Butterflies emerged in Lincoln's stomach as soon as he got up that morning, and they were still swarming by the time he arrived at school. He knew he couldn't go to the arcade with Mindy and go to Jean Juan's with the gang, so he'd have to ditch at least one of them - which would be fine, if he hadn't carelessly made a commitment with both parties.

Stupid Lincoln! he thought. Stupid, stupid Lincoln! Couldn't have taken two seconds to check your schedule, could you?!

Ultimately, he decided he'd have to turn down Mindy. It was better to disappoint one friend than five, he reasoned, and it was only fair to go with the group he committed himself to first. Even so, he had no idea how Mindy was going to take the news, which set him on edge.

As he walked through the front doors and into the hallway, he spotted his friends convening in front of the lockers, and greeted them in typical fashion.

"Hi, guys!" he said, forcing a smile.

"Hi, Lincoln!" said Stella. "Excited for Fajita Friday?"

"I know I am!" said Clyde. "I don't know if you've tried their chili hollandaise dipping sauce yet, but there's no way we're not getting that."

The gang proceeded to chatter amongst themselves, until they heard the telltale sound of a lilting soprano accompanied by the click of black buckled shoes tapping against the tile floor. Sure enough, they looked down the hall and there was Mindy, waltzing her way towards them. While she would typically introduce herself by greeting all of them, today she set her sights directly on Lincoln.

"Good morning, Lincoln!" she sang, punctuating her greeting with a twirl. "Ready to get your game on today?"

Lincoln took a deep breath and steeled himself for what was to come.

"Yeah, about that," he said. "You see, I… I forgot that I had already made dinner plans with the gang. We're going to Jean-Juan's for Fajita Friday. I'm really sorry."

His confession elicited a few grunts of annoyance among his friends. To his relief, though, Mindy just responded with a shrug, while maintaining her perky smile. "Oh, that's not a problem," she said.

And just like that, all of the tension in Lincoln's body disappeared…

"I love fajitas! I'll meet you all after school."

…and then it came right back, just as quickly as it went.

Lincoln's eyes shifted over towards Stella - who, much to his chagrin, bore a trembling, uneasy-looking smile.

"Um, Mindy? We only made reservations for six people, and it's too late to change them. We'll be sure to squeeze you in next time, though!"

The spritely redhead visibly recoiled at Stella's words. Her mouth hung open in shock, as if Stella had just walked across the hallway and slapped her in the face. Her fingers twitched, quivered and then balled themselves up into fists, as she thrust her head forward and stamped her foot.

"No!" she cried, accompanied by the sharp sound of her shoe smacking the tile floor. For a tense, nail-biting moment, Lincoln and his friends stared at her, shocked into speechlessness.

The silence was then broken by a light, staccato gasp. All the anger left Mindy's face as she retreated from the circle, clasping a hand over her mouth. Her fearful eyes darted from one student to the next.

"…I-I mean, um…"

She took a trembling step back.

"…have a good time. I'll s-see you all later."

She then took another shaky step back, and then another, before turning herself around and skittering away from the group, shrinking under the gaze of all the students who had heard her outburst.

After Mindy departed out of sight, all Lincoln and his friends could do was stare at each other in bewilderment. None of them had the wherewithal to say another word for at least a minute.

"Someone want to explain to me what that was all about?" asked Stella, breaking the silence.

"I-I don't know," said Lincoln. "I've never seen her snap like that. I don't think I've even seen her angry before." Granted, he had only known her for less than a month, but this was still quite the departure from the Mindy he had come to know in that time.

"She just doesn't like bein' snubbed, I guess," said Liam. "Then again, I can't imagine that anyone does."

Lincoln shook his head. There had to be more to it than that. As the bell rang and the homeroom period began, his detective instincts began to tingle; he felt the itch of an unsolved question, with only one way to scratch it. From the beginning, the new girl had struck him as odd - eccentric, even - but perhaps there was even more to her than she let on.

Meanwhile, Lucy's day proceeded in largely the same way as it had been for the past week or so. She'd head off to school and sit through all her morning classes, spending half her time listening to the teacher and the other half running through all the new ideas she planned to share with Milo at recess.

Her day diverged from its usual path just before recess began, however. Right as she was about to walk into the school courtyard, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She looked back to see Cheryl's portly frame looming over her, wearing an expression of mild concern.

"Lucy, may I borrow you for a minute, please?"

Uh oh. Lucy swallowed hard as she followed Cheryl back to her office. She couldn't imagine what she was in trouble for, assuming she was in trouble at all; her grades were at least adequate, and she tended to stay out of trouble.

But that uncertainty just made the tension even higher. Was she being transferred to a different school? Was someone in her family hurt? Did someone in her family die? Her mind ran through every horrible, inconceivable possibility along the short trek to the office.

Cheryl walked in first and took a seat at her desk. She then gestured towards a chair that was set up in front of it.

"There's something I've been meaning to talk to you about," she said as Lucy took her seat. "We've heard reports from some of the teachers about how you've been behaving at recess."

Lucy blinked. "Recess?" she asked.

"Well, yes," Cheryl said, keeping her hands clasped together in front of her. "For the past week you've been spendin' all your time off to the side, tinkerin' with that Milo boy."

It was at this point that a feeling of unease began swelling inside the young girl's stomach. What Cheryl described was what she looked forward to every morning, and now it was apparently a problem. Why?

"What about it?" she asked, letting a hint of defensiveness creep into her voice. "I promise we're not hurting anyone."

"Oh, I'm sure you're not," said Cheryl. "And I'm happy that you and he are gettin' along so famously. It's just that, well, recess is more than just a break from your classes. It's a time when you kids are supposed to, y'know, get some exercise. We can't have two kids spending all that time sittin' on the ground off to the side. It's not a good look."

Lucy had to resist the urge to snap at her. This wasn't fair. Since when was there a right or a wrong way to have fun?

"We just want what's best for you, that's all," she continued. "I hope you understand."

"Sigh. I do," Lucy muttered, without even trying to sound sincere about it.

"Good. I'm glad we had this lil' chat. You're free to go."

The dour girl forced herself to her feet and trudged down the hallway towards the courtyard. What was supposed to be a period of respite from the tedium of school had become yet another obligation for her to fulfill.

She walked outside to see Milo dawdling around the courtyard. Once he saw her, he greeted her with a weak, half-hearted wave.

"I have some bad news," she said. "Cheryl said that we can't-"

"I know," he interrupted. "She told me, too."

He then shuffled away from her and picked up a ball that some other kids had left unattended in the middle of the courtyard.

"We could play catch. That's exercise, right?"

Having no other suggestions in mind, Lucy shrugged and gestured for him to throw her the ball - which he did. The two of them continued to converse as they tossed the ball back and forth.

"This is okay, I guess," said Milo. "But I never really liked sports."

"Why not?" asked Lucy.

"They have too many rules. There's always someone on the field telling you what to do. If you make a mistake, you get yelled at. If you lose the game, you get laughed at. It's too much pressure."

Lucy nodded, tossed the ball into his hands and let him continue.

"That's why I like making puppets and dolls," he said. "No rules, no judgment. You can be proud of what you made, even if it doesn't look that great."

He sighed, looking off to the side as he idly dribbled the ball and passed it back. "But I guess some people don't like that. You've gotta be what other people want you to be."

Lucy gritted her teeth and tightened her grip on the ball; that one comment by Milo brought the injustice of the whole situation to the forefront of her mind, triggering her ire. In a fit of anger, she chucked the ball at Milo as hard as she could. He caught it, but the impact was powerful enough to knock him off of his feet. He let out a hefty, "OOF!" as he landed butt-first on the ground below.

All the anger in her system dissipated as she rushed to his site. "Oh my gosh, Milo! Are you okay?!" she cried.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he said, rising to his feet and dusting himself off. "That was a hard throw, though. I didn't know you were that strong."

The compliment prompted a grin from Lucy, and she clasped a hand over her mouth in a clumsy attempt to hide it.

"I know you're upset," he continued. "I am too. But, you know, just because we can't make puppets at recess doesn't mean we have to stop altogether."

Lucy blinked, surprised that that hadn't occurred to her until he pointed it out.

"Would you like to come over to my house this weekend?" he asked. He walked over, placed a hand on her shoulder, hitting her with a disarming smile. "I could show you my whole collection."

After catching sight of that sunny smile spread across those chubby cheeks, she couldn't have said no even if she wanted to.

"S-sure, Milo. That'd be wonderful. I'll let my parents know."

"Great! I can't wait."

After the bell rang, Milo bid her goodbye and walked back to the school building with a new spring in his step. Lucy watched him until he disappeared out of sight, and then walked back to class with an incessant shiver - so nervous, so anxious, so excited that she felt like she was going to burst.