Stay Sweet(24)

“Oh, I’m not going to jump. I just need, like, two seconds to talk to her.”

“Everyone who enters JumpZone needs to sign a waiver,” the boy says, his voice monotone. He must say that a lot, Amelia thinks sympathetically, the same way she’s always telling tourists that the stand doesn’t accept credit cards.

The boy pushes the earplug back inside his ear. Amelia squints to read the fine print, but she’s too excited about giving Cate the good news. She scribbles a quick signature, slips off her sandals, and heads inside.

The noise in the next room is far worse than in the lobby. It sounds like the belly of an airplane. In a space that’s maybe half the size of a high school gym, there are several massive inflatables, each with an industrial fan whirling full speed. Each one has a JumpZone employee assigned to it. Amelia passes a classic mesh-sided bounce house, a huge slide, and an obstacle course where kids try to knock each other down by swinging inflatable punching bags. And then, taking up an entire wall is the biggest inflatable of all. Amelia assumes it must be the Moat.

The Moat is an enormous ball pit with a platform on either side. Cate is standing on the right and a very tall guy with freshly buzzed peach fuzz is on the left. Amelia’s dad wears his hair the same way, as he has his entire life. It’s the kind of style that doesn’t ever seem to go out of fashion for the men of Sand Lake.

The guy is helping kids, one by one, climb up onto his platform. At Cate’s direction, each kid takes a running jump and dives elaborately into the pit. On the other side, Cate holds up what look like homemade score cards to rate the jumps from 1 to 10.

Every girl scores a 10. The harder a boy tries to impress Cate, the lower the score she gives him.

And the kids love it.

This is Cate. Cate has the magical ability to make fun wherever she goes, even at a crappy job like JumpZone. She brings that energy. She always has. And with all the work that will need to get done tomorrow before opening, Amelia knows that Cate’s presence at the stand will be essential.

“I lost my shoe!” one of the girls complains, climbing out.

Nodding, Cate cups her hands and says, “Jordan!”

“Ugh, again?”

“Yup. She thinks it’s over here somewhere,” Cate tells him, pointing to her half of the ball pit. But Jordan is the one to jump in, and even if he’s a little put out, he does a swan dive, to make Cate laugh, which she does, and she also claps when he resurfaces, a pink high-top in hand.

Another door opens off to the side and a JumpZone employee, this one a girl, blows a whistle. “Okay, everyone here for Faith’s birthday, come on into the Pizza Room!”

The kids and their parents empty out, but Amelia hangs back. Jordan tries to pull Cate into the ball pit with him, but she squeals and throws colorful plastic balls at his head. The girl who announced that it’s pizza time flings a pizza crust at them before disappearing behind the closing door. Except for the fans, it becomes quiet.

Amelia hears Cate and Jordan talking as she gets closer.

Jordan says, laughing, “You robbed that one kid. A two for a double backflip?”

“La di da,” Cate says, and then fakes a yawn. “That was nothing compared to the girl who did that flying karate kick.”

“She was amazing,” Jordan concedes. “We should have given her a prize.”

“Wait, I want a prize!” Cate whines. “I spent my entire break plus five bucks in quarters trying to win that warped-looking Care Bear knock-off in the claw machine.”

“What would you say if I told you I have the key to the claw machine? I can open it up and get you that ugly-ass bear right now.”

“Seriously?” Cate shrieks. She’s about to climb down the ladder when she spots Amelia.

“Hi!” Amelia says awkwardly. She didn’t want to seem like she was eavesdropping, but also didn’t want to interrupt their conversation.

“Hi!” Cate says back, hopping down and giving her a big hug. “Jordan, this is my best friend, Amelia. I told you about her.”

“Hi,” he says, climbing down after them. He looks embarrassed, likely because he was caught flirting.

Cate playfully asks Jordan, “I thought you were going to get me my bear?”

He talks while he walks backward. “Okay, okay, but if I get fired—”

“Don’t worry. I’m Employee of the Month, remember? I’ll put in a good word for you with Lou.”

“He’s cute,” Amelia says, stepping closer to Cate.

“Eh. I mean, he’s nice. But he’s a little Donnersville,” Cate says, referring to two towns over, a place with more farms, where boys get their permits to drive tractors. She scratches an itch on the back of her arm. “That said, it’s kind of fun working with boys for a change. Flirting makes the time pass way faster.” Her eyes suddenly widen. “God, I’m so sorry, Amelia! I should be asking you how it went with Grady!”

“Wait, you’re already Employee of the Month? Have you even worked here a full week?” As ridiculous as this seems, Amelia finds it unsurprising.

Cate wrinkles her nose. “Long story. But you go! Tell me everything!”

“Okay.” Amelia has trouble containing her excitement. “Cate . . . it went amazing! I did exactly what you said. I was confident, I was assertive. I got everything I asked for. And the crazy thing is, I walked out of there feeling like I know way more about being Head Girl than I ever thought I did. For the first time, I believe I can do this. And I have you to thank for it.”