Joe POV

Who am I, you ask? If you wanna know, it's not for the faint of heart. If anyone were to call it a happy little tale… think again.

But like any story worth telling, it was about a girl. With blonde hair and a name too good to be true, Alice Dainard. A girl that I had admired before I even met some of my female friends. I'd like to tell you that would be me next to her, to heck that I'd even take my best friend's older sister.

It was January of '79 in Lillian, Ohio and we were heading to a test screening of The Muppet Movie, but the bus was inching its way up the next boulevard. It would soon shift lanes and the circumstances that my friends and I would catch it would be a rocket and the other test audience attendees were too busy hooting and hollering to notice.

Inside through all the noise came Alice's voice: "Could you stop the bus, please? These boys have been chasing us since the next avenue."

The bus slowed and glided over to the curbside, the doors opening to admit us in. My friends and I, consisting of Charles, Cary, Martin and Preston, nearly collapsed on the first step, clutching the handrail. The bus driver looked down on us with a certain tolerance as the bus pulled forward.

"Thank you" I said to her.

I staggered forward, against the swaying of the bus, it practically vaulted into the express lane and hurtled forward. We nearly bumped into the seated kids as we walked, we were about three and a half quarters down when Cary, who had a mouthful of braces and girlish facial feature enough to become a transsexual, caught his eye on another girl with the same features. The girl was kind enough to let Cary sit down beside her, and when he tried to make a move, the girl gave a fearsome glare: "Don't even think about it."

As I made my way down the aisle, I caught a glimpse of myself from one of the windows as I passed. But even that, none of my friends looked like social outcasts to me, unlike those who swagger an arm against a woman and turn away. Case in point: Alice was sitting next to Jean Mayer, one of my female friends and a bit of a rival at times. (AN/Disclaimer: Jean Victoria Mayer was originally created byGurenXMarkX2XRider)

Now Alice hadn't clearly see me slipping on the floor and Jean had her hands up in total innocence, she curled her lips and turned back to Alice. There was an empty seat on the back of the right and we took exile there as if no one had given us a second chance.

Andrea Amos POV (characters originally created by BrokenAngel16KL)

I squirmed uncomfortably in the back of my Studebaker, sneaking looks at my brother Ben, who had not glanced back at me for the next 20 blocks. My aunt and uncle had been utterly absorbed by PTA meetings and excluded an odd mix of power that barely controlled anger and I was often the target of misplaced frustration (at least that is what I chose to believe). As the car parked on the curbside, I could see the test audience attendees getting off a bus, sometimes I'd wished to climb aboard with all my other friends, but my aunt and uncle put a quick end to that notion, of course.

"Can we drive around the corner, please?" I told my aunt.

Ben glanced up toward the door. "Why? The lobby is right there."

I lowered my voice to an urgent whisper: "Ben, these are my friends, I can't show up in a 'Mr. Fancy Car.' " (AN: Toy Story 2 reference)

Ben looked bitter "What? You want me to trade in the car for Mr. Dainard's Skylark just because you flunked in some of your classes?"

I winced at that. "It doesn't feel right for me."

"Of course it was." my brother replied, but after seeing me flinch the abruptness, he smiled wanly, "Don't be ashamed of who you are." "I'm not, I—Never mind."

I stepped onto the curb, bobbing my head slightly at the other kids' expressions.

"Hello, Andy." Said a familiar voice. I was relieved to see the sight of Joe Lamb and his friends stepping out of the crowd.

"Hey, Joe." I said.

The other back of the door opened and Ben stepped out carrying my book bag.

"Andy, won't you be needing this?" He handed the bag to me, but inevitable I cleared my throat and said: "Joe, I'm sure you remember my brother, Ben Amos."

"I've heard so much from your friends."

"Great honor to meet you, Ben." Joe said, shaking Ben's hand. He winced a bit. Ben, however, nodded approvingly and released his hand. "Andy tells me your friend Charles is quite the film whiz. You know, I'm something of a party animal myself."

"I've done all of Mr. Henson's research on how the Muppet came to be, brilliant work." Charles said immediately.

"You've understood?" asked Ben.

"Yes, I've read a paper on it."

"Impressive," Ben turned to Joe.

"Your parents must be very proud to be working with a filmmaker to be." Sounding slightly apologetic, Joe said "My uncle also lives with me, he too would be proud."

From the door of the theater, Martin called: "Hey, you guys, let's move!"

All we could do was not to sag in relief.

"Nice meeting you, Ben." Joe said.

"Hope to see you again." Ben said before siding back into the Studebaker.

"He doesn't seem so bad," said Joe, standing by my right shoulder.

"Not, If you're a genius," I said ruefully "I think he'd rather adopt you."