The following morning, Lincoln and his friends met up in their usual spot in the hallway outside Mrs. Johnson's classroom. They typically got to school around 7:00, thirty minutes before homeroom officially began. Although they wished they didn't have to get out of bed so early (sans Liam, who was used to getting up at the crack of dawn), they appreciated having a bit of time to chat before class.

"Boy, that Mindy sure was something, wasn't she?" asked Lincoln.

Stella rubbed the back of her neck as her eyes drifted off to the side. "Well, she's quite a character, I'll give her that. I just don't know how I feel about her joining our gang."

This remark earned her a few concerned looks from the boys. "Y'don't like her?" asked Liam.

"It's not that I don't like her," said Stella. "I don't dislike her, at least. It's just... I don't know, it's weird. She came in out of nowhere and hopped into our circle."

"Stella, she's new," said Clyde. "She's a stranger to everyone in this school. Of course she's gonna try to put herself out there and make friends. I don't know why she chose us, but does it matter?"

He leaned into the circle, looking directly into Stella's eyes. "You were the new girl not too long ago. You should know how it feels."

Stella sighed. "That's fair," she muttered, averting Clyde's gaze.

"And I'm not telling you to ask her to the dance or anything," Clyde continued. "I'm just saying we should give her a chance. What's the harm in-"

"There's a bright golden gaze on the meadow..."

Clyde's voice trailed off once he picked up a familiar singing voice lilting down the hall, getting gradually louder. He looked back over his shoulder, and sure enough, there was Mindy, singing a blissful tune while meandering down the corridor.

"Oh, what a beautiful morning, oh, what a beautiful day," she sang as she approached the group. "Oh, what a beautiful morning, oh, what a beautiful..."

Just before she reached the last word, she let out a big, hearty yawn, accompanied by a stretch. "...day."

After finishing up her song, she wriggled her way into the circle. "Morning, y'all," she said, her eyes drifting towards Clyde. "Clyde, right?"

Clyde nodded, and Mindy proceeded to scan her eyes across the circle, stopping at every member.

"Rusty. Zach. L...Leon?"

"Liam," he corrected.

"Ah, right, Liam. And you're Stella, and you are Lincoln."

"Yep!" said Lincoln. "I'm impressed you got it right, by the way. Most people call me 'Landon' or 'Larry' for a few weeks after they meet..."

Lincoln stopped once he caught sight of Mindy's face; her sunny smile had gone, and in its place was a concerned frown. She rubbed her chin as her eyes scanned him up and down.

"Is something wrong, Mindy?"

Then, without warning, she reached behind his neck, pinched his collar and straightened it out. Before he could even process what was happening, he felt her running her fingers through his hair, neatening it. Lincoln, too stunned to respond, could only wonder what she was going to do next. He didn't have to wonder long, though, because a moment later, she licked the tip of her pointer finger and rubbed it against his cheek. Lincoln blushed at the sensation of the girl massaging his cheek.

"Much better," she said as she took her hand away and drew back. By this point, her smile had returned. "You had a little bit of syrup on your face."

Lincoln's blush deepened as he recalled wolfing down his pancake breakfast that morning and rushing through the rest of his routine. Mornings at the Loud house were typically pretty hectic, but he still felt a bit sheepish for not taking a second or two to look at himself in the mirror.

"I... um... I... thanks?" said Lincoln, barely able to stutter out a response.

Mindy clasped her hand over her lips to muffle a giggle. "You're welcome."

With that, she pivoted away from Lincoln and towards the rest of the group. "...So! I heard there's a talent show coming up this October. Any of you thinking of auditioning?"

Rusty gave her a smug smirk. "Same thing I do every year: reading a list of all my best pickup lines. They always bring down the house."

His response elicited a few scattered laughs throughout the group. After that died down, the rest of them took a moment to think, mulling over their options.

"Now that you mention it, I do have some lasso tricks I could show off," said Liam.

"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm," Mindy hummed as she nodded along.

"Maybe you could bring in that neat robot of yours!" Zach said to Stella. This prompted a double take from Mindy.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Robot? Somebody clue me in."

Stella gave off a nervous chuckle. "I-it's nothing, really. I built and programmed a robot over the summer. I'm still tweaking it, but-"

Mindy cut her off with a sharp, melodic whistle. "Didn't know we had a mad scientist on our hands. Watch out, boys; this girl's got a terminator in her basement."

Stella choked out another chuckle, struggling to eke out a response as her body was wracked with laughter. "No, n-no, nothing like that. It only responds to basic verbal commands."

"I getcha, I getcha," Mindy said with a nod. "That still sounds pretty cool, though. I'd definitely sign up if I were you."

"Maybe," said Stella. "I'd have to tweak it a bit more first."

"Eh, do whatever you need. Just don't work too hard on it. You know what happens when robots get too smart."

With that, she swiveled to the left, turning her attention towards Lincoln. "What about you, Lincoln? Gonna show us some magic tricks?"

Lincoln hesitated, taken aback by her question. He hadn't expected her to remember that detail from yesterday's conversation.

"I-I'm not sure," he muttered. He had been honing his magic skills for a few years now, but so far he had only performed for friends and family. If he did sign up for the talent show, it would be the first time performing in front of a large audience.

"Could I get back to you on that?" he asked.

Mindy let out a light, lilting giggle. "You're cute."

Lincoln's entire body went rigid, as his cheeks started heating up. He couldn't even remember the last time a girl outside his family used the "c" word on him. In fact, he hadn't received such a blunt, straightforward compliment since... well, since yesterday, when she called him funny. But before that, it had been a while.

"C...cute?" he squeaked. "Me?"

"As a button," Mindy said sweetly. "But you should totally sign up, Lincoln. I'd love to see some of those magic tricks!"

Lincoln was going to respond, but was interrupted by the sound of the school bell going off. Mindy swerved her head towards the ringing bell, staring at it in mild disbelief.

"Already? Sheesh. Time flies. Anyway, I'd better jet. My homeroom's on the other side of the hall."

With that, she skipped away, giving Lincoln another one of those finger-twiddling waves before disappearing out of sight. After returning the wave, Lincoln returned his attention to the rest of the gang, only to find everyone's eyes upon him.

"How do you do it?" asked Rusty.

Lincoln decided not to dignify that with a response, and just walked into the classroom to take his seat. For the entirety of the period, all he could think about was the preceding thirty minutes. He spent a bit of his time to mull over her suggestion to sign up for the talent show... and the lion's share of it playing her words back in his head over and over again.

"As a button..."


Milo dominated Lucy's thoughts for the first few hours of school. In particular, his promise to teach her how to make a finger puppet was fresh in her mind; she tuned out several class lessons so she could ponder how she was going to design her puppet. What would its name be? What would it wear? Would it have long hair or short? What kind of details would she include for its backstory? All of those questions weighed on her mind.

As soon as she was let out for recess, her concealed eyes darted around the playground in search of her new friend. She didn't have to look for long, though, as she found him sitting in the exact same spot as she did the day before, tinkering away. She shuffled over to approach him, and was promptly greeted with a smile and wave. As expected, a plethora of supplies were already laid out on the ground before him.

"Hi, Lucy!" he said.

"Hello, Milo," she responded, as she knelt down on the ground to meet him.

"I'm glad you came back. Most kids I meet don't stick around for very long."

Lucy felt a twinge of sadness at this revelation; that said, given his carefree, nonchalant tone of voice, she couldn't bring herself to feel too sorry for him.

"Still want to learn how to make a finger puppet?" he asked.

Lucy responded with a curt nod.

"Then let's get started!"

With that, he handed her a pair of scissors, and a white fabric glove that already had a couple of its digits cut off. "First, you make the body. Go ahead and cut one of the fingers off that glove."

Lucy examined the glove; it was missing its middle and ring fingers, leaving only the pinky, pointer and thumb. Lucy had decided earlier that her puppet would be tall and lean, so the pointer finger was the obvious choice.

"Is white okay?" he asked. "I have other gloves if you'd like to choose a different color."

Lucy waved him off. "White is fine."

She pinched the top of the glove's pointer finger, letting it dangle from her hand, and proceeded to cut at the base. The scissor sliced right through the fabric with no trouble at all, and after a couple of snips, the digit was removed.

"Great! Now you gotta make its face. I usually start with the eyes."

Lucy nodded, spying a tin full of googly eyes on the ground near her. She reached toward the tin... and then drew her hand back. Now that she thought about it, the prop wasn't quite appropriate for the character she had in mind. She wanted to create someone dignified, with gravitas - and googly eyes were just too goofy.

"It's okay if you don't want the googly eyes," said Milo. "There are other ways you can make the eyes. Sometimes I just draw them on with a marker."

Lucy mulled over his suggestion. Sure, she could just draw on a couple of dots and call it a day, but did she really want to? After all, the eyes were the centerpiece of the face, the windows to the soul. They'd invariably be the first feature her friends would notice when she showed her finger puppet to them. Surely there was some other method she could use. She scanned her eyes across all the materials Milo had laid out in front of him...

...and then, inspiration struck. She spied a tin of sparkling, hexagonal sequins, of varying different colors. There was her answer.

"Pass me some of those sequins, please," she said, pointing at the tin.

Milo gave her a peculiar look. "I thought you were doing the eyes first."

"I am. I want his eyes to shine. My puppet will have a glistening stare."

Milo, cracking a smile, snapped up the tin and handed it to Lucy, along with a tube of glue. "I like the way you think!" he chirped.

Lucy couldn't help but smile back as she took the supplies from Milo. She laid the severed finger down in front of her and hovered the tube of glue over it. With utmost care, she dipped the tube downward, letting the tip of the nozzle kiss the surface of the fabric twice. Once that was done, she plucked two black sequins out from the tin and pressed them on. Once they were on, she took a moment to wait - partially to let the glue dry, and partially to admire what she had done so far. Already, it looked like the puppet was staring into her soul.

Milo then proceeded to walk her through the rest of the process. She used the yarn to fashion him short, blood-red locks of hair, and cut him a silver scarf made out of cloth. She drew the nose on with a black marker, and did the same for the mouth; for the latter, she drew a line that curved just a bit upward, giving him an eerie half-smile. As a final touch, she drew on a couple of fangs.

"All done," she said with pride. Milo shuffled across the ground and joined Lucy at her side, gazing down at her new creation. "Oh, wow," he said in a breathy tone, mesmerized by what she had done. "He's really something. What's his name?"

"Thaddeus," said Lucy. "He's a vampire. He feasts on the blood and souls of the living."

Milo recoiled in surprise, making his blond curls bounce to and fro. "Oh, that's scary!" he cried.

Lucy's stomach lurched, as she sensed she had unwittingly stepped over one of his boundaries. No, not just stepped over it, but leaped over it. In her carelessness, she had forgotten that not all children share her affinity for the macabre.

"I'm sorry," she said with a sigh, as a feeling of shame welled within her. She couldn't even bring herself to look Milo in the eye.

"Sorry for what?" he asked. "I didn't say I didn't like him. I said he was scary."

Lucy, taken a bit aback, snapped out of her self-pitying daze and turned towards Milo, who now bore an expression of intrigue rather than fear.

"You... you like scary?"

"Yeah, sometimes," he said. "It can be fun to be scared."

Lucy, for the second time that period, broke into a smile. It was rare that she met someone outside her circle who got her, on some level. Besides her friends in the Mortician's Club, her peers tended to see her as a bit of a creep. But if that last sentence was any indication, Milo was a rare example of someone who would give her the freedom to be herself.

Some of the time, at least.

"So you like him?"

"Yeah, a lot!" he said. "He's really creepy. I love the way his eyes sparkle."

Lucy blushed a little, as he had just pointed out the design choice she was proudest of. Suspecting that the glue had dried, she peeled Thaddeus off the ground and slipped him onto her finger. She then presented him to Milo, who responded by taking Gus out of his backpack and slipping him onto his own finger.

"Nice to meet you, Thaddeus!" said Milo, taking on a gruff tone of voice. He brought Gus up to Thaddeus's face and flexed his finger a couple of times, making him pat Thaddeus on the head. Lucy felt a light, tingling feeling radiate out from the spot where his fingertip touched hers. The tingling intensified once she got a good look at his face - his smile bright, his green eyes round and wide.

"N-nice to meet you too, Gus," she said, forgetting to change her voice. "It's rare that I make friends with mortals."

Milo laughed and tried to come back with a response, but the bell rang before he could.

"Oh, shoot! just when things were getting good."

Milo sighed and started packing up his supplies. "But this was a lot of fun, Lucy! You've got a real imagination."

Lucy turned her hand inward, gazing down at her new creation. "I guess I do."

"I know you do," said Milo. Before taking off for the schoolhouse, he leaned in towards Lucy and gave Thaddeus a pat on the head.

"See you tomorrow, Lucy!" he said as he walked off. "And you too, Thaddeus!"

After watching Milo disappear out of sight, Lucy ambled back towards the school, doting on her new finger puppet every step of the way. His reflective eyes glistening in the sunlight, his crimson locks fluttering in the fall breeze... she had truly created something special. Once she got inside, she was forced to put him away - but that didn't stop her from remembering her new friend's elated response to her first effort.

Milo... liked it.

Milo... likes me.