What was originally planned was Abbie dragging Clyde through various stalls and stands, speaking to people Clyde prefer to keep his distance from (mainly girls), and silent agony of awkwardness. Instead, it was Clyde that dragged Abbie through the carnival stalls awing at the various games. It had been his first carnival experience and he was enjoying it. Despite being terrible at so many of the games, it did not bother Clyde one bit. He overthrew too many times at ring toss, bean bags went over the board in cornhole, and for a guy who likes to shoot guns he was awful at the squirt gun booth. But his smile never faltered. And that was the real Clyde showing. Remember the boy as a child at heart, filled with endless wonder at the world around him, and his laughter which brought the endless winter in his heart to thaw.

It was not until the high striker booth did someone recognize Clyde. The operator was familiar with Clyde's amateur boxing record and was delighted that the boy himself was present at the booth. Though Clyde tried many times to down play his record (and embarrassment of being put in the spotlight), it always feels nice having lovely things said about him. Though, in all truth, Abbie's encouragement was always enough for the boy. But it did not hurt having the extra ego boost.

"Say, let me take a few swings at you," said the operator. Clyde rubbed the back of his head preferring not to be a show off in front of all these people, but seeing as many eyes avoided him already, he figured it was safe to practice. He turned to Abbie for a moment with an intensity burning in his eyes, silently apologizing for not giving the girl the opportunity to do what she wanted.

After stretching for a few minutes Clyde was ready. At first the operator was going about his jabs halfheartedly, likely out of fear of injuring the boy. But once the operator saw that Clyde was no amateur, he stepped up his game. Clyde weaved around the man's jabs using as little energy as possible with a large grin plastered all over his face. It was like watching a dance. He moved with grace and elegance, turning from side to side, swaying like a waltz around a chorus of fists. In itself, the scene was beautiful, watching a master work his craft.

"Go a little faster," coaxed Clyde. The operator was all too willing to see Clyde show off. The boy did not want to admit it but he liked displaying his skills. It made him feel special.

The strikes became more intense forcing Clyde to go harder. His eyes watched the subtle movements in the muscle giving him clues as to where the operator's next launch would come from. And soon he had his whole torso moving about with speed and grace. The final punch from the operator just barely nicked Clyde's nose causing the boy to back off for a bit, caught off guard that he let one slip. But he smiled warmly and thanked the operator for his time. The operator was obviously impressed, and Clyde himself was happy to have had this little bout with the man. The two shook hands with a higher respect between the two, one which did not need words to understand. Clyde, completely forgetting Abbie was with him, turned around and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"Ah... sorry 'bout that, Ab. Got carried away. Tell you what, lemme make it up to ya'," he apologized.

Once more Clyde was dragging Abbie somewhere else in the maze of booths and stands. The two found themselves in front of the Rider's bakery booth with various confectioneries displayed in full view. There was a certain beauty to the cookies the Rider's made. Each one unique with their own crevices and dips, colors and smells, taste and texture. Clyde's eyes silently cataloged every single curve and bend taking in the mixture of shapes and sizes. His stomach growled with a maelstrom of anticipation, agonizingly teasing his taste buds with wild delight. Alas! With the cash in his pocket he could only afford a half dozen short bread cookies. Oh well, Clyde knew Abbie would like them.

Clyde slipped the bills from his pocket and gently placed them on the counter.

"Half dozen-"

His eyes caught her. Black shirt, black hoodie, blue jeans, but memories of the community center flooded his eyes, toned muscles, graceful movements, strong fighting stance, such raw power emanating from her being. Before him stood a goddess, sitting so far up in the heavens, or like the stars in the night sky, shining brighter than any beam of light, outshining anything man was capable of creating. In that moment time grew infinite and the world around him disappeared. There was nothing else but a stage centered on two characters alone, an audience to only God Himself. The boy's eyes were a slave to her infinite brightness, his body feeling nothing but the warmth of her soul. And only then did he know what it was like to be an ant reflected in the eyes of a lion.

Clyde wanted to vomit.

"H-half do... dozen... uh... short b-b-bread... cookies please," he stammered, unable to look Lilac in her eyes.

In his heart, where fallow fields loom, where cold winds blew a deafening sorrow, where uncultivated lands grew thorns to prick the hands of those daring enough to venture, a single bud rose from the ground. Fragile, soft, weak, but emitting a faint aura in this bleak land.

---

As Tadhg finished speaking, Nathan stood up next to both of them, "Uh, y-yeah, I'm Nathan... Hey to you both again..." he said, before pausing. Tadhg and Conan wondered if he was shy, seeing as he was sitting here all alone. "Um... Was there something on your mind?" he asked the twins.

"I was just wondering if you wanted to go around the carnival with us. We don't really know anyone here, and now our sister's gone off with someone that she knows," Tadhg told him.

"Yeah," Conan added, "And we all go to the gym at the community centre, so we've got that in common."

"It'll be grand!" Tadhg exclaimed, his Irish accent becoming even stronger than it already is, "Come on now, you have to!"

---

Maeve continued down the steps of the bleachers until she reached Blake and his two friends, "Hey Maeve! It's great you're here! Are you used to the town yet?" he asked her.

"I think so, thanks. Conan and Tadhg just abandoned me, can you believe that!?" she replied

"What it is, Butterfly?" one of Blake's friends asked, "You know our blazin' ace, Blakey Boy?" the girl beamed, "Haha~ Well, it's nice ta' meet ya'!"

"And you too!" Maeve responded cheerily, happy that she may have found some new friends, "I'm Maeve, obviously. I just moved here. What are your names?" she asked.

---

---

Sadie continued her search for someone to hang out with for the day, and occasionally saw a few she recognized. However, they were either with a larger group of people, or they were someone who expressed their dislike of her. Being how she was people either became easy friends with her or just disliked her due to differing lifestyles.

She looked around until her eyes finally landed on Ro. Almost instantly a slight blush appeared on her face. She was expecting to run into him at some point but didn't expect to see him this soon. She noticed he was sitting by himself and that it appeared to seem that he was watching the people going around. She tried to follow his gaze, but didn't see where he was looking. She didn't know if she wanted to talk to him or not because she didn't know how well she'd be able to keep up a conversation with the boy.

She soon realized that she had been staring in his direction for a while. She quickly turned around and blushed hoping he hadn't seen her. If he had she wouldn't know what to say to Ro, but knew that just standing there like she was probably wasn't the best idea so she decided to slowly turn back to look in Ro's direction.

But he wasn't there. She quickly looked in the general vicinity, yet had no idea where he had gone. She thought to herself that maybe he saw one of his other friends then went to talk to them. So, in her mind she was still alone at this carnival, and she continued looking around.

---

Ronin had scanned the crowd for a solid 10-15 minutes after everyone was dismissed. His eyes drifted back and forth from the majority of the crowd back to Lily then back to the crowd. He eventually recognized Sadie's face who happened to be looking up the bleachers then immediately looked away when he saw her. He decided his first day would be a waste if he didn't at least try to talk to people, and Sadie was a perfect start for getting the conversation fluency flowing. Ronin was always a smooth talker around Sadie. Not on purpose it just seemed easier to talk to Sadie than most other people. So, Ronin decided to get up and head down the bleachers to see if he could sign up for the soccer team tryouts and talk to a few classmates.

Ronin found soccer sign ups and signed his name. They would get back to him asking for his physical clearance papers and a check to join the team. When he finished he made his way towards Sadie who had been filtering quite regularly in a stop-by-stop pattern so he started to where he thought she would be by now. He had some trouble moving through the large crowds because of his long pole, lots of Excuse me's and Sorry bout that's, but no one seemed to mind all that much. Ronin felt very awkward moving through the crowds and seeing almost no one he knew. He started to get a little worried he wouldn't find Sadie with how things were going, but shortly thereafter he literally bumped into her because he wasn't watching where he was going.

"Oh! Hey Sadie! I'm so sorry for running into you. I wasn't watching where I was going~" He said a little embarrassed. "I've been looking for you though... I wanted to catch up about your summer! I know we spent a bit of it together, but I was also gone to camps a lot and stuff, Y'know?" He said quite hastily, then waited for her to catch up with his bombardment of words and questions that he just threw at her in a matter of 8 to 10 seconds.

Sadie was not at all expecting to bump into Ro. She quickly let out a quiet, "Sorry." then looked to see who it was and blushed a little again. "Hey Ro. It's fine. You didn't do it on purpose." She quickly let out to his first string of words. When he said that he had been looking for her the blushing increased. It was a good thing she was pretty tan so it wasn't to visible, but it was still noticeable. "I'd like to catch up a little to, but first is there anything here you wanna do while we talk? Maybe we can meet up with a few more friends." Sadie wanted to talk with Ro, but she knew if they were by themselves she wouldn't be able to talk very well getting flustered so much. Meeting up with common friends would help in her endeavors to speak to Ro a little.

Ronin was a tad concerned by the mention of more friends already, but he almost always followed Sadie's lead even though she was much smaller and much younger. "Sure! Got anyone in mind? I saw Jake, but he was already with the soccer team. You don't like being around them too often so I figure that's outta the question. I guess I'm following you! Lead the way~" Ronin was sinking into his conversational norms, but he still had to let things happen on their own. He couldn't be the talkative one right now. For some reason he was a bit nervous and his face felt warm. He didn't have an earbud in either which usually brought him comfort. He didn't bother putting it in now. Someone could take it as offensive. By now his hood was off, the lacrosse ball in his sweatshirt pocket, with his sports backpack on his back, and his lacrosse pole as a walking stick. He followed Sadie trying to grab her jacket or one of her fingers so that he didn't get separated from her too easily as she led them along.

When Ro agreed to looking for more friends Sadie was a little relieved. She turned to lead him back into the mass of people to find their friends when he grabbed her hand. Well, he actually only caught hold of one finger, but still this was enough to turn Sadie's face into a tomato. Good thing he couldn't see her face right now. They walked for a little bit having trouble getting through the crowd at certain points, but then Sadie noticed two faces she recognized. One was someone she only really knew on a first name basis, Wynona. The other was her best friend, Lily. Sadie quickly pulled Ro over to the two girls and spoke, "Lily. Wynona. How has the carnival been for you two?" As she said this she tried to get Lily's attention drawn to the hand holding hers. Both Wynona and Lily would be able to tell she had been blushing excessively the past few minutes.

---

---

Soon after the person who Lilac could only assume was the principal dismissed the crowd of highschoolers, students began coming up to her booth, asking for various pastries, ranging from slices of carrot cake to croissants. Some people even asked for slices of plain bread. But it didn't matter what they wanted, because no matter what it was, it was somewhere it was in the booth. Lilac realized a few people in that it was actually a pretty good idea to set up a booth here. She seemed to be gathering plenty of money for her family, people seemed to be enjoying the sweets, and there were so many of them. She'd no doubt be out of pastries by the end of the day.

It was around Lilac's 15th sale when two people, a boy much too tall for his age and a girl much too busty for her age, walked up to her booth. At first, the boy seemed cheerful, placing the money on the stall's counter with delight, and announcing the beginning of his order in a joyful chime. But when his eyes landed on Lilac, he became nervous, almost fearful. This confused Lilac. She could've sworn that she had the sunglasses on, but to be sure she lifted her hand and touched them. Yep, they were on. Lilac lowered her hand when the boy stuttered out his order. Now was not the time to be worrying about this, she decided. She had to get the guy his order. So she spun around, and let the fake smile slide off her face while it wasn't visible. She looked around for a moment before popping open a box and bringing out twelve good-sized cookies. She slid them into two paper bags, six in each, put on her fake smile once again, and turned back around to her customers. She placed the bags down next to the small wad of money that the boy had managed to dig up, and took the money, counted it, and put it into an open metal box. Then, when her eyes once again landed on the boy's face, her fake smile once again slid off, this time instinctively.

"...I've seen you before...you box...at the community center..." she said, looking him up and down real quick, before looking back up at his face.

"I was just wondering if you wanted to go around the carnival with us. We don't really know anyone here, and now our sister's gone off with someone that she knows," Tadhg told him."Yeah," Conan added, "And we all go to the gym at the community centre, so we've got that in common.""It'll be grand!" Tadhg exclaimed, his Irish accent becoming even stronger than it already is, "Come on now, you have to!"

Nathan wasn't sure how to react, blinking several times as he was essentially staring at them in awe at the fact that these two Irishmen wanted to hang out with him, Tadhg's accent really coming out in his attempt to get Nathaniel to hang out. Realizing he was indeed staring at them, he looked left and downward in an attempt to hide what had just happened. Sure, he'd interacted with them at the gym area in the center, but he never expected that today they'd want to hang out with him. It made him question what was so special about himself, or if this was simply how guys generally acted. Sure, he'd talked to other guys before, but that was generally because he had to, and so these conversations were rather new to him. Most of his friends were girls in his other schools, and when it came to the swim team in his old town, he generally just stayed silent as the others hung out.

It took him a small pause to recognize that they were expecting a response still, forcing him to snap out of his thoughts and think of some sort of solution. He wasn't afraid to hang out... That wasn't the issue. Did he find them intimidating? No... He knew that wasn't it either. He reasoned that they must have gone through puberty faster than him, or that maybe they just grew up faster in Ireland, which is why he felt they towered over him.

In fact, he couldn't really identify the problem that was keeping him from responding except that he was overthinking it, and so he took a deep breath as he prepared to answer, nodding slowly and saying "I, uh, sure, I guess. I wasn't expecting to hang out with anyone, but, uh, it couldn't hurt." He tried his best to act casual, placing both hands in his pockets and waiting for a reply. He felt he made the situation awkward, which didn't help his confidence.

Though, it gave him the chance to more discreetly check them both out. He didn't mean to, it was almost just a reaction when it came to people. The first thing he noticed was that Conan was taller than his brother Tadhg, and more built too. But, Tadhg seemed to be the more sociable one out of the duo, as he was basically leading this conversation and was the one who wanted Nathaniel to hang out with them. He also noticed Tadhg wore more casual clothes than Conan... His final analysis of the two? He thought they both looked pretty good.

"Hey Maeve! It's great you're here! Are you used to the town yet?" Blake asked the girl as he gave her a small hug. Now Ebony knew why the girl, Maeve, was so unfamiliar; she'd just moved here. That would also explain why Blake knew her. He was always down to show a newcomer around.

"I think so, thanks. Conan and Tadhg just abandoned me, can you believe that?" she replied. Ebony raised her eyebrows. She'd never heard either of those names before, so she could only assume that they were her siblings or family members. Also, judging by her accent, she could tell that she was from Ireland. Ebony had never met anyone from overseas before, so she was already excited to ask the girl a lot of questions. She didn't want to overwhelm her, though, so she decided to wait until they knew each other a little better.

"What it is, Butterfly?" Poetry asked, "You know our blazin' ace, Blakey Boy? Well, it's nice ta' meet ya'!" Ebony smiled again at Poetry's use of old slang, and nodded her head in agreement.

"And you too!" Maeve responded cheerily. "I'm Maeve, obviously. I just moved here. What are your names?" she asked.

Ebony took this chance to speak up, extending a hand to Maeve with a friendly smile. "I'm Ebony," she said, "Welcome to Arrowsmith!"
She was about to say more when her stomach let out a loud growl that lasted a few seconds before trailing off into a series of soft gurgles. It was in that moment that she regretted eating only a slice of bread for breakfast. Her ears turning a deep shade of red, Ebony pulled her hand back and placed it on her stomach. "Maybe I shouldn't have skipped breakfast," she said with a nervous laugh, taking a quick look around. She could see a number of booths from where they were standing. None of them seemed to be selling any food, so they must be further down.

"I'll catch you guys later, okay?" Ebony said as she turned around and walked away, in search of a food vendor booth, preferably free. She had a couple of dollars in her pocket, but she had been planning on spending them at the grocery store after school. She sighed as she walked past a pastry booth, the smell wafting up to her nose causing her stomach to growl once more. She continued on, though, seeing that they weren't giving away pastries for free. Finally, spotting a pizza booth manned by one of the teachers, Ebony hopped in line. While she waited, she took a few more pictures of the carnival games and students as they passed by. She froze, though, when her camera focused on none other than Sonny Kassem. She knew little to nothing about the boy, other than the fact that he was the cousin of Thomas Jones. Putting the camera down, she squinted her eyes and watched as he approached a group of kids, his hands in his pockets. She'd made it to the front of the line, though, so by the time she'd turned around to get her slice of pizza, Kas was gone.

Pizza in hand, Ebony looked around, finally spotting him making his way towards Thomas, who was standing just a few feet away. She started to approach them, eager to find out how the rest of Thomas' Summer went, but stopped when she saw the money in Sonny's hand. Shaking her head, Ebony turned and walked in the opposite direction, taking large bites of her pizza and watching others play carnival games.

Ah, those eyes, whose crystal pools I wish to drink from. Let me take in your glory, your strength, and marvel in your absolute wonder. Leave me be, resting in the warmth of your light, left in a stupor of your majesty. Oh Circe, have you come to lure me to your island? Would you transform me into a beast? No, though your beauty lures me into your grasp, like honey bees drawn to blossoms, it is also your strength that guides my heart. Oh! How I wish to caress your muscles and feel the tone of your sculpted flesh, to cushion my head upon your crafted stomach, to feel every valley and crevice of your being. My eyes swoon as your body dances in the ring, studying your movements like a diligent student, leader to the cabal of my soul. Lead me into battle and I will follow your sword. Tell me to perish and I will jump upon the wire. Ah! How you make me incoherent, leaving me babble on like an invalid. I am a servant to your soul.

"...I've seen you before...you box...at the community center..."

"Uh..."

"He does! And he just loves to observe others techniques. Oh and thanks!! God, your pastries are great. Clydey kept on mentioning how he wanted me to try these. I usually just get something creme filled at your shop."

Thank God for Abbie. Does she know how much of a life saver she is? Chalk it up to the growing list of "times Ab has saved my bacon." Whether she knew it or not, the gal had a way with speaking to others that eases the mind and the tension. Without her, Clyde would have been a lonelier and miserable person.

"You're around my age...15, right? Hmm.. This place owned by your family?"

Oh! She is trying to gather more information! Clyde knew Abbie long enough to accurately guess what she was thinking (at certain times of course). Abbie looked up to him with a quick glance and had a facial expression that said "do you already know her name?" Clyde looked back at Abbie with a face that read "yes I do." Abbie, also familiar with Clyde's mind quickly retorted with an expression of "Jesus, you're stalking her aren't you? You're too big to stalk anyone." And Clyde, in his infinite wisdom, shot her a glance that read "I wasn't stalking her! I was just watching her and... oh."

Poor Clyde would have ran away right then and there, but he genuinely wanted to know more about Lilac.

Now what was he supposed to do now? He didn't see anyone he was close to mostly because he really wasn't close with anyone. Sure, there were people he would to talk to during class or even have lunch with on occasion, but he wasn't really friends with any of them. There were several reasons for this, but what it boiled down to was that he got on peoples nerves so he often would move from group to group before anyone got annoyed enough of him to tell him to leave. Which was fine with him for the most part, really it was. He just needed to find some people who would tolerate him during the festival and hopefully avoid that senior that chased him from the parking lot. The more he thought about it that last part was probably going to be the most important thing he could do that day. The last thing he needed was another excuse for Nasrin to prove to him that was ready to have him in her life now. That would just ruin his week. “Who's big enough, but won't hit me?” He asked the air.

So, if he needed someone that would keep people away form him... Well, the giant Clyde was probably his best option, but the soft spoken big guy was an easy target for his jokes and chances were he would have to deal with an irate Abbie if he didn't keep his mouth shut about how quiet the large teen was, which he probably couldn't do. “I don't think that's how I want to start the year,” he said to himself as he considered his options. The last thing he needed was to get his ass kicked by her before school got to a proper start. There were other options as well, but the longer he lingered around the bleachers the more likely it was that he would get caught by the senior if he started looking for him with the rest of the freshman. Ready or not Maz would have to just dive into the festival and hope for the best.

He went by some of the stalls where they were selling food and grabbed himself a lemonade and absentmindedly ate pumpkin seeds he kept pulling of his pocket. Sure, Arrowsmith wasn't the larges place and there were only so many students around, but Maz wasn't tall and if anything the guy had probably stopped looking for him when he lost him in the crowd. Really he was starting to think that everything was going to be fine and went to off to check out some of the games. It was at this time he made a startling discovery. At first he hadn't been sure of it, but Maz stopped and stared for a moment before approaching the girl holding a balloon tiger. “What is this? Jesus, if someone had told me that this was what sweet Cassandra would wear to the first day of high school I would have called them a liar.” He slurped from lemonade from his cup as he walked a small circle around Cass and looked her over. After inspecting her new look he stopped in front of her and lightly clapped his empty hand against his wrist. “Your shirt says fuck, I don't think I've ever even heard you say fuck. Can you say it for me now?”

He had been so stunned by how much she had changed that he hadn't even noticed Jacob was there as well. "Can you believe this, man? It's like Cassandra decided she wants to be Billy Idol when she grows up." He didn't actually know Jacob too well, but that never really stopped him from talking to people and he doubted it ever would. That and it seemed like the guy was kind of touchy about what people said about his brother and smart money was that it wouldn't take long before he said something about Caleb and Jacob would take it out of his hide.

---

---

When the busty girl began to speak, Lilac's eyes travelled from the tall boy's face to hers. Lilac's face seemed to take on a hint of confusion when the nod and single word reply followed by the sound of footsteps walking away from her booth she had expected did not come. Not only that, but the response that came was a long and detailed one, answering questions she had not even asked. This was not a type of interaction she was familiar with. Usually customers bought their food, thanked her, and then left. But it seemed that these two, more specifically the girl, didn't really want to leave right away. But Lilac forced herself to plaster a smile on her face and listened to the girl.

"He does! And he just loves to observe others techniques. Oh and thanks!! God, your pastries are great. Clydey kept on mentioning how he wanted me to try these. I usually just get something creme filled at your shop."

Clydey? Whenever she saw him, Lilac had always assumed that he had a strong, one syllable name, like Steve, or Dave, or Tom. But never in a million years would she have guessed Clydey. "Uh...Thanks...We work really hard to make our customers happy...and they usually are...because our pastries are really good...So I'm glad you enjoy them..." she said, her sentences having more pauses than actual dialogue. But that's how she always spoke, probably due to her lack of social skills. Lilac was about to tell them to have a good day, as there was no way they'd continue talking to her after that awkward display, and yet, before she could, the girl continued to speak.

"You're around my age...15, right? Hmm.. The place owned by your family?"

Lilac paused, still managing to keep on a fake smile. Why were they still at her booth? She'd given them their cookies, she'd had a bit of casual conversation. What more did they want? She was not a social butterfly! This kind of situation wasn't really her field of expertise! And yet, she found herself answering the girl's questions. "...I'm 14 actually...and yeah...my mom and dad run the place..." there was a longer pause there, taking up a span of about 10 seconds, before she finally said, "...With the help of Mr. Samson....he's my cat..."

~

---

Conan and Tadhg stood there whilst Nathan apeared to stare at them. When Nathan looked down, Tadhg thought to himself, "Shit, the accent, I forgot about the accent!" whereas Conan was thinking something else, "Nathan's eyes really are a lovely blue. All of him is quite cute really," but then, Nathan took in a deep breath and answered them.

"I, uh, sure, I guess. I wasn't expecting to hang out with anyone, but, uh, it couldn't hurt," he told the two brothers, before putting his hands in his pockets.

"Great!" Conan replied, almost too excited to not be suspicious.

"Nice," Tadhg said more casually, "Sorry about the accent, by the way, I'm not used to people not speaking like I do. Which part of the carnival shall we go to first?"

"Which part of the carnival shall we go to first?"

Nathaniel was once more at a loss of words, his mind stumbling to think of something to say as he his body stay still. He didn't think this far ahead, instead he had hoped they would choose the direction and he would simply follow wordlessly. He never liked being the one to make decisions, and so now that he felt it was thrust upon him, his thoughts went from what they looked like to what they would like to do. He personally didn't care for the carnival nor what it had to offer, but he knew that Tadhg must since he seemed enthusiastic about going to it. He was also caught off guard that Conan too was somewhat excited for the event, or at the very least that was how he interpreted his enthusiastic great.
Nevertheless, several more seconds of silence ensued until finally Nathan believed he had a proper answer. If he could word that answer without filler words... that was a different story.

"I, uh... I don't care. I'll, uh, just follow you guys." He said to the best of his ability, slightly embarrassed he was having such a hard time speaking to them. It wasn't the fact that they were Irish or that he was having a hard time processing what they said. In fact, he rather liked their accents, which he found odd that he took note of such a thing. Regardless, it was more so the combination that they were somewhat unfamiliar people to him, along with how they were men. When it came to talking to Selene at the pool, he never really stumbled his words, being able to give clear answers in an instant. So... it made him question why it was so different when it came to other guys... Questions for later, he supposed.





Blake watched as Poetry, Ebony, and Maeve got acquainted with each other, standing off on the sidelines and letting each other introduce themselves. He was glad that Maeve didn't seem to be bothered by Poetry's way of speaking, and that Ebony too seemed happy to meet someone else. Though, he couldn't help but give a friendly, silent laugh to himself when Ebony's stomach growled just after welcoming Maeve. But, it also made him feel a tinge of sorrow for the girl that she had come on an empty stomach, let alone skipping breakfast. He thought, perhaps, that she had simply been running late, which would have explained why he had saw her standing in front of the bleachers and not actually sitting down with the rest of the freshmen.

And as she stated she would get some food and catch us later, he simply nodded with a reassuring smile. As much as he liked her company, he didn't want her to be starving herself just to stay with everyone. And speaking of everyone, he turned to Maeve and Poetry, crossing his arms with a slight smirk on his face.

"So, now that you met Poetry, Maeve, and Maeve, Poetry, what do you guys wanna do? I'll let you decide, and if it costs money, I can pay for it easy." He told them in a rather confident and content tone. He didn't mind that some of the things at this carnival costed money, as he surely couldn't go through it all in one week in this small town. Not to mention he had more saved in his account. So when it came to money, it was no object.

Getting up as well Wynona let Lily take the lead in her cheerful manner. "I hope so." she responded happily. This definitely was a change of pace to the morning already. Wynona thought she was going to spend the day alone. A chuckle escaped Wynona's lips as Lily asked questions, and answered them before Wynona even got a word out. "I like all of those things too!" she exclaimed, her own excitment and charisma building in light of Lily's.

"I don't know piano though, just the guitar. I suck at it, but it's fun either way."

Wynona chuckled as Lily made the comment about her boyfriend. Wynona on the other hand hadn't ever had a boyfriend, and couldn't relate as much. "He's lucky to have you Lily, you're a great person." Wynona complimented as the two girls made it to the edge of the carnival. "What should we do first?" the girl asked as her eyes narrowed and browsed around what there was to offer. But before they could decide their destination two people appeared infront of them one of them who she knew only by Sadie. "Hi Sadie!" she replied, "We haven't done much yet, just came from the bleachers." she admitted, looking between Sadie and the boy that she was with. Wynona wondered if the two were together, their fingers slightly interlocked and Sadie glowing, a blush of red glittering her cheeks. "Is this your boyfriend or something?" Wynona spit out, her one arm locked with Lily's as her other raised and rest comfortably on her hip.

Lily grinned at Wynona's compliment, her eyes sparkling with delight. "Thanks!"

Before she could blurt out a response to her new friend's question, they were greeted by two familiar faces. Her best friend, Sadie, and Jake's friend Ronin.

Lily detatched herself from Wynona to wrap Sadie up in a tight hug, before giving Ronin the same treatment. She then slipped her arm back through Wynona's and smiled, waiting for the two to answer the question Wynona had posed, honestly quite curious. Lily hadn't seen either of them for most of the summer, so who knows what could've happened.

What have you done to me?

"It was a pleasure to met you," blurted out Clyde. "I hope to see you again."

The boy, forgetting the bag of cookies on the counter, rushed off away from the stall clutching his chest in obvious pain. He ran from both Abbie and Lilac to a more secluded area in the carnival grounds with distress clearly printed on his face. He had only felt this same feeling once in middle school, but this time it was more intense. He felt so weak that his legs could barely support his weight, and the world around him spun round and round, his vision blurred for only a moment before he could focus on something lovely. But his thoughts always ran back to one person. And that person held such power over him. He had seen her so many times before at the community center, so why now, of all times, did this eruption of weakness made itself present? But, oddly enough, it was like this whole new world emerged before his eyes.

Was the sun always this warm? And the air smells lovely. The wind cools my skin and brings the scent of pastries. Is that music playing? I can hear it so well.

But when he thought of her his body grew weak again. He felt so helpless against this invisible force, like the life from his body was being drained, and he could only watch as his strength withered away. Clyde hated feeling weak and not in control of his own body. It made him scared, fearful, like when he was a child.

"I have to avoid her..." he thought. She was the one causing this thing happening to him. And though the thought of being away from her pained him, it was far better to feel this hurt than to feel the weakness.

Kas was feeling himself. He’d been there barely half an hour and he’d already made enough money to justify leaving the house. It wasn’t anywhere near as profitable as London. Back there he and his crew were making two grand a week and that was during slow times, but compared to what he thought he’d be making here in this tiny place he was doing well financially. He felt good. He was in his expensive clothes as always and he had money in his pocket. Not to mention all the peng tings walking around. He wished it was a little hotter so the chicks were showing a little more skin, but compared to the wack ass uniforms they had to wear back in the U.K even the clothing situation was good.

“Yo cuz, wanna get somethin’ to eat? I’m buying.” Kas asked, smiling at a blonde haired senior girl he had been checking out. She seemed to be with her boyfriend and didn’t smile back. Her boyfriend just glared.

“Yeah, I could eat.”

Kas hardly heard him, his eyes locked onto the blonde girl's boyfriend. “The fuck you looking at pussyhole?” Kas spat angrily, taking a single step forward before he felt Thomas’ hand snatch his shoulder.

“Don’t fucking start Kas. We’re not getting in trouble on our first day. Let’s go eat.” Thomas half warned, half recommended in his way. Kas was taller and arguably fitter than he was, but he was strong, especially for his height and lead him away with ease, keeping one eye on the boyfriend just in case.

“Fine. That dude was a bitch anyway. How about a burger? Be just like home with the burger vans.”

“Cool, long as we can get a couple drinks too.” Thomas spoke, getting in line with Kas and spotting a kid he thought he noticed from the Freshman area earlier just in front of them. He looked kind of like Kas, with a similar height, build and skin tone, though maybe a little darker. Hispanic maybe? Thomas couldn’t guess. He tapped him on the shoulder.

“Hey mate, you in Year 9? Ninth grade, I mean.” He corrected himself.

---

Ezera was waiting in line, with Amelia and Selene, not particularly interested in this little game or whatever that Amelia was about to try out. He had his arm around her shoulders waiting for her go so he could simply watch and support her until he heard what sounded like a challenge. He turned to look at this girl, possibly another freshman, speaking cocky as if she was some pro climber olympic athelete or something. With a smirk, Ezera looked back at Amelia "You hear that babes?"

Selene nodded. "I did. I mean, I suppose we are in a sense - " She glanced over at Amelia, making sure she wasn't going to take the fellow student by surprise, and then put an arm around her shoulders casually. Hopefully, nothing too startling. "But really, how is it her fault she's never been allowed to a carnival before in her life? That's bad enough, we've gotta make this a good day for her! I sure hope that girl was just joking and not teasing her over something like that." She paused. "Oh, dear, was I being loud again?"

It almost seemed a bad habit for Selene - when she felt hurt or offended, she made it perfectly clear why the thing was hurtful. Making sure everyone nearby heard it too. How intentional it was, was anyone's guess.

Amelia's eyes shone brightly. "Is that a challenge, I did not do it at a carnival but it was a challenge at my gymnastics class, I added my own flair and I was still the fastest, while turning it into a gymnastics routine, I don't just climb the ladder, I do it in style and with speed and grace, just you wait and see" She laughed mockingly. Gymnastics was her passion as well as dance, trampolining, acting and music. She also liked books. "No one messes with this girl when it comes to balance, this is the easiest challenge you can put in front of me" she rolled her eyes at Indiana and got ready but it didn't look like she was about to climb the ladder, more like go into a gymnastics routine but she quickly whispered into Selene's ear. "I do not need the trick" she giggled.

Ezera's eyes widened and raised his eyebrows from the response that both of the girls made. He looked around and chuckled a little. If the girls wanted to be acknowledged...he felt they got that attention now after their expressions. "Well....all eyes on you two then.' he simply responded. "Alright then Babes...let see what you got." and then turned to Selene "Hehe...don't let them words get to you, Shades. I don't think we need to show off in a rap battle so soon. I know you can spit a few lines" putting his hands in his pockets waiting to see what Amelia will do.

Selene nodded and removed her arm from Amelia's shoulders. "By all means. Go ring that bell, Amelia." Hey, if she could follow through on that claim, all the better. Selene had a feeling she could, especially considering how the girl had spoken earlier. No wonder EJ called her 'Fire' - well, besides the hair. That was obvious. She stood back a bit with EJ. "...though a rap battle might be interesting first day."

Amelia started with an ariel onto the ladder and then went into a handstand and walked on her hands and then got back onto her feet and did a 1 handed cartwheel and rung the bell with her other hand. She then did a triple somersult off of the ladder and landed in the splits. She stood up and did 5 roundoffs to show off then ran back to them. "See" she giggled.

After seeing what Amelia did, pulling off some crazy moves, Ezera was trying to look all cool calm and collected when on the inside, he wanted to scream out that he was proud of his girlfriend. Selene certainly didn't have the same kind of relationship - she'd only met Amelia today - and yet one could think her an old friend of Amelia's as she clapped loudly at the performance, grinning broadly. Once she had finished, Ezera turned to the girl that spoke earlier and noticed a male with her and introduced himself "Sup...I'm Ezera....and this here is Selene and that Olympic gold medalist over there is Amelia" he pointed "Are you guys freshmen?" he asked.

Francisco found himself in line at one of the food vendors. The whole time he stood in line, he could only think of the food. "Hijo de Puta...I need to eat" Francisco muttered as the line inched slowly. Even though he had eaten breakfast for some reason he was starving. A few of the kids look towards him as he muttered, almost all looked at him confused. "nothing don't worry about it." he muttered as they went back to what their doing. When ever he was hungry Francisco found he became kind of aggressive After 20 minutes of standing Francisco found himself looking at peoples orders. suddenly there was a tap on his shoulder.

“Hey mate, you in Year 9? Ninth grade, I mean.” the voice said in an English voice.
Fantastic... he thought as he turned around to face the person.

He was looking at two people, one looked kind of like him, but not as tan. Never seen him around town...granted I wasn't looking... he thought as he quickly looked the two over.

"Yeah, gonna be a senior citizen soon if this pendejo taking orders doesn't hurry the hell up." he said slightly annoyed. One of the older male students in line hears him "Hey watch your language bud." he said forcefully.
"¡Chinga tu madre, cabrón!" He said harshly as he turned to the student.

"what did you say!?" the boy yelled. "I said Alright fine." he said quickly with a slight head bow. The older student muttered something and went back to what he was doing. Slowly Francisco turned back to the British kid.

"Sorry about that, Yeah I'm a freshman, names Francisco." He said "no disrespect, but what are you doing here? kinda a random place to see some one from another country here."

Kas smiled at the dudes altercation with the senior, he’d used a phrase he had heard before somewhere and he was pretty sure he’d even known what it meant at one point. He couldn’t quite recall the meaning but he knew it was pretty damn offensive. Not that he wouldn’t have figured that out anyway with the kind of reaction it had gotten.

“S’all good. I’m Thomas, this is my cousin Kas.” He nodded, his version of a handshake. “My brother fell in love with a woman from this town, dangers of spending a ton of time online I guess. When it came time to close the distance he brought us with him. Would have felt guilty about leaving us back on the estate I guess.”

That was a half truth. Arthur didn’t really have much of a choice in the matter with the way their mum was. She hadn’t worked in more than twenty years and her anxiety and depression made it so she rarely, if ever left the house. If he’d have moved without them they would have had no income at all aside from whatever Kas brought in from slinging, and you could hardly put weed and coke peddling down on paper as your form of income.

“Fucking should have left us. Lewisham may not have looked as pretty but there was plenty of money to be made… Land of opportunity my ass.” He scoffed.

“Lewisham has one of the worst unemployment rates in the city.” Thomas looked at Kas, raising an eyebrow.

“You know that’s not what the fuck I meant.” Kas smiled, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a $10 bill, handing it to Thomas. “Here, get yourself something. I changed my mind, I want pizza.”

“Alright, have fun. Don’t get into any trouble.” He yelled behind him, turning back to face Francisco. “So where you from? Your own accent doesn’t sound local.”

Sadie returned Lily's hug then stood with her hands behind her back as Wynona spoke. When Wynona's question left her lips Sadie instantly froze with obvious shock on her face.. She quickly said, "No. Ro and I have been friends for so long. He's one of my best friends." As soon as Sadie said this she regretted having said it so quickly. Sadie didn't know how Ro felt about her, but she hoped that what she said didn't make it seem like she didn't like him. She quickly tried to make them focus on something else, "Umm-uh-so Wynona this is Ro. Ro this is Wynona. We've been in the same class before. Is it alright, if we come along with y'all during the carnival?" sounding very nervous.