Chapter 202: Car-Nage-I-Val (2)

[Edward POV]

"You won! Now get lost!" The stall owner said excitedly as he gave 100 tickets to me. I took advantage of the loophole in the rules and tried the shooting game multiple times and won his first prize, therefore he was irritated.

I picked them up with a smile on my face, thanked the owner, and then walked to the stall next to it. The owner smirked at the next door boss as he expected him to go through the same misery as he did.

These happened a few times as I made my way through the fair. At the same time, I couldn't help but notice the wide-eyed gazes of a few young fans. 

Their faces lit up with excitement as they recognized me, and most of them played along as I gestured to them to keep it a secret. It worked so far as those who recognized me were young children, certainly didn't want to risk being recognized by any adults.

"Maybe you can stop shouting every time you win one if you don't want people to notice you." Selena said while rolling her eyes. 

I was in disguise, so it was hard for them to recognize me. It was my passionate game winning that blew my cover. After I separated from Luke, I had won over 500 more tickets in the basketball hoop game, duck shooting game, the hammer high score game, and many more.

"Sel. You're okay over there?" I asked teasingly to Selena who looked disgruntled as she walked beside me. She was dragging her feet as she walked, almost going the opposite way when we left the shooting stall. 

The initial joy of hugging a single teddy bear had waned as she found herself burdened by the towering mound of bears she had accumulated. The pile of soft toys obscured her face, and a look of slight resentment had replaced her earlier excitement.

She glared at me and said, "I'm a walking teddy bear mountain! Do you think I'm fine?!"

"Well, it's not all teddies. There's unicorns there too. And a Star Wars Luke Teddy Bear." I said as I casually threw another giant teddy at her. "You know what? You can keep one of them."

Selena was in disbelief, and before she could say something, two young children walked towards us. One was a chubby Latino boy, while the other was a young Chinese girl with a mole on her left cheek and her hair neatly tied up in a ponytail.

"Hey, I know you guys." I said as the two children stood in front of me. Manny Delgado was confused and exclaimed, "Huh?"

"Nevermind. Manny, who's your friend here?" I asked as I looked at the familiar asian girl standing next to Manny.

A little irritated, Manny said, "She's Caroline Markum." (canon girl)

With a hint of teasing in my voice, I remarked, "Ah, your final competitor in the fencing game. So, she's here for a rematch?" 

I had already guessed her identity earlier, but I never anticipated that she would end up spending time with Manny after the competition.

To my surprise, both of them looked at each other and agreed at the same time, "Yes."

"..."

Selena chuckled as she saw me speechless. I quickly collected myself and said, "What a coincidence. I'm currently in a match with Luke too." 

At this moment, I saw Gloria dragging Jay to where we were standing. It was obvious that Jay didn't want to spend his Sunday morning at the fair, but had to because Gloria forced him to go. 

Caroline Markum widened her eyes and said, "Wait. You're Edward Newgate!"

Manny shushed her quickly, "Don't shout his name! Do you want to get rush-mobbed?"

I laughed at Manny's overreaction and said to Caroline, "Yeah. That's me."

She smiled softly and said, "I'm a fan. Believer is my favorite song. I'm sorry I haven't bought the album yet." However, there seemed to be a hidden sadness behind her smile, as if there was more to her reasons than what she initially shared.

However, I could guess why. Being an orphan, fighting off an incurable disease, basically living inside the hospital, I guess it would be hard for her to request to buy that album. 

I patted her head and said, "It's alright. I'm just glad to have a cute fan. But I am curious about something, and I hope that you can explain it to me."

That question was directed to both of the kids. Caroline didn't answer, but she gave me the go ahead with a slight nod.

I asked, "Don't you hate Manny for stealing your trophy? Why are you hanging out with him?" I was extremely curious about the matter. Manny was being a prick in the show, so I guess that's why she didn't come out again after that. But my presence caused some change. 

Manny became disconcerted and said, "I want to know about that too." He was basically forced to hang out with Caroline today– an idea conceived by Gloria to downplay the guilt she felt for making Manny go all out in a match against a terminally ill girl. In fact, Manny didn't even know that Caroline was sick.

"Well now that I know a little context, I want to know too." Selena said before she added, "If you tell us, I will give you this entire collection."

Unexpectedly, Caroline scowled at the idea of getting the plush toys, "No thanks. I can't bring them to the hospital anyway."

Selena was confused while Manny and I nodded in understanding. Caroline then answered, "I just hang out with Manny, because he treats me equally."

"Wait. Manny? That seems to subvert everything I know about that Simp." I joked.

"HEY!" Manny protested in offense. Caroline didn't answer more and then hugged Manny's arm before pulling him away, "Let's go play that pool throwing game. You'll sit on the bench, and I'll throw."

"It's called a Dunk Tank. And I'll be the one to throw!" Manny exclaimed as he felt challenged before both of them waved goodbye at me and went away. Manny didn't realize that Caroline had picked him over a celebrity she admired and kept arguing with the girl. 

'Well, he basically won't even see a girl if they aren't pretty or completely out of his league. Also, they are 10 years old.' I thought secretly. 'But for some reason, they are giving me Bridge of Terabithia vibes. Boy, I surely hope that didn't happen.'

As Gloria and Jay approached, it was evident that they had purposely given us some space for conversation before. 

After the initial greeting, I asked Jay while pointing at the duo, "Do you know what that's all about?"

Jay let out a sigh of resignation as he shifted his gaze toward Gloria. Despite the fake smile plastered on her face, her twitching eyes betrayed an intense and concealed anger as she looked at Manny and Caroline from afar.

Jay said, "It's better not to speak about it." 

I caught on to Jay's careful gaze as he glanced at Gloria either. My hypothesis? Gloria felt threatened when Caroline showed interest in Manny. She basically had a problem with every girl Manny had a crush on, so it wasn't that hard to figure out.

"Anyway, Jay do you have any cash?" I asked.

Jay nodded casually, "Sure. How much do you want?"

 "200. I used up my cash to get even with Luke." I said as I held out my arm while Jay took out the cash from his wallet. Then, Jay remembered something and took back his hand a foot away from mine.

I looked at him in confusion. He smiled teasingly and said, "Well, I just remembered Luke told me what he wants from you, so, I'm sorry Ed. I'm on Team Luke."

"Damn it." I cursed slowly before turning to Gloria. She shook her head and said, "Why would I bring any money when I'm out with my husband?"

"That's true. It was the one thing you married him for. It'll be stupid not to take advantage of it." I said casually.

"One thing? There's a lot of other reasons." Jay tried to defend himself while Gloria cackled. I smirked and interjected, "I'm sure there are, but you already picked teams, so I'll just ignore you."

I turned to Selena and said, "I'm all out now. Want to go look at the ponies?"

"Sure." Selena nodded casually before stopping and said, "But, we need 10 dollars to pet them."

"Ah, right." I said as I took a few dolls from the pile inside Selena's hand. "Anyone want some plushies? It's only 20 bucks." I asked the group of kids that had been following me from afar.

The girls rushed quickly as they heard it. "EDWARD IS SELLING THE PLUSHIS HE WON!!" A small girl screamed. As soon as I heard it, I knew that I had done a stupid thing.

"Selena. Leave them!" I said to Selena as I grabbed her hand and dumped all of the prizes to Jay.

"Hey-ED!" Jay tried to protest, but he was suddenly swarmed by a number of little kids wanting the plushies. Selena and I managed to snuck away during all of the chaos, and surprisingly, Teddy Bear Luke and a small black cat plushie were still in her hands. Still, I managed to get the 20 bucks from my first customer, a small indian girl, so Selena and I took refuge inside the ponies exhibition, away from the little kid's mob.

…

[General POV]

Next to the pier where the ships were parked, Ted received a call from Edward after finishing a small staff meeting with the tourism crew. All the others were still sitting down at the oval meeting table while Ted excused himself.

Frankie asked with concern as Ted finished the call and came back to the room with a worried expression on his face. "What's wrong?"

"Edward sent an SOS. He needed some cash and asked me to bring it to the ponies show." Ted replied before opening his wallet, "I haven't gone to the atm yet, so I only have 50 bucks."

Frankie furrowed her eyebrow in confusion and mumbled, "Ponies?"

Dwayne, who was crossing his arms while wearing a ship captain's uniform, said, "Ed's gambling?"

Glenn the white beer belly guy with a muppet voice said, "I don't think he's talking about THAT ponies. There's a pony carnival just a mile from here."

Everyone exclaimed in relief before they took out their wallet without Ted even asking. Some offered 10 bucks. Some offered 5 bucks. But all of the 30 staff members there chipped in for Ed's sake.

Dwayne said, "I got 220."

Gina said, "I got 99 dollars…and Um ... 2 cent."

"Keep that 2 cents." Frankie said to Gina with disbelief. She turned to Ted and said, "I have 500 dollars. Will that be enough?" Her hand was lightly touching Ted's hand he placed on the table.

Everyone there widened their eyes, and jeered at the two of them, "Wooo."

Ted ignored them and said to Frankie, "I think it's enough. Do you want to come with me?"

"Sure. The meeting's over, and I don't have anything else to do." Frankie said before grabbing her purse and following Ted from behind. The short meeting was only to confirm the schedule for next week's trips and was only held on Sunday because Ted had the doctor's examination yesterday.

At the carnival, after Jay managed to survive the stampede of tiny feet, Gloria went to help back up with concern.

"Jay. What happened? One minute you're there, next, the ground!" Gloria said worriedly but with a scolding tone.

"I was set up!" Jay grumbled as he pressed his hurting back. "Where are the kids?" He asked.

Gloria said, "Ay! They are over there–" Her face froze as the place where she pointed at was empty. Manny and Caroline were no longer there.

"MANNY!" Gloria screamed in worry as she turned around anxiously. When Gloria and Jay went to search for the children, Claire, Phil and Luke arrived at the dunk tank.

"Alright Luke. You got this." Phil said as he gave some money to the stall owner.

Luke held the ball and then pointed at the machine, "Someone needs to sit there so that when I hit the target, they will fall into the water.."

Claire and Phil turned to look at each other with a flabbergasted expression. Both of them hesitated to volunteer for a while before Claire said, "Okay. I'll sit over there, because I love you Luke."

Luke smiled and said, "I love you too mom."

"I love you too Claire." Phil said.

"Zip it." Claire shuts him down quickly. Phil smiled bitterly as he knew what he did wrong there.

[Phil's commentary]

"It's not like I don't want to volunteer, but you can't go to pet the ponies if your clothes are all wet."

[Claire's commentary]

"Phil? Oh no, I'm not mad at him at all. Besides, I have watched Luke throw a ball before. I won't even get wet." Claire said dismissively.

[Commentary ends]

"Uh." Luke threw his arm with all of his strength. However, he released the ball too early, causing it to fly at 90 degrees angle, and perfectly hit Phil on the crotch.

"Fail." The store owner said with a giggle as Luke used up all of his chances. Luke exclaimed in disappointment and then turned to Phil, "Are you okay Dad?"

"Yep." Phil replied with a strained voice. "It hit both at the same time, so it's not that painful."

"Let's try the hammer next." Luke said before adding, "We only have 400 tickets now. We have so much left to go."

"Maybe getting to a thousand was a bad idea Luke." Claire said.

[Claire's commentary]

"Well it's not hard…for us." She said with a worried expression. "However, Luke…doesn't really have those skills. Out of 10 games we played, he only won 2."

"I really admire him for not giving up, but at the same time, I'm worried about him. I really hope Ed won't get too many tickets, that it'll become a blow to Luke's self confidence."

[Commentary ends]

Luke held Claire's hand before they could leave the stall. "Mom. Maybe you should try it next." Luke said with a cute voice. "I know you always hit the target whenever you throw something. We can share our chances."

"Wait. What?" Phil, who had just stood up normally, was flabbergasted when he heard that. He was even more flabbergasted when he heard Claire's next sentence. 

Claire thought about it and said, "Sure. Let Dad go sit next to the target this time. I'd already done it before."

Phil sat at the seat reluctantly. He didn't react when Luke threw the ball, but when it was Claire, he was quivering in fear.

"Claire. I'm sorry for not volunteering-"

Before Phil could finish his words, Claire threw the ball directly to the target, and it hit! Phil was dunked into the tank, and his entire clothes became wet.

Coughing and wheezing, Phil slowly gets out of the water. "It's over, right?" He mumbled.

The staff members heard it and said with an evil smirk, "No. It's 3 tries. They have one more chance."

Luckily for Phil, Luke was throwing the ball this time. Claire hyped him up from the side, "Come on Luke. Think about what you hate the most. Picture it on top of the target. Then, channel all of your hatred into the ball, and throw it!"

"Got it!" Luke narrowed his eyes and threw the ball aggressively. It hit the edge of the mark, and Phil shut down his eyes as he anticipated the fall. However, to his luck, the target didn't go back all the way.

"Oh. I'm safe." He muttered with exhilaration.

Suddenly, the owner said, "Sorry. I still set the strength to adult. This counts as a hit for the children." He then manually pushed the target back, and Phil was dunked into the tank for a second time while his family celebrated.

…

[Edward POV]

As we entered the ponies exhibition and were waiting in line to pet the ponies, Selena asked, "Is this species normal, or are they like a munchkin cat?"

"Nah. Munchkin cats are a product of selective breeding. Like the poodle, or the pug. Ponies are real species that can be found in the wild." I explained a bit.

Selena nodded and then asked, "What's the distance between earth and the moon?"

I turned to her with a weird look and asked, "Why?"

"I don't know. It seems like you know a lot of things." Selena said with a shrug. 

"Well I do know that. The distance is approximately 238,900 miles (384,400 kilometers)."

Selena scoffed and said, "Show off."

"You're the one asking about it." I said with disbelief.

Suddenly, three small ponies walked to the fence to where I was standing. They stood near the fence and started staring at me. If it weren't for the fact that they were standing too far, I would've petted them.

"Hey. It's Manny and Caroline." I said as I saw another two shorties staring at me. I waved to call them, and they cut the line to join us to pet the ponies. No one said anything because they were children, and this exhibition was supposedly for them.

"Do you want to ride them?" I asked the two. "If you're small enough, they might let you."

"It's okay." Manny said. "They were all jittery."

Caroline however had an excited glint in her eyes, but as she realized Manny didn't want to do it, it disappeared. I caught that and said, "Manny. Have you ever ridden a pony before?"

"No?" Manny asked in confusion, not knowing where I was going with this.

"Maybe you should try it. You couldn't have been bullied by a group of goats before, right?"

"What's with that oddly specific question? Of course— Wait. Some repressed memories are coming up. I WAS BULLIED BY A HERD OF GOATS!"