Are you okay?” Murphy asked her a moment later.
How could she even begin to answer that question? She couldn’t, so instead she asked one of her own. “What do you want me to do?”
“Drinks. I’d like you to keep the punch coming. Take fresh cups to guests who have finished theirs and clear their old cups. There’s a tray over by the punch bowl that you can use. Okay?”
“Okay,” Candace said.
“You’ll be off work at three. I don’t know how long the guests will stay, but once it hits three o’clock, you can go home.”
“Thank you.”
Candace moved over to the punch table and began filling cups and setting them on the tray. She was pretty sure this was not going to go well since she had never tried to actually serve before. Murphy would have been wise to assign the drink task to someone else.
When she had a dozen cups on the tray, she picked it up gingerly, sloshing some of the punch out of the glasses and onto the tray. She carried it carefully to the nearest table and set it down on the edge while still supporting it with her left hand. With her right she passed out drinks.
She made several trips, deliberately leaving Tamara’s table for last. When she finally got there, Tamara looked right through her as though she didn’t even recognize her. Stunned, Candace sloshed punch all over the table and had to go get napkins to clean it up.
From there, everything became one repetitive nightmare as she frantically struggled to keep up with the punch demand. How much could these people drink? she wondered as she scurried from table to table. Perhaps hardest to bear were the puzzled looks she drew from several of Tamara’s family members and long-time family friends. She could tell they recognized her but were unclear on why she was there. That was okay; she didn’t have the answer to that herself.
Just when she thought it couldn’t get any worse, Tamara’s younger cousin Trevor, who Candace had babysat a couple of times when he was younger, pinched her. She yelped and spilled her tray down the front of her costume. Several people clapped, which made it all the worse.
She grabbed a fresh uniform and headed for the bathroom to clean up. Once there, she wrestled with the safety pins that Glenda had so carefully placed. She ended up ripping the sleeve slightly and jabbing herself hard in the finger.
She put on the new costume and wrestled again with the safety pins. She left the old uniform soaking in cold water in one of the sinks and walked back to the picnic area, which she was officially renaming the Hell Zone, because surely it was the one place in all the universe where even God wouldn’t want to be. When she returned, she believed her suspicions were completely confirmed. They had ended the professional entertainment portion of the program and moved on to karaoke.
16
“This day just keeps getting better and better, doesn’t it?” Glenda said as she whizzed by with a tray of hot dogs high above her head.
Candace could only snort a reply as she headed back to the punch table. On stage someone was belting out a horrific rendition of “Open Arms.”
She filled her tray with fresh drinks and began distributing them. On her way back to the punch table Glenda walked by again. “Watch out for the kid in the white shirt at the far table. He’s grabby.”
“I got that,” Candace said. “I used to babysit that brat.”
“Kids today! No respect.”
Her comment was funny since Glenda and Candace were only a couple of years older than him. Unfortunately it wasn’t funny enough to cheer her up. She just kept moving, trying to lose herself in the one task she had.
She had half an hour left to go in her shift when someone began singing “I Want Candy.” She was going to kill whoever had put that song on the option list. At the same time Tamara walked by her. That was it, Candace couldn’t take anymore. Shifting her full tray to her left hand, she grabbed Tamara’s arm with her right.
“We need to talk,” Candace said.
Tamara looked like she was going to disagree, but she didn’t say anything and she followed Candace over to a bench under some trees. Candace managed to set the tray down without spilling the punch everywhere.
“What is wrong with you?” Candace asked. As soon as the words left her mouth she regretted them. That was no way to start a civilized conversation, but it was the perfect way to start a fight. Before she could apologize, though, Tamara exploded.
“What is wrong with me? I’m not the problem here, you are.”
“Oh, please. I’m the problem? My dad forced me to get a job. I got a job and suddenly my best friend won’t support me or even talk to me? I could have used a little sympathy and commiseration. This is not what I had planned for this summer either.”
“Well, you seem to have more fun here than you do with me!”
“Are you crazy? Are you kidding? Oh, that’s right. You have no idea how my summer’s been going because three days after I started working you stopped answering your phone! You have no idea what I’ve been through!”
“I’m here now, so tell me,” Tamara said, arms crossed.
“I have a boyfriend. My first boyfriend! You weren’t there to help me pick out date clothes. You weren’t there to talk to when I was freaking out because he’s a high school drop-out. You weren’t there to tell when we kissed on the Fourth of July and actual fireworks were going off over our heads like in some movie!”
“Oh yeah, your life has been real hard.”
“It has because Kurt’s ex-girlfriend has it in for me and has been trying to get me fired. She and the guy who tried to run me over with the train are both going to be tied to me by a rope at the end-of-the-summer Scavenger Hunt, and I’m terrified that one of them will finish what they’ve started. Oh, and let’s see, if that isn’t bad enough I got randomly drug tested and it came back positive, and I thought I was going to lose my job. They forced me to go home, and you wouldn’t answer your phone, and Kurt never once called or came by to see how I was! And the next day when I finally called your house and the maid told me where to find you, I find the two of you together. And both of you were already avoiding me! So, I’m sorry if I jumped to some conclusions, but what would you have done? Since I took this job I’ve been nearly killed, accused of taking drugs, suspended for yelling at a guy who was making lewd comments at me, lost my best friend, have been forced to serve as help at her birthday party where I’ve been forced to dress in the most humiliating thing I’ve ever worn, and been pinched by her fifteen-year-old cousin!”
There was silence for a long minute while Candace stood there, panting, fists clenched. Finally Tamara asked, “Trevor pinched you?”
“Yes, the little perv. And because it’s my job to be here, I couldn’t say or do a thing to him without risking getting fired.”
“What happened with the drug test?”
“It turned out to be all the fault of poppy-seed muffins.”
“I could have told you that.”
“And I wish you would have, but you wouldn’t even return my calls, and I needed you,” Candace said, beginning to cry.
Tamara stood there, biting her lip. “Do you still need me?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Even though you’ve got Josh and Kurt and your friends here?”
“Yes. You’re my best friend. I’ll always need you. And just because I’ve never really had other friends doesn’t make it unreasonable that I find some. I mean, most people have lots of friends. All I’ve ever had was you. Do you know how that made me feel when you turned your back on me?”
“I’m sorry,” Tamara said. “I’ve been a jerk. I freaked out because I thought you liked this place and these people more than me.”
“No, I don’t. But I do like
some of these people, and despite all of the nightmares, I’m starting to like this place. Can you be okay with that?”
Tamara nodded, starting to cry herself. “As long as I still get to be your best friend.”
“Then stop acting like a big dork.”
“I can try.”
“Okay then.”
“Are we good?” Tamara asked.
“I don’t know, are we?”
Tamara nodded, and they hugged. Candace was so relieved she started to cry harder.
After a minute they pulled away and they both wiped their eyes. “So, you’re going to have to catch me up on Kurt.”
“Tonight?” Candace asked.
“Definitely. And you and I will do something cool for my birthday.”
“That would be awesome. First, though, I have to do something.”
“What?” Tamara asked.
“Come and watch if you like,” Candace said, picking up her tray.
Tamara trailed after her as Candace walked back to the party and headed straight for Trevor’s table. He was standing up and looking at the stage. Candace walked up to him. “Excuse me, what time is it?”
He glanced at his watch, one that was too expensive for a fifteen-year-old brat like him. “Three oh five, why?”
“That means that I’m officially off the clock. I’m on my own time.”
“And?” he asked her with a sleazy smile.
“I just wanted you to know that before I gave you this.”
She dumped the entire tray of punch over his head and let it clatter to the ground. Red rivulets ran down his pale hair and stained his shirt and pants. His expression passed from shock to fury as he looked down at himself.
“Have a nice day,” Candace said, as cheerily as she could and walked off. Over by the hot-dog table, Glenda gave her the thumbs-up. Candace walked over and picked up her cotton candy uniform from under the table and then left with Tamara.
Tamara and Candace hung out at the Coffee Garden until it closed at midnight, and then headed over to Candace’s house for another couple of hours. Since Candace had the next day off, they busily planned a coast drive for Tamara’s birthday. It ended up being more of a mall-hopping drive, but they had a great time. Candace told Tamara everything that had been going on at The Zone, while Tamara filled her in on every movie she had missed so far that summer. Tamara didn’t even complain when Candace had to go home early to get rested for work the next morning.