AN: Wow! Thank you so much for all the reviews, it really does mean a lot. And I hope that you keep reviewing, especially for this chapter, because it does introduce an important character to the story. I hope you enjoy!

There were screams of laughter coming from every angle and Ricky couldn't deny that it all was overwhelming. He used to be around kids all the time when he was living with Margaret and Shakur, but it had been a while and he had forgotten how loud they could be. He had met up with Mariah, after talking to Amy, and she had found it hilarious when a little boy grabbed Ricky's hand only to burst into tears upon realizing that Ricky was not his brother. To say that he had been caught off guard would be a gross understatement, but, after a few minutes, the rhythm of dealing with kids began to come back to him. Though that didn't stop Mariah from teashing him about how startled he had been.

Ricky had seen glimpses of Amy throughout the day, had even caught her gaze a few times, but hadn't had a chance to talk to her again. She was seemingly everywhere. He wasn't intentionally following her, but he felt his body almost gravitate toward her, not being able to help it. She, in turn, wasn't helping the situation. Because she wasn't interested he expected her to avoid him, maybe even go out of her way to brush him off, or at least that's what he had seen when his brother Ben came on too strong to a girl back home. But Amy stayed civil; polite even, acknowledged him whenever she saw him and even waved from time to time. He was intrigued, to say the least, and found himself increasingly curious by her, just wanting any kind of interaction, which Mariah also noticed.

"I told you to save yourself the trouble."

Ricky turned toward Mariah from his place against the bathroom wall and threw her a pointed look. She had needed to bring one of her camp kids in to use the facilities and he had promised to wait for her. The little girl, Wendy, thanked Mariah and ran off, running after Megan who was leading a group of ten kids over to one of the bounce houses. Megan, in catching sight of Ricky, waved with a bite of her lip. Ricky smirked and nodded back as Mariah leaned beside him on the wall. "And I also said to stay away from Megan."

Again, Ricky turned to Mariah and sighed. She held his gaze a moment longer and rolled her eyes. "Don't worry," Ricky said to her. "I haven't gone anywhere near Megan. And Amy…we just happen to keep running into each other. Not my fault."

Mariah snorted as she crossed her arms, "Right, like I'm supposed to believe that."

"Believe it." Ricky coughed out gruffly and pushed himself off the wall. "She told me she wasn't interested and I'm respecting her feelings. But that doesn't mean I can't appreciate the view." He glanced back over to where Amy stood, talking to Megan. The two of them laughing together while Megan threw glances at him with a coy smile. Amy followed her gaze to meet Ricky's, and smiled as well, just a little wider, as she rolled her eyes at her friend. As she turned away Ricky let out another sigh. "And let me tell you, I really appreciate the view…"

He kept his gaze focused on her as she kneeled down to tie the shoe of a little girl when a sharp pain shocked him back to where he was. "Ow!" he cried out, reaching for his shin instinctively and coming nose to nose with a little boy, maybe six years old, glaring at him hard.

"Hey!" the little boy yelled, his voice high pitched and squeaky, "stop ogling my girlfriend!"

"Johnny!" Mariah cried, pulling at the boy to face her, though Johnny's face stayed glued to Ricky. "You are not supposed to kick other people! Why would you do that?"

Ricky massaged his shin tenderly, dropping to a knee and glaring right back. The little boy didn't budge. "He was eyeing my girl, Mari and he needs to quit it."

"I was not!" Ricky spat back, standing tall, but rolling his ankle for good measure.

"Yes you were! I saw the way you were looking at her. Go get your own girlfriend."

"Johnny!" Mariah scolded, putting both hands on his shoulders to force him to face her. "Regardless of the provocation we do not kick." She kept her gaze stern as Ricky shook his head once more and crossed his arms.

"Listen kid, I wasn't, I swear," thinking it best to just stick to his denial story, but it seemingly pissed the kid off even more as he tossed Ricky a glare so cold that he thought he felt chills run down his spine.

"Were you lookin' over there by the bounce house?"

Ricky sighed and shrugged, "I may have glanced over."

"And did you happen to glance over at Amy and Gracie in the process?" Again, Ricky shrugged, stuffing his hands into his pockets. Johnny crossed his arms and fixed a steely glare on Ricky. "Don't lie. Liars go to hell."

Ricky wanted to laugh. He wanted to right out laugh in the kids face at the bluntness and the seriousness of his tone, but the throbbing in his shin warned him otherwise. So instead he rolled his eyes, brushed off a smile and nodded. "Alright," he admitted, "I may have glanced over for a second. But I swear little man, I was not ogling your girl."

Johnny huffed and furrowed his brow. "Yes, you were. I saw you."

Ricky tossed Mariah a look and saw that she, too, was still not pleased, but was watching, interested, in the interaction between the young boy and her brother.

"Well, I meant nothing by it kid. Honest. Plus, that Gracie girl's a little young for me anyway."

At this Johnny's eyes widened and he sputtered out a series of vowels, his arms flailing to his sides. "What?" He cried out. "You think I'm talking about Gracie! GROSS! She has COOTIES!"

At this Ricky became confused. "What? But—"

"Even worse! She's got PRINCESS COOTIES! That means she's a royal pain! Yuck!" Johnny pretended to hurl. "Gracie's not my girlfriend."

A giggle brought Ricky's attention over to Mariah who could no longer contain them within her and he raised his brow. Mariah sighed and shook her head. "Ricky, Johnny's talking about Amy. Amy is his girlfriend. And she has been since he was four years old and he first came to Day Camp." Ricky felt his mouth open slightly as the idea ruminated in his head, then looked to the young kid in front of him, his eyes having glassed over.

"It was love at first sight." Johnny said, stuffing his hands in his pockets and leaning back as if he was much older and recounting the beginning of an epic love story. "I was crying because my mom dropped me off on her way to work and Amy came up to me and told me everything was going to be alright. I've been in love ever since."

Despite his confusion, Ricky, again, wanted to laugh. The kid was cute, chubby with dimples, his eyes big and brown, that had all the emotion his body could hold ready to pour out of them. He finally let a chuckle escape, only to have Johnny glare at him once more. "What's so funny? I saw you looking at Amy and let me tell you, you got off easy. I have to beat the boys away every day! So, just because you're a little bit older doesn't mean I can't do the same with you. Like I said, Amy's my girlfriend. So get your own!"

Ricky laughed again and shook his head, kneeling down to the kid and holding out his hand. "Hey, I'm sorry man. I didn't mean anything by it. She is pretty though and I gotta say you've got some seriously good taste in women."

Johnny stared at Ricky's hand, unsure at first, but in the end deciding to shake it. "Alright. No hard feelings. I mean, I get it, she's hot," this comment brought wider smiles from both Mariah and Ricky, but they let him continue. "And I know it's hard not stare sometimes, but come on man, have some respect."

Ricky nodded, held his hands up, "If I had known I wouldn't have been lookin', like I said I'm sorry."

By this time Mariah composed herself enough to return to her stern counselor stance and stare the kid down. "I think I might have to tell Amy about this Johnny. You know how she feels about violence." Immediately Johnny's face drained of color and he held his hands up in the air.

"Oh please Mari! Don't tell her. She got so mad at my last time and I can't stand it when Amy's mad at me. I was gonna propose soon! Look!" He pulled a ring-pop from his pocket to show them, out of the wrapper with lint clearly on it and Ricky bit back a smile. "I bought a ring and everything! I had to rummage through the couch cushions at home a whole month to find enough money to get this!"

Ricky and Mariah shared a glance, both trying very hard not to laugh when Ricky cocked his head and looked the boy over. He quickly glanced over at Amy, who was now gathering her kids and pointing towards an open field where some were playing with Frisbees and balls, and fought back a smirk, suddenly struck with an idea. "Listen Mar, I'm not charging the kid. He was protecting his woman, so I can respect that. Maybe, if he makes it up to me, we'll just call it even yeah?"

Mariah raised a brow, obviously wondering what Ricky was playing at when Johnny nodded vigorously, taking Ricky's hand in his. "Yeah! What if I just make it up to him Mari?"

She contemplated it, her gaze shifting from Johnny to Ricky before sighing deep and shrugging. "Alright, if that's how you want to play it. What does Johnny have to do Ricky?"

Ricky smiled and looked down to the kid, his eyes wide and staring back up at Ricky, breath baited and patient. Ricky shrugged the backpack off his back and slipped his hand from Johnny's. He zipped open his bag and pulled out worn and well-used baseball glove, only to laugh once more at Johnny's shocked expression. "I saw the baseball glove you got there," Ricky said, motioning to the one that Johnny had been gripping under his arm. "If you play catch with me and tell me how to win over a girl like your Amy, you know so that I can get my own girlfriend and not 'ogle' yours, we'll call it even. Deal?"

Johnny's eyes were fixed on the baseball glove, his eyes still wide and a smile slowly starting to spread across his face. He grabbed Ricky's hand, which was held out for a shake and shook it as hard as he could. "Deal!" he cried. "Let me get a ball!" And he took off toward Shakur's booth in order to inquire about a baseball.

As Ricky stood Mariah held her position and raised an eyebrow at him. "What are you up to?" she asked, her stare probing and suspicious.

Ricky shook his head and shrugged. "Nothing, just playing ball with a kid who might have a lot to teach me about getting a girl like Amy."

Mariah let out a scoff and shook her head, letting her hands fall from in front of her to slip into her back pockets. "I see. A girl like Amy? Or…Amy?"

Before Ricky could answer Johnny came barreling back, waving a ball excitedly at Ricky as he sprinted. Ricky smiled and waved, pulling out a Grant Academy baseball cap from his bag to slip onto his head. He winked at his foster sister and sighed. "Come on Mar," he teased, "What do you think?"

And with that he turned and ran toward Johnny, meeting the kid halfway and taking the ball from him. He patted Johnny on the back and motioned toward the open field where Amy and the others were already playing, smirking as they moved closer to the group and farther away from Mariah. He didn't have to turn around to know that she did not approve.

AN: Ah, so...since John is not in this universe (yet...I say that because I'm not exactly sure how far into the future this fic will go) I thought it be fitting to at least pay homage to him in some way. In the series John is what brought Ricky and Amy closer and in this universe, I believed that that was something that shouldn't be changed. You're going to be seeing a lot more of Johnny, especially in coming chapters, so keep an eye out! And again, PLEASE review. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! =] Oh. and p.s. I know there have been a lot of reviews asking for "longer" chapters and, usually I am a pretty long-winded writer, but these opening chapters are going to be smaller. I promise as the story progresses, they will slowly get bigger, so don't fret! Love you all mucho.

-scribbling wordsmith