A/N Hello everyone! i know its been forever since i updated anything. Health issue, 5 kids... need I say more? its a short update but i do have more coming soon i hope you will take a moment to review, it really helps inspire me to write more. Happy reading and dont forget to review.

Hermione hurried down the hallway to the front door. Troy stood on the front walk in khaki shorts and a light blue button down shirt with short sleeves. His large red old fashioned convertible was parked in the street with Tiffany and Steven waving from the back seat. Brittany was making her way up the walkway wearing a very short white sundress and sandals.

"Hey Emily, ready to go?" Troy asked.

She nodded and stepped off the porch followed by Drake. Cindy stepped out the front door to wave them off.

When they got to the car Hermione sat in the front between Troy and Brittany, while Tiffany, and Steven shared the back seat with Drake.

"Is that your mom?" Brittany asked Drake motioning towards Cindy

"Cindy?" Hermione asked. "No she's our stylist."

"You have your own stylist?" Brittany asked incredulously. Hermione nodded. "No wonder you two look so great. Does she live with you?"

"No, she has her own studio, she just stopped by for a retouch." Hermioned answered. They rode in silence a short while before Brittany turned on the radio. Some obnoxious pop song was playing but Hermione didn't comment. Troy slung his right arm over her shoulder and she could smell the light crisp scent of cologne. Roughly 20 minutes had passed when they pulled into the parking lot of a very busy diner. It was shiny silver with red neon trim throughout. Girls in short pink uniforms, trimmed in navy, zipped by on roller skates carrying trays heaped with food. They all got out of the car and headed for a bank of picnic tables, most of which were occupied by other loud teenagers

"Troy! I saved your table right here." a boy wearing a football jersey yelled.

"Thanks Matt." Troy called back sitting at the very middle table like a king holding court. Brittany and Tiffany headed off to talk to a group of girls wearing cheerleading costumes, leaving Hermione standing there. She looked around uncomfortably until Troy pulled her onto his lap and introduced her to everyone as his date for the night. Drake just stood off to the side, looking to Hermione for help. She caught his eye and gave a quick nod before interrupting Troy.

"Where'd Brittany go? She left Drake to fend for himself." She asked angrily.

"BRITTANY!" he called. She held up one finger to the other girls before walking over to them.

"Yes?" she asked, seeming annoyed at the interruption.

"You left your date alone,"

"So? He's a big boy." she replied coolly.

"Some other girl might snag him up." Troy replied.

"They wouldn't dare." Brittany huffed.

"No one knows he's with you since you haven't bothered to introduce him to anyone." Troy reminded her.

"Good point." She agreed walking to Drake and taking him by the arm. "I want you to meet some of my other friends." she said. "Girls, this is Drake, he's my date tonight, he just moved here from England and will be starting at Seaside in the fall." All the girls introduced themselves and commented how gorgeous he was. He thanked each one blushing the entire time. When they were done he moved to sit opposite Troy and Hermione. The waitress skated over to take the order.

"Big feast for six." Troy said ordering for everyone.

"What's that?" Hermione asked.

"It's a local special. Double cheeseburgers with everything, fries, onion rings and sodas.

"What drinks would you like?" the girl asked impatiently

"Coke ok? He asked Hermione. She shrugged not really knowing the difference.

"Four Cokes and two Diet cokes." he answered.

The waitress nodded and skated off.

"You guys come here a lot?" she asked him

He nodded."Every weekend. My dad owns the place."

SHe smiled at him but cringed at the thought of another spoiled, entitled, rich brat.

Everyone was trying to get near Troys table. As soon as there was an opening, it was quickly filled by another jersey wearing boy.

Fifteen minutes passed and Troy was at level 10 of irritation. The food was taking longer than expected due to the many people and they had just gotten the drinks a few minutes ago a fact that Troy had belittled the waitress for, reminding her who his father was. She half expected him to shout "wait till my father hears about this!" Hermione could tell Drake was embarrassed by Troys shouting too. He was staring at the wooden picnic table where other teens had carved rude messages and pornographic drawings into them. She tried to calm him down by distracting him by talking.

"How far is the park from here?" she asked putting her hand on his arm

Startled, he turned to her "Not far, but we might be pushing it if our food doesn't HURRY UP!"

"Will they close?" she wondered aloud.

"No." He said much calmer "There will just be longer lines."

"I don't mind." she said sweetly "More time for us to get to know each other." Honestly she knew all she needed to know about Troy by this point, but she was diffusing the situation, so she kept it up, as she sipped her drink which was far too sweet for her, she knew her parents wouldnt approve of her drinking this sugary drink."It'll rot your teeth." she heard her dad say over and over. She put the drink down and hoped the waitress would hurry.

Luckily, the waitress arrived a minute later with a tray heavily laden with food. She set it in front of the group and the guys dug in happily, she was relieved to see that Drake had used more restraint than the other boys. But she wondered to what avail, the other boys were eating like animals as well. She reached over and grabbed a burger delicately along with an order of fries,

She watched the two other girls looking at their food and picking at it without ever taking a bite

She nibbled a few fries watching as Troy popped the last bit of burger into his mouth.

"What's the matter Sweetness?" he asked, eyeing her burger, "not hungry?"

"Would you like it?" she asked him to him.

"Well if you're not going to eat it…" he smiled, sliding the foil wrapped burger in front of him.

She rolled her eyes as he proceeded to scarf that one down too. She ate her fries and sipped her soda while everyone loudly talked around her. She wondered if this was how all American dates were, so far the few times Ron had taken her out to the Three Broomsticks or the tea shop it was a quiet personal affair. They had been able to talk and be with each other. This was not what she pictured, and Drake looked just as miserable as she felt, sitting there alone while Brittany is sitting at another table

She looked at him and shrugged. He gave her a small smile in return. She returned the smile and was about to talk to him when Troy announced that they were leaving, Hermione picked up her trash and made a move to throw it out. Troy grabbed her arm and threw the trash back onto the table.

"That's not your job sweetness. We have people to do that."

"But the bin is right there," she protested.

He laughed and rolled his eyes dismissing her comment.

They walked to the car and got back into their seats. Troy whipped the car out of the lot and onto a dark two lane highway. It was so dark that the only light was from the soft glow of the dashboard, the radio played softly and Troy settled his arm around her again. She could tell Drake was not having a good time by his miserable expression. She turned in her seat and gave him a small smile. He looked at her with no emotion but she could tell the discomfort he was in and felt a twinge of guilt for "making" him go, or at the very least greatly encouraging him to go outside of his comfort zone.

In no time they were at the park "Pacific Playland". The lights shone bright on every ride and blurred as the different rides moved back and forth. There was a strong smell of popcorn and fried foods as they approached the ticket booth. It didn't look that crowded to Hermione from what she could see at least. Troy handed a neon green bracelet to everyone she mumbled a thank you to him as she set about putting it on her wrist