Chapter 6
Brian
A maze. This, at least, is a relief. I was preparing to have to do another performance or try to compete in a three-legged race with my chin and elbows still aching from our fall earlier. But navigating through the dark with no one staring at me? This I can do. A maze is a lot like completing a level in a video game. There’s trial and error, context clues, and memory.
We enter the maze and immediately have to choose right or left. When the team in front of us goes right, we decide to go left. We wander through the tall, dark corn stalks, flashlights blazing a path forward. We hear the occasional giggle or screech but don’t see other teams for a while. This is starting to feel a little too easy when we come across a tall, wooden A-frame blocking our path. It has climbing rocks drilled into it and a rope at the top.
“I’ll go first,” Katie volunteers without hesitation.
She runs and grabs the rope, using it to haul herself up the steep incline while her feet seek out footholds. At first, she makes it look easy, but about halfway up the A-frame, her foot slips, and she starts sliding back down. She looks like some sort of red-headed Lara Croft–with less grace. Cackling, Jacob steps up and puts his hands on her butt, giving her a shove so she doesn’t fall.
She looks down and grins. “Thanks for the lift, sexy pants,” she says, then keeps climbing. Jacob follows behind her, seeming to easily navigate the footholds while he holds his flashlight in his mouth. When they both reach the top, they pause, waiting for the two of us to go. I nod to Celia. She fidgets and seems anxious, which is very unlike her.
Celia gives herself a quiet pep talk, then runs, grabbing the rope. She moves slowly as she climbs, her usual gusto dampened. I stand below her, just in case she slips. And that’s when it happens.
“What do we have here?” a cruel female voice calls out from behind us. We both turn to see Christy standing in the maze, hands on hips. “Well, if this isn’t familiar. Oh, the irony,” she scoffs.
I have no idea what she’s talking about, but Celia must because her arms start to tremble as she freezes halfway up the A-frame.
“Shut your nasty mouth, Christy,” Katie yells down.
“That’s about right. Can’t do anything on your own, can you, Celia? You still need your little buddy to stand up for you. Well, you didn’t make it up the climbing wall in high school, and I doubt you can do this one now. If I recall correctly, you slipped and fell to the ground like a thousand-pound bag of rocks. It was quite unfortunate how slippery they were that day.”
Christy’s words cause memories to flood back. Celia’s arm was in a cast, and she was mad that she had to miss her last basketball game of the year. The jeers Christy constantly threw at her about being clumsy. Christy’s boasting as she took home the climbing medal that day. And did she just imply that she had been the cause of Celia’s fall?
God, I had locked those memories away. I didn’t think twice about asking Celia to scale this A-frame. We should have found another path through the maze. I glance up at Celia, but she doesn’t say anything. She just closes her eyes, frozen against the wall. I’ve had enough of this. Just as I reach for the rope, a hand clamps around my wrist. I pause, shocked.
“I don’t think so, lover boy,” Christy says with venom. I snap my wrist out of hers, or at least I try to. But she won’t let go. She’s latched onto me like a blood-sucking leech. Celia opens her eyes, glancing down to where Christy’s hand is locked around my wrist.
“Let go of him,” she says, voice trembling.
“You don’t like that, do you, bitch?” she taunts. “Then you’re really not going to like this.”
And before I realize what’s happening, Christy grabs my face and pulls it down to hers, pressing her lips to mine. I’m locked in shock, feeling her lips attempt to move, using me to taunt her old rival. Still a cutthroat competition, even now. I pull away just as Celia comes sliding back down the A-frame, using it as leverage to jump. Celia soars through the air, a black widow locked on its prey. And when she lands directly on top of Christy, they both slam into the ground. Celia’s fists swing and connect with the woman beneath her.
“CEE!” Katie yells from the top of the A-frame.
But Celia doesn’t hear a word, too lost in slapping and swearing at Christy like Ralphie taking on his bully in A Christmas Story. I’m simultaneously horrified and sort of turned on by the sight of it. This beautiful, fierce woman is defending… me.
“Brian, do something!” Katie yells.
I reach down and wrap my arms around Celia, hauling her back against my chest. Christy is screaming obscenities and yelling for help. Event volunteers race through the maze, their flashlights bouncing off corn stalks.
“This bitch beat the shit out of me!” Christy cries to them.
“And I’d do it again, you scheming whore!” Celia hisses. She’s a mess, her earlier injured nose has been re-injured and streams blood down her chin.
It’s not long before a volunteer steps in to get the scoop on what’s happened. And while she admits that Christy shouldn’t have taunted us, she didn’t technically break the rules of the game. Celia, however, is another story. As soon as she threw a punch, she broke the clearly defined rules of not sabotaging another team. We are immediately disqualified. I feel her sink against my chest, shoulders shaking.
“God, Brian. I’m so sorry,” she says. I can hear tears in her voice. She wipes her face with her sleeve, blood staining the tie dye. “I shouldn’t have lost my cool like that. I’ve been able to ignore her all evening, but when I saw her kiss you, I lost my shit.”
“Wait a minute,” I call out to the volunteers as they start to walk out of the maze.
“Christy sabotaged us, too,” I say.
She immediately protests that she did nothing wrong.
“I’m pretty sure kissing another player against their will counts as sabotage and sexual assault,” I demand into the night.
That stops everyone.
“It’s not true,” Christy screeches.
“It is!” My teammates shout.
The volunteers look at Christy’s teammates, who appear distinctly uncomfortable. Guilt must finally catch up to one of them because a girl on Christy’s team nods her head, and they are all summarily disqualified. Both of our teams are led out of the maze and forced to wait at the exit while the other teams charge through in victory.
What an absolute disaster this night has turned out to be.