It was kinda like a jolt. Or a buzz. Or a tingle. Well, whatever it was, it shot through my whole body. I’d experienced the feeling before, but not too many times. Once at a slumber party, after I ate two pieces of cake and three handfuls of red vines. Another time was at the fair when I ate a whole cotton candy and then finished off Brady’s. Then there was that time at a campfire when I decided that the graham cracker and marshmallow wasn’t necessary in a S’more, so I just ate the chocolate. Three bars of it.
I needed to run. Or I was going to explode.
“You know what? I really feel great! Can I get out of the car?” I sat the Special down on the seat and reached for the door handle.
“I knew it would work,” Fawn said. “Peps me up every time.”
The adults began to laugh and I pushed open the car door. The sugar was making my eyes twitch, and that was a lucky thing since they twitched right toward the paper that was sitting in the still-opened glove compartment. The sugar rush also made me extra brave for one split second, so I grabbed that paper and ran as fast as I could with it, away from the car and around to the back of the Dairy Queen.
I knew I would only have a minute to look at it before someone chased me down. I tried to focus on the paper, but for some reason, everything was blurry. I think it said “registration” at the top, but then I didn’t know exactly where to look to find the state. I was huffing and puffing so hard from the running, and I think that sugar pulsing through my veins was making me kinda shaky. I kept turning my head, expecting to see one of the adults come stampeding around the corner and pounce on me. It would probably be Fawn first. C’mon Riley. Calm down. And hurry up about it.
I held my breath to stop the puffing. Still no adults. Whew.
I squinted down at the paper, and the word I was looking for finally became clear.