It wasn’t me!” Killian cried as we all hopped out of her truck in Yoli’s driveway.
“Well, if it wasn’t you, then who was it?” I asked.“ This was too much of a coincidence. It was another Killian prank, I just knew it. Like the time she jumped off the highest bleachers during the Sharks’ halftime show and nobody could find her until she showed up at our friend Hamin’s post-game party.
“Yeah, you’re the only one who would play a joke like that,” Yoli argued boldly.
Killian did a little stomp that reminded me of how immature she still acted sometimes. “It wasn’t me. Going in to see that lady was your idea, Fiona, not mine!”
I folded my arms across my chest. “You might have gone into the tent beforehand and told her anyway, knowing I’d probably want to do a tarot reading.”
“What? That is extremely retarded thinking! I was next to you the whole time!” She looked genuinely offended that we were accusing her. I always knew when Killian was lying. Something creeps into her face, like the corners of her mouth fighting to stay firm. There wasn’t any of that now. “Of all the bad press you could give me, Fiona.” She made a weird sucking noise. “Goddamn.”
“Look,” I started. “It’s not that we don’t believe you—”
“It’s not?” she blurted, bumping hard against the side of her car.
Okay, so it wasn’t Killian. She was way too defensive. So the lady really knew about our cruise? I rubbed my eyes. This had been a seriously long day, even before we got to the fair. And then that woman had to go and say what she said. I let my arms plop against my side. “It’s just … I don’t know.”
“Good one, Fee.” Killian folded her arms and eyed us all. “Here’s what I think… . I think she had some psychic ability, fine. She knew we were going on a trip, but the rest she probably made up just to scare us.”
“Yep,” Alma mumbled, crushing yet another stinkin’ cigarette on the ground. I was sure Yoli’s mom would screech in the morning upon finding it there in her driveway. “That’s her bread and butter, that little scary act of hers.”
“Maybe,” I said, leaning next to Kill. “But here’s the thing. What if she’s right about the rest of the prediction too? What if something bad is going to happen to one of us?
I mean, you guys saw the card.” God, I didn’t even want to mention it again. It was too creepy.
“I know, it was scary. Augh!” Yoli bit at her nails furiously. “You shouldn’t mess around with people like that. In fact, we shouldn’t have even gone in there.”
“Well, then we never would have known what she said.Maybe it’s good that we went in. Maybe she was warning us, in which case it’d be stupid to go tomorrow,” I argued, even though I knew the chances of abandoning the cruise idea were next to zilch.
“No,” Killian said. “The stupid thing would be to cancel a trip we’ve been planning for three months because of something some freak show said. I don’t care what came out of her mouth, I’m still going on that ship tomorrow morning.”
“Exactly,” Alma added. “I’m not canceling either. I’ve waited too long, and besides, she probably overheard us talking about it in line for pizza or something. That’s how carnies work.”
Yoli looked at them with disbelief. “I can’t believe this. If we each had half a brain, we wouldn’t go.”
“Well, I don’t have half a brain.” Killian laughed, looking at Alma.
“Me neither.” Alma put her arm around Killian’s waist and leaned into her. “Can we go to sleep now? I’m tired.”
We were quiet for a moment—a silence that ended in them all looking at me, like I was the tiebreaker or something, confirming that I had perhaps become the mama hen in this group. Which was just fantastic. What if I said, “Yes,let’s go,” then something bad happened to one of us? Could I live with that? But what if I said no, then we missed out on the trip of our lives? On our future memories?
Ack! Decision making sucked.
“Fiona?” Alma said. “What do you say? My feetsies are hurting standing here.”
I sighed. When in doubt, use balance, use common sense. Use … the Force. “Girls,” I said, “let’s go to sleep and forget about all this. We’ll go on our trip tomorrow as planned, and we’ll just keep an eye on each other, and that’s it.” There.
“Fine,” Yoli said, all glib. “But if one of us ends up dead, I’m going to blame the rest of you.”
Killian chuckled. “Unless the dead one ends up being you.”
Yoli’s mouth literally dropped open as she stared at Kill. “That is not funny,” she said, and walked away toward her front door, jiggling her keys.
“What? It was a joke!” Killian laughed, and Alma added her own smile. “Come back here, dummy!”
“Good night,” Yoli said, her back turned to us. “See you all in the morning.”
“Everything’s going to be fine,” I called after her.
Yoli waved and went in without looking at us again. Killian, Alma, and I stood around staring at one another. There was nothing left to say. We were going. Prediction or no prediction. An amazing, fun time we would have. Long nights of dancing and toasting, of sunsets and Caribbean beaches. And no wacky woman was going to ruin that. So why were my friends still staring at me?
“Fee?” Alma said, her eyebrows raised. “Nothing is going to happen.”
“Right,” I said, letting out a breath. What else was I going to say? I had already paid for this trip, seeking fun, and fun I would have. Still, I couldn’t help but think of what Alma had said: “Nothing is going to happen.” Famouslast words, chica.