CIRQUE DU ANIME

CHAPTER 3

"Talking"

Thinking

Emphasis

Point of view

Kurai

The next morning, Tommy, Alan, Kaida and me waited outside the gates for Steve and Sophie, but there was no sign of them by the time the bell rang for class, so we had to go in.

"I bet they're dossing," Tommy said. "They couldn't get the tickets and now they don't want to face us."

"Steve and Sophie aren't like that," I said.

"I hope they bring the flyer back," Alan said. "Even if we can't go, I'd like to have the flyer. I'd stick it up over my bed and—"

"You couldn't stick it up, stupid!" Tommy laughed.

"Why not?" Alan asked.

"Because Tony would see it," Kaida said.

"Oh yeah," Alan said glumly.

Me and Kaida were miserable in class. We had geography first, and every time Mrs Quinn asked one of us a question, we got it wrong. Normally geography's our best subject – Kaida was better at it though – because we know so much about it from when we use to collect stamps.

"Had a late night, Kurai, Kaida?" she asked when we got our fifth question wrong.

"No, Mrs Quinn," we lied.

"I think you did," she smiled. "There are more bags under your eyes than in the local supermarket!" everybody laughed at that – Mrs Quinn didn't crack jokes very often – and we did too, even though we were the butt of the joke.

The morning dragged, the way it does when you feel let down or disappointed. I spent the time imagining the freak show and talking about it with Kaida. We made-believe we were one of the freaks, and the owner of the circus was a nasty guy who whipped everybody, even when they got stuff right. All the freaks hated him, but one day, he whipped us once too often, and we turned into wolves and bit his head off! Everybody cheered and we were made the new owners.

It was a pretty good daydream, Kaida even wrote it down.

Then, a few minutes before break, the door opened and guess who walked in? Steve and Sophie! Their mother was behind them and she said something to Mrs Quinn, who nodded and smiled. Then Mrs Leonard left and Steve and Sophie strolled over to their seats and sat down.

"Where were you?" I asked in a furious whisper.

"At the dentist's," Steve said.

"We forgot to tell you we were going," Sophie said.

"What about—" Kaida started.

"That's enough, Kurai, Kaida," Mrs Quinn said. Kaida and me shut up instantly.

At break, Tommy, Alan, Kaida and me almost smothered Steve and Sophie. We were shouting and pulling at them at the same time.

"Did you get the tickets?" Kaida and I asked.

"Were you really at the dentist's?" Tommy wanted to know.

"Where's my flyer?" Alan asked.

"Patience, boys and girls, patience," Steve said, pushing us away and laughing with Sophie.

"All good things to those who wait," Sophie said.

"Come on, Steve, Sophie, don't mess around," I told them.

"Did you get them or not?" Kaida asked.

"Yes and no" they said.

"What does that mean?" Tommy snorted.

"It means we have some good news, some bad news, and some crazy news," Steve said.

"Which do you want to hear first?" Sophie asked.

"Crazy news?" Kaida and I asked, puzzled.

Steve and Sophie pulled us off to one side of the yard, checked to make sure no one was about, then began to speaking in a whisper.

"We got the money," Steve said. "And sneaked out at seven o'clock, when mum was on the phone. We hurried across town to the ticket booth, but do you know who was there when we arrived?"

"Who?" we asked.

"Mr Dalton," Sophie said. "He was there with a couple of policemen. They were dragging a small guy out of the booth – it was a really small shed, really – when suddenly there was this huge bang and a great cloud of smoke covered them all. When it cleared, the small guy had disappeared."

"What did Mr Dalton and the police do?" Alan asked.

"Examined the shed, looked around a bit, then left," Steve said.

"Did they see you?" Tommy asked.

"No," Sophie said. "We were well hidden."

"So you didn't get the tickets," I said sadly.

"We didn't say that," Steve contradicted me.

"You got them" Kaida gasped.

"We turned to leave," Steve said, "and found the small guy behind us. He was tiny, and dressed in a long cloak which covered him from head to toe. He spotted the flyer in my hand, took it, and held out the tickets. I handed over the money and—"

"You got them!" we roared delightedly.

"Yes," Steve and Sophie beamed. Then their faces fell.

"But there was a catch. We told you there was bad news, remember?" Sophie asked.

"What is it?" Kaida asked.

"He only sold us four tickets," Steve said. "We had the money for six, but he wouldn't take it. He didn't say anything, just tapped the bit on the flyer about "certain reservations", then handed us a card which said the Cirque Du Freak only sold four tickets per flyer. We offered him extra money – we had about ninety pounds in total – but he wouldn't accept it."

"He only sold you four tickets?" Tommy asked, dismayed.

"But that means…" Alan began.

"…only four of us can go," Sophie finished. Steve and Sophie looked at us grimly.

"Two of us would have to stay at home," Steve said.

Kaida

It was Friday evening, the end of the school week, the start of the weekend, and everybody was laughing and running home as quick as they could, delighted to be free. Except a certain miserable sixsome who hung around the schoolyard, looking like the end of the world had arrived. Their names? Steve and Sophie Leonard, Tommy Jones, Alan Morris and my sis and me, Kaida and Kurai cross.

"It's not fair," Alan moaned. "Who ever heard of a circus only letting you buy four tickets? It's stupid!"

We all agreed with him, but there was nothing we could do about it apart from stand around, stubbing the ground with our feet, looking sour.

Finally, Alan asked the question which was on everybody's mind.

"So, who gets the tickets?"

We looked at each other and shook our heads uncertainly.

"Well, Steve and Sophie have to get one," I said.

"They out in more money than the rest of us, and they went to buy them, so they have to get one, agreed?" Kurai asked.

"Agreed," Tommy said.

"Agreed," Alan said. I think he would have argued about it, except he knew he wouldn't win.

Steve and Sophie smiled and each took one of the tickets. "Who goes with us?" they asked.

"I brought in the flyer," Alan said quickly.

"Nuts to that!" I told him.

"Steve and Sophie should get to choose," Kurai said.

"Not on your lives!" Tommy laughed. "You two are their best friends. If we let them pick, they'll pick you two. I say we fight for them. I have boxing gloves at home."

"No way!" Alan squeaked. He's small and never gets into fights.

"We don't want to fight either," Kurai and I said. We're no cowards but we knew we wouldn't stand a chance against Tommy. His dad teaches him how to box properly and they have their own punching bag. He would have floored us in the first round.

"Let's pick straws for them," I said, but Tommy didn't want to. He has terrible luck and never wins anything like that.

We argued about it a bit more, until Steve and Sophie came up with an idea.

"We know what to do," Steve said, opening his school bag. He tore the two middle sheets of paper out of an exercise book and, using his ruler, carefully cut them into small pieces, each roughly the same size as the two remaining tickets. Then he got his empty lunch box and dumped the paper inside.

"Here's how it works," he said, holding up the two tickets. "I put these in, put the top on and shake it, ok?" we nodded.

"You stand side by side and I'll throw the bits of paper over your heads. Whoever gets one of the tickets wins. Me, Steve and the winners will give the other two their money back when we can afford it. Is that fair enough, or does someone have a better idea?" Sophie asked.

"Sounds good to me," I said, Kurai nodded to show she liked the idea.

"I don't know," Alan grumbled. "I'm the youngest. I'm not able to jump as high as—"

"Quit yapping," Tommy said. "I'm the smallest, and I don't mind. Besides, the ticket might come out on the bottom of the pile, float down and be in the right place for the shortest person."

"All right," Alan said. "But no shoving."

"Agreed," I said.

"No rough stuff," Kurai said.

"Agreed," Tommy nodded.

Steve put the top on the box and gave it a good long shake, and then handed it to Sophie.

"Get ready," she told us.

We stood back from Steve and Sophie and lined up in a row. Tommy and Alan were side by side, but Kurai and I kept out of the way so we'd have more room to swing both arms.

"Ok," Sophie said. "I'll throw everything in the air on the count of three. All set?" we nodded. "One" Sophie said, and I saw Alan wiping sweat from around his eyes. "Two," Steve said, and Tommy's fingers twitched. "Three!" Sophie yell, jerked off the lid and tossed the paper high up into the air.

A breeze came along and blew the bits of paper straight at us. Tommy and Alan started yelling and grabbing wildly. It was impossible to see the tickets in among the scraps of paper.

I was about to start grabbing, when all of a sudden I got an urge to do something strange. It sounded crazy, but I've always believed in following an urge or a hunch.

So what I did was, I shut my eyes, stuck out my hands like a blind person, and waited for something magical to happen.

As I'm sure you know, usually when you try something you've seen in a movie, it doesn't work. Like if you try doing a wheelie with your bike, or making your skateboard jump up in the air. But every once in a while, when you least expect it, something clicks.

For a second I felt paper blowing by my hands. I was going to grab at them but something told me it wasn't time. Then a second later, a voice inside me yelled "NOW!"

I shut my hands really fast.

The wind dies down and the pieces of paper drifted to the ground. I opened my eyes – noticing my sister doing the same – and saw Alan and Tommy down on their knees, searching for the tickets.

"There're not here!" Tommy said.

"I can't find them anywhere!" Alan shouted.

They stopped searching and looked up at Kurai and me. We hadn't moved. We were standing still, our hands shut tight.

"What's in your hands, Kaida, Kurai?" Steve asked softly.

We stared at him and Sophie, unable to answer. It was like we were in a dream were we couldn't move or speak.

"They don't have them," Tommy said. "They can't have. They had their eyes shut."

"Maybe so," Sophie said, "but there's something in those fists of theirs."

"Open them," Alan said, giving Kurai and me a shove. "Let's see what you two are hiding."

We looked at Alan, then Tommy, then Steve and Sophie. And then very slowly, I opened my right-hand fist, Kurai opening her left-hand fist.

There was nothing there.

My heart and stomach dropped, I'm sure Kurai was feeling the same disappointment I was. Alan and Tommy started looking on the ground again, trying to find the missing tickets.

"What about your other hands?" Steve asked.

I gazed down at my left-hand fist – Kurai gazed at her right-hand fist – I'd almost forgotten about that one! Slowly, even slower than the first time, we opened our fists.

There was a piece of green paper smack-dab in the middle of our hands, but they were facing down, and since there was nothing on there backs, we had to turn it over, just to be sure. And there it was in red and blue letter, the magical name:

CIRQUE DU FREAK.

We had them. The tickets were ours. We were going to the freak show with Steve and Sophie. "YEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!" we screamed, and jumped up and down hugging each other. We'd won!

(A/N: Ok there is chapter three, the freak show starts next chapter wonder what will happen, well I don't need to wonder I know XD Hope you enjoyed this chapter please review, thanks. Mata ne)