It was almost eleven o'clock, and Lily Randall had just awaken from a long night's rest consisting of watching the Brady Bunch for five hours and sleeping for three. Oh, she was just a bit tired, but for some reason, Lily couldn't fall asleep. She'd tried countless methods – laying down on the couch for hours at a time, covering every bit of light in her room, even turning on calming music. But nothing worked. So here she was, in the morning of June 30, completely and utterly bored.

She needed to do something. She didn't know if anyone else felt it, but whenever she laid around for a long period of time, it reminded her of the days she stayed home sick, having to eat nothing but warm soup and watching old soap operas all day that she could've been at school. Personally, she hated that feeling.

So she decided – she would invite Travis and Ray to do something. She would've invited Robbie too, but he was in Europe with his family. What they would do, she had no idea. Lily suspected they'd probably go to see a movie or go down to the arcade as usual, but she wanted this to be special, something to set the day apart from the rest. Something they hadn't done for a while. And where would be the best place to look for such entertainment? Why, the local newspaper. The perfect encyclopedia to touring the city.

Horseback riding, beach discounts, play performances, concerts, no... That wasn't quite what she was looking for. The last time their group had gone riding, Ray had gotten bucked off of a horse and had nearly broken his leg. They'd tried going to the beach until Robbie confessed that he was terrified of sharks, and Travis was bound to talk all through any performances. They'd tried going to A Midsummer Night's Dream, but he had started talking about 'how they'd gotten it all wrong!' leaving Lily in misery.

She scanned once more until a certain ad popped out at her.

The city carnival is here again! Complete with clowns, rides, and animals, don't miss out – buy your tickets today!

The carnival? She had wanted to go to that last year, but they'd ended up going to Hawaii during that time. In fact, Lily had never been to a fair. It seemed like the perfect opportunity. She picked up the phone immediately, dialing Ray's number by heart. She'd known him for several years, and the two were the best of friends. She could call him at four in the morning and know that he wouldn't be mad for being awoken, and the same for her. They had a lasting friendship that was slowly breaking away as Travis and Ray fought for her 'love.' She'd always thought of the competition as friendly, but more recently it seemed like they really held things against each other. That annoyed her greatly. She knew they were friends, of course, but it felt like it was melting away, like they'd been pretending, just to make her feel better.

"...Lily..." Ray's voice sang through the telephone, almost metallic sounding over the machine. She'd been spacing out, and after saying 'hello' had neglected to say anything else to her friend. "Earth to Lily!"

She shook her head, a foolish grin on her face. "Sorry, Ray," she apologized, blinking as she wrote down little doodles reading 'I love Travis' and 'I love Ray' on a piece of paper by the counter. "I've got, uh... a lot on my mind."

"Uh-huh..." Ray said, a bit of his usual laughter in his voice. He'd always been one to make people laugh, and it always brought a smile to Lily's face. It was so difficult to choose between he and Travis, because both were so wonderful in different ways. And she had feelings for both of them – and River Pierce! Oh God, she was in deep water. "So, what'd you call about?"

Lily paused. What was she going to say? Oh, yeah, the carnival. "Well, we haven't really seen each other this summer, and well," she started, brushing a lock of dirty blonde hair out of her eyes and tucking it behind her ear. "There's a carnival starting today. I was wondering if you'd like to come with me... and Travis."

"That's great!" Ray said excitedly, and Lily grinned. "That's, that's great. What time?"

"How does an hour sound? I need some time to fix my hair," Lily commented, already standing up, the cord pressing into her ear. "And I need to call Travis."

She heard a faint 'bye' from Ray before she hung up and walked over to the bathroom, determined to make some sense out of her hair before she left in public. Lily remembered a time when she had gone out to eat and had completely forgotten to brush her hair. Robbie had nearly laughed until he couldn't breathe – she was like a giant frizz ball!

Now to plug in the straight iron. It waited silently, heating itself up slowly while Lily hummed a jazz song that she'd heard on the radio. It had a nice flowing tune, and she sensed that it could've been a ballad in someone else's eyes... or ears, if that fit better. "When I'm with you, my eyes just start to shine, when I miss you, in my heart I know you're mine..." It was a lovely song.

"Ouch!" She said, rinsing her finger under cold water. She'd burnt her finger when she'd tried to see if the straight iron was even on. God, how stupid could she get?

After successfully straightening her hair, she applied her makeup, but smeared her mascara horribly as the phone rang, scaring her. Ring! Ring! She jumped, her breath harsh, and she felt an embarrassed smile enter her lips. "Hello?" Lily asked, picking up the telephone. "This is the Randall residence."

"Hello, Miss Shady," a voice said over the line, and Lily felt her heart jump. Travis. "Pronto said you called."

She grinned and fixed her eye makeup as fast as she could, multitasking. "Yeah, about that," she started, wiping away the smears and collapsing onto a sofa in the living room. "We should go to the carnival. It's... it's today, you know."

Why was she so nervous? What was she hiding?

She heard Travis chuckle, and that put a smile on her face. Today was going to be awesome.

((I guarantee you this IS NOT going to be a Travis/Lily. In fact, it's not even a Ray/Lily. Just wait and see. Reviews, please!))