Chapter 10 - Funhouse

Five Weeks Until Prom

On Saturday morning, Lance woke up with a pep in his step. His plan was to go out to the carnival with Olivia and her friends. He was nervous. While he had gotten used to performing Simone for Zoey, Mack and their friends, this was the first time he had to perform for Olivia and her cheerleading friends.

When Lance got up from the breakfast table, Dad sprang a surprise on him. “Hey sport, we’re going to go out to the carnival today!”

“What?” Lance said with an equal sense of dread and surprise. “What for?”

“Well, my company has a booth there, so I volunteered to man it for an hour. I figured when I wasn’t working, we could go on some rides. Like we used to do.”

“When I was 8?”

“Lance, despite living under the same roof for a long time, we barely spend any time together. Don't you think it would be nice to rekindle that father-son bond?”

“Yeah, sure Dad.” He wanted to speak up. He wanted to say, “I’m meeting up with friends.” But he was not used to having family and friendships conflict.

“Well, get ready, I was thinking of heading there in an hour.”

As Lance retreated to his room, he struggled to figure out how he was going to go to the carnival with Dad when he was also supposed to go with Olivia and her friends - as Simone.

He thought of only one way to do this. He was going to need to call in a favor. He picked up the phone and dialed Zoey.

* * *

The carnival was on the far end of town, set up on a field adjacent to the elementary school. As both Lance and his father got out of his car, his father noticed the backpack flung over his shoulder. “Lance, what's with the backpack?”

“Just stuff, Dad,” Lance vaguely responded, hoping his dad wouldn’t press the issue.

Dad dropped the conversation because clearly Lance didn’t want to talk about it. He worried about his son. He’d always been a loner and a bit guarded. Nothing like his old man, he noted.

As they walked into the carnival, Lance spotted Oliva and her friends up ahead. He turned away so as to not be spotted. “Hey Dad, I need to use the restroom.”

“Already? We just got here.”

Lance didn’t respond and quickly jogged over to the bank of port-o-pots.

He stood inside one booth catching his breath and trying not to smell the odor when there was a knock at the door. 

“Lance, it’s Zoey and Mack,” Zoey stated.

“Thank God,” Lance rejoiced.

“Get dressed and I'll quickly apply your makeup,” Mack instructed through the door.

Lance quickly shed his T-shirt and jeans and replaced them with a pale green skater dress and plain white sneakers. He was careful not to let his clothing touch the filthy toilet seat. Suddenly, Lance missed the cleanliness of the landscaper’s shed. He positioned the wig on his head and opened the door.

Mack was waiting there ready to apply his makeup. Lance was barely out of the port-o-pot as she started applying some foundation. “I have no idea how you got into this mess,” she admonished him. “You should’ve just told your dad no.”

“He never asks me to go anywhere. I just couldn’t say no.”

“On top of that, you’re doing this to hang out with Olivia of all people,” Zoey added with a scowl.

Lance gulped. “Are you both sure you’re OK with helping me today?” Lance asked as he closed his eyes, letting Mack put mascara on.

“This is kinda thrilling,” Mack admitted. “I’ve never had to do a timed cosplay before.”

“What’s the plan?” Zoey inquired, still not satisfied with the situation. “You do have one, right?”

“Just tail me. When I need to switch, come get me.”

“That’s your big plan?” Zoey squeaked, eyes wide.

“Oh, I'm sorry, is it any worse than your plan to turn a boy into a prom queen to win a bet?”

Zoey grunted. 

Mack giggled, “Burn.” 

“Well, at least my plan is working,” Zoey boasted.

Lance was silent. He felt she was right, but didn’t want to dwell on the implications of that. He never believed her plan would work, did he?

After a minute, Mack declared, “Done. I’m trying to keep it simple, so I can do this fast multiple times.” 

“Thank you so much! Can you hold on to this for me?” Lance asked, handing Mack his backpack with his boy clothes.

Lance left Mack and Zoey and headed to where he saw Olivia. Olivia and her friends were in line for tickets. “Hey!” he shouted out to her.

“Simone!” Olivia responded enthusiastically, “I’m so glad you could make it!” She gave Lance a hug. “These are my friends - Ashley, Melissa, Jill, and Amy.”

“Hi,” Lance greeted Olivia's friends, “I’m Simone.”

The three girls greeted him warmly with “hi” and “nice to meet you”.

“You’re all cheerleaders?” he asked.

“Yes they are,” Olivia replied. “Ashley and Melissa are juniors, and Jill and Amy are sophomores.”

“Cool,” Lance said.

“I heard you’re from California,” Ashley probed. 

“I saw what you did to Rory Wilson in the cafeteria last week,” Jill butted in. “That was totally awesome!”

“Yeah,” the other girls said in unison.

“You have to tell us the whole story,” Amy added.

Lance was at loss for words. He thought the Rory improv episode was over and hadn’t considered having to create any additional backstory.

“Later.” Olivia, sensing Lance’s unease, changed the subject. “Let’s get tickets and go on some rides. We have 40 minutes until one of us has to go to the dunk tank.”

“The dunk tank?” Lance inquired.

“Yeah - the squad has a booth over there in the back. We have a dunk tank for fundraising. Mary is in it right now. I think I might be next, though.”

After all of the girls had bought a sheet of tickets, Melissa was the first one to speak up. “Let’s go on the Round Up!” she urged. 

Lance had no idea what the Round Up was, but he wanted to hang out with Olivia, so he followed the girls over to the ride. 

While waiting in line for the ride, a guy Lance didn’t recognize came up to them and cut in front of him and Melissa so he could be behind Olivia. He tapped her on the shoulder. “Hey Olivia. Can I join you?”

Lance deduced this must be the infamous Tyler.

“I’m with my friends,” Olivia coldly informed him, not bothering to turn around. “Perhaps some other time.”

That didn’t deter Tyler as the next group of people were let onto the ride - Tyler included.

Lance walked up to spot along the edge. 

Olivia, who was hastily walking away from Tyler, came up to the spot next to him. “Is this spot taken?”

“Not at all,” Lance replied while gesturing toward the empty spot. 

An annoyed Tyler looked at Lance then quickly got into another spot.

“Have you ever ridden one of these?” she asked.

“No, I haven't,” Lance admitted with some trepidation. Thrilling rides and his anxiety were not a good mix.

“They’re so much fun.”

Suddenly the ride started spinning. As it got going, the centrifugal force held them both down. Olivia let out a playful scream and Lance realized she was holding his hand.

“Try to raise your hand,” she directed. She lifted both their hands up only for the force to pin them back down.

She giggled, and Lance did too.

Slowly the ride started to rise up and tilt. Lance and Olivia turned their heads toward each other and smiled. 

Now Lance remembered what this ride was.  A previous Physics teacher had explained centrifugal forces to the class using this ride as a way to test it.  But Lance avoided these types of rides.  Riding it with Olivia was slowly changing his mind. “This is fun!” he thought. Then, “Uh-oh, what if my wig flies off?” He started to worry. But as it turned out, Lance’s wig was the least of his problems.

As the ride slowed down, Lance realized something was wrong with his stomach. Olivia noticed the look on his face.

“Motion sickness?”

“Yeah,” Lance gasped, trying to convince himself not to vomit in front of the girls.

When the ride came to a complete stop, Lance was the first person off and made a beeline to the port-o-pots. “I’ll be back!” he called as he raised his hand to cover his mouth.

Lance wasn’t looking and bumped into someone. He looked up to see his dad. He quickly continued running. 

The elder Biggs looked at the girl who bumped into him as she ran off. She looked almost identical to his daughter. “Simone?” he called out after her.

Lance ran into a vacant port-o-pot and vomited his breakfast into it. 

There was a knock at the door. Lance thought to himself, “Please don't be Olivia. Please don't be my dad. Please don’t be-”

“It’s Mack,” the knocker announced.

Lance breathed a sigh of relief and opened the door a crack.

“Oh, God,” Mack cried, pinching her nose, “it smells like vomit in there. Are you alright?” She handed him his backpack.

“I’ll be OK… I think. Remind me to never ride the Round Up again.” After his wave of nausea passed, Lance slid off the dress and put his T-shirt and shorts back on.

He reopened the door and Mack handed him some makeup wipes. He cleaned his face off, then his mouth. “Thank you.” 

Mack put a baseball cap on Lance’s head.

“What’s that for?” he asked.

“It adds another differentiating feature between Lance and Simone,” she explained. “It was free. A real estate agent was giving them out over there.” She reached into her bag and pulled out a pair of wrap around sunglasses. “These too.”

“These are free? They look expensive.”

“Nah, they're mine.”

“OK,” he acknowledged as he put the sunglasses on, handed her back his bag, and went to find his dad.

It wasn’t hard to find him. He looked lost. 

“Dad!” Lance called out.

“Where have you been?” he questioned. “You ran off to use the bathroom and you’ve been gone for a half hour.”

“Must have been something I ate for breakfast.”

“I had this weird thing happen while you were gone. I thought I saw your sister.”

“Simone? I talked to her on the phone last night. I’m quite confident she's still in California.”

“Maybe I’m seeing things. Where’d you get the hat and sunglasses?”

“They were free at one of those booths over there.” Lance pointed off in a general direction behind him.

Dad accepted that answer and moved on. “Hey - so let me introduce you to my co-workers.”

Dad led him over to his company’s tent.

“So these are the guys I work with,” Dad explained. “Mark, Paul, and Dave.”

Lance shook their hands.

“And this is my boss, Bob Jones.”

Bob extended his hand and Lance shook it. “So, I hear you go to North High School,” he said. “Go Bullfrogs! Croak! Croak! My daughter goes there, too.”

Lance smiled. “Yeah, I just enrolled last week.”

“Actually she’s right over there,” Bob said. He waved. “Maybe she’ll come over, maybe she won’t. She’s with her friends. You know how fickle teenage girls are?” he chuckled. “Doesn’t want to be seen with lame old dad, am I right?”

Lance’s dad chuckled, thinking of his own teenage daughter.

“Oh wait, here she is,” Bob announced. 

Lance turned around to see Olivia standing there. His eyes got wide and his jaw dropped. “Oh, shit!” he thought.

“Olivia, darling, this is Lance.” Bob introduced the two teens. “Apparently you both go to the same school.” 

Olivia raised an eyebrow and looked at the meek boy standing in front of her. “You look familiar. Are you in one of my classes?”

“No,” Lance replied, deepening his voice to make sure no part of Simone came out. “But maybe we’ve passed each other in the halls.” 

Olivia was clearly preoccupied, as she never made eye contact and was looking around for something. “Will you excuse me, I’m looking for my friend. It was nice to meet you, Lance.”

“Hey sport,” Dad said, “We were getting family members to volunteer for the town bake sale. They have a booth over there. Do you think you could put a shift in?”

Lance moaned. He thought Dad wanted to spend time with him. He wanted to tell him the truth again. That he was busy enjoying the carnival with friends. Instead he said, “Yeah, sure.”

“Great.” Dad said, looking at Lance like something was amiss. “Did you lose your backpack?”

“Oh - um,” Lance knew Mack had it, but this offered him a new opportunity to switch back to Simone mode and catch up with Olivia. “I must’ve left it back at the port-o-pots. Be right back.” He fled back towards the port-o-pots.

To Lance’s disappointment there was a line of people at the port-o-pots. He stood there unsure where he should go when his shirt was pulled in another direction.

“This way," Zoey said, pulling his arm.

“Where are we going?”

“Ferris wheel.”

Lance handed over several tickets for him, Zoey, and Mack; then they got into one of the Ferris wheel cars.

As the Ferris wheel moved the car further up, Lance waited until most people couldn't see him before starting to get dressed. As he took his boy clothes off, Mack assisted and took out the dress from his bag.

“We have a problem,” Lance announced. “My dad wants me to work at some town bake sale. I can’t be in two places at once.” He slid the dress on, then ducked as the car came back down to ground level.

“I knew this was a bad idea,” Zoey groaned. 

“We’ll figure something out,” Mack reasoned, putting the wig on Lance's head when they started elevating again.

Lance put the shoes on as Mack did his makeup.

“How many more times are we going to do this?” Zoey wondered out loud. 

“As long as both my dad and Oliva are here.”

Zoey sighed in disapproval.

“Hey, it’s the least you can do for everything Lance is doing for you,” Mack reminded Zoey. “All done.”

“Great,” Lance said, looking over the edge. “How many more times is this wheel going to go around?” He turned back around to see Mack taking off her shirt. “Oh my God,” he panicked, covering his eyes. “What are you doing?”

“It’s OK,” Mack assured him, “I’m wearing a sports bra.”

“Yeah, my tomboy sister is ashamed of how big her boobs are,” Zoey teased. 

Lance turned around confused at what the sisters were bickering about and saw Mack putting his shirt on. “But those are my clothes.”

Zoey laughed. “Says the guy who wore my dress twice last week.”

Mack ignored Zoey and addressed Lance. “You need to be two places at once, therefore I’m going to be you,” she explained, exchanging her shorts for his. Finally she put the baseball cap on her head and tucked her hair up inside of it.

“Do you really think you can pull off being me?” Lance asked.

“Well there’s only two options - Zoey or me. Who do you think can act more like a guy?”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Zoey bragged.

“Fine,” Lance said with resignation. “Just don’t make me look any more socially awkward than I normally am.”

Zoey and Mack exchanged glances, and managed to avoid making any snarky comments in front of Lance.

Mack winked at Lance before putting the sunglasses on.

The three of them got off the ride. Lance started looking for Olivia, while Mack went to the bake sale, leaving Zoey standing there dumbfounded, having just watched a guy and her sister switch clothes in front of her on a Ferris wheel.

“Hey beautiful,” Zoey heard from behind her. 

She turned to find her ex-boyfriend there. “What do you want, Tyler?”

“I can’t compliment you?”

“Lemme guess, the head cheerleader turned down your advances and now you’re crawling back to me.”

“It doesn’t have to be like that, babe. I saw you with another girl just now. I wanted to find out more about her.”

“My sister?” Zoey asked, confused.

“That wasn’t your sister. I saw her hanging out with Olivia, too.”

“Oh.” Zoey realized who Tyler was talking about. She gulped. “That’s um… Simone.”

"I saw what happened with Rory. You know if she’s seeing anyone else, yet?”

“She’s um… not your type.”

“Then how about this? You hook me up with your friend, and I’ll promise to leave you alone.”

“Wait - you dump me in front of the whole school - then you have the nerve to ask me to set you up on a date with one of my friends? That’s a big fat no, Tyler.” Zoey abruptly turned and walked away, leaving Tyler feeling alone and rejected.

* * *

Lance found Olivia’s friends at the cheerleading booth. He asked Amy, “Where’s Olivia?”

“She’s getting changed.”

Then, as if on cue, Olivia came out from inside a tent wearing a bikini. She climbed onto the dunk tank bench and a line began to form.

Lance was so smitten by how attractive Olivia was in her bikini that he didn’t even realize he was standing in line too. Before he knew it, it was his turn. Egged on by the girls around him, he grabbed one of the balls.

“Simone!” Olivia challenged. “Give me your best shot!”

His mind and his eyes were focused on Olivia. He threw the ball and completely missed the target.

“You throw like a girl,” she teased, sticking her tongue out.

Normally this would have upset Lance, but he recognized the playfulness behind Olivia’s teasing. He smiled, got his second ball, and threw it. 

The ball hit the target and Olivia’s seat gave way. She screamed as she fell into the water.

When she climbed out of the tank and sat back down, she smiled at Lance. He noticed the water dripping off her and how her wet skin glistened in the sunlight.

Lance was about to apologize to Olivia for dunking her when he felt his member spring from his panties. He quickly turned away from everyone, and moved his purse to cover up the part of his dress that was now tenting up.

He ran away from the cheerleaders and back to the town’s bake sale booth where he saw Mack, pretending to be him, selling baked goods. Could he flag her down so they could switch back?

“Hi,” he heard a familiar male voice say.

Lance turned to see the boy - Christopher from the video game store, standing there holding a bag of kettle corn.

“Simone, right?”

“Yeah,” he said, still holding his purse in front of him. “Oh, hi. I umm… I’m sorry about the other day. I was out at the mall with a friend-”

“No need to apologize,” Christopher assured. “I didn’t realize you had a boyfriend.”

“Well I… we broke up.” Then Lance realized there was only one way Christopher would know that, and smirked. “But you knew that already.”

“Yeah - I kinda saw it go down. Good job by the way. I never would have thought to use a school-issued cake as a weapon.”

Lance giggled. “Yeah, they should put a warning label on that food.”

“I know, right! So you are single now?”

“Oh well... I am, but I kinda want to take a break. This isn’t the best time.”

“Oh, I understand.”

They stood there awkwardly before Christopher finally added, “I forgot to give you my name. It’s Christopher.” He held out his hand.

“Christopher,” Lance repeated and shook his hand, though Christopher’s grip was just as limp as Lance’s. “Nice to see you again.”

Another awkward pause.

“So, um, you work on the yearbook staff with Zoey?” Lance asked.

“Yeah, I’m the computer editor. Though, I don’t think Zoey knows my name.”

Lance laughed at that. “I don't think she knows anyone’s name.”

Lance saw Mack coming over to him. “Sorry, Simone, I had a hard time getting away.”

Christopher looked at Lance with a twinge of jealousy. 

Lance recognized that look Christopher was giving off as something he did often. “Oh yeah, “ he said. “Christopher, this is my brother Lance.”

They shook hands. “Hi, Lance, your sister is pretty swell.”

Mack stopped herself from giggling and looked at Lance. “Yeah, she sure is.”

“I should let you two enjoy the rest of the carnival...” Christopher said. “It was good seeing you again, Simone.”

“It was good seeing you too,” Lance said as Christopher walked away. He turned back towards Mack.

“You’re swell,” Mack said, finally letting her giggle out.

Lance shrugged. “Turn around real quick.”

When she did what she was told, he glanced around to see if anyone else was watching him, reached under his dress and tucked his loose appendage back into his panties.

“Sorry, I had to fix something,” he explained.

“You didn’t read how to tuck yet, did you?” she whispered.

“What’s that?”

“Read it when you get home. You can’t wear jeans or leggings without it.”

Lance nodded, understanding her meaning but not wanting to talk about this particular subject anymore.

“So that guy,” Mack continued. “He was crushing on you hard.”

“I know. I’m usually bad at social cues, but that was so awkward and obvious. I felt bad for letting him down. Hey - you ready to swap?”

Mack looked over Lance’s shoulder. “We can’t yet. You have a visitor.”

Lance turned around and saw Olivia waving at him. 

He walked away from Mack to greet Olivia. 

“Hey, stranger.” She smiled warmly. Her hair was still damp from the dunk tank but the wavy beach look looked beautiful to Lance.

“Hey, Olivia.” Lance was still reeling from his earlier encounter with her. He turned to look at Mack, but she had made a quick get-a-way.

“That was a nice throw,” she complimented.

“Thank you. I just got lucky. I’m sorry I got you wet.”

“That’s the whole point of a dunk tank, silly,” Olivia teased. “I’m just glad you weren’t throwing cake slices.”

Lance grinned at the cake reference. “That was different. He was cheating on me.”

“Well, let’s hope I never cheat on you,” she said coyly.

Lance completely shut down as he tried to process what Olivia had just said. No one had ever talked to him like that. Was she just flirting, or did she really have feelings for him? For Simone? He tried moving his jaw, but he was too flustered to speak.  Here he was, criticizing Christopher’s game, but he had none either.

Olivia grinned as she saw the effect her words had on Lance. She let him just stand there for a moment.

Lance shook his head to clear the spell he was under, then changed the subject. “Where’s the rest of your friends?” Lance asked, looking around.

“Well, they’re all trying to knock Amy in the dunk tank. I wanted to come hang out with you for a bit.”

“What would you like to do?” Lance asked.

“Wanna do the funhouse?” 

“Sure.”

They started walking to the funhouse. Lance looked around and spotted Mack and she gave him an encouraging look and a thumbs up.

“Simone, was that your brother?” Olivia asked.

“Umm, yeah.”

“Cool. I met him earlier. He looks so much like you.”

“We’re twins.”

“That’s so awesome! What’s it like having a twin?”

“Well, for starters you have to share everything. Then people often confuse you.”

“Sounds like the Parent Trap. Please tell me you both played practical jokes when you were younger.”

“Nah,” Lance countered. “When we were little my mom used to dress us in unisex clothing because it was cheaper and more convenient,” Lance recounted as Simone. “I used to steal his Van Halen T-shirt because I liked the band.”

“Did he ever take anything of yours?” Olivia giggled at the thought.

“I really don’t remember - maybe if he was out of clean clothes. I do seem to recall him wearing a pair of my jeans once when our laundry got switched.”

“That’s funny. Did it bother you that he could fit into your pants?”

“Actually, I remember her - I mean me - telling him how good his ass looked in my jeans!” Lance had forgotten that comment from his past, and recalling it reminded him about the similar comment Zoey had made while shopping.

They walked into the funhouse. First room was the mirror maze. Olivia led as Lance followed. That was until she slammed into a mirror. She laughed it off. “Maybe you should lead.” She took Lance’s hand.

He blushed but led her through the maze. He stopped at a mirror and looked at the two of them. He saw two girls standing there. Both were smiling and Lance could feel something inside of him. “So pretty,” he thought to himself.

“I think the next room is that way.” Olivia pointed at an opening in the mirrors, breaking his train of thought.

“Right,” he agreed, leading her into a dark room, lit only by the fluorescence of a blacklight. Their shoelaces seemed to glow.

Lance led her through the maze. There was one particular corner that was darker than the others. Perhaps the blacklight had died. Lance felt Olivia tug him back there.

He stopped, and she pulled him further into the darkness. He was initially confused, and then surprised when he felt her soft lips touch his own.

It was only for a moment, then she pulled him back into the light and outside the funhouse.

Lance was flustered all over again. He looked to Olivia for some acknowledgement of what had just happened. 

Instead she simply smiled and asked, “Do you want some cotton candy?”

“Yeah,” Lance said through a mental fog. “That would be great.”

“Wait right here,” she instructed, as she walked over to a nearby vendor. 

He couldn’t take his eyes off of her as she sauntered away from him. Did she really like him? She couldn't, could she? He was disguised as a girl. He suddenly felt jealous of the character he was playing. “This disguise is evil” he thought to himself. He wanted Olivia’s affections. But Simone was the one who was receiving them.

While Olivia was in line to get cotton candy, Lance stood there by himself daydreaming about that quick kiss in the funhouse. Did Olivia really like Lance that way? Or did she like Simone? This was confusing for Lance because he felt like he wasn’t acting like his sister anymore around Olivia.

He then felt a hand on his shoulder. Lance assumed it was Zoey, and called out, “Hey Zoey!” but when he turned around, it was Tyler standing there instead.

“Hey,” he asked, “it’s Simone, right?”

Lance was cursing to himself. This was the last person who he wanted to be face to face with. Zoey’s ex. Olivia’s harasser. “Yeah.”

“Hi, I’m Tyler,” he introduced himself, offering his hand.

“I know who you are,” Lance replied curtly, ignoring Tyler’s gesture.

“Did Rory tell you about me?”

“Rory? No. Olivia told me you’re harassing her. Zoey told me you’re a jerk.”

“I’m not about that,” Tyler rebutted, thinking himself suave. “Zoey is a cold bitch and Olivia doesn’t know what she’s missing. But you - this is your lucky day. The Tyler Valentine train has an open seat if you want to get on board. Next stop, the Tunnel of Love.”

Lance felt appalled by Tyler’s corny pick up line. “No thanks, Tyler,” he declined, wanting to flee. But he had nowhere to flee to. Maybe he should stand by Olivia in line, but he didn’t want to act clingy. Plus, Tyler might follow him over to Olivia.

“One date,” Tyler bargained. “One date to prove I’m really a good guy.”

Lance shook his head. He couldn’t say yes, not that he even wanted to. If Tyler found out he was really a guy, Tyler would surely beat him up. And then tell the whole school. That would be the end of Zoey’s bet. Goodbye Ferrari. He needed to figure a way out of this. He saw Christopher nearby out of the corner of his eye. “Actually, I have a boyfriend.” He ran over to Christopher, and interrupted Christopher as he was tossing a ring at a bottle, causing it to miss the target. “This is my boyfriend, Chris.” Lance put his arm around Christopher, hoping he would get the hint. 

Christopher looked surprised.

“He’s your boyfriend?” Tyler sputtered. “You dumped Rory for him?” He stared at the couple in disbelief. 

“I just asked her out,” Christopher slowly said, obviously confused.

“And I said yes!” Lance quickly replied, annoyed that Christopher wasn’t catching on that he was role-playing. At this moment he wished Rory was around to play savior instead. "Well, we met at the mall, and really hit it off." At least that part was true.

Christopher was starting to catch on. "I asked her out then, but she was in a bit of a rush." Also true. He hoped he was helping make Lance's story believable. He reached out and took Lance's hand. 

Just then, Olivia came back with two cones of cotton candy. She saw Lance holding Christopher's hand and got confused. “What’s going on here?”

“Hey babe,” Tyler said, “I was wondering if you wanted to go on a double date with my new friend Simone here, and her… boyfriend.” He gestured at the new couple. 

Olivia turned and stared at Lance with wide eyes. “Boyfriend?”

Lance felt dread that he was screwing everything up. He pleaded with his eyes, “Don’t believe this,” he willed his eyes to say to her.

Olivia looked at Lance. Then Tyler. Then Christopher. She looked betrayed, and Lance could feel the look of hurt on her face. “Sure. We can go on a double date," she coldly agreed.

Tyler didn’t hide his excitement. “Hot damn!" he nearly shouted out.

Lance felt like he had just been punched in the gut - by himself. What had he done?

Olivia handed Lance his cotton candy. “I should get going,” she said. “I bet my friends are looking for me.” As she walked away she dumped her own cotton candy in a trash can. She wasn’t hungry anymore.

Lance wanted to stop her so he could explain, but Christopher was still holding his hand and Tyler was slow to walk away.

When Tyler and Olivia were gone, Christopher turned to face Lance. “Wow!”

“Wow, what?”

“I’m going on a double date with the head cheerleader, the quarterback and the cutest girl in school.”

Lance was speechless. He certainly wasn't the cutest girl in school. But how does he let down Christopher? He needed help. He needed someone to confide in. “Christopher, will you excuse me? Here’s some cotton candy.”

“Oh yeah sure,” he agreed. “Sweet, I love cotton candy.”

Lance was running back to Mack, when he was intercepted by Zoey instead. “Oh, Zoey, I messed up.”

“What happened?”

“Things were going so well with Olivia. Then Tyler showed up. Now I’m going on a double date with Olivia, Tyler, and Christopher.

“Who’s Christopher?”

“The guy I met at the mall.”

“Wait... so which one is your date?”

“Christopher.”

“So Tyler is dating Olivia.”

“I didn’t mean for it to happen that way.”

“What the hell, Simone!”

“I’m sorry! I have to go find Olivia and tell her the truth.”

“Fine,” Zoey said, crossing her arms. She glanced back behind Lance to the bake sale booth. “Wait, where’s Mack?”

“She was just there a few minutes ago.”

“We have to find her.”

“What about Olivia?”

“Lance, worry about her later. We need to find my sister!” 

Both Lance and Zoey went up to the booth. Zoey nudged Lance to talk to someone.

“Um, where did the boy that was here go?”

“Oh, Lance?” a woman asked. “Such a sweet boy. Him and his father went home.”

Lance and Zoey shared a look of shock and a duet of, “Oh, shit!”