The town was already bustling when the taxi dropped them off. It was Saturday morning, and the streets were packed with people, all bustling in and out of shops, restaurants, and other buildings. The five kids had chosen a busy day, but that didn't matter.

"So," said Matt, instinctively taking charge even though it wasn't necessary. "Who wants what to eat?"

"I'll go with whatever," Dan answered.

"I don't mind," Leah agreed. The two of them had made up very quickly, as usual, and were already laughing about the whole thing.

"Fine, then I'll make the decision, if it's all the same to you lot," James announced. "I vote for burger and chips." Dan and Leah immediately started gagging dramatically. Katie stared at him in mock disgust. "What?"

"Burgers and chips? For breakfast?" Katie said, unable to comprehend what she was hearing. "What kind of animal are you?"

"The kind that likes his food hot, covered in ketchup, and great in quantity!" James grinned, slapping his stomach. Katie reflected silently that, although her boyfriend was still in excellent shape, if she didn't curb his eating habits soon, it wouldn't be long before he developed quite the belly.

Matt intervened. "Well, either way, I'm pretty sure your vote's been overruled. We're not doing that."

James started to argue, then decided otherwise. "Alright then, where would you like to go?" Matt simply pointed. The others followed the direction he was pointing, and noticed a large shopping centre, with an advertisement for a food court on the doors. "There?"

"Yes." Matt replied. "I've been there before; their breakfasts are very good."

"All those in favour?" Katie asked. Four hands went up. James, realising he was beaten, put his hands in his pockets and sulked his way into the food court behind the others.

Once inside, they found that Matt had been entirely correct. The menus contained a huge selection of breakfast meals, even including several all-day burger meals, which were enough to keep James happy. Once they had ordered, they sat sipping their drinks, waiting for the food to arrive. Leah had run off to do some window shopping in the few shops surrounding the food court.

"So, James," Dan said, "What put you in such a wonderful mood today?"

James grunted. "I'm not a morning person. I never have been. And you lot making such a racket at stupid-o-clock in the morning-"

"It was 8:30." Dan laughed.

"Plus, we weren't making a racket. We were making breakfast." Matt added.

"Whatever! Point is, I get grumpy when I'm not allowed to wake up at my own pace."

Katie smiled, stirring the ice in her drink. "Well, I can think of one way to fix that. How about going to bed at normal human times, rather than staying up playing video games all night?"

"You know, she's got a point." Matt said. "I know we all love our late night talks. But there is a limit, and the rest of us always go to bed at a reasonable hour. You stay up a lot longer."

"Hey, I never disturb any of you, do I?" James argued. No-one said anything. While it was true that James kept the volume of his games to a minimum so that they never disturbed anyone, it was also true that he was avoiding the issue: his excessive grumpiness.

Fortunately, Leah arrived before the brief pause in conversation became too pronounced. As she sat down and picked up her lemonade, Dan eyed the three shopping bags she'd brought back incredulously. "I thought you just went to window shop? How on earth did you buy so much?"

It was a hot day, and Leah gulped down half her drink before answering. "Because I'm a girl. We're allowed to do that." She wiped her mouth and grinned cheekily. Dan turned away, shaking his head in amazement, but still smiling.

At that moment, the food arrived. It certainly looked impressive. They had all ordered different things: Katie had ordered pancakes, Matt had ordered a bacon and cheese toasty, Dan had ordered waffles with a side of maple syrup, Leah had ordered an omelette (giving Dan the evil eye the entire time), and James had followed through on his word and ordered a cheeseburger with a mountain of chips. Katie eyed James' 'breakfast' with mild horror.

James wasted no time with tucking in, filling his burger with barbecue sauce and leaving it to soak into the bread before starting on his chips. Everyone else started to eat as well, trying to ignore the smell. Dan had brought with him a bottle of his favourite maple syrup, which he had left on the table to make sure the sunlight kept it warm. Now, he drowned his waffles in it and tucked in. There was a brief silence while everyone ate their first few mouthfuls, marvelling at how good the food was.

"So, what does *gulp* everyone think we should do after this?" James attempted to say between mouthfuls.

Katie answered. "Good question. I'm ok with whatever. Matt, what do you-"

Matt held up a hand to stop her. He had stopped eating and was watching Dan with concern. Katie followed his line of sight. Dan had also stopped eating, but had done so mid-mouthful. In fact, he seemed to be almost frozen, a look of concentration on his face, as if deciding how to answer a particularly tough question.

"Dan...?" Katie said, not taking her eyes off him. Beside her, James had also put down his burger, and was watching everything with a worried expression. "Dan... are you ok?"

The table was silent.

No-one said anything.

Then Dan coughed.

It was quite an unexpected noise, and it made everyone at the table jump. They watched him with growing concern. Dan coughed again, the action making his body shudder. They wondered if he was choking. All of a sudden, Dan spat out his mouthful and, with a look of disgust on his face, leapt to his feet and ran towards the bathrooms.

The four of them were silent. They were still unsure of what they'd just seen.

It was James who broke the silence. "Um... ok, I'll ask the obvious question. What just happened?"

"I'm not sure..." Matt replied. He looked at Leah, and it occurred to him that she hadn't reacted with surprise to any of this. In fact, she had sat there calmly the entire time. "Did you have something to do with that?" He asked. The other two turned to look at Leah.

"Well," she said, and Katie recognised her expression: she was struggling not to laugh. "Now, I don't know all the details. But there have been rumours that a certain someone, who shall remain unnamed, might have switched Dan's bottle of maple syrup with an identical bottle that was just bought in the shops." While she was talking, she reached into one of the bags and pulled out a bottle, identical to the one on the table. "This is the evidence I've collected so far."

Katie stared at her, open-mouthed. "You..." Then she burst out laughing, the other two boys joining in quickly.

James, still laughing, returned to his food. "So, Dan thinks he put maple syrup on his waffles. What did he actually put on his waffles?" To answer, Leah reached into her bag again and, with a wicked smile, pulled out another bottle. It was a shampoo bottle, one that boasted an 'anti-dandruff' effect. It was a clear plastic. The contents of the bottle were exactly the same colour as Dan's syrup had been. The bottle was mostly empty.

The three of them stared at the bottle incredulously, then erupted into a storm of hilarity, which caused many people at neighbouring tables to stop eating and turn to look at the kids. They couldn't help it. Katie was laughing so hard that she rolled off her chair, and ended up convulsing on the ground. Leah had also joined in.

One of the surrounding tables must have complained, because a waiter came over to them and asked them to stop being so noisy. They attempted to calm down and, still snickering over Dan's predicament, returned to their food.

*MEANWHILE*

The kids were being watched.

One of the counter staff at a neighbouring shop had just taken his break, after serving a particularly giggly girl who had bought a bottle of shampoo and nothing else, which ended his morning shift. He ditched the itchy red sweater with the ridiculous name tag that said 'Hello, my name is Keane' as soon as he was out of the shop. He didn't understand why he had to wear it. No-one cared about his name. They just wanted to pay for their stuff and leave.

Like the Deltas, he had made straight for the food court, ordered just a sandwich, and tucked in immediately. He only had twenty minutes to eat it before getting back to work, and wouldn't get another meal until midday, so he made sure to make it last.

The sound of laughter was what drew his attention. It was loud, and sounded like a bunch of rowdy kids. Irritated by all the noise, Keane craned his head to find the source of the disturbance... and that's when he saw her. She was sitting at that table, laughing along with the other three teens. The person he was looking for. He'd found her! She was here! Merely a few metres away from him. She hadn't noticed him.

He stared at her, the hate burning in every cell in his body. He felt like he was going to explode with anger. Why was she sitting there? Laughing. Happy. Healthy. She didn't seem to care about what she'd done in the slightest. It was all Keane could do not to run over there and attack her. As it was, his hand curled into involuntary fists, crushing his breakfast between them. He didn't care. He didn't even notice.

Now another boy was walking over to join them, talking to them and making wild hand movements. He seemed annoyed, but was laughing all the same. He sat down, and the group resumed eating. That made five of them. Five. Keane wondered if the person he had been searching for had told any of her friends about what she did. Somehow he doubted it. He was sure they knew nothing of all this.

"Fear not, young one. Today, that will all change."

Keane grinned. An evil, malicious, hateful grin. A grin that was not entirely his. Yes, today he was going to get his revenge. Today he was going to make that girl suffer, just as she had made Esta suffer. And he had just the weapon to do it.

Fun Fact #3: In regards to the shampoo prank, it did happen in real life, but the other way around. Leah instead replaced my normal shampoo with maple syrup, which she had secretly bought earlier that day. I didn't notice until it was too late. There was much raging that day. As the ultimate final insult, she then told me that, since I had used it, I had to pay her back the cost of the maple syrup!

Fun Fact #4: We've never understood those name tags either. For exactly that reason.

Fun Fact #5: Waffles, bacon, and maple syrup for breakfast is lush. Only ever had it once or twice, but it was amazing!

Fun Fact #6: The profile page has been updated. Check it out.