A/N:Merry Christmas and happy holidays. I haven't finished the whole tale yet, but I wanted to get something out for everyone in honor of the holidays, so I hope you all enjoy!

Nicolet was a lonely girl who didn't have many friends.

Now, this wasn't because of any lack of trying. In fact, she always tried to make friends with every person she met, always being on her best behavior and make sure to come off as a friendly person. Despite her efforts, she never seemed to be able to have a friendship that lasted longer than a few months. There were many reasons for this.

One very important reason to note was the fact that for as long as she could remember, she has never lived in one place for more than a few months. You see, Nicolet

father's occupations changed as quickly as the weather and so they would move from town to town with each change.

Another reason was her father himself. Her father was an odd man with many odd interests. He often changed careers every few months. The two times something held his interest for long was Nicolet herself and that one time he lived in the woods for 50 years. Now, also due to her father's oddness, people weren't always the biggest fans of him. Which was probably because he himself wasn't a fan of people. Her father had trouble making himself care about other people, especially when it came to his interests and experiments. On several occasions, her father placed different people in danger and other upsetting situations for the sole purpose of completing or continuing his experiments. This was also a reason for them moving a lot, them having to up and flee from the town in the effort of escaping any prosecution for any trouble her father has caused people.

The next reason for Nicolet's lack of friends was the fact she lacked a mother. Children and people, in general, tended to find a problem with the fact she didn't have a mother in her life. It is important to note that Nicolet's mother wasn't dead or didn't leave them when she was young. Though, this is what most people thought was the situation. You see, Nicolet never had a mother to begin with. As stated before, Nicolet's father was an odd man, an odd man who truth be told, was quite the mad scientist. And as a mad scientist, he of course, like many mad scientists attempt to do, made life all by himself. Well, not all by himself, her uncle helped out a bit. From what her father and her uncle, who isn't actually her uncle but a friend of her father's, though her father insists he's nothing more than an acquaintance, have told her on different occasions, she was created in one of her father's makeshift labs, inside of a test tube. How they managed to successfully create her, even they don't know as at the time it was an accident caused by her uncle tripping into the table and knocking over vials of different ingredients into the mixture her father was working on. Even on an odder note was that, despite not being naturally born, she still managed to have a belly button as well. But even if it was nothing more than an accident, Nicolet was born that night, born crying out to the world just as everyone baby did when they were born.

As she grew, Nicolet would occasionally hear her father and uncle discuss the subject of a mother, her uncle saying that having a mother would certainly help with Nicolet's growth, especially seeing as she was a girl and neither knew a single thing when it came to that. Her father would then reply he had no interest in having a wife and even so, what woman in their right mind would even want to be a part of this family, even if it meant having someone as delightful as Nicolet as a daughter. Eventually, both would agree that her having a mother was out of the picture and they would just have to do what they could to give her the best childhood. To be honest, Nicolet could never understand why so many people found a problem with her family, she was perfectly happy with having just her uncle and father, with or without a mother.

The final reason and the most important reason for Nicolet's loneliness was Nicolet herself. As his daughter, Nicolet inherited her father's strangeness. There would often be times when Nicolet would grow too excited about something and end up freaking other children out with her excitement. There was also the fact that despite being the first to admit that her father wasn't the best person in the world, she could not stand anyone talking lowly of her father and would jump to his defense time after time. This in and of itself did not help with making friends as her defending her father caused others to believe she was just as strange as he was. Finally, the biggest reason people didn't want to be her friend was the simple fact that she was scared of everything.

You would think that being the daughter of such a strange man would desensitize her to all things scary, but the only thing it did was make her even more afraid as she learned that all the things parents insist were make-believe and could never truly hurt you were, in fact, real and could indeed hurt you. Her father blames her uncle for this unfortunate trait as he insisted that when her uncle had hit the chemicals into his mixture that fateful night, a sample of his DNA also fell in and in turn, she inherited her uncle's jumpy nature. Not only did she inherit it, but it seemed to be in an even greater degree than he was. Clowns, dogs, the dark, loud noises, heights, thunderstorms, insects, needles, and even fear itself if you could name it, she was most likely scared of it. Due to this fearful nature, she would often find herself to be the subject of ridicule by her peers and nowhere nearer to having friends.

And so, due to her loneliness, Nicolet welcomed any friendship she could. Though, as Nicolet would eventually learn, not every friendship was a good thing, even when it presented itself in the most appealing of forms.

It started out as every usual day did, she would get up and get ready for school, saying goodbye to her family, and head to school. It begins to take a turn when lunch had arrived. She was eating her lunch, as usual, trying to be as quiet and small as possible as she only half-listened to whatever her friends were chattering about at the now.

"What about you, Nicolet?" Julie had asked, causing Nicolet to jump in her seat at the unexpected question. The others, Maxwell, Connor, and Betty, all snorted at her reaction but fortunately said nothing.

"What about me?" Nicolet asked back, unsure of what was being discussed. Julie rolled her eyes and gave the others a look.

"What ride to you want to ride first at the carnival, duh!" Julie looked at her as though it had been obvious. Frowning, Nicolet tilted her head in confusion.

"What carnival?" she asked back. The others laughed, causing her to blush in embarrassment.

"The one that just arrived in town, of course! It's only the thing we've been talking about since lunch started!" Betty answered, waving her hand around to prove her point, to which the others all nodded in agreement. "So, what ride do you want to go on?"

"Why would I want to go on a ride if I'm not even gonna go? I hate carnivals," Nicolet replied, shrinking in her seat as she imagined all the scary things that the carnival might hold.

"Hate carnivals, how can anyone hate carnivals?" Maxwell asked, looking around at the others in his disbelief.

"Carnivals are scary, they have clowns, and big rides, and the screaming and the crying just bothers me. I just hate carnivals," Nicolet mumbled from her shrunken position.

"Aw, is wittle Nicky scared of the big old carnival?" Betty cooed in a mocking voice. Both Maxwell and Connor snorted once more at the joke.

"Even if I wanted to go, I don't think my dad would even let me. He doesn't like carnivals either," Nicolet said, sitting up a little more in an effort to try to stop the teasing.

"Who cares what he thinks? Everyone knows he's a crazy whack-job," Julie sneered. Nicolet felt a flare of anger in her chest at the insult.

"My father isn't a whack-job. Just because he's different doesn't mean you can just insult him like that," Nicolet defended.

"Whatever, just don't be such a scaredy-cat, Nicolet. Nothings going to happen to you, it's just a stupid carnival," Julie said.

"Yeah, Nicolet. Don't worry, if you get scared, we'll protect you," Connor added, causing Maxwell to laugh at the joke. Julie just rolled her eyes and looked at Nicolet with an expectant expression. Nicolet looked at her hands for a moment before sighing and looking up again.

"You promise nothing bad will happen?" she asked. Julie gave a sigh of her own as Bettie rolled her eyes.

"I promise," Julie replied.

"Ok, I'll go," Nicolet finally answered. It was then that the bell ran to signal lunch was over. Nicolet quickly got up and went off to throw away her trash, As she moved away, she failed to see the devious smiles her friends gave each other as they watched her go.

Nicolet sat in the back seat nervously as she watched the scenery go by. In the seats in front of her, her friends chattered excitingly as they drew closer to the site of the carnival. Soon, the car came to a stop and the children began to pile out. Nicolet waited until the last one was out to make her own way out, having to push forward the seat in front of her to make her exit. Once out, the group turned to look into the front seat of the car where Betty's mother was seating.

"I'll be back in two hours to pick you kids up, alright?" Betty's mother called out. Betty rolled her eyes but gave her mother a smile.

"Thanks, mom. See ya later," Betty replied before her, Julie, Maxwell, and Connor turned to make their trek to the entrance. Nicolet stayed back for a second as she gave Betty's mother a wave goodbye.

"Thank you for the ride, Mrs. Peters," Nicolet said as she waved. Mrs. Peters gave Nicolet a strained smile in return before driving away. Nicolet tried to not let smile bother her, instead just turning and running after her friends to catch up with them. The group made their way into the line and began their wait to the entrance. It wasn't until they drew close to the entrance area that Nicolet read the name in the sign hanging above it all. Nicolet's eyes widened in horror and recognition as she realized where they were headed for.

"Wait a minute," Graham interrupted. Cassidy raised an eyebrow at him, slightly annoyed with him for stopping her story. "Is this going where I think it's going?"

"And where is that?" Cassidy crossed her arms, unamused by his question.

"Nicolet and her friends are going to the Carnival of Doom, aren't they?" Graham asked, a smile on his face, proud of himself for figuring out the twist.

"I don't know, Graham. Maybe if you let me tell the story, we can find out," Cassidy frowned in annoyance. Rachel and Gavin tried to hide smiles as Louise and Akiko crossed their arms as well. Adam just looked at Cassidy with curiosity in his eyes.

"Are they?" he asked Cassidy timidly. Cassidy opened her mouth, but Graham spoke before she could answer.

"Well, it's obvious, isn't it? I mean why else would Nicolet be so scared at the sight of it?" Graham said. He looked at the others for support of his statement. They said nothing as Cassidy looked even more annoyed.

"Well, it's so obvious, then I don't see why I need to continue my story. It's obvious that you don't need my help figuring out why Mr. Nobody is so angry with Mr. Tophat, then," Cassidy snapped. She then stood and turned to leave the meeting.

A/N:I hope I ended this chapter on a good part, most of my problems with this part of the story was figuring out when to break them all up. Hopefully, I decided correctly with this chapter. I also hope to post the next part soon, I'll try to work on it tonight while I'm enjoying my holidays. Until then, take care everyone!