Chapter 1

Through Riley's eyes, gathered around at the control console, all the emotions stood together, surveying the eating area that was full of other kids, most of who were chatting happily with friends. Empty spaces were hard to come by, though Riley stood, frowning slightly, to look for a good entry point into some social circle. None of the prospects seemed very promising, to say the least.

"Maybe if we break down in tears somebody will feel sorry for her and ask her to sit with them out of pity," Sadness suggested in that depressing tone of hers. Disgust opened her mouth to say something no doubt hurtful, but Joy chimed in quick to cut her off.

"I'm not sure that would work out to well for Riley," Joy said, firm but gentle. It was the essence of what Disgust was about to say, put more delicately. Ever since their adventure together through the recesses of the mind, Joy felt terrible telling Sadness not to act on her nature. Still, what was best for Riley was best for Riley, and if anything crying again in front of everyone would only damage her reputation further. "How about instead we ask somebody if we can sit with them?"

"Absolutely not, that is literally the worst possible thing for us to do, looking desperate like that." Disgust scoffed like it was the most logical argument in the world, though Joy didn't see any harm in her idea. Before she could argue her position any further, Fear started in with his usual manic worrying, talking so fast they could barely keep up with what he was saying.

"They'll make fun of her and laugh in Riley's face, I have a very clear picture in my head of one of those snide popular girls making a joke to her friends about her and everybody laughing-"

Joy threw up her arms, frustrated. "Okay, fine, we'll sit alone again today. But I'm telling you, this cannot happen everyday."


Riley sighed heavily and sat then in what had become her usual spot on the bench in the corner of the asphalt and started picking at her cafeteria lunch of mashed potatoes and some blocky slab of chicken that looked like it was breaded with sawdust. The way it felt at the end of her fork and the way it looked was enough to set her off her appetite, not that she had felt like eating beforehand, what with the dull ache in the pit in her stomach at having to sit alone yet again. It wasn't so much that she was being bullied, just that she had yet to connect with anybody in her first few weeks in her new home. Though she had worked out a lot of her issues with her parents days before, and no longer felt quite so miserable all the time, she still wished she had friends that she could hang out with at school. She had her old friends from her old home that she could always talk to, but it just wasn't the same.

A shadow passed over her and when she looked up from her Styrofoam tray, she saw another girl staring down at her, shyly smiling with teeth covered in braces, an identical tray in her hands. Her face was heart shaped with a chicken pox scar on her chin, and straight brown hair tied back in a ponytail held in a purple clip. She wore a white zip-up sweater and blue jeans, all in all just an altogether average preteen school kid. Riley barely registered what she was doing there, but then saw for a split second a strain on the girl's face like she was working up the will to speak, which she eventually did, stuttering out a quiet "hello" in a voice that was sweet, though stilted.

"Um, hi."

Another pause, then this girl said nervously "…I like your sweater." That being Riley's rainbow sweater, her favorite. Flattered but slightly taken aback, Riley thanked her for the compliment before telling her that she liked her sweater as well. A few more seconds of uncomfortable silence passed when the girl finally asked, "would you mind if I sat here?"

Riley's eyes brightened up, and excitedly she nodded, saying "no, of course not," and moving her backpack off of the empty space beside her to free up space. The girl sat down, placing her half eaten tray of food on her lap, then stuck out her hand.

"My name's Ann, by the way."

Riley shook her hand and beamed, "I'm Riley, I just moved here from Minnesota."

"Really?" Ann asked. "What brings you to San Francisco?" Before they knew it, they were deep in conversation.


Inside Ann's head, her version of Joy was hard at work on the console, staring out the eyes at Riley's happy face, smiling to herself at the sight of her. This first meeting was turning into pretty big success by her standards; not five minutes after meeting and the two girls were already talking, joking, and sharing stories with each other. The only thing making things difficult were the other emotions in Ann's head, talking in the background and making it hard for her to focus.

Disgust, in Ann's mind a young man in preppy clothing, was the loudest. "Can you believe how bad Ann is blowing it here I mean come on 'I like your sweater' is that really the best she could do ugh she's so horrible and stupid and it's a miracle Riley's still talking to her."

Anger shared his sentiments, though more furiously. He hit his fist on the console, shouting "stupid, stupid, stupid" over and over both to himself and to Ann. Fortunately, he didn't hit any truly important buttons.

Fear, a woman in a checkerboard patterned dress, was busy standing behind Joy, wringing her thin hands together, urging her to "abort" and make Ann walk away. Sadness lay on the floor in the corner like a blue slug, whimpering now and then that there was no hope, that Ann was undeserving of companionship. Blocking these assertions out was a true challenge.

Joy's strained and tired eyes blinked unwaveringly; clearly she was used to all this. "Guys," she said, exasperated, "I'm gonna need you all to stop distracting me, I'm trying to hold a conversation here." That conversation currently having to do with funny things that had happened during the last few days at school. Riley hadn't been around to experience much so far, being the new kid and all, but still shared a few stories from her old school that made Ann chuckle. Joy left the console for a moment to pick over the wall of recent memories, finding a pretty even mix of spheres of every color, though yellow was a bit sparser than the others. Finally she found what she was looking for, a memory of some student who slipped in the hallway a few weeks ago and spilled food over one of the more hated teachers, an event that was a huge source of happiness for many of the kids. Joy loaded it into the projector, queuing Ann to tell Riley what happened.

"That's such a stupid thing that happened Riley isn't going to think that's funny she's just going to think it's stupid you know that right?" Disgust prattled on while J tried to ignore him to make sure things were running smoothly. Though Ann's delivery was a bit stilted from nerves, Riley still laughed uproariously.

"What just happened?" Fear asked.

"Riley just laughed at something Ann said," Joy answered proudly.

That made the others take notice. Sadness stood up off the floor with some effort and joined everyone behind the eyes, Anger quit his pounding on the console, and Fear mellowed out to the point where all she had to say was, "you know Joy, I'm pretty happy we let you drive on this one."

Even Disgust quit his negative talking for a moment to smile at the view of Riley's happy face. "…Yeah, me too."


As they talked more Ann's nerves dissipated as she became more comfortable, but before they knew it the bell to return to classes sounded over the PA system, cutting their conversation short. They walked together to the trashcan, throwing away what was left of their disgusting meals.

"We should totally text each other!" Riley said excitedly. "Let me see your phone real quick." Typing fast she put her number in Ann's cell, then had her do the same to hers, which was so surreal to Ann that she could hardly believe it. "I'll see you later!" Riley started walking inside while Ann froze to the ground, suddenly regaining that nervousness she first had.

Stammering, she called to Riley before she could disappear through the entrance to the school. "Hey, wait a second, will ya?" Riley turned back, puzzled, and waited to hear what she had to say, which came out of her mouth in a rapid speed as her face went all red. "So I was thinking that this was really great having lunch together and all and I was just thinking that maybe, if you wanted, we could go out sometime. Together. Maybe this Friday?" She expected her to either laugh in her face or run away, but what she didn't expect was for Riley to smile, playfully hit her arm, and say that of course she would love to and that they could text the details that night.

By then they were both dangerously close to being late for their next class, and so walked inside together until having to part for separate rooms, Ann all the while feeling elated and slightly dizzy at having found the courage to ask this new girl on a date, and even more so at her seemingly saying yes.


A golden sphere fell down the tract in Riley's head and rolled into place onto the wall of memories. Joy was bouncing up and down with excitement against the walls of Riley's skull. The others were far more subdued about their happiness, as that was their nature, but all no doubt were thrilled that Riley was able to make a new friend. Even better that she had come to them, rather than Riley having to move outside her comfort zone.

"Isn't this incredible!" Joy shouted. "Riley's made her first new friend, and she even said she wants to hang out sometime!"

"I know," Fear said, "we didn't even have to do anything."

"Riley just had to be her own wonderful self is all," Disgust said, brushing her hair over her shoulder all self-satisfied, though that did quickly turn into an over-exaggerated gagging sound. "I ain't even mad about that lunch I mean jeez did you see that stuff? Riley will have to make something decent when she gets home."

"And Ann is just so great, isn't she?" Joy was saying, lost in thought, staring wide-eyed out the window towards the islands, where Friendship Island was just starting to fizzle out after working the past half hour. "I mean, she's nice, she's funny, she's pretty…"

Eyes narrowed suspiciously, Anger asked "what was that last thing you said?"

Laughing awkwardly, Joy tried her best to backtrack. "I was just saying that she's pretty…pretty much cool all around, ya know?" Before further questions could be asked she ran back to Riley's eyes and pointed out with far more excitement than was warranted. "Anyway woah we're about to start History class can you even believe it let's focus all our energy on that."


After school was over Riley went straight to her new house, running with energy through the front door and shouting, "Mom, I'm home!"

Her mother came to the entrance to greet her with a hug. "Hey monkey, did you have a good day at school?"

"Yeah, a great day. I made a friend."

Mother smiled down at her daughter, happy to hear that she was making connections in what was still a new city. "That's great, what's their name?"

"Ann. She's pretty cool. We're gonna hang out on Friday! Is that okay?"

"Of course hon." At that Riley ran up to her room, after which her mother called up as a hasty reminder "remember to do your homework!"

Up in her room, which after the moving van finally arrived no longer seemed so bare and creepy, Riley went to her desk and cracked open textbooks and notebooks, ready to begin studying when her phone vibrated in her pocket. A good excuse for procrastination. She got her phone out and saw a message from Ann.

"So I was thinking Friday I could come by your place around five and we could go see avengers and get some pizza or something," it read. "Tht sound good?"

Smiling giddily, Riley messaged back "sounds totally awesome" along with a thumbs up emoji.

A few minutes later a new text appeared, and what it said first confused Riley. "Just so I know, do your parents know about us going out? I'd hate to show up and cause you any problems with them..." Seemed an odd thing to ask.


"Now what do think that's supposed to mean," Sadness wondered out loud.

Disgust had to think for a moment, and then all of a sudden it hit her clear as day. "She's probably just wondering if Riley's parents know what she's doing Friday night so they don't get worried about her. She's so considerate!"


"Haha they know I just have to be home by 8:00 cause I can't be out when it's dark :)"

"Lol okay dn't worry I'll make sure you're home by then ;)" And that was the end of those types of questions, from that point on they just chatted about nothing in particular as R did her homework, blissfully unaware that over at Ann's house she was beating herself up because using a winking emoji in her text was "way too soon," as her version of Anger put it.