Chapter 3

Soon all of the boys came into the dining room and Jack stood on the table, banging his fork on his plastic cup. "Shut up, Cowboy, we're listening!" Elmer shouted, a smirk on his face as he threw a banana at Jack's head. Jack moved out of the way and gave Elmer a playful glare.

"Mush came up with a nickname for Sage!" he announced. Sage frowned in confusion and looked at Mush, who was smiling at her. "Why does he get to pick?" Race asked. "Because he's the oldest. And all your suggestions suck," Jack said. This resulted in an eruption of shouts and throwing food and silverware at Jack.

"Hey, hey, hey! It was a joke, chill!" he shouted, dodging the flying bananas and forks. "The nickname he came up with is Fox."

The boys turned to Mush. "Why Fox?" Henry asked. "I dunno, just seemed to fit," Mush shrugged. The boys looked at each other, then shrugged and went about their business.

"Hey, Sage- er, Fox! Wanna come with us? We're gonna play dodgeball," Henry asked, running up to the young girl. "No," she said as she walked off.

She walked up to Mush, who was talking with Jack, and said, "I need to talk to you." Jack looked between the two in confusion. "Everything ok?" Mush asked as Jack left. "What'd you tell Jack?"

"What?"

"Jack said you came up with Fox. You got that from what you said last night. What'd you tell him?"

"Fox, I didn't tell him anything. I just told him that I thought Fox would be a good nickname for you. That's it, I swear it," he promised.

Sage gave him a skeptical look before leaving and going up to her room. There was no way she was calling herself 'Fox'. It was a stupid nickname and it would give her away. She was not getting attached to these boys.

She plopped down on her bed, and sat there, not really sure what to do now. She began to change her clothes when there was a knock on the door. "Changing!" she shouted. She finished then said, "Who is it?"

"Mush."

She narrowed her eyes at the door and said, "Whaddya want?"

"Me and a few of the boys wanted to know if you wanted to come to the skate park with us?" Mush called through the still closed the door.

"I don't have a skateboard," Sage said, crossing her arms.

"We've got plenty extra. And ya don't need to have a board. You could use rollerblades, or skates or somethin' if ya wanted. C'mon, Fox, it'll be fun," Mush pleaded.

Sage rolled her eyes at the nickname then opened the door. "Fine," she grumbled and Mush grinned. "C'mon," he said and began walking down the hall quickly. His legs were so long that Sage had to take two steps for every one of his just to keep up.

When they got outside Sage saw Finch, Albert, Henry, and Romeo messing around on various items. Romeo was clipping on his helmet when Finch accidently ran into him on roller skates, knocking them both over. "You two ok?" Mush asked the two boys who were untangling themselves from the other and trying to stand back up.

They nodded and Finch gave Mush a thumbs up. "Our hoard is over here," Mush said, leading Sage to a pile of wheeled objects in the garage. "Hoard?" she asked. "That's what Jack and Kloppmann call it," Mush explained, "Just find something that either fits or you like and the pile of helmets, knee pads, and elbow pads are over there."

He went to keep Romeo from rolling into the street and left Sage to pick her stuff. She looked over the large pile and realized why they called it a hoard. Most of the wheeled objects were broken or looked very beaten. She pulled out a decent looking skateboard and saw Henry skate over to her.

"Know how to use it?" he asked, smiling. "Why wouldn't I?" she asked, narrowing her eyes. Of course she didn't know how to use it, no one had ever taught her. But she wasn't going to let him know that.

"I don't know, you just don't seem like the skating type. Show me what you can do," he said, stepping off his skateboard and flipping it up to grab it.

Sage swallowed nervously, and put the board on the concrete. She stepped onto it and pushed off. So far so good. She put her other foot on the back and the board flew up, flying out from under her, making her fall on her back.

"You ok?" Henry asked, stifling his laughter. He walked over to her and held out his hand. She sneered and stood. "I'm fine," she mumbled. "I can teach you how to ride it if you want," he offered.

She looked up at his kind face and inwardly sighed. "Fine," she grumbled. After a few minutes, she'd gotten the basics down and Mush called, "Alright, guys, let's get goin' to the park!"

Sage felt like she was going to regret this as Henry helped her grab a helmet and knee and elbow pads.

They soon reached the skate park Henry stuck by her side, showing her what to do and making sure she didn't fall. Even though she did fall. Seven times.

She managed not to hurt herself, and it was actually kind of… fun.

"C'mon, Fox, you got this!" Henry encouraged at the bottom of the ramp. "Henry, I don't know about this. Maybe we should just stick to the small ramps," she called looking nervously down at the ramp.

"Have I let you fall at all today?" Henry asked.

"Yes! Seven times!" Sage shouted, making Henry laugh. "That was an accident! C'mon, trust me!" he called.

Sage laughed and rolled her eyes, then clipped her helmet on and stepped onto the board. She took a deep breath then pushed off down the ramp.

She rolled down the ramp, the wind smacking her in the face and adrenaline rushing through her body. It was the most of fun Sage had ever had.

Henry grabbed onto her when she got down the ramp, helping her stop and she jumped off, grinning like a madman. "I did it! I did it!" she shouted triumphantly, throwing her arms in the air.

"See? I knew you could, you just had to trust me! And you did!" Henry shouted, hugging Sage happily.

Her smile dropped along with her arms as Henry gave her a quick hug then let go. She'd trusted him. She'd let her guard down.

"I'm going back to the Lodge," she said, voice low. "What? I thought-."

"Leave me alone, Henry, I'm going back to the Lodge," she said angrily.

She grabbed her board and began heading back, leaving a confused Henry standing by himself.

Sage walked into the Lodge and ignored Specs, who asked her how the skate park was, and walked up to her room, locking the door and sitting on her bed.

She'd trusted. She'd let her guard down. Sage put her head in her hands. Could she actually trust these guys? Would they hurt her? She'd been hurt too many times, it couldn't happen again….

But what if she could trust these boys? Especially Mush and Henry. She feared she'd already began trusting them, but at the same time, it felt kind of… nice. Maybe… maybe it wouldn't be so bad?

A knock on her door made her head shoot up. "Fox? Can I talk to you?" Mush asked. 'Should I let him in?' Sage asked herself.

She got up, unlocked the door, and opened it. "Can I come in?" he asked. She moved aside, allowing him to walk in.

She closed the door and sat on her bed. "What's up? Henry said you two were having fun, then you like switched gears or something," he asked, sitting next to her.

Sage shrugged a shoulder, not looking at him. "Hey, what's up? We're friends now, right? You can talk to me," he said softly.

Friends? 'We're-we're friends?' Sage thought to herself, looking up at Mush's kind, worried, face.

"Mush, you can keep a secret, right?" Sage asked, placing her hands on the edge of the bed and leaning on them as she looked down at her knees. "Of course, Fox," Mush said.

Maybe it was time to let someone in.