A/N: Yeah, idk how old they are. Probably about 10-13. Yes. Despite that they are in the same class. Weird system, I know. But play along for my sanity's sake. Yaaayyy plot hole! :D (Also, my friend asked me if I could write something other than Cresswell...so I wrote Cresswell...but I wrote the others too! XD)

It was that time of day again.

The time that all children love.

Snack time.

The ragtag group of children was excited, though each showed it in different ways and had different ways of preoccupying their selves until the snack arrived.

Iko and Winter were bouncing on their toes, dressed in their finest make-believe dresses and shoes. Thorne was making whooshing sounds as he turned his toy spaceship in the air, crashing it into Cinder's toy car, which she had systematically taken apart and was now putting back together. Thorne smiled sheepishly when Cinder looked as if she were going to eat him for a snack. Kai patted her metal hand reassuringly and began to put the pieces back in front of her. Cress was in her own little world, humming a tune her portscreen was playing, the only one in the classroom who was allowed to have such advanced technology in the first place. Scarlet was busy playing Hide and Seek with the boy they all called Wolf, frustrated that he was able to find her no matter where she hid. Jacin sat with a stoic face, keeping a watchful eye on Winter in her make-believe land.

"If we don't give them something their parents will know. It's one of the things that makes this school different. Just give them each a candy or something," came the school's principal's voice from another room. All of the kids turned their heads, afraid that the beautiful yet mean woman was about to come into the room.

They heard heels stepping down the hall and all got in line like they had been yelled at to do many times until it had stuck into their little minds. Sybil Mira opened the door, a scowl on her pretty face, yet treats in hand.

She lowered the basket down to them and dropped it, pulling her hand away as if she were afraid one of them might touch her with their grubby little fingers.

"I don't want to hear a peep out of any of you. Eat you snacks, sit down and talk amongst yourselves until it is time for your parents to come and get you." Ms. Mira said, glaring at them. "And you," she pointed to Cress, whose eyes got as big as saucers, "are coming with me." She took Cress' wrist.

With that, Ms. Mira turned and practically dragged Cress and her stubby little legs out of the room.

They were quiet until they could no longer hear the click-clack of her shoes against the floor.

Wolf was the first to move, quickly snatching two treats out of the basket and handing one to Scarlet, who grinned at him in return. He stuffed the candy into his mouth before she could even thank him.

Next, Iko let out a squeal and took her candy from the basket.

"Oh! Sour apple petites! My favorite!" Winter exclaimed happily, clapping her hands together. She picked up the basket and grinned at her friends. She walked up to Cinder with it and picked out a candy. "You shall have this one, for you are my very special cousin." Then she flounced over to Kai. "You shall have this one, for you are as kind as a prince in a fairytale." She skipped over to Thorne, "This for you, for you are as steady and brave as a captain."

Thorne stared at the candy in his hand.

Finally, Winter made her way over to Jacin. Warm chocolate eyes met unwavering blue ones. "And for you, sweet Jacin. The sweetest of the candies," she placed the candy delicately in his hand and closed his fist over it.

The only telling sign that Jacin was pleased was the sudden reddening of his ears.

"I'm not eating this," Thorne suddenly announced. "And neither should you guys! How come Cress doesn't get to have hers and we do?"

Kai, who was just about to place his candy in his mouth, suddenly looked embarrassed. He lowered the candy and frowned. "Well that's because Cress has to do Ms. Mira's work."

Thorne rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. "Ms. Mira, Ms. Mira, Ms. Mira. She's not so scary! Cress should have her snack too and I'm going to go give it to her!"

"Don't be stupid," Scarlet said, putting her hands on her hips. "Ms. Mira will take away your snacks or recess forever if you go out there. Besides, you don't even know where Cress is."

"So I'll find her," Thorne replied determinedly, walking towards the door.

Cinder let out a loud sigh and put her uneaten candy in her pocket for later. "Wait, Thorne. I'll go with you."

Thorne looked back, then grinned. "Following the captain, huh?"

"Don't make me change my mind," Cinder replied bluntly, moving towards the door, but was surprised when Kai suddenly grabbed her hand.

"You two are going to get in trouble," he said.

"I know. But better than both of us than just Thorne," Cinder said.

Kai looked contemplative before taking a step forward. "I'm not going to let you two get in trouble all by yourselves."

"I'll go! I'll go! I wanna help too!" Iko said excitedly, jumping up and down, her braids following the motion.

"Ugghh," Scarlet groaned, looking up to the ceiling. "I might as well go too. Cress did help me when I got locked in that closet last week."

Winter grinned sheepishly. She was the one who had accidentally closed the door.

Wolf crinkled his nose. "If you're going, I'm going."

"Jacin, we should go too! They might need us," Winter said, turning to Jacin, who was already shaking his head.

"You'll get punished," he said.

Winter puffed her cheeks and folded her arms. "Jacin. I am going with or without you and you can't stop me."

Jacin sighed and nodded.

"All for one and one for all, team," Thorne said with a grin, happy that they had decided to accompany him. They all gathered around him and he turned the doorknob…peeking out into the large school filled with kids older than them and teachers…luckily, it was class time. No one was in the hallways.

Thorne gulped.

At least…they weren't in the hallways….yet.

Cress sighed as her little fingers moved quickly across the keyboard. Ms. Mira wanted her to enter the grades of her eighth grade classes into the system and though Cress didn't know it, she was really backed up on doing so.

When she had first entered the schooll, not knowing that Ms. Mira was such a mean teacher, she had wanted to please the teacher and shown her that she knew how to do things on the computer.

Amazed, Ms. Mira had asked Cress if she would be willing to help her out. Cress had enthusiastically agreed.

Now she regretted it.

She never got to have snack. Sometimes she even missed out on playtime or Free Time on Fridays. She couldn't tell her dad because he always told her to be good at school every morning before he dropped her off. She did not want to anger her teacher by complaining about something as silly as snack time.

Still, she wished that she could eat a yummy snack with that funny Thorne boy every day. He was funny and kind to her, even though he seemed to annoy everyone else one way or the other.

She sighed again, shuffling through the stacks of papers.

She sure wished a handsome prince would come for her, just like in the fairy-tales.

Navigating through the hallways wasn't so bad. The pitter-patter of their little feet was quiet compared to the loud teacher's or student's voices floating from the classrooms. Whenever they didn't hear a voice or voices from a room, someone took a change and opened the door just a bit so they could see if Cress was inside.

Too bad the school had four floors.

"Guys," Cinder whispered. "We can find Cress faster if we split up. Everyone but Wolf still has their candies right? Is everyone willing to give their candy up to Cress?" she looked at them, a bit unsure of herself or her plan.

But to her surprise, they all nodded.

"Okay. Let's search by floors. Kai, Iko and I will take the second floor. Scarlet and Wolf can take the third. Jacin and Winter the fourth."

"And I'll finish down here," Thorne said with a nod. "If you don't find Cress on your floor, go back to our classroom."

They all nodded and Thorne grinned, turned, and pushed open the door that seemed to be quiet…a little too much.

He froze, eyes meeting his immediately, a teacher sitting on his desk and his classroom quietly taking a test. The teacher's eyes widened. Thorne slammed the door shut. "Um, guys….RUN!"

They others ran as quickly as their little bodies would take them around the corner and up the stairs while Thorne ran into the bathroom, the teacher calling behind him.

Jacin was surprised that they had actually made it to the fourth floor. When they had reached it, he had dragged Winter into an empty art room to catch their breaths. He was sure that if he was out of breath, then Winter was. Indeed, the girl had a hand on her chest and was taking deep breath, her naturally curly hair looking a bit more poofy than usual.

Then…she started to giggle.

"Now that was fun! Wasn't it Jacin?" Suddenly all traces of exhaustion were gone, replaced with the biggest, prettiest grin Jacin had ever seen.

"If you like feeling like you're running for your life, then sure," Jacin muttured.

Winter giggled again, looping an arm through Jacin's. He looked away, clearing his throat. "Pretend that we are explorers, Jacin," she whispered, "We are traveling across uncharted territory, after all. Danger lurks at every corner, but we must find the blonde goddess of legend."

"That pipsqueak is no goddess," Jacin replied with a snort. When Winter pouted, he added, "but this is definitely uncharted territory."

Winter's grin was enough to make him step out into the hallway, content to search the whole school if she wanted him to.

Down on the third floor, Scarlet and Wolf had encountered another teacher. They had hid in a storage closet, waiting until the coast was clear. The closet smelled of mildew and cleaning supplies, but all Wolf could concentrate on was his back against a mop handle and his close proximity to Scarlet.

His very close proximity.

He could practically feel her red curls tickling his nose.

He had never been close to a female before. At such a young age, and being a bit antisocial, Wolf had yet to think about girl's in that way before. Sure, he thought of Scarlet as the best out of the group and he liked to play games with her. She didn't even mind playing rough, though he refrained from rough housing too much since he did not want to accidentally hurt her.

But now he could breathe in her scent and see her intense eyes up close. His entire body felt tense and his heart beat quickened.

He remembered his brother saying something before about "having crushes".

Well, Wolf thought he was crushed pretty hard at the moment.

"I think the coast is clear," Scarlet said, startling Wolf out of his stupor.

Wolf nodded and moved to turn the doorknob, but ended up tripping over the mop bucket. He toppled forward, awkwardly tall for his age, his palms slapping against the wall behind Scarlet and his face directly above hers.

For the first time in her life, Scarlet felt her face heat up in an unfamiliar way. In fact, her whole body felt as if it were suddenly overheating.

"U-um…" Apparently, her throat was dry too. She wanted to push him away, but the thought of pressing her hands against his chest made her feel even weirder.

"Sorry," Wolf mumbled, backing up to his side of the closet again and looking down at the floor.

Scarlet nodded slowly, took a minute to gather her wits again and then finally turned to open the door.

Wolf inwardly scorned himself. Scarlet probably hated him now!

Then, her hand on the doorknob, she turned to him with a small smile. "Ze'ev. It's okay. Really. Don't get all weird on me."

He looked up to see Scarlet's fiery red hair being the last of her exiting from the closet.

He suddenly wished they had stayed.

"I'll distract them! You guys run!"

That was the last thing Iko had said before running headfirst into a group of older kids, who had been threatening to tell that the younger kids weren't in their classroom.

Cinder had to remember to thank her when they got home.

Now she had Kai were checking more classrooms, but so far no Cress.

"So," Kai gave her a boyish grin, "I have a secret."

Cinder raised an eyebrow at Kai. "What is it?"

"I know where Cress is."

Cinder stopped in her tracks and stared at Kai. "Why didn't you say so earlier?!"

Kai shrugged. "What's the fun in that?"

Cinder didn't know if she should laugh or cry.

Noticing the conflicted look on her face, Kai frowned and ran a hand through his hair. "Sorry. I just…wanted to spend more time with you. Cress is in the computer lab. Thorne should find her if he doesn't get caught."

Cinder sighed. Then blinked. His words repeated in her head. "You…wanted to spend time with me?"

Kai laughed awkwardly. "Well…yes…" He looked at her uncomfortably through the corner of his eye. "You're the funnest out of everyone in our class."

Cinder put her human hand over her metal one. "Thanks…" she said quietly, almost so lowly that Kai didn't hear her. She jumped slightly when her metal hand was suddenly grabbed by Kai's. She looked up at him, her lips slightly parted. Her hearth thudded in her chest.

"Play with me at recess tomorrow? We can take apart more cars. Or go explore that garden on the far side of the soccer field."

Cinder nodded. "Sure."

For the first time in her short life, Cinder actually looked forward to coming to school.

The coast was clear. Thorne had finally made it down the long hallway. Now the only place left to check was the computer lab. He opened the door slowly and couldn't suppress a wide grin. There was Cress! Typing away furiously at a keyboard as only she could, her deep blue eyes looking back and forth in between a paper and the computer. She was so engrossed that she hadn't noticed him opening the door.

He slowly and quietly slipped inside, then crawled towards her.

"Boo!"

"EEP!"

Cress nearly toppled out of the chair, but managed to hold herself together just enough to stay put. Her big blue eyes stared at Thorne for a second before recognition finally passed on her face and Thorne let out a triumphant laugh.

"You're so easy to scare, Cress," Thorne teased and flicked her knee with his finger.

Her freckled face puffed up as she pouted. "W-well you shouldn't be scaring me in the first place, Captain!"

Thorne stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Well I did bring you something…but if you don't want it…" Thorne whistled and turned as if he was leaving.

"Wait!" Cress said, jumping off of her seat and grabbing the hem of Thorne's t-shirt. When he turned back to her she jumped slightly and let go, a blush spreading across her cheeks and inflaming her freckles. "I…um…what did you bring me?"

Thorne smiled and pulled the candy from his pocket to show to her. Thorne studied her face. She looked from him to the candy and back.

"You left the classroom to…give me a piece of candy?"

Thorne's smile faltered. He suddenly felt silly and rubbed a hand over his hair. "W-well it's not fair that you have to work while the rest of us get to eat and Ms. Mira is pretty mean and I just thought- umph!"

Thorne never got to finish his rambling. Cress had suddenly crashed into him, standing on the tips of her toes to wrap her arms around her neck. She whimpered and Thorne suddenly felt something wet against his neck.

She was crying. Thorne has absolutely no idea what to do other than wrap his arms around her little waist. They stood there. Cress tried to gather herself while Thorne attempted to focus on something to say other than "you smell nice."

That's when the door slammed open.

"CARSWELL THORNE."

"Ms. Mira!" Cress shrieked, immediately jumping away from Thorne.

Thorne looked towards the doorway. A teacher he had seen before, Mr. Aimery Park, was standing in the doorway with his group of friends, who all had some form of dopey, happy looks despite the punishment Ms. Mira was sure to dish out on them later.

Ms. Mira click, clacked towards them and before he could move she snatched his arm in an iron grip. "You fresh little devil. I'll call your parents and have them discipline you at home as well as come up with a punishment of my own. And you!" She glared at Cress, her voice just above a whisper, "I'll deal with later. Get back to work."

She dragged Thorne out of the room, much like she had done to Cress earlier. But before she could get him completely out of the door Thorne dropped the single sour apple petite on the floor and waved to Cress with a big, mischievous grin on his face.

When the door slammed shut, Cress shuffled over and picked up the fallen candy. She held it to her chest, right next to her hammering heart, and closed her eyes.

Even though Ms. Mira's threat loomed over her like a thunder cloud…for once…Cress did not feel afraid.

Perhaps being a clumsy, frightened little kid wasn't so bad after all.