The Fall of Candy Corn Read online

  “That’s not fair. It’s in the pamphlet too,” Candace protested.

  “Oh, and because it says so in the pamphlet it must be true,” Tamara said. “Maybe if they posted it on the Web it would be doubly true.”

  “Knock it off,” Candace said, still irritated and in no mood to play.

  “Seriously, you’re not worried are you?” Tamara asked, doing her best to stop smiling.

  “No, I love being in the spotlight,” Candace said, letting the sarcasm flow freely. “Hello! Remember me? Your best friend? I hang around with you so I can be spotlight adjacent, as in, not in but nearby.”

  “Well you need the drama class worse than I thought,” Tamara said.

  “I don’t want to be in the spotlight.”

  Tamara pulled up in front of Candace’s house and parked. “You know,” she said, her voice suddenly very thoughtful, “for someone who doesn’t want to be in the spotlight, you seem to spend a lot of time in it lately.”

  “Hello? Not my fault,” Candace said.

  “I’m not saying it is,” Tamara answered, putting her hand on Candace’s shoulder. “I just think you seem to end up there no matter what you do. I mean you were a cotton candy operator all summer, and how many times did you name something at the park or win some competition or otherwise draw everyone’s attention your way?”

  “Too many,” Candace muttered.

  “Exactly. Stuff like that doesn’t just happen. I think maybe God’s trying to tell you something.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like maybe you’re not meant to live your life spotlight adjacent. Maybe you’re meant to be front and center.”

  Candace was quiet for a moment while she thought about that. It seemed like such a crazy idea. She had always lived in a way that ensured she blended into the background. The thought of standing apart from it was intimidating. Yet, hadn’t she done exactly that when she and her team won The Zone Scavenger Hunt? Or the time she stood up for her rights when she was falsely accused at work? That hadn’t exactly been blending in.

  She shook her head. It was a lot to think about, and the part of her brain that was already freaked out so didn’t want to go there. “Maybe it’s just coincidence,” she said.

  “I don’t believe in coincidence,” Tamara said. “I believe in plans God makes and doesn’t tell you about until later.”

  Candace smiled. “Any chance God plans to make it snow or something so we don’t have to go to school tomorrow?”

  Tamara looked at the readout on her dashboard. “It’s nine thirty at night, and it’s still eighty-seven degrees outside. Besides, this is Southern California. When God makes it snow here, it’s not a plan; it’s a miracle.”

  Candace couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Thanks, Tam,” she said after a minute.

  “Hey, that’s what friends are for,” she said with a shrug. “Wanna carpool tomorrow?”

  Candace nodded. “You driving or me?”

  “I will. See you in the morning.”

  Once in her room Candace thought about calling Kurt or her friend Josh. Reason won out, though, since she had school in the morning, and calling either of them could result in her being up way too late.

  “Morning’s going to come awfully early,” she confided in Mr. Huggles, her stuffed bear.

  2

  As it was, the morning came earlier than expected. Candace was having a nightmare about showing up to school naked when she heard the sound of rushing water and then woke up when she registered her dad’s voice shouting in alarm.

  She sat up straight in bed, and the water sound didn’t go away. She saw her mother fly by her door on the way to the stairs. Candace jumped out of bed and went to the top of the stairs.

  “What’s wrong?” she shouted down.

  “Pipe broke,” her father shouted back.

  As she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, Candace began to see exactly what was wrong. There was standing water in the living room. Within a minute, the sound of rushing water faded as her dad turned off the water to the house.

  Candace moved carefully down the stairs and finally took a seat halfway down. From there she could see it wasn’t just the living room. There was water everywhere downstairs.

  Her parents regrouped at the bottom of the stairs, causing ripples in the water. They looked pretty upset.

  Under the circumstances, asking them if everything was okay seemed like the wrong thing. “What happened?”

  “Pipe broke in the bathroom,” her dad said. “I heard water running, and I thought you must be awake. It didn’t turn off, though, so I got up and found this,” he said, indicating the water around him.

  “I’m sorry,” Candace said.

  “It’s not your fault, honey,” her dad said.

  “I know. I just feel bad that it happened.”

  “It will be okay,” her mom said tiredly. “We were thinking it was time to replace the carpet anyway.”

  “Plus we’ve got insurance,” her dad said.

  “So everything is going to be okay?” Candace asked.

  “Well, not for several days, but it will all turn out,” her mom said, moving to join her on the stairs. “At least this didn’t happen upstairs. Then we’d have two floors to worry about, not to mention water damage to the ceiling.”

  She reached out and patted Candace on the knee.

  “We should all pack some clothes and whatever else we’ll need for a couple of days,” her dad said. “We’re going to have plumbers and carpenters traipsing through here, ripping things out and setting up huge fans to dry everything out that they can. We’ll have to stay in a hotel for a couple of days.”

  “I know it’s terrible timing with school starting today. You could stay with Tamara if you like,” her mom suggested.

  Candace leaned down and gave her mom a quick hug. “Thanks.”

  “We should all go upstairs and get what we’ll need,” her dad said, starting up the stairs.

  Candace stood up and made her way back to her room where she tried to decide what to pack.

  Three hours later Tamara pulled up outside. Her eyes widened as Candace sloshed out of the front door with her snow boots on and several duffel bags slung over her shoulders.

  “You know it isn’t a snow day, right?” Tamara called.

  Candace waved behind her to where water was still seeping out onto the porch. Tamara popped the trunk for Candace, and she stowed her backpack and other bags inside. Candace took off the snow boots and slipped on her school shoes. She then ran the snow boots back up to the front door and set them beside the porch.

  Once she got into the car she heaved a sigh.

  “Wow! Your parents finally took that whole sink-or-swim thing literally?” Tamara asked.

  “Pipe broke,” Candace said. “It happened in the middle of the night. The first floor’s flooded.”

  “You can’t stay here while they’re fixing it.”

  Candace shook her head.

  “You wanna stay with me?” Tamara asked, eyes widening even more in excitement.

  “I thought you’d never ask,” Candace said, forcing a smile.

  “As if. This rocks! We are going to have so much fun,” Tamara said.

  Candace relaxed into the seat. Tamara was right. It was an awesome way to kick off senior year.

  Twenty minutes later they parked in the student parking lot. They sat for a moment in silence and stared at the cars and people streaming by. Some faces were familiar to Candace, while others were not. One of her classmates parked nearby. He got out with his kid sister, who was just starting high school, in tow. Neither of them looked happy to be sharing the same school, let alone the same car.

  Tamara pointed to a group of freshman girls clustered together at the end of one of the buildings, obviously building up their courage. “Remember when that was us?”

  “Please, that was never us. That was me, cowering in your shadow. Even back then you were completely sure of yourself. Course, it didn’t
hurt that you were already dating that junior . . . what was his name?”

  “Stan. Or as I like to call him, Stank. What a creep!”

  Candace laughed. “On that note, I think it’s time we go forth and conquer.”

  It was weird stepping foot on campus and knowing that she was a senior — top of the food chain. It was even stranger still to think that in a year she would be stepping onto a new campus where once again she would be at the bottom of the food chain. She took a deep breath and resolved that no matter how much planning she had to do for the next year, she wouldn’t let it stop her from enjoying the current one.

  “Hi, Tamara.”

  “Hi, Tamara.”

  Two girls stopped in front of them, blocking their path. One was brunette and the other blonde with Barbie-like appearances right down to the slightly plastic look of their smiles.

  Candace scowled. Amanda and Kristen were snobs. They always had been. Candace knew Tamara had hung out with them some over the summer when she and Tamara were fighting. Nothing seemed to have changed. Both girls were eager to talk to Tamara but purposely ignored Candace. Any other year she would have just stood there and taken it. But it was senior year, and she wasn’t the same Candace she had been before the summer.

  “Ladies, we’re in a hurry, so unless you have something meaningful to say to either me or my friend, kindly get out of our way.”

  “What?” Kristen asked, momentarily thrown.

  “You heard me. Come on, Tam,” Candace said, shouldering Amanda aside.

  Tamara followed her, and, after they had left the Barbie twins behind, she started laughing. “Candace, I like the whole assertive thing. Did you see the look on Kristen’s face? I thought she was going to hurt her brain.”

  “I’m tired of being ignored,” Candace said.

  “Good. Of course, that just puts you one step closer to the spotlight,” Tamara said.

  “You are not even allowed to gloat,” Candace said.

  “Come on! Not even a little?”

  “Not even a tiny bit.”

  Tamara sighed in exaggerated frustration.

  The morning flew by, and her last class before lunch quickly arrived. Unfortunately, with Mr. Tuttle for history, her fast-paced day came to a screeching halt. She had to struggle to keep herself awake.

  The man spoke in a monotone and read from his notes, never looking up. He also had the most irritating way of taking some interesting area of history and picking the most obscure, boring details to talk about. As a result, half the class was asleep by the time the bell rang for lunch.

  Candace dragged herself to her feet, trying to shake off the malaise that had taken hold. Once outside the class, she flipped open her phone and saw that she had just missed a call from Kurt. She called him back, and he answered on the first ring.

  “I was hoping you’d call,” he said.

  “Lunch just started,” she said. “What’s up?”

  “I wanted to see how your first day back was going.”

  “Nothing I can’t handle so far,” she said. “So, you never told me, what are you doing for Scare?”

  “I’m working as an umpire in the Horrific History maze.”

  Candace wrinkled her nose. “Is it based on Mr. Tuttle’s class? Because he can take any subject and make it horrifically boring.” She suddenly turned around, hoping that Mr. Tuttle hadn’t magically appeared behind her. She was safe. The teacher was nowhere in sight.

  Kurt laughed, and the sound made Candace feel warm inside. “Not quite. Think Lizzie Borden, Jack the Ripper, and Nero laughing and playing the fiddle while Rome burned.”

  “You win, that is definitely more horrific than one of his lectures,” Candace admitted, shivering slightly just thinking about it. Maybe working Scare was a bad idea. She had never even attended one before. She was terrified of mazes, and, since Tamara hated to be scared, there had never been an impetus to go before. What on earth had she been thinking? For a moment she thought of calling it off. No one would blame her. She could say that she realized she just couldn’t juggle school and work. Tamara would know the truth, though, and she’d never let her forget it, especially since she was paying for everyone in youth group to come.

  “Candace, you there?”

  Candace blushed as she realized she had just missed whatever Kurt had been saying. “Yes, I’m here. So, what’s an umpire? I’m guessing it’s not the baseball guy.”

  Kurt laughed again. “Umpires are the ones who wear all black and are in the mazes to help people and keep an eye on the characters. Think of us as maze security meets guest services.”

  “Why are you going to be an umpire? You’re a mascot. Isn’t this like the best time of year for you?”

  He laughed. “It’s a tradition that all mascots work as umpires for Scare. Since we wear costumes every other day that we work here, they lose some of their magic.”

  “Ah, so wearing black clothes and standing in the background is like your costume.”

  “Exactly.”

  “That’s cool.” She thought about asking him just how scary the mazes were but was too embarrassed. She didn’t want her boyfriend to think she was a total wimp.

  “Well, break’s over. I gotta go,” he said.

  “Okay, talk to you later,” she said.

  “Bye.”

  She stared at the phone for a minute. There was one person she could ask about Scare — one person she could trust not to laugh. She decided to call Josh after school.

  After school they drove straight to Tamara’s house. They unloaded Candace’s bags and took t1hem upstairs to the guest room next to Tamara’s room. Despite Candace’s protests, the maid set about unpacking her things.

  “There’s no reasoning with her once her mind is set,” Tamara advised. “Best to just let her.”

  “Miss Tamara, your parents are going to be late tonight. They said you and Miss Candace could do what you liked.”

  “Thanks,” Tamara said.

  Candace grabbed a pair of jeans and a tank top from her bag before the maid could transfer them to the closet, and she slipped into her private bathroom to change. Remembering that she wanted to give Josh a call, she slipped her cell into her pocket. A minute later she rejoined Tamara in the hall. Her friend had also changed, and they headed downstairs.

  “Movies and pizza work for you?” Tamara asked.

  “Don’t they always?” Candace asked.

  Her phone rang, and she nearly tripped on the last stair in surprise.

  “Your pants are ringing,” Tamara said, smirking.

  Candace pulled the phone out. “It’s Josh,” she said before answering. “Hey! I was thinking of calling you.”

  “Great minds think alike,” Josh said. “What’s going on?”

  “Pipes broke at home in the middle of the night. I’m staying with Tamara for a few days.”

  “Bummer about the pipes. I’m sure you’ll have a lot of fun though.”

  “You know it,” Candace laughed. “The last time Tam and I got to have a sleepover on a school night was in fourth grade when her mom had surgery.”

  Suddenly, Tamara snatched the phone from Candace’s hand. Candace stared at her startled. “What?”

  Tamara smiled impishly and spoke into the phone. “I’m sorry, I’m officially holding Cand’s phone hostage.”

  Candace tried to take her phone back, but Tamara kept dodging around furniture in the living room.

  “No. Yes.”

  “What’s going on?” Candace asked.

  “Uh-huh. She is.”

  “Give me the phone.”

  “Pizza and movies. Wanna join us?”

  “What?” Candace asked.

  “1512 Willow Way. Yeah. Brick outside — you can’t miss it. See you.”

  Tamara hung up and tossed the phone back to Candace. “He’s coming over.”

  “What did you do that for?” Candace asked.

  “Because he’s cool, and I thought it would be fun.”
r />   Candace still hadn’t gotten over how jealous Tamara had been of Josh and her other friends from The Zone for most of the summer. It just seemed weird that she was so willing to hang out with him after all that. A sudden thought occurred to her. “You like him, don’t you?”

  “Yeah, he’s cool,” Tamara said, giving her a where-have-you-been look.

  “No, I mean like him like him.”

  Tamara stopped for a moment as if the thought was completely new to her. “He’s cute and funny,” Tamara said musingly. “But, I don’t think I like him in that way.”

  “Why not?” Candace asked, warming to the thought of two of her best friends getting together.

  “I don’t know. It’s just not . . . right. I don’t know how else to explain it.”

  Candace decided not to push, though the more she thought about it the more she liked the idea.

  “So, double pepperoni?” Tamara asked, changing the subject.

  “Is there any other kind?” Candace laughed.

  “I’ve heard rumors, but I haven’t been able to verify,” Tamara said.

  She ordered the pizza, and they both sat down on the couch. “Who do you think will get here first, Josh or the pizza guy?” Tamara asked.

  “I’ve got dibs on the pizza guy,” Candace said.

  “Candace, you’re dating someone. I don’t think you can claim dibs on the pizza guy,” Tamara said seriously.

  Candace threw a pillow at her. “Not what I meant.”

  Tamara threw the pillow back. “Just checking.”

  As it turned out, they arrived at the same time. The doorbell rang, and when Tamara and Candace went to answer it, they found Josh on the step paying the pizza delivery guy. Josh was tall with sandy hair and a great smile. Candace and Josh had become friends over the summer, bonding over sharing their secrets with each other. Josh had never told anyone how Candace felt about Kurt, and she, in turn, had never breathed a word of his secret to anyone.

  Josh took the pizza and stepped inside. “Did someone call for pizza?” he joked.

  “Let me pay for that,” Tamara said, fishing money out of her pocket.

  “It’s okay, I’ve got it. Mom said never to show up to a party empty-handed, and this way I haven’t.”