Fair

I shook my head in disappointment. Bingo didn't take one bite of his Alpo.

"Dad, he still doesn't want to eat it."

"Here, boy!" My dad tossed him a hamburger steak and I watched him eat it in two bites. He stood up on his feet, begging for more, and the height that nearly reached the roof nearly threw me aback.

"Woah. I bet Bingo's just as big as those bears who killed the missing hikers."

"Maybe." I told dad; but deep inside, I had a strange feeling that Bingo was bigger than those bears. After one more toss of a steak, Bingo walked away from my dad and rested his head on my legs. I watched his eyes slowly blink close as I gently stroked his head down to his tail. I don't know what I'll become of without him.

"I love you." I told him as I planted kisses on his furry head. He lifted his head up and playfully licked my cheeks, then placed his huge paws in my hands as he rested his head again.

There was suddenly a knocking sound by the door.

"I'll get it." I carefully placed Bingo's head on the floor, afraid to wake him up. As I flung the door open, I saw a very large man.

He reminds me a lot of Paul and Jared—tall, muscular, intimidating, only this time, the man looked a few years older and carried himself with such grace and prestige.

"Hello there." He smiled at me, and the low, booming voice nearly knocked me off my feet.

"H-hello." I forced the word out of my mouth. There was suddenly a violent, growling sound from behind. I suddenly became afraid of Bingo all over again.

"I'm Sam Uley. Just call me Sam." The name rang a bell. He used to be one grade higher than me, and he was very famous in La Push because of a commercial ad he did before. Months after his commercial, his fame vanished like a bubble.

"Honey, who is it?"

"It's Sam Uley." The chair my dad was sitting on made a screeching sound as he stubled his way to the door.

"Samuel!"

"Mr. Bennett?"

"How are you? Please, come in." My dad took him by the hand and led him to the living room. Bingo's growl grew even more menacing, but one glower from Sam, for some unexplainable reason, shut him up.

"So, what brought you here?"

"Well, I'm here to get my dog, sir." The world collapsed on my feet. He's Bingo's true owner? My chest felt heavier as the thought of letting Bingo go washed through me.

"Bingo?"

"Yes, sir, if that's what you call him."

"Oh, what's his true name?"

"Jared." My eyes widened in the coincidence. His name was Jared, all this time.

"Wow. Like my student, Jared Wilson." He chuckled.

"I'm really sorry if I have to take him, sir. You see, he's not an ordinary dog. He's sort of a guard, and we need him now."

"I see. What breed is he?"

"Alaskan wolf."

"Wow, he's too enormous to be an Alaskan wolf."

"That's what everyone tells me." For the first time, Sam Uley laughed. "I know your daughter has grown very fond of him, but I have to take him now. He's just not meant to be a pet, and like what I said earlier, he's a guard dog…and we really need him now. I'm really sorry, Kim." For a split second, I wondered how he knew my name.

"It's okay." I croaked.

"Jared…" Sam jerked his hand up and Bingo--or Jared--unwillingly stood up and whimpered his way out. I was whimpering too, deep inside, as my first dog walked away.

"Umm." Sam Uley turned around and looked back at me. "He could still visit you, some other time, just not now."

"Okay. Thank you."

"No problem. And thank you for taking good care of him. He really enjoyed his stay here." He turned around and walked away, my eyes still following my Bingo.

"It's okay, honey! You still have Whiskers!" My dad placed my black cat on my lap, but I still wasn't happy. Why did I like Bingo, the dog I took care of for two days, more than Whiskers, the cat I had since childhood?

I tried patting her—her fur wasn't as bushy as Bingo's, her body was too bony and small unlike Bingo's broad, huggable and warm one. It's been less than a minute, and I already miss him so badly.

o.o.o.o

"Mother!" I groaned at my mom who was hugging my closet, making a complete fool out of herself.

"I won't allow you to go to the fair in anything else but that." She insisted, and I screamed my head off when she stuck her tongue out like a preschooler. "It's not that bad, honey. Go to the mirror and see for yourself." I rolled my eyes as I trudged towards the mirror. The white sleeveless shirt and the skinny jeans exposed my stick figure.

"I look like a walking skeleton."

"No you don't! You look like a supahmodel!" My mom mockingly flipped her hair and acted like she was walking on a runway as she approached me.

"I'll do your hair."

"No!" It was too late. She already started combing it and tied my long hair into a pretty high ponytail.

"Aww! You look so gorgeous! You're the prettiest girl in La Push!"

"Yeah, right." I disagreed as I added my own personal touch. I took my side bangs out of the stack and let it rest on one side.

"That's better. You look even more beautiful!"

"Honey, Derek's here!" My dad called from outside. My stomach was churning wildly, but it honestly wasn't close to how it churns when I used to like Jared.

"Go, go, go!" My mom pushed me out of my own room and I ran out of the house.

:"Hi." I waved at Derek as I stepped into the porch. He was wearing white too, only with the football team jacket.

"Ready?"

"Yeah." We climbed down the porch stairs together and made our way down the steep, narrow path that curved down to First Beach.

"Your house has a nice view. I've always wanted to live on top of a cliff."

"Thank you. But I'd rather live near the shore, really."

"It gets kinda boring." He said as we walked farther into the dark. There was nothing to hear but the scratching sound our shoes made, the cricketing of the crickets and the croaking of the frogs.

"Aren't you scared?" I asked him to break the silence.

"Huh?"

"We're in a forest. The gigantic bears might maul us like the other hikers."

"You know, my grandpa says the bears didn't cause the missing hikers."

"Then what?"

"He says it's a vampire." There was a long pause, and then we broke into laughter.

"I don't believe him, really. I don't even know why the old people around here believe in those shit."

"Yeah."

"My grandpa even says that werewolves exist too. He says they could be anywhere, even in our school. He even says that he suspects one of our classmates to be one."

"Wow." I chuckled with him. "I know it's stupid, but I really wish it was all true. I really wish that vampires and werewolves exist."

"Really? Me too. I've always wanted to be a werewolf…ever since I was a kid. It's just so cool, how you could morph into a dog." The painful memory of Bingo came back. He was more than a dog; sometimes I even doubt that he's really a human deep inside. Was he a werewolf? I dismissed that idea right away. As much as I wanted it to be real, vampires and werewolves don't exist.

"Cool. We're near." Derek's voice abruptly brought me out of my thoughts.

"How could you tell?"

"I can hear the music. Listen." We paused for a while. I heard faint Fergie songs playing from below.

"Can you hear it?"

"My hump. My hump, my hump, my hump." I sang with it.

"My lovely lady lump." Derek sang the next line off key.

"Check it out." We both chorused.

"Wanna run for it?" He asked me.

"One, two, three!" We both ran down the cliff, the force of gravity making us run faster even without effort. The song grew louder and louder as our running prolonged. Soon, we saw yellow lights several steps ahead of us. We were near the end of the trail.

Our shoes were already half buried under the brown sand and the salty sea breeze blew past us. The fair wasn't how I expected it to be. It was beautiful in the extremes. Torches of fire were set vivid against the beach, the yellow, sparkling Christmas lights were entwined around the trees, a variety of colourful booths that stood side by side and its players were everywhere, the tons of people ran around the shore, the bass from the loud music thumped under my feet—it all brought a rush of adrenaline.

"This is…this is good." I told Derek as my eyes wandered up into the star-sprinkled night sky. For some weird reason, he laughed at me.

"This isn't the fair, Kim. The action's not here."

"Really?"

"I'll take you there." He took my hand and pulled me past the scurrying people, the long array of fun booths and food booths.

"Oh, sorry." He hit a girl wearing a jester hat and a gown on top of her shirt and jeans. The dress-me-up booth probably caught her.

We whirred past the eating families, the couples cuddling by the shore, the unfortunate souls behind the wires of the jail booth and many more things that were just in the corner of my eye. There were people everywhere, too many that I was sure it wasn't just the La Push population.

"The action's here." I was face to face with the paper heart-coated Marriage booth. How could the action happen in a booth where strangers get paired up?

"Oh."

"Not there, Kim. Here." He spun me around and the adrenaline rush grew bigger.

Planks of wood were elevated on top of the beach. Everything was on there—the carousel, the bumper cars, the Ferris wheel, the caterpillar, the octopus, the cable cars, the Viking and the music. I didn't know where to start.

"Let's go! Let's go!"

"Alright!" Derek chuckled as we ran towards that place and climbed the steep, makeshift stairs that led there.

I could hear the screams of the people, the random sounds the rides made, the music that was at its loudest, and the talking of VJs.

Where's that talking coming from?" Derek spun me around for one more time. Set in the middle of all the fun was a big stage, two people talking on top and several teenagers listening below.

"I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to be interviewed onstage at 7:30. Are you okay if I leave you for a few minutes?"

"Sure, sure."

"I'll meet you by the cotton candy stand after. It's near the jail booth."

"Derek!" Someone called from behind. We both turned around and saw one of his football teammates running towards us.

"Derek. You have to go backstage now. They'll be telling you your questions so you could answer them later."

"I can't. Kim's here." His teammate leaned closer and whispered something in his ear. Too bad his voice was too loud that I could hear it. "Hicks is doing your interview." I rolled my eyes. Blaire Hicks was that girl who used to live here but moved to L.A. because she got discovered.

"Uhh. Listen, Kim. Louie says that I'll lose my position in the team if I'll be late. So…see you later?"

"Sure." I flashed him a fake smile. "Bye." I watched him run off with his friend. "Jerk."

"Kim?" Amidst all the noise, the voice still managed to be clear.

"Paul!" I exclaimed as I saw my former wimpy best friend who has now turned into one of the largest men I have ever seen. He was nibbling on a hotdog; a lot of mayo was on his cheeks.

"Why are your lips damn red?"

"Oh. I ate a snow cone. Who're you with?"

"I was with Derek ten seconds ago, now I'm all alone."

"That ass. Come with me for a while." He offered me his arm and I tucked mine in, just like before.

"What d'ya wanna ride?" He asked as he threw the hotdog stick.

"Anything."

"Are you fine with the octopus?"

"Hell yeah." He automatically handed me one, orange ticket, and then we headed to the right for the octopus.

"What do you know? We're the last passengers!"

"Cool." He told me blankly. I looked up at him—he was suddenly pale.

"Aww, c'mon! Don't be such a pussy, Paul!"

"Fine, fine. I won't let a girl beat me at this." He said as we headed boldly for the last container. The only thing that spelled life from death was one steel bar that hung loose.

"I think I'm gonna back out. We could die, here."

"I told you!" It was too late. We were suddenly going higher, the container spinning around as we did. We were halfway up the cliffs. I felt like I was going to fall and die. If this was just the beginning, then what more later?

"Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no." Paul chanted as we descended and ascended on the same second. It happened again and again, and my blood was being taken to random parts.

"Paul, if I die, you could have my Darth Vader voice changer."

"And Kim, if I die, Jared loves you like hell." Before I was given time to react, our container was swashing in mid-air, our heads were up one second then down on the next. It went on and on, faster and faster. I was going to barf any minute.

"Damn iiiiiiiiiiit!" Paul screamed in a very high pitched voice as the route changed randomly. He threw his arms around me, screaming directly into my ear, suffocating me.

"Shit, Paul! Stop it! You're crushing my eardrums! I can't breath!" Thank God the ride already stopped before I could even barf on his head. We climbed down the ride as our container reached the ground and it felt like I left my soul up there. The fair was spinning around, and both Paul and I fell on the ground.

We looked at each other and a smile slowly crept on our lips. "Let's do it again!" We both screamed.