Full Moon, Elaina H [books suggested by bill gates TXT] 📗

we finally take an exit off the highway, I see where we’re going as the Ferris Wheel takes shape over the hill.

“Oh my God!” I cry, “How did you know this was here?”

Jordan smiles, “I was reading the newspaper, and,” I give him the ‘oh, really?’ look, and he shakes his head no. “Really, my mom’s work put it on for a fundraiser sort of thing.”

“That’s so cool! This is awesome. But I didn’t bring any money, and you’re not paying for me! You already pay too much,” but the real reason is that it would be too much like a date.

“Naw, it’ll be fun, let’s go.” Before I had known it, Jordan and parked the car and we were walking into the fair.

“I’m so excited,” I screech.

He rolls his eyes, “Come on, then,” he grabs my hand, and I almost let go, but before I can we’re running through the throng of people to the ticket counter.

“How many,” the voice of the fat man says.

“Two, please.”

Handing us the tickets, “Have a great time.”

I make a face at Jordan, but he just laughs and I find myself laughing. “What do you want to do first?” he looks to me.

“Cotton candy, of course. And then the spinning one! The Octopus, that’s what it’s called. And I want to go to the Scrambler. And…” he cuts me off.

“Let’s start with Cotton Candy,” I nod.

We wait in line for what seems forever, we chatter about anything and everything. When we come up to the counter we’re talking about how funny it would be to see Jessica ugly!

“Hello, what can I get for you,” the cotton candy girl is our age. She has black hair in a pixie cut, and tight jeans. When she asks the question, she’s staring at Jordan.

But Jordan doesn’t even notice because he’s looking at all the flavors. After a couple minutes he speaks, “The purple kind and the pink kind,” I look to him, mouth open.

“It took you ten minutes to order ‘the purple kind and the pink kind’? That’s crazy!” I shake my head at him, but the girl interrupts our banter by handing Jordan the cotton candy, and shoving her cleavage in our faces.

“See ya,” he pays and tosses an empty thank you over his shoulder.

I laugh at him, “Did you not notice that the counter girl was hitting on you?”

Jordan smiles, “Oh, I noticed. But I’m here with you, so what’s the point of leading her on.”

For the first time I really look at Jordan, I mean, not like a friend, but like something more. His dirty blonde hair is short, and his eyes a deep brown.

He’s tall, maybe six foot two, and tan. He’s the wide receiver on our school football team. But he’s not a jerk like the rest of them are.

My ex, Robert, would have flirted with that girl right in front of me. I pop some cotton candy in my mouth.

Jordan is sweet, funny, nice, smart, athletic, and definitely not selfish.

“Wanna sit?” Jordan interrupts my thoughts of him.

‘Single lady this year!’, I repeat in my head, “Yea, and than we can ride our first ride!” I smile wide at him.

“Okay, first, a serious question,” I lick my lips, worried, “Who’s going to sit on the inside on the Scrambler.”

A breath escapes my lips, what a relief! “ “Whoever get’s there last,” I joke.

“Whoever get’s there last,” he repeat almost with a dreamy tone to his voice. Jordan continues to stare at me.

I stand up and toss my cotton candy into the trash, “Let’s go!”

Taking off from Jordan, I have him chase after me until we get to the Scramble. Instead of making a joke about it when we get there, he picks me up and twirls me around.

I scream, “Come on, Jordan! Put me down!” he laugh as I pathetically punch his arm.

The guy lets us on the ride and we find the seat. “You get the inside,” I tell him.

“Why?”

“Because,” I take the outside, “you got here last.”

“Oh, sorry, silly me!” he takes the inside and swings the safety bar across our laps. “Woooooo hooooooo!” he calls.

I crack up, “Wooooo hooooo,” I shout as the ride starts to move.

When the ride picks up speed, my body slams into Jordan’s. He wraps his arm around me.

Oh no. I smile up at him and scoot away, “Let’s have a contest! Bet you, I can Woo hoo louder than you can!”

“We’ll see about that?” from there, the contest starts.

In the end Jordan wins because my turn is cut off, the ride ends.

Although, that doesn’t stop him from rubbing it in my face.

 

The rest of the night was so fun! “Want to ride one last ride?”

I nod, “Ferris wheel, saving the best for last.”
“Deal, let’s go!” The man asks us if we’re together and Jordan nods.

“Okay, there’s no inside here!” I say.

Jordan smiles a tight lipped smile, and rubs his hands together nervously.

“What?” I ask, “afraid of heights?”

“Naw, not really,” he still looks nervous. We sit in the seat together, and the open air Ferris wheel starts turning.

We go around twice before the Ferris wheel stops at the top. I smile at Jordan, “Wooooooooooo hooooooooooo!” I scream across the whole park. People from the pavement look up at the Ferris Wheel. “I win!”

Jordan doesn’t say anything, he just smiles and puts his arm around my shoulders. I tense up, oh god, please to not put a move on me.

“Gwen, you are the most beautiful girl I’ve ever met. You make me smile, laugh, cry. You make me happy,” oh no. “You’re the only one who’s been there through thick and thin, and,” he licks his lips, “I don’t think I can be just friends anymore. Gwen, I think I’m in love with you.” He stares at me and I’m a statue.

Which apparently mean, sure kiss me! Jordan leans in, and before I realize what I’m doing I close me eyes, and wait for the kiss because, great, maybe I do want that.

But, Mom, who else, breaks it up. My phone rings, and stops the moment. “I got to answer this,” I mutter.

“Hey, Mom!”

“How become you didn’t tell us you were going out tonight?” I sigh.

“Jordan call after I finished my homework, so he took me to the fair. I’ll be home in and hour to and hour and half,” I hear pots banging in the kitchen.

“So you’ve already eaten dinner?” Mom asks.

I roll my eyes, “No, but we’ll probably just grab something.”

“Okay, see you when you get back. But I’ll have you know, your father is not very happy that you just left. Neither one of the girls knew where you were, Gwen!”

I sigh, “I told Alice twice, and shouted at Anna. Anna’s just mad at me,” my mom interjected.

“As she should be.”

“Okay, and Alice is doing whatever Anna does so she can be popular,” Mom sighs.

“You need to stop being jealous and look at the big picture,” I pull the phone away from my ear.

“Bye, Mom, love you!” I shout and hang up.

Our seat on the Ferris Wheel is almost to the bottom by the time I’m done with my phone call.

Jordan is looking out the other side of the Ferris Wheel. I’m thankful that I didn’t kiss him, I only would have hurt him more.

“Get off,” the man tells us as the bar lifts.

Jordan holds out his hand, but I don’t take it. I don’t need to lead him on anymore than I have now that I know how he feels.

He smiles sadly, and shoves his hands in his pockets, “We can head out, we’ll grab something like you said.”

Jordan and I walk out of the fair together and head for his car. Once we’re in he takes off, and stops at a fast food restaurant.

Jordan orders and I stare out the window. I eat what I can and stare at the moon. Almost full, I think, pretty soon it should look just like my picture.

“How far do you think we are?” I ask after a while.

He sighs, “We’ve got about fifteen minutes left until we get to your house.”

“Okay, thanks, for taking me, it was a lot of fun,” he doesn’t say anything back.

When I turn my attention back to the window, I watch as four Harleys drive past. All the riders wear full helmets so you can’t see their faces. One is a girl, I can tell by the tight clothing she’s wearing. The rest are boys.

One in particular, I notice, he’s wearing jeans and a leather jacket.

I smile, how easy would it be to embarrass him right now? All I’d have to do is roll down my window and call his name all girl like.

Timidly, I move my finger over the button that rolls the window down.

But my stomach twists in knots, and the riders ride on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Four

Jordan dropped me off and I thanked him again. He smiled and asked me the question I’d been dreading.

“Where does this put us, Gwen,” but surprisingly, the answer came right out.

“Friends.”

It wasn’t what he wanted, but he took it and drove off.

I walked into the house and Mom was cleaning up dinner and talking on the phone. “Carloine said, this Saturday? Can you believe it Jan? After all this planning!” Mom throws her arms in the air and suds fly over the kitchen.

Seeing my chance, I try to sneak up the staircase. “Hey, Dad, look who’s home.”

Anna and Dad are sitting in front of the television watching History Chanel. Anna’s texting, most likely, Chad.

“Gwen! Why didn’t you tell us that you were going anywhere?!” Dad is turned around in his chair looking at me.

He’s not really mad, he’s just doing what’s best in the situation. And that would be to ground me, “Jordan call after school and asked if I wanted to go to the fair. We had fun,” I end lamely.

“You had fun? Well, that makes it better! Besides, why were you going out with this boy alone? No one knew where you were!” Dad starting to get frazzled and Mom’s watching from the kitchen.

I look to Anna, “Anna and Alice did, I told them before I left. They just choose not to tell you that they know.”

“I’m sure the girls are more mature than that, Gwen. Why would they do that to you anyway? It sounds petty.”

“It is, but Anna is mad at me,” Anna smiles realizing, now, that he’s going to ask why.

He looks at both of us, “Why is Anna mad at you?”

I can end this conversation in two seconds, “She’s on her period!” I say before Anna can say the real reason. “She’s mad at everyone, except Chad, since the two of you were making out like dogs this morning.”

Anna’s jaw drops and hits the floor, all attention from Dad is now directed at Anna. “What?! Like dogs?!”

Anna stammers, “She pushed me!”

“Like dogs?!” Dad’s face is turning red.

In this moment I slip us the stairs and into my room, where I can still hear the faint yelling.

He hasn’t been this mad in a long, long time. I brush through my hair, undoing all the tangles from the rides.

I change into my pajamas, and grab the nail polish remover and some bright blue polish, I decide to also grab the neon green.

Diligently, I remove all the polish from my fingers and toes.

I paint my ring fingers greens and all my other fingers blue. I smear the blue polish on each toe. I take a look at my finished look and smile.

The yelling has ceased downstairs.

As I wait for them to dry, I flip through a magazine. The magazine only keeps my interest for a short period of time before I stand up and look at the book I’m assigned to read for English.

The Great Gatsby. I frown, I’ve already read this three times. I guess I won’t have to read it now.

I turn back around to sit on my bed, and my cell phone rings.

I pick it up on the second ring, the call ID is unknown,