Chapter 1

I could stop shaking my leg as I tried to listen to my classmate talk about his project. I kind of felt bad for him. He was an awkward kid, but his project didn't seem to catch anyone's attention. Looking around I saw three of our classmates had left and the remaining 20 students looked just as anxious to leave as me. Mr. Peterson rubbed his head. "So how are you going to make this video?"

"I have a video that I found online." Mr. Peterson scoffed at Chris, who was smiling innocently. "You have video footage from 1860?" I cringed and lowered in my head as he started nodding his head. "How can you have footage from then?"

"I found it online."

Mr. Peterson leaned forward in his seat, smiling. "It's impossible to have film footage from then. Animated film wasn't even invented."

"But I found some." Oh hun. Please just shut up. I reached into my bag and grabbed my phone. 2:30. Son of a. 30 more minutes. My leg began to shake again. I knew it wasn't going to hurry time up. I hated this class, Mr. Peterson was not necessarily a bad guy, but he was very opinionated and if he didn't like what you said he would make a note to mock you in front of everyone.

"Well just make sure to double check when your footage was found." Mr. Peterson stood up as Chris took his hard drive from the laptop and walked back to his seat. "Ok so everyone's clear on next week. We present the final videos on Wednesday. You can bring your final in on a hard drive or send it to me via email. If I don't get it by Wednesday at noon, then I won't accept it. I'll see you next week then." Yes!

I nodded and quickly flipped over the flap for my messenger bag, then rushed out of the classroom. Woo! Done for the day!

The walk back to my car couldn't be fast enough. It was a three day weekend for me, and tonight was going to be the best way to kick it off.

I slid into my pathfinder, digging out my phone before throwing my bag into the passenger seat. I turned on the engine and pressing the call button on my phone, drove off as the dial tone rang.

"Hey hun!" I smiled at the sound of Pam's voice.

"Hey! Just got out of class, heading over to your place now."

"Great! Mindy's already here."

"Hi hi!" Hearing Mindy's voice in the background, I chuckled. "Hey Mindy!"

"And Deni will be here around 4."

"Cool. See you soon!" I hung up the phone and smiled. Pam, Mindy and Deni were my best friends, I had known them since my junior year. To think it's been almost 7 years now that I've known them. It was weird. And now I was heading over to Pam's place after not seeing them in a year, I couldn't wait.

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Time really does fly when you're having fun. It was already 6 pm by the time, Pam and I began cooking dinner, while Mindy and Deni sat at the counter sipping on the pear ale that Deni had found at a liquor store near her place. The kitchen was so small, there was a gas stove and possibly 2 feet worth of counter space. But focusing on where the other was at, Pam and I managed to work around each other, taking turns between cutting the vegetables and meat and keeping an eye on the food.

It was just like the year after I finish high school, Pam, Deni and Mindy were already into their second year of college when we got together at Pam's parents place to catch up. Pam made an onion pie and I make yakisoba. The only difference from then and now is instead of a traditional Japanese dish, I was making a spinach chicken dish that I had created. But the food didn't necessarily matter now, it was more fun just reminiscing with my friends about our high school days and finding out how our other high school friends were doing.

"I still can't believe you went out with him!" Pam's laughed throwing her head back. I cringed and bumped her with my hip, making sure not to spill the sauce I was making for my dish. "Shut up. I didn't know any better."

"How could you not know? He was with every girl in our grade and yours."

The comment made everyone laugh, but made me die a little. "Can we please forget about Nick? We didn't even go out, or do anything remember?" More laughter came from my friends and soon from me. Considering we never went on a date, and his flakiness made me end whatever we had after two weeks, it was pretty funny looking back now.

"Anyway, Natalya are you excited about graduating next week?" Putting the lid on the pot and turning my side of the stove off, I turned to Mindy who was taking a sip from the beer bottle. "Yeah. I can't believe I'm finally done. It's too unreal."

"What have you decided to do now?" Pam turned off her side of the stove. "I don't know yet. Probably just find a job or two til I can find something up in my field." Deni nodded as she walked around the counter to help Pam get the dishes from the cupboard. Each getting their own food, we moved to the living room of her 2 bedroom apartment, and sat in a circle on the floor.

"Oh! Natalya, I forgot to ask. What are you doing this weekend?" I placed my fork down on my plate and covered my mouth. "N-nothing I know of. Why?"

Mindy sat up onto her knees, eyes wide with excitement. "Well, there's an event going on for Saturday and Sunday. Deni and Pam said that they would go if you go."

Pam and Deni's smiles were suspicious and made me unsure how to respond to Mindy's request. What's the catch?

"Whats going on this weekend?"

"Well...You remember the Renaissance Faire hat you helped me out with in high school?" I slowly nodded, raising a brow. I didn't need reminding, I just wondered why she was bringing it up now. However, looking at Pam and Deni, I quickly realized what Mindy was going to say.

"I'm going to be going this year again, but this year it's different."

My eyes widened and I shook my head. "No. No no no."

"You don't have to volunteer this time, it'll be fun." I pouted and looked at Pam. She shrugged and gave a weak smile. "Please! It's not like last time. No volunteering and even the event is different."

"How so?"

"Well, this year the theme is different. It's Middle Earth." I blinked, shaking my head. Middle Earth? What the? "I guess there were so many requests to have a hobbit themed Faire after the movie was released, a bunch of the coordinators decided to go through it."

Mindy's enthusiastic ramblings went on. It wasn't that I didn't like the idea. I loved the movie, loved the book and just in general love JRR Tolkien's world. However, that didn't mean that I wanted to go to an event and pretend to be one of the characters. I did that for the Renaissance Faire and it wasn't...really my thing.

"What's the harm? It'll be fun." Pam's voice brought me back to the conversation. Seeing her sincere smile, I exhaled and scratched my head before finally nodding my consent.

"Yay!" Mindy threw her arms around me nearly throwing my backwards. I chuckled as she released her hold and sat back. "So we need to figure out our costumes. We can go shopping tomorrow."

"Oh! I want to be an elf!" Deni and I laughed at Pam's eagerness to chose first. Mindy nodded and decided to be a lady of Gondor. Deni's decision too a bit of time but she finally decided upon being a shape-shifter. I wasn't sure how we were going to put that costume together but it was amusing watching my friends figure out where we could find the clothing.

"What about you, Natalya?" I never thought about it. Honestly I just wanted to go wearing my normal clothes. But knowing Mindy, that wasn't going to happen. So I was stuck and no idea what race to choose. "I uh...I don't know."

"How about a dwarf?" I shot Pam a glare. She knew I hated being called short. At 5'2", I was taller than JRR Tolkien's dwarves, however I was shorter than all my friends. Deni joined Pam in laughing at my expense. It was annoying but I smiled nonetheless.

"You could be a Ranger?"

"Yeaaa... But aren't Rangers men?"

"True...But"

"Ok. I'll just be a ranger." Pam and Deni broke out into laughter. I clicked my tongue trying to appear mad but I smiled anyway. Even though in the past year, I had found myself wearing more dresses and skirts, I still liked the idea that I could wear pants and a shirt to this thing. Maybe I could find a way to make my Ranger's outfit more feminine. Mindy clapped and a let out a high squeal. "Yay! So that's settled. We'll go shopping tomorrow!"

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The sun was shining bright against the pale blue sky. It was 11 by the time we arrived. Parking was a pain to find as the small parking lot was pretty much filled, however we had managed to find one last spot at the very end. Stepping out of the car, I felt the heat of the sun. It was going to be a hot day and walking around in costume was going to be horrible. A breeze blew, it was slight and not consistent, but at least it was something.

Deni opened the trunk which held our bags of clothing. We figured it would be easier to do our make up and hair first and change when we got here. However, there didn't seem to be any bathroom near by. Grabbing the bags that held our costumes, we made our way across the parking lot and towards the trees. We could hear the voices of people, smell the meat cooking, if it weren't for the people around us dressed as hobbits and dwarves and wizards, I would have just thought it was another Renaissance Faire.

I was surprised at the sight we came upon. Small stands were already up, the trees surrounding us, people everywhere, enough to fill a small village. Pam pulled my arm, to keep me moving as we tried to find a place to change. Just behind one of the rotisserie stands, we were able to find one of the public bathrooms for the park.

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I waited outside while the other's changed, enjoying the sun before I had to go change into the many layers of my costume. While there was a slight breeze, I knew that once I changed the wind wouldn't do much good for me.

Mindy and Pam came out first, both wearing long, elegant dresses. Pam's was white, not as nice but similar to Galadriel's, while Mindy's was a dark forest green. Deni came out next wearing dark brown slacks, along with fitted peasant top that we had found in a Renaissance costume shop near Pam's place. Had it not been for the color contacts she wore not, no one would think shape-shifter. Since we hadn't see how Beorn or any other shape-shifter looked from the movie, Deni figured we could wing it.

"You guys look awesome!" Pam twirled around giggling as the dress swirled around her feet. Deni laughed as she walked up to me.

"Ok. Natalya go change!" I smiled and picked up my bags. The bathroom was like any other public park bathroom. Concrete, smelled weird and damp. I quickly changed into my costume, folding away my shorts and jean jacket in one bag and placing my shoes in another. I made my way over to the mirror and inspected my costume.

I had managed to find the perfect waistcoat at the costume shop. Not only was the leather not shiny, but it had no buttons, instead had a waist belt with a stitch pattern like that in Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. I tightened the belt a bit before tucking the sleeve of my brown cotton tunic into the cuffs of my leather gloves. With on step back, I popped up on my tip toes to make sure that the pockets of my black skinny jeans were covered by my waistcoat and tunic.

"Oh my god! You look amazing!" Pam and Mindy squealed when they saw me come out. I smiled and bowed my head, hoping it would hide me blush.

"Thanks."

"Hey! Look at you! You're a Filipino version of Aragorn!" Deni walked over from where we had parked, carrying the cloaks we must have forgetting in the car.

"Oh ha ha. You're funny." I shot her a mock glare, and in response she stuck her tongue out holding out my cloak.

"Well, now that we're all dressed. Lets go!" Grabbing mine and Deni's arm, Mindy led us back to the festivities.