“Wow,” I said as I read it, scrolling down on my phone, trying to take it all in. “Have you ever heard of this band?”
“Eton Mess,” ?Bryony read off her own screen, then shrugged. “Nope. But I want to do all of this. And the rides. And get a lot of delicious snacks…” She shook her head. “So basically, we’ll need a month to get through all this.”
“Well, since we just have tonight, we better get cracking!”
Bryony shook her head at me as we started walking out of the tent. “Did you just sayget cracking?”
“What?” I asked. “It’s what Oscar always says.”
She raised an eyebrow at me. “Surehe does.”
I laughed at that and grabbed her arm, more than ready for our night to start. “Let’s go!” Outside the tent, there was a step-and-repeat withDISNEYLAND GRAD NITE!printed on it, along with the silhouettes of people jumping for joy and tossing their mortarboards into the air. Beyond that, I could see two large wooden doors, propped open, with cast members on either side of them checking wristbands as people entered.
I felt myself smile as we got closer. I knew I was doing the right thing. Bryony and I would have one epic, fun night—and then I’d leave tomorrow, taking only amazing memories with me.
We hurried toward the door, and I flashed my wrist at the cast members, who nodded?. Bryony was keeping pace next to me, bouncing on her toes the way she did when she got really excited. I grinned at her, knowing we were about to have an unforgettable experience.
And it was all going to be great.
I glanced up at the doorway for just a second, then straightened my shoulders as I walked forward and crossed through?—and into this night that would only come once in a lifetime.
Or so I thought.
Wow.” I stood just inside the park, stock-still, attempting to take in everything around me.
There was pop music playing from the speakers, and people were streaming past me, laughing and talking in groups. There was an energy I’d never experienced at Disney before—the feeling like we were starting an adventure, like anything could happen. It reminded me of a carnival—the lights against the darkness, the groups of friends running around together, the feeling that you were about to have a great time.
We’d entered the park near the Avengers Campus. Just to the left, I could see the Guardians drop ride. The park’s lights were glowing brightly, and as I looked around, I realized that I hadn’t ever been here in actual nighttime before. In the past, I’d stayed until dusk or late twilight. But it was properly dark now—we were here after the park was normally open and looking at all the lights glowing in the darkness, I could really appreciate what that meant.
The song changed to “2Night’s the Night,” the pop song by Band of Brothers that had been inescapable this spring. It had turned into a de facto graduation anthem, and someone sitting next to me had started blasting it on their phone at the ceremony the moment we were declared graduates, and everyone cheered and threw their mortarboards in the air. Right now, it was kicking into the chorus—the Powell brothers warbling,We only have tonight/Let’sdance until first light/Remember this night will never come around again.
There were people streaming past all around us—friends walking in groups, people running past and yelling happily, couples walking hand in hand. But, I realized as I looked around, these wereallteenagers. And while I saw this every day at school, of course, there was something surreal about seeing a huge group of my peers at an amusement park—with no parents in sight, no little kids, nobody pushing strollers, just the occasional adult chaperone peppered in.
In the swirl surrounding us—the lights, the laughter of the other kids, the song hitting the final chorus about how tonight would never be forgotten—there was an air of excitement and giddiness that was palpable. Like everyone there was taking the song’s words to heart.
“Who’s ready to have the best night ever?” Sheridan—looking very awake now—yelled this as he barreled past us. Presumably, he was heading toward the Cars Land DJ he’d been so excited about.
“Me! I am!” This was Manny, hurrying behind Sheridan and seeming to think that this rhetorical question needed an answer—but at least this time he didn’t raise his hand. He stopped to take a selfie, directly in the middle of where everyone was walking, creating a bottleneck.
A group of kids I didn’t recognize dashed through the wooden entrance door. A girl in a blue sweatshirt, running fast, dodged out of the way of Manny at the last minute—only to crash hard into Bryony, sending her stumbling and falling to the asphalt.
“Oops!” the girl said. She clapped her hand over her mouth, paused for only a second, then ran on, her friends following behind her. “You okay?” she yelled over her shoulder once she was too far away to have done anything about it ?if Bryony wasn’t.
“Oh my god,” I said, hurrying over to Bryony. I reached down to help her up, but it was Amy, surprising me, who got there first.
“Are you all right?” Amy asked, helping Bryony to her feet.
“Yeah,” she said, wincing slightly as she stood up. “Did everyone see?”
Amy and I exchanged a look, then both collectively decided to lie to her. “No,” we said at the same time, with exactly the same inflection.
“There’s so much going on,” I added, hoping that Bryony would buy this. She certainly didn’t need to know about the people I’d seen filming it, undoubtedly for some collection of epic falls on TikTok.
“Totally,” Amy agreed, bending down to pick up Bryony’s cross-body purse from where it had fallen to the ground.
“That girl came out of nowhere,” I said, looking back to the entrance. Manny had moved on—probably realizing that this was partially his fault, and not wanting to deal with the fallout. But I could see that wewerekind of in the way. I gestured to a nearby stone bench, and Bryony nodded and headed over to sit down on it, still moving a little gingerly.
“Babe!” This was Carlos, calling to Amy from where he was standing nearby, clearly ready to get their night started. “Come on!”
