Page 75 of Lance

Before I can say anything, Simon is at our side. “Lance, you’re coming?” he asks, excited. “Cool!”

I can only stare at Haylee as she approaches. “Hey, guys,” she says in a tone I can’t read. “Mind if I joinyou?”

“Haylee!” Lance says in a strangled voice and I know he’s wondering what she saw. “I thought you wanted to ride thecoaster?”

“I watched one of the trains launch and chickened out.” Her eyes flick between the two of us. “So…what’s this other ride you were talkingabout?”

I don’t think I’ve ever been so thankful for the presence of a six-year-old. Simon keeps up a steady stream of conversation as we walk over to Midway Mania and hand off our fast passes. He talks so much, in fact, that I couldn’t have spoken to Haylee even if I wanted to. I can’t help but sneak glances at her, though. Her expression isworried.

The others finish their ride before us and are waiting by the exit when we disembark. As we go to join them, I grab Haylee’s arm impulsively. “Please don’t tell James,” Iwhisper.

She looks at me, her dark eyes wide and concerned. “Please be careful,Minnie.”

I release her arm, more than a little annoyed. It’s just what Nia said the other day at the apartment. Why did everyone find it so hard to believe that I could make good decisions on my own? “It’s Willa,” I snap, then hurry to catch up with theothers.

As we hurry over to the Disneyland park for the Jedi training, Wyatt regales us with a minute-by-minute recap of the roller coaster. “My mom was totally freaked out,” he says. “But I didn’t even hold on! I had my hands up like this the entiretime.”

As he talks, Simon looks at him wistfully. “Hey,” Lance says. “We have all day, buddy. If you want to try again later, wecan.”

“Maybe,” Simon says in a small voice. But then we’ve arrived at Fantasyland and any thoughts of the missed ride go right out of hishead.

If I was going to design the perfect activity for Simon, it would be this. The kids in the training program are given Jedi robes and lightsabers, which the Jedis then teach them how to use. Wyatt keeps glancing out at Cash from the stage during the lightsaber demonstrations, rolling his eyes a little bit as if to say, “I’m way too old for this.” But even he gets into it when Vader shows up. When it’s Simon’s turn to fight the Sith Lord he remembers all of the lightsaber combinations perfectly. And I’m pretty sure he’ll never be able to wipe the grin off his face. His happiness is enough to make me forget about Haylee and the sick feeling in my stomach whenever she looks atme.

“How was it?” Lance asks when Simon leaves the stage to joins us again. He merely shakes his head, grinning. “Well,” Lance says, looking at me and winking. “I think this is a first. The kid isspeechless.”

Simon finds his voice over lunch, exclaiming over and over again how awesome the training was and describing, in increasingly over-the-top detail, how he defeated Vader. “Maybe I could get my own lightsaber someday,” he says, glancing at Lance out of the corner of his eye. “So I can practice somemore.”

Sam insists that we take some time off from the rides after lunch to let the boys’ stomachs settle. Paige’s face lights up at this and she suggests we hit some of the souvenir stores—I’m confused when just about everyone in the group groans. “It’s never a good idea to let Paige start shopping,” Cash mutters in myear.

It doesn’t take long for me to understand. Paige decides that we should all be wearing matching shirts and she spends a quarter of an hour holding different options against Reed’s chest—from the expression on his face he’s not exactly thrilled to be her guinea pig—until she finally picks one that’s just right. Her choice isn’t too bad—plain grey with a Mickey face for the boys and a Minnie face for the girls—but Cash and Lance protest loudly at her insistence that we all match. Lennon and Reed take their shirts with something like resignation on their faces—they’ve clearly come up against Paige before andlost.

Once she has everyone in their new shirts, she leads the way to a hat store where she buys us all mouse ears, personalized with our names on the back. No one argues with her this time. Apparently they know a lost cause when they seeone.

And so for the rest of the day the assorted members of Ransom and Intrigue walk around Disneyland in matching shirts and mouse ears. For the first half hour I can’t help laughing every time I look over at Lance, his tattoos a stark contrast to the mouse ears on his head. “I warned you about Paige,” he mutters, soundinggrumpy.

“She’sawesome,” I say happily as someone jumps out of a nearby queue to take a picture of a scowling CashRansome.

We hit most of the rides on the Disneyland side before heading back to California Adventure in the early evening. The sun is just starting to set, painting the sky shades of grey and pink. “We’ve done pretty much everything once,” Kendra informs us. “Anything we want to hitagain?”

“California Screamin’,” Wyatt says without missing abeat.

“We could split up again,” Cash says a littleapologetically.

“I want to do it,” Simon says, his voice firm. He glances over at me. “I mean, if I could beatVader…”

“I’m sure you could handle a mere roller coaster,” I agree. “Okay. Let’s give it atry.”

But as we approach the coaster, his steps slow until he’s positively dragging his feet, his shoulders hunched, eyes on the ground. By the time we reach the queue I’m practically pulling him across the pavement. “You don’t have to do this,” I remindhim.

“I want to,” he says, but his voice is shaking. I look at Lance, eyebrows raised, and he takes Simon’s other hand, pulling him over to the side so no one else can hearus.

“Look, buddy,” he says, kneeling in front of Simon. “You do not have to go on this roller coaster. It’s really not a bigdeal.”

“I want to try it,” Simon says, his voice little more than a whisper. “But I’m reallyscared.”

Lance stares into his eyes for a moment. “If you really want to try it, I’ll go with you. I’ll sit right next to you and I promise you’ll besafe.”

“Right next to me?” Simon repeats, his eyes on Lance’sface.