The weekend was over and school had came. All weekend Lily and Laughing Jack were playing different games but for now it was over as it was Monday; the beginning of a long week. Normally, Lily would not be happy to go to school but this time was different; she didn't know why she was happy but she assumed it had to do with Laughing Jack being her best friend. They had only met few days ago and it had already seemed that they had known each other forever. All day they would play together even making Lily laugh which she hadn't done in quite some time, yes things for Lily really seemed to be looking up. Even the bullying was starting to quiet down since people at school assumed it was because of Alissa's bullying that got her murdered. Of course this was all true but Lily wouldn't say anything; she would just go on with her own business.

People at school were also being somewhat nicer to Lily, not only was this shocking to her but it was also shocking that her bullying days seemed to be behind her. The only exception was Tyler who despite what people had said didn't stop him from bullying Lily; he would still tease her, pull her hair, and knock her things off of her desk. Of course Lily expected this from Tyler, even they used to be friends until he started to hang out with Alissa instead of her. Some people even thought that Lily was jealous of Alissa but that couldn't be further from the truth then people saying Lily was originally a blonde - it was ridiculous to think that.

It was recess when all the kids were let outside to play on the playground. Lily just kept to herself but she missed playing with Laughing Jack, he made her laugh which made her feel happy. She was just sitting in the far corner of the playground with her back against the fence covering her face in her arms. Suddenly she heard a familiar voice coming from the other side of the fence. When she looked she saw Laughing Jack looking straight at her.

"Aren't you going to play?" He asked.

"No, the other kids don't really want me to play with them so I just sit here." She said in a low tone.

"Well we're going to have our own fun instead, hell it'd be more fun than playing with these little bastards and soon everyone will want to play with you." He said in excitement.

"I'm not allowed to leave school, I'll get into trouble." She told him.

"Who's going to notice one kid gone when there's other little brats running around screaming their heads off? Not that I'm calling you one but come on, it's not like I'm not going to bring you back, I'll bring you back before recess even ends. What do you say kiddo?"

Lily thought about it for few minutes, she watched the other kids playing; not even noticing her before she got up and dusted herself off. she held up her arms wanting to be picked up over the fence. Laughing Jack extended his arm then proceeded to wrap it around her waist until she was over on the other side of the fence with him. Lily, then gave Laughing Jack a hug which was unexpected for both of them but Laughing Jack hugged her back before wrapping his arm around her waist again. Soon they had disappeared without no one even knowing they were gone.

20 minutes had past before they had arrived at an abandoned carnival. The colors had nearly faded, all the games were barely even working, and everything was falling apart. Laughing Jack took her hand; leading her inside, there they walked inside a circus tent where the seats were covered in dust including the stage. A switch was then turned on as the light struggled to stay on but would go off and on again making it hard to see inside the circus tent.

Lily looked at all the different costumes with their masks attached to them. She walked into a room that had a star on the door; when she looked inside she saw more costumes and a vanity with different makeup placed on it. When she walked out she saw a long hallway with different doors but decided not to go in, just in case she wasn't supposed to. On her way back she saw Laughing Jack sitting in a chair, she went over to him wondering what he was doing when she got close enough to him she saw him holding long hooks with chains attached to them. She then saw he was cleaning them each one he made sure they were clean.

She stood in front of him not waiting long before he noticed she was standing there. Laughing Jack set down the hooks next to him on the floor before Lily stepped closer to him. She wasn't sure why he had rusty old hooks but didn't want to ask him, she waited patiently before Laughing Jack silently motioned her that she could come over to him. Lily sat down in front of him which made him chuckle a bit, she didn't know why he was chuckling all she did was sit on the floor.

"What's so funny?" She asked with curiosity.

"Why are you sitting on the floor? He asked her, bending down to her eye level.

"There's no where else to sit so I just sat on the floor." She answered.

Laughing picked her up and sat her in his lap he then picked up one of the hooks he sat down next to him few moments before. Lily looked at the hooks. They were rusty hooks with a sharp jagged point to it, some of the rust came off of it when she touched it. There was an engraving on the side of it but hard to make out what it said with the rust covering it and the engraving coming off of it. Laughing Jack held the hook in his hand looking at it before he turned his head to give Lily his full attention.

"Lily, do you know what we're going to do with these hooks?" He asked her.

"I don't know." She said to him confused by what he was going to do.

"We're going to play another little game and there will be only 2 winners. In the mean time let's go on some of the rides kiddo before you have to go back to that hell hole of a place." He said to her.

Lily and Laughing Jack rode on most of the rides. They went on the Ferris Wheel first which Lily loved because she could see all of the carnival from the top. They went around 6 times before the ride was over; when they were walking to the next ride, Lily saw a fun house that also had mirrors inside they walked through laughing at themselves in the reflections of the fun house mirrors. When they reached the end Laughing Jack handed her cotton candy which made most of her face and hands all sticky.

Laughing Jack dragged her onto a roller coaster. As the ride reached the top it went down the slope fast, they were screaming as the roller coaster turned upside down, going on loops, and turning left to right fast. The roller coaster then reached the top of another slope then went back down fast before making one last turn to come to a complete stop. Lily noticed the time and saw she only had 10 minutes left before she had to go back to school, she made her way to a booth where you had to throw balls into a cup to get a prize. When she couldn't get one in Jack hopped over the booth and took down a stuffed panda bear presenting it to her.

She laughed and took her large prize as they headed back to her school. Jack made a quick stop to Lily's house; placing the panda bear on her bed before quickly making it back to her school just in time before the bell rang to go back to class. Lily hugged Jack goodbye before heading to her classroom, when she turned around she saw that he was gone until she saw him after school.

Over the next few days, Mrs. Williams became quite concerned about Lily. She noticed that she would spend time all by herself and even mentioning an 'imaginary' friend named Laughing Jack or Jack, saying that she hoped he would like his presents. Although to her it was normal for kids her age to have imaginary friends Mrs. Williams grew even more concerned when Lily started to draw pictures of a black and white clown holding Lily as they sat in a chair in what appeared to be a tent. Some of the pictures raised questions as Lily would sometimes draw Laughing Jack with what looked like blood on his hands and clothes, what even shocked her the most was Lily smiling in the pictures; always smiling. Of course Lily said that since Halloween was coming up that she thought it'd be a nice Halloween picture since Halloween was all about scaring people. Mrs. Williams relaxed a bit but not too relaxed to where she didn't worry about Lily.

That day Mrs. Williams asked Lily's parents to come in to have a talk with her about Lily's behavior. When they were talking about Lily's pictures and her 'imaginary' friend they showed some concern but told Mrs. Williams that there was nothing to worry about; reassuring her that Lily was fine that she just 'created' Laughing Jack to have a friend.

When they gotten home they had a talk with Lily and she assured them that she was fine and nothing was bothering her. When they asked more questions Lily answered them - Although she did tell few lies but it was to keep playing with Laughing Jack and she didn't want to lose her only friend she had left. After hours of talking Lily finally was able to go up to her room. Shutting the door behind her she was upset that her parents would think she was doing anything wrong just because of some pictures. She took them out and looked at them for awhile before setting them down next to her; she wasn't sure if Laughing Jack would've liked her drawing him at school if he didn't want anyone to find out about him but nonetheless she did. Lily hoped he wouldn't be mad at her since it was a good drawing of them.

Lily put her pictures up on the dresser, finally feeling tired she fell asleep not even noticing that Jack was looking at her pictures. He smiled at them even chuckling a bit but also amazed at how much detail she managed to put in each one. One of them, where Lily was sitting in his lap realized that it was from today. He liked the creativity and decided to keep them since he did see it was for him so he saw no harm in it.

He too was feeling tired so he fell asleep right next to Lily; seeing that she was smiling he made sure not to wake her up for the next day they were about to play their little game. He hoped that like the other game Lily would be used to his games. He even got her to not be so freaked out when he would tell a dead baby joke now and again.

He thought about the look Lily gave him when he told her a dead baby joke and how uncomfortable it made her - Not because she couldn't handle it but because she wasn't still quite used to his sense of humor which to him was quite understandable.

*Flashback*

"Hey kiddo, do you want to hear a joke?" He asked her one day while they were playing. They had been playing different games all day, when they had gotten a chance to rest Jack thought about telling her a joke.

"Sure." She said to him smiling at all the fun they were having.

"How is a baby like a grape?" He asked her.

"Um..I don't know, how?" She asked confused.

"They both give a little wine when you squish them." He told her as he started to laugh.

Lily looked at him horrified but after awhile knew that it was just how he was and after awhile didn't mind it; even laughing with him at some of the his jokes. When she told him one he laughed not only was he shocked that she would tell him one but also that she would laugh with him as well. For the rest of the day they told each other jokes as they laughed after each one.

*End flashback*

Jack would never say this aloud but he grew very attached to Lily knowing that no one was ever going to separate them and if they tried he would ultimately kill one was going to take Lily away from him. For now she was just a little girl that needed his guidance into the harsh reality of the world. They would play together for as long as she liked as long as they had remained friends for life.


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