Lily awoke, once again with the bright morning sunlight pouring through her window, making it hard for her to adjust her eyes. She stretched her arms up and pulled off her covers. She stepped onto the cold hard wood floor and picked out her clothes for the day. That's when she remembered.

It was the day she had been yearning for the entire week, the day that she had thought would never come. It was the day she had her date with Chris! It was Friday.

Lily smacked her head, dumbfounded, "how could I have forgotten?" She looked at the clock, it was 11:30pm. "Shit! I only have half an hour!"

She threw her first choice of clothes on her bed and picked out the girliest thing

she had, a white sundress. Perfect.

She then ran to the bathroom, quickly took a shower, put on her clothes, did her face and ran downstairs.

She found her grandmother in the kitchen making eggs and bacon. Lily grabbed a piece of buttered toast and shoved it down her throat along with a glass of orange juice.

"My, my, aren't we in a bit of a hurry this morning." said her grandmother adding some bacon to a large white plate. She handed it to Lily.

Lily gave the plate back to her grandmother, "Oh, no thanks grandma, none for me. You see I over slept and I have to go and meet Chris like right now!"

Her grandma shrugged and put the plate down, "Oh, well I thought that Christopher was going to come and get you?"

"Yeah, that was the original plan. But, I figured since he always walks me home, he shouldn't have to come and get me too. So, yesterday I had asked Gordie where Chris lived, he told me, and now I'm going to go and surprise him!"

"Are you sure about that? What if he doesn't like being surprised?"

"Don't worry grandma, Chris has been through worse." She looked at the clock, it was now noon. "Crap! I have to hurry before he leaves." She then went to the doorway and put on her shoes." Bye, I'll be back around 10!" she called to her grandmother while heading out the door.

"Ok, don't try to have too much fun", her grandmother called back.

But before she could get a response Lily was already at the end of the driveway.

For the entire week she had been in Castle Rock Lily had gotten to know the four boys quite well. She had learned about Gordie's older brother and how he had died, his parents, and how they act like he doesn't exist. She learnt about Teddy's father, and how he almost burnt his left ear off with a stove. She even learnt about Vern's obsession with finding his pennies. Lily loved to hang out with the four boys and she even felt like she was becoming part of their little group.

When she finally made into Castle Rock, her eyes went wide. There were people everywhere. She hadn't seen this many people since she had visited the Mall of America over two years ago. She looked around and saw many different concession stands. There was one selling cotton candy and another selling caramel covered apples. There were a few shitty rides here and there and there was also a band playing on a small stage at the other end of the town. Above her was a large sign that read in big bold letters, Castle Rock's 47th annual 4th of July Carnival Extravaganza!

"Wow, they really go all out for this, don't they?" She mumbled to herself.

She then made her way through the enormous crowd for a couple until she came across a road that led to an unfamiliar looking part of town. She went down the road, away from all of the noise and excitement, and ended up in what seemed to be a deserted area.

There were tons of old and what looked like abandoned house all lined up on either side of her. Most of them were torn up and small. The grass wasn't green like the rest of the town, but rather brown and dingy. As she walked farther down the road she could hear a husband and wife screaming at each other and children crying. This is the place where people with little money could afford to live.

She finally came upon the last house at the end of the road. It was an off white, its hinges and windows were broken, its paint chipped. The front lawn was cluttered with little kid's toys, and it was very small in size. Compared to this house, her grandmother's seemed like a palace. Lily looked at the number of the house, 1747 Chester Avenue.

This was Chris' home.

She slowly walked up to the front door; it was painted a fading grey. She knocked lightly on the door, hoping that Chris would answer.

She waited for about 5 minutes before the door slowly creaked open. Lily stood frozen, a woman had answered the door.

Lily looked her over; she was short, pudgy and had red hair and green eyes. She had large bags, almost the size of craters underneath her eyes, and too much pink blush and blue eye shadow on. She smelt exactly like Ace, but with a hint of orange perfume. She wore a tight leather top which showed most of her cleavage and a black laced bra. Her belly button was visible and her leather skirt was so short, Lily could tell what colour underwear she had on. She wore ripped, black mesh leggings and high leather boots.

She looked at Lily, eyeing her up and down, "Who are you?"

Lily shook her head and cleared her throat, "I'm Lily, Lily Davis. I'm here to see Chris."

She nodded her head, "That's the younger one right? Good choice, he's cute."

Lily smiled awkwardly; she looked over her shoulder hoping to see Chris. Unfortunately she saw nothing and she and the strange woman stood their looking like idiots.

Just then a familiar voice called out from inside the house, "Lily?"

Lily looked over the woman's shoulder and saw Chris coming down the stairs, putting on a white shirt.

He pushed passed the woman and stepped out the door, "Denise, nice to see you again."

Denise smiled, her teeth as yellow as a school bus, she then nodded at Chris and Lily and closed the door behind them.

Lily laughed, "Who was that?"

"That was my dad's hooker, Denise. She comes to our house every week or so. But what are you doing here? How did you find out where I live?"

Lily smiled, "Oh, I wanted to surprise you, so I asked Gordie and he told me." She looked at the ground. "I mean, I thought it was the least I could do because you're always walking me home."

"Well thanks." He stopped and examined her, "you look amazing. I don't think I've ever seen you in a dress before."

She smiled, "thank you." She looked at him and smiled, "you look amazing as well! A nice clean shirt and pressed pants. You didn't have to go all out, it's just me!"

"That's exactly why I did it, because of you."

She blushed, "Well, thank you that was very nice of you."

He held out his hand, "shall we?"

She took his hand in hers, goose bumps going up her arm, "lets!"

The two of them walked down the road, hand in hand, towards the carnival.

This was going to be one heck of a night.

Short Chapter, I know. But that's how I wanted it, short and sweet!