A/N: There really aren't enough Angelick fics in existence so here is my contribution! This is going to span many years and outline many hardships. Rated M for future chapters.
For most twelve year olds the carnival is a place of wonder, but to Patrick Jane it was just another arrangement of lights and sounds that his dad had dragged him to. Sooner or later he'd find himself in a new arrangement, never staying in one for too long. It was late May and the first week of this carnival's circuit, Patrick was scoping out his new home as he always did, trying to get a feel for the place.
He heard an elephant somewhere to his right, he looked towards it finding it in between tents. Not all carnivals had elephants, this was definitely a point in favor of this one. While admiring the elephant he felt a small human bump into his back. He spun around to find a girl about his age, maybe a tad younger, sprawled out on the ground. She shook her head, her dark braids flying everywhere, she quickly found a book on the ground next to her.
"Crap." she mumbled "I lost my page."
"Well..." He muttered as she frantically searched through the pages of her book. "Don't you think you owe someone an apology missy?"
She looked up at him annoyed. She was definitely another carnie by the fact that she was reading while at a carnival. He couldn't quite tell what her or her parents did, she was hard to read, but one thing was for sure; something had her panties in a bunch and he was definitely in the line of fire.
"Well Mr. Cheeky, maybe I was going to," She stood up and placed a hand on her not-yet-existent hip. "but now I don't think I will."
"C'mon." He said, she was certainly stubborn and that annoyed him. "We're gonna have to see each other all summer! Might as well try and get along."
"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow. "You're one of the new acts huh?"
"The Boy Wonder at your service." He did a little bow. To his annoyance she started laughing, he thought her laugh was cute but he definitely wasn't telling her that.
"Boy Wonder huh?" She laughed, "What do you do? Fight crime in scaley under-roos?"
"Actually I'm a psychic." He spat out. He was slightly embarrassed by her teasing and hoped it didn't show. "What do you do?"
Her laughter died down and she narrowed her eyes at him. "You're the psychic here aren't you? figure it out."
He studied her, he'd be damned if he let her get the last laugh. "You don't really have a set job do you?" Any trace of humor left her face and he could almost see her walls going up. "You usually just help out where you're needed, but you usually help out with the machinery. Not something that people your age usually do, but you've been around it your entire life."
"Alright show-off." She said, going back to her book. "There I was." She marked the page she found, and started to walk off.
"Where are you going?" He said after her. "Are you just that impressed by me?"
"No, not at all." She yelled back. "I just have places to be."
He knew that was a lie, she was in way too much of hurry for it to be the truth.
"C'mon baby," Her father urged. "You need to get out of this trailer anyway. It'll do you no good to stay cooped up here."
Angela buried her face in her pillow and groaned. She was not in the mood to go greet all the new acts they had this year. Especially after her earlier encounter with the Boy Wonder. She didn't want him prying into her business.
"I think I'm fine where I am." She said into her pillow.
"C'mon Annie!" Her brother said jumping on her bed next to her. "Aren't you bored staying in here all the time?"
She knew now that Danny was involved he wasn't going to leave her alone until she went. She groaned and hit him with her pillow.
"Fine." She mumbled getting up and following her father and brother out the door.
It didn't take long at all for her to find that they were headed toward the Boy Wonder tent. She scowled as soon as she saw it. She knew his type, he was way too good at finding things out about people and pried into every nook and cranny they could. Boy-Full-of-Himself better mind his own business she thought as she walked through the flap, people talked enough about what happened in April and she was sick of it.
"Mr. Jane, right?" Her father walked in greeting a slimy looking man that Angela assumed was Patrick's father. "I'm David Ruskin, and this is Angela and Danny."
She gave her most obedient smile before tuning out the introductions and business talk as she usually did.
It wasn't long before the blond she ran into earlier came walking into the area they were in. They almost seemed to make the exact same face at each other.
"Hey, Paddy." His father called to him. "This is the owner of this carnival, say hello."
"Hello, sir." He said to her father and much to her displeasure she could almost already see him winning her father over.
"Looks like you're about Angela's age! She needs more friends that aren't adults." Her father was a little too excited about that and she made another face.
He patted him on the shoulder and returned to discussing business with Mr. Jane. She didn't like how Patrick was studying them.
"You've lost someone recently haven't you?" He said finally. There it is she thought. She just knew he was going to dig that up. She turned quickly and walked out, ignoring her father yelling after her. April was not something she even liked to think about, let alone talk about
