“Just a second!” Amy snapped. It was such an unusual tone for her to take with anyone—but especially Carlos—that Bryony and I exchanged a loaded, silentwhat-the-heck?look.
“I’m really okay,” Bryony said, giving her a smile. “Thanks, Amy.”
Amy gave her a nod, then handed her back her purse before going to join Carlos. “Why didn’t you help her?” I heard her ask as she joined him.
“Me?” Carlos asked, sounding baffled. “Why would I?”
“Whywouldn’tyou?” They headed off, their voices fading out and blending with the music—currently Carly Rae Jepsen.
“That was weird,” I said, looking after them. Seeing Amy and Carlos arguing was like what I would imagine seeing the yeti was like. Technically possible, in theory, but you never expected to actually encounter it.
“So weird,” Bryony agreed. “But they’re AmyandCarlos. They’ll be fine. They’re going to get married and have a million kids, the way they told everyone they would back in seventh grade.”
“Maybe the pressure of graduation is getting to them. They’ll have to face what their relationship will be like without the bubble of school—you know, going their separate ways.”
“Hey!”
I turned and saw the Emmas coming toward us, Emma R. carrying a blue plastic Disneyland bag. I was impressed that she’d already managed to buy something—we really hadn’t been here that long. But clearly bus one had gotten the jump on us.
Emma R. was smiling and waving, but Emma J. and Emma Z. didn’t look quite so happy. They seemed to be having an intense conversation, their heads bent together.
“Hey, guys,” Bryony said, standing up from the bench. Emma J. and Emma Z. stopped talking quickly, Emma J. shaking her head as she moved a few steps over from Emma Z. It was surprising to see—like they were in a fight. First Carlos and Amy were bickering—and now the Emmas?
“Look!” Emma R. said, reaching into her bag. She pulled out what looked like regular Mickey ears—except they had a tiny mortarboard in the middle. “Isn’t thisso cute?”
“Wow,” I said, leaning closer to look. Itreallywas. I hadn’t known they’d have graduation-specific merchandise tonight. Bryony and I had agreed ahead of time that we’d each get one souvenir. I’d been thinking I’d get a sweatshirt—from everything I’d heard, it was going to be chillier in Oregon—but this was making me rethink things.
“Oh man, I might need those,” Bryony said, her eyes lighting up.
“We’re debating what to do. Either the Incredicoaster or Soarin’,” Emma R. said, scrolling through her phone. “There’s,? like,? no line right now.”
“Well, Cass doesn’t really do roller coasters,” Bryony said, glancing at me.
“It’s okay.” I wanted Bryony to have the best time tonight—I didn’t want to stop her from having fun just because I suffered from motion sickness. “I can just wait…”
“Chip!” Emma Z. yelped, which didn’t seem to fit with this conversation. I turned to look the way she was pointing, and my jaw dropped. A chipmunk was walking toward us. He was dressed in a graduation robe, complete with mortarboard on his furry head. There was a cast member walking with him, and he was waving to everyone as he passed. All around us, people had noticed him, too, and they were pulling out their phones to take pictures, or jogging along beside him as he walked, trying to get selfies. I looked closely, then turned back to her.
“It’s Dale,” I said.
“Um, he’s wearing a robe,” Emma Z. said. “How can you even tell?”
“Fun fact,” I said, and I heard Bryony let out a laugh—she knew what was coming. “Dale has a red nose. But Chip’s nose is black, like a chocolate chip. So that’s how you can remember it.” Emma Z. just stared at me, and I gave her a smile back. Shehadasked.
“I had no idea that thecharacterswould be in graduation outfits!” Bryony said. “This is the best thing ever!”
“It really is,” I agreed.
“So? Incredicoaster?” Emma R. asked, looking from me to Bryony. “You guys coming?”
“Maybe later,” Bryony said. “I’ll text you?”
“For sure,” Emma R. said. The Emmas waved at us, then hurried away as a group, Emma R. putting on her new Mickey ears, the other two Emmas resuming their conversation, heads bent together.
“You want to find the Mickey ears, don’t you?” I asked.
“I really do!” Bryony said immediately, and I laughed. We walked away from the entrance, scanning for souvenir kiosks. I didn’t know which one Emma R. had gotten her ears at—but I figured most of them would have the same stuff.
We stopped at the first kiosk we saw. In addition to selling regular souvenirs, there was also graduation-specific stuff, like T-shirts and sweatshirts withGRAD NITEprinted in collegiate font. There were also lots of variations of Mickey ears—but none with mortarboards.
