The smell of fall was in the air: Falling leaves, cinnamon, apples, pumpkins, sweaters… the list was endless.
Giana loved fall, or autumn, or whatever the actual name of the season was. She assumed it didn't matter; to each their own.
She especially loved October. October was the month where fall felt the most present — September was still technically summer until the end of the month, an November was too cold to really be considered perfect apple picking-and-beanie weather.
Currently, she was sitting on a stone bench on the school's campus, breathing in the crisp, autumn air, drinking a pumpkin spice latte.
Fabian came up and plopped down beside her, his feet crunching loudly on the leaf-filled ground.
"Do you want to go apple picking?" he offered. "The school's having a trip later today to a farm with an apple orchard, and they're beautiful for the picking this time of year."
She nodded enthusiastically. "Of course!" She stood, tossing her empty cup into a trashcan. "I haven't been apple picking since I was a kid."
She unfolded her cane and walked back with Fabian to Anubis House, the beautiful orange, red and yellow colors of the falling leaves blurring in her low visual acuity.
While the two walked in silence, hand-in-hand, all Giana could think about was the times she'd gone apple picking with her parents and brother when she was a child. Her father would lift her up to pick the reddest apples from the tops of the trees. Her mother would make homemade apple pie when they got home. Nico, her brother, would be outside kicking a soccer ball around, readying himself for the home game the next day. The air was crisp back home, just as it was now.
Tori, Nina, Amber and Patricia were crowded on the front steps of Anubis when Fabian and Giana approached. Mick, Alfie, Jerome and Nico were playing soccer, or football as they called it, two-on-two.
Amber jumped as soon as she saw the couple. "We were waiting for you! We're going apple picking!"
"Yeah, Amber, I know," Giana responded. "That's why we're here."
"Giana, you need a cute outfit to wear!" the blonde exclaimed. "Come on!"
She pulled her inside.
An hour later, the girls were ready and they all left for the orchard. Giana wore dark blue jeans, a pale blue button-down shirt, and a red beanie with red canvas shoes. Amber had used her as her own personal dress-up doll again.
There was a perfect Granny Smith apple at eye-level that Giana plucked and dropped into her bag. She was walking alongside Fabian and Nina, with Amber trailing closely behind them, complaining about getting dirt on her clothes.
"Amber, calm down," Nina said. "I thought you wanted to come on this trip."
"I did, but I didn't expect to get dirty!" Amber exclaimed.
The trio shook their heads and smiled.
An apple flew through the air and thumped Fabian in the back of the head. He turned around and spotted Jerome, standing a few yards back in the shade, lazily tossing an apple up in the air and catching it with his hand. A smirk crept across the prankster's face.
"Jerome!" Fabian accused.
"Rutter," the boy responded, turning on his heel and walking away.
"That boy really loves apples," Giana said. The rest nodded in agreement.
The orchard was beautiful. Large, plump apples hung everywhere to be picked. The trees that didn't hold the fruit were blossoming with the colors of the season — red, orange, yellow — and their leaves fell silently to the ground. The already fallen leaves, starting to curl with death, crunched under the feet of the Anubis residents as they snaked their way through the orchard with the rest of their school and the other apple pickers. The air smelled fresh of cinnamon and apples and leaves.
After plucking yet another apple from a tree, Giana bit into it, relishing in the taste of the juicy, red fruit. She noticed Nina doing the same.
"These orchards are beautiful," Nina commented, gazing around in awe. "The ones back home suck."
"Really?" Giana asked. "The ones where Tori, Nico and I are from are fantastic."
Nina shrugged. "The perks you guys had of living in New England."
"I guess."
The afternoon progressed just the same, the students relaxing in the orchard. There was a small building that sold apple cider and little cinnamon donuts, of which Alfie stuffed his face with.
On his tenth donut, he collapsed under the shade of a leafy tree with the rest of his housemates.
"No more food," he mumbled.
"You shouldn't have eaten so much," Fabian said.
"Lies," he responded. He slouched down even further so he was laying in the grass.
A few hours later, when everyone returned to the school, Trudy made some fresh apple pies and turnovers. The students sprawled around the common room, eating to their heart's content, sipping hot cocoa, as the air outside grew chillier.
Giana stirred a mug of hot apple cider with a cinnamon stick, sitting by the large window that kept the cold, pitch-black night air outside. A three-wick Bath & Body Works candle burnt the scent "sweater weather" as it sat atop the coffee table where the giant alligator once was.
"This is why I love fall," she said dreamily to no one in particular. "It's perfect."
"You're right," Fabian responded, smiling. "It is."