It felt like he's been running for miles now...
Derek didn't know if he had manage to lose Ray, but there was no way that he was stopping for a second to look back to see if he was. To him, it would be stupid for him to just stop right then and there just to do that. He knew the goth was going to immediately ambush him the moment he stopped running. Looking at his surroundings, he was in another part of the fairground, specifically the section of it where the Carousel was located at, which was far from where he had encountered Ray and Victoria. Despite that, he still wasn't going to take chances whatsoever. He just kept on running.
The bully just continued to run, until he decided to take a path that led right before all the game stands in the section he was in. It would seem to be a good idea for him to do, since doing so would mean that Ray wouldn't be able to see him throughout the crowd in this place. Unfortunately for him, he would soon figure out that doing that was a huge mistake.
When he ran down this pathway, he ended up finding himself in a dead-end. To his left and in front of him was the corner of the brick wall that was surrounding the entirety of the carnival. To his right, there was nothing more but the metal wall to a large row of game stands. There wasn't anything here use to climb up either walls here, except for a metal garbage can and a few garbage on the ground. Derek was now trapped.
"There you are!" Ray screams a few feet behind him.
Derek quickly turned around hearing Ray's voice, only to be punched right in his cheek immediately when he did. He fell to the ground, before sitting up and glaring at the goth who had punched him. He stood back up and immediately punched Ray in his own cheek, sending him falling to the ground with blood coming out of his mouth afterwards. Derek then chuckled maliciously, before holding out his arms wide while the goth was glaring at him.
"Just give up, asshole!" Derek said with a smirk clearly visible on his face. "You know you're just going to lose, and your ass will just end up in the hospital! Do know that you chased me all the way over here just for a stupid stuffed-animal!"
"That stuffed-animal that you stole was a gift from me to my friend!" Ray said as he stood up from the ground, while wiping the blood off of his face.
"A gift? A gift to a bitch like that British girl you were with?" Derek just scoffs, nearly laughing at the goth's words. "How touching! Thoughtful even! Too bad I could care less because how much of a bitch truly is."
"You take that shit back! Victoria's one of the nicest girls I've ever met!"
"She...is a bitch!"
"THAT'S IT! YOU ASKED FOR IT!!!" Ray screams in pure anger, now with the urge to fight the bully even more.
With a swift punch to the chin, Ray sends Derek's baseball cap flying off of his head and onto the ground behind him. Once the cap hits the ground, the stuffed-animal that Derek had stole from them flew right out of it and landing next to the brick wall. Neither of them paid it any sort of attention, as both of them were more focused on fighting each other more than the item itself.
Victoria eventually ended up stumbling upon the path that the two of them were fighting at. At first, her eyes noticed the stuffed-animal that Ray had got for her sitting there by the wall, completely safe and sound. However, immediately after, the girl took notice of both her friend and the bully fighting each other at the very end of the pathway, and from the looks of it, Derek seems to have the upper-hand on Ray. Her eyes widened in horror at what was happening before her, fearing the safety of her best friend as he was trying to fight the bully. She was wanting to grab the present Ray gave her first, but despite it being a very bad idea, she decided to run over to the two men in order to intervene in order to help Ray.
"Stop this! You're hurting him!" Victoria said, attempting to pull Derek away from her best friend.
"What the?!" The bully shouts immediately taking notice of Victoria trying to stop the fight. "Hey! Let go of me, girly!" He then swipes his arm away from the girl causing her to fall straight to the ground when he did that. Unfortunately for him, Ray took notice of this and was immediately enraged that he had done this.
"NOW YOU ASKED FOR IT, ASSHOLE!!!" Ray yelled sounding even more angrier than before.
Ray immediately stood up from the ground and started rapidly punching Derek. The bully didn't even get a chance to fight back, not even given a second to react as the goth just started attacking him without a second to waste. Everything just came at him fast, and he wasn't able to do anything. He couldn't even attempt to say anything, nor let out a scream in pain when all of this was happening. It came to end when, eventually, Ray decided to push Derek to the ground, only for the bully to be sent walking backwards landing face-first into the only trash can that was in this small alleyway.
After all of that happened, Ray could only just stand there and just stare at what he had just done. He never knew he had it in him to take on a bully like Derek. He knew that pretty much everybody in Simport hated him for being a bully, but he never knew that he'd be the one to stand up to him first...especially like this. He honestly wasn't too sure if he should feel happy that he did this or feel guilty that he thought fighting him is the best option here. Although, considering that Derek was pretty much nothing more but a complete asshole to him, his friends, and other people before, he felt like this was justified.
Ray then turned towards Victoria, seeing her getting from the ground. "Are you okay?" The goth asked her, as he helped her stand back up.
"No need to worry, Ray...I'm fine." Victoria said, before noticing the many bruises and the black eye that her friend now has on his face. "Oh blimey...Ray, you look horrible. I think we need to take you home right now."
"Victoria, I..." Right before Ray could say anything, he began to feel pain in his hands. He held onto one of them, before nodding his head and agreeing with his friend. "Ow...okay, probably a good idea."
Ray began to make his way over to the opposite end of the pathway, while Victoria turned her head towards the stuffed-animal that was still just sitting there by the wall. She picked it up, hoping that it was still intact after that fight. From the looks of it, it didn't seem to have any sort of torn anywhere on it, nor did it appear to have been damaged in any sort of way. However, there was a hint of dirt on it from being on the ground though, but she brushed it off of it. After retrieving her gift once again, she immediately went over to Ray so that they can go home.
Meanwhile...
With Tim and Pinky...
The two of them were continuing to walk around the place, trying to find something to do around here. They have been walking for awhile now, and neither of them could decide on what to do around here together. Neither of them were interested in any of the games or rides that this carnival had in store for them. Now that they thought about it, they probably should've stayed in line at the 'Tunnel-of-Love' and just ignored Summer rather than give her any sort of attention.
Tim just glanced around the area they were in, sipping from the cup of soda that he had gotten from the food stand moments ago. After a few more seconds of looking around, he saw one of the game stands that they were just passing. The stand that they were passing by was the bottle-toss game, which was arguably one of the only games here that Tim could easily win at anytime he came here. Looking at the many items that were on the stand's shelf, he could only see one blue thing among the multiple items that were on there. That item was a dark blue jacket. Although he had seen his girlfriend wearing one at times, Tim felt like she wouldn't mind having another one.
"Hey Pinky..." Tim said stopping his girlfriend in her tracks, before pointing over to the bottle-toss stand nearby. "I think I found the perfect game for us to play...that one over there."
"The bottle-toss?" Pinky asked while raising an eyebrow at this idea. She shrugged her shoulders at this, before nodding her head in agreement. "Alright, I don't see why not."
"Awesome." Now that their decision was final, the couple made their way over to the bottle-toss stand.
Between the two of them, Tim decided to go first. Pinky willingly allowed him to go first, since she was usually never good at this game whenever she came here. The last time she attempted to play this game, the baseball that she was given flew out of her hands when she was just about to throw it...and somehow managed to knock over a hot dog cart that happened to be nearby. She still can't figure out how it was even possible for that to even happen in the first. Pinky could only cringe having to had even remembered that.
Tim just stared at the bottles that were right on the counter inside the stand ahead of him. He just held the baseball tightly in his grip, before glancing at the blue jacket that was still just sitting there on the shelf. Nodding his head with confidence, the boy then threw the baseball straight at the stack of bottles, successfully knocking all three of them off of the stand that it was on. The vendor nodded his head with a smile on his face.
"Why to go, kid." The vendor said, before walking over to the shelf nearby. "Which one of these things do you want?"
"Well..." Tim said with a chuckle, before turning his head towards his girlfriend. "If I know my girlfriend, I'd probably say...that blue jacket right there."
Pinky chuckles with a blush appearing on her face. "Oh Tim, you honestly do know me so well..." She said, before she stopped chuckling. "But...despite the fact that I absolutely love the looks of that jacket, especially the fact that it's the color blue...I already have a jacket just like that one. BeeBee once gave me that for my birthday last year."
"Wait, really? Well...this is awkward..." Tim faces forward while tapping his chin nervously. "Um...is there any other items that you have here that's the color blue?"
"Hold on a moment." The vender said, before kneeling down to look inside a box that was underneath the counter holding the stacks of bottles. After a couple seconds, he stood back up holding something that he took out of it. "I do have this if you want it."
The vendor places the item that he had found onto the stand in front of the couple, which was a beautiful dark blue scarf. "Ooh! I don't have a scarf like that before!" She said, immediately loving the item right away. "I'll take it!"
"Then it's all yours, dear." The vendor hands the scarf over to the girl in blue, before sitting back down onto his chair once again.
Tim and Pinky then headed off to another part of the carnival so that they can do something else now. During their walk, Pinky decided to put the scarf she got on to see how it looks on her. She wraps it around her neck, then turned to face her boyfriend.
"So, Tim, how do I look?" Pinky asked as she pointed at the scarf she was now wearing.
"Well, like anything that's blue, it looks beautiful on you." Tim said with a smile. "I don't know what it is, but you really do look even more beautiful wearing anything that's the color blue."
"Oh, Tim...you're making me blush again..." His girlfriend said through chuckles, blushing at her boyfriend's compliment.
"Hey, I'm just being honest here, sweetie. You really, really do."
Pinky then pulls her phone out, now stopping the both of them in their tracks again. "You know what? This calls for a selfie." She glanced over to her boyfriend again. "Have you ever did a selfie before, Tim?"
"No, not really. I know Summer does, usually she takes one with Chaz or with her friends, but...she never invites me in with her whenever she does them."
"Then let this be your first one ever, and one where it's with your girlfriend."
"Alright."
Pinky held out an arm aiming her phone's camera towards her and Tim. They leaned their heads towards each other's shoulders, as they stood by the nearby Carousel. Once the picture was taken, Pinky placed her phone back into her pocket then kisses her boyfriend on the cheek, before the two began heading off to find the 'Tunnel-of-Love' again. The ride itself doesn't last too long, and with the amount of time that it took for them to walk around, they felt like Summer and Luke would be done on it by now.
Meanwhile...
With Jenny...
It was just another causal day at work once again. Nothing more, nothing less. Just another day of just sitting behind the front desk of the SPA Agency Building and waiting for somebody to come by with something for the agents to do. Throughout the entirety of the day, there didn't seem like anyone was coming in with any sort of problems. But then again, it was probably because some were not wanting to be outside with a storm on its way here.
Now that she thought about it, she hadn't spoke with any of the agents when she got here. She didn't talk with Agent Walker, Ian, Amelia, nor anybody else who worked here. The only person she actually spoke with today was with Roxie, but it didn't last long since they needed to focus on work rather than talk about other things like boys and stuff. With how silent it's been, it would be unsurprisingly to her if everybody's focused on trying to find a way to get Evelyn Gray out of the Nightmare Realm still. She's been so focused on trying to figure out who her 'Secret Admirer' is that she had somehow forgotten about all of that. She hopes that whatever happens during their plan, everyone ends up okay in the end of it all.
Eventually, one of the agents did end up coming into the lobby so that they can talk to Jenny. Unsurprisingly for her, it was Ian. The two have been talking more and more often whenever he came out of Agent Walker's office to get himself some coffee. However, instead of heading over to the coffee counter first as per usual, he headed over to the desk to tell her something.
"Hello there, Jenny." Ian told her as he leaned on the desk. "Agent Walker told me to inform you that you are allowed to go home now. We were informed ahead of time that there was going to be a massive storm heading its way here to Simport, and we mutually agreed that it would be best to send you home earlier than usual."
"Oh, awesome." Jenny said as she stood up from the desk to pack up her laptop and comic books. "But what about you guys? Shouldn't you guys be heading off too?"
Ian shook his head at the girl's question. "We still have a lot of things to discuss about when it comes to rescuing Evelyn, which...might be an overnight situation. It isn't something that I haven't faced before working here."
"So...I'm guessing that means that you, Amelia, and Agent Walker are going to be sleeping here?" The genius nodded his head to the geeky girl's question. "Well, if you say so. If you guys change your minds, be careful getting back home."
"We will. No need to worry." Jenny packs up her things and then headed out from behind the front desk. She was about to head over to the exit, but right before she could leave, Ian ran up to her to stop her. "Wait! Before you go, I need to give you something!"
"What is it?"
"This letter that just came in." The genius reached into his jacket, pulling out a folded up piece of paper that he had been carrying all day. He hands it over to his friend, who stared at it with confusion. "I found it on top of the coffee-maker when I came in this morning. I was meant to hand this to you when you got here, but Agent Walker urgently needed to talk to me and Amelia about something."
"Well, thanks."
"Your very welcome." Ian then started to back away from his friend. "Well, we'll see you tomorrow."
"Yeah, see you tomorrow." Ian headed back to Walker's office, while Jenny exits the building.
Outside the building, Jenny decided to go down the stairs to the road below so that she can take the bus back to her house. As she made her way down, she glanced towards the sky for a second to see how far the hurricane was to Simport. From the looks of it, the storm seemed to be arriving here a little more earlier than what she was hoping, as she could see the dark clouds coming from miles away. If she had to guess, she can only assume that the storm will be here in within an hour, so at this point, she had to hurry up and get on the bus right now.
Once she made it to the road below, she quickly got onto the bus and sat down on one of the seats. The bus started to head off to the neighborhood. During the ride, Jenny decided to take this time to check out the note that Ian had handed to her right before she left, just to see what this note actually was. Once she unfolded the note, she read what was on it.
'Jenny, I know it seems weird of me to write this to you, but I was wanting to tell you to meet me down at the movie theater tomorrow night. There's an event going on there where they are playing nothing but romantic movies. It may seem totally weird, I know, but I felt like this is the best choice for the both of us. I will see you there. From your Secret Admirer.' The note said.
"A romantic movie night? This doesn't seem like something Rob would do..." Jenny said to herself while rubbing her chin, now feeling a bit skeptical about this. "I'm starting to suspect that something is amiss about all of this, because I'm starting to doubt that this even is Rob if he's deciding that a romantic movie would be our first date." She places the note into her jacket, before staring forward. "I think I need to meet up my 'Secret Admirer' to see if truly is him or not."