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Sara was so tired on the last day. The festival was now very boring to her. There were more people on Sunday. She was busy selling apples and taking pictures.
"I don't even want to see apples anymore. Oh, I feel nauseous," Shawn complained.
"Me too. They look like monsters to me. Especially, sometimes when I dip them into caramel, I see faces," Bailey also complained.
"Well guys, think about the money we are making," Michelle said while she was filling up the caramel. Bailey and Shawn made a gross face at the same time. Sara was sitting on the stool for a moment. She saw many policemen around. They were looking for the psychic.
"They will never find him," Jennifer said. Sara looked at Jennifer. Jennifer continued. "He has a real gift. Once he hides, no one can find him." A grandfather and three children came to the booth, so Sara stood up and welcomed them. She suddenly wanted to take a picture with her grandmother.
At 9 p.m. they decided to close their booth. Everybody was exhausted. They had one box of apples left. "How many are in there?" Sara asked.
"I don't know. May be 50 ish?" Jennifer answered and had a bite of chocolate apple.
"I don't think I can eat anymore," Shawn said.
Sara laughed and ate another apple. "I can eat them all! I love apples!" Sara said.
Bailey was in charge of the money. She said they made $4215.
"Wow, we are rich! Let's go to Vegas!" Jake was excited.
At 11 p.m., there were fireworks. Shawn and Jake went home and the rest of the girls stayed to see the fireworks. Jake looked upset when Jennifer's date came over. People were all around the lake. It was a relatively small fireworks show, but the quality was good. People shouted when the fireworks looked like two red apples. Sara got the text message and sighed.
"Who is it?" Bailey asked.
"Well. It's Jack."
"The one who came by last time? What did he say?" Michelle asked.
"He asked if I am still here."
"Just tell him you left," Michelle said.
"Well, I don't want to lie." Sara texted him back, and he said he would come over. After 5 minutes Jack found Sara. They watched the fireworks together. When they were walking to the parking lot, Jack and Sara talked.
"So, what are you doing next week?" Jack asked.
"I have some stuff to do," Sara answered.
"Oh, yeah? Like what?"
"I need to visit my grandmother and also start looking for a job."
"Do you want to go hiking with me?"
"Well." Sara decided to be straight. "I am not looking to date right now. Sorry."
"Ok. That's fine. Then it's not a date. We will have a fun time hanging out," Jack said.
Sara felt a little uncomfortable since he did not back out.
"If other people are invited, I will consider it."
"Cool. I will call ya."
On the way back, Sara told Michelle and Bailey what happened.
"Why don't you give him a chance? My mother told me that she didn't like my dad at all at first, but later they kept going out, and she started to like him." Bailey was smiling.
"I don't know." Sara did not think that would happen.
"Well. You should've just lied. Sometimes it works for the best," Michelle said. "Anyway, the fireworks were good."
"Yeah it was really pretty." Bailey agreed.
Sara also thought the fireworks were great, too. She went to see fireworks every year on Independence Day, and Keith was always there. She missed him, but not in a romantic way. She really wished they could’ve remained friends.
The next day, Sara visited her grandmother. She brought plenty of apples and told her what happened and showed her the picture of the festival. For the rest of the week, she spent her time at home. She liked spending time being alone because she never did it before. It was relaxing and she also had time to think and organize her thoughts. She read books, watched movies, and television shows on Netflix. Jack kept contacting her, so she ate ice cream with him once. They postponed the hiking.
A week from the festival, Sara heard from Michelle that Jake broke his leg. Sara was worried about him, but Michelle thought that 'the nurse from the orthopedic unit breaking his leg,' was funny and laughed a lot.
"So, I guess we can't go on the trip together. Should we split the money then?" Bailey said.
"I guess that's best." Jennifer agreed to Bailey's idea. Bailey, Jennifer and Sara visited Jake's house. His house was close to the Kadson University Hospital, where he worked.
"I'm hungry," Jake said. He was living with two other male nurses. He was sitting on the couch in the living room and listened to them talking.
"Alright, let's eat lunch. Do you want anything? We'll go grab it," Sara said.
"I like Subway,” Jake said.
"Should we buy Shawn's too? He is on his way," Bailey said.
"Great. I will have black forest ham, cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and..." Jake was saying and Sara stopped her.
"Jake, just text your order to Bailey, and we’ll go get it."
"Why? I want to go, too," Jennifer said.
"Hey, you guys are not leaving me alone, right? I'm sick here," Jake complained and Jennifer said she would stay.
"Are you going with me to let them be alone?" Bailey asked.
"Actually, yes." Sara smiled. Bailey didn’t say anything until they got in the car. Sara looked for a Subway on her phone. When she started the car, Bailey started talking.
"Oh! Let me tell you what happened on their date."
"You mean Jake and Jennifer, right?"
"Yes."
Sara wasn’t sure if she wanted to listen to the story, but Bailey continued talking.
"I think we were at the play, right?"
"Yes." Sara put the right blinker on and changed lanes.
"After Jake screamed, they got out of the play right away. Jennifer was mad and Jake kept saying sorry. There was an old arcade next to the play, and there was a punching machine. You know one of those machines where you punch it and it tells you the score."
"Yes. I've seen those."
"So Jake wanted to make up for his mistake. He stopped Jennifer, and he told her to show her something very cool. Jennifer wanted to leave, but Jake dragged her into the arcade. He is big guy, you know? So he thought he could break the highest score. He found a quarter in his pocket and got ready to punch it. He told Jennifer to watch it or something, so Jennifer came close and Jake tried to punch the machine. When he winded up his elbow, he hit Jennifer's nose really hard. She screamed and both of her nostrils started bleeding."
"What? Are you serious?" Sara was dumbfounded.
"Yeah, Jennifer was mad, and Jake was shocked at what happened. People were all gathered around them and were looking to see the commotion. Jake kept saying sorry, and he was like 'Oh, I am the orthopedic nurse, let me take a look at it' but Jennifer was so mad and yelled at him while she was bleeding. After that, Jake called Michelle and asked her what to do, and then Michelle called Jennifer, and Jennifer was cursing at Jake for, like, hours. We laughed so hard, but it was so serious back then."
"Oh my gosh, did she break her nose?"
"No, fortunately, she did not break her nose, but she had to see a doctor. Jake apologized over and over again, and they became friends again. He hasn’t asked her out ever since, but he still likes her. "
Sara thought the story was intense. It was funny, but she felt bad for both Jake and Jennifer. When they came back with sandwiches, Jennifer was gone.
"What happened? Did you guys fight?" Bailey asked Jake. He smiled sadly, but did not answer.