Chapter Four: Trio of Fun

I thought I should text only Petey, but knew if Gary was with him, he'd want to see what I said. It's wiser to talk to just speak to Pete about it in private. I pulled out my phone.

Kat: Hey, where are you? And will you be busy?

I left the gym, to go wait for Pete at the front of the school. My phone buzzed in my backpack on the way there.

Pete: I'm with Gary at the boy sldhljdshsjnih

I was baffled by his text, but another one was sent from him.

Pete: At the boys' dorm, girlie.

Kat: Which room.

Pete: First floor, last door on the right. Come inside if you don't get caught.

"Oooh, I'll show him!" I grumbled. I jogged to the boys dorm, hoping I didn't look too suspicious. I looked around, making sure no one was looking when I ran up the stairs, and into the dorm. Inside, there were paintings of what I assume are historical figures, along the walls. I saw a water fountain to my right. I crouched down, hiding behind a trash can. I peeked around the corner; the coast was clear. I sprinted down the hallway, and skidded to a stop in front of some stairs. To the left of the stairs, was a door. I was about to open the door, when I heard someone yell, "What the hell?!". I jumped, fear coarsing through my chest. I slowly turned my head to the left, but didn't see anybody. I looked up the staircase, but there wasn't anyone there either. I shrugged it off, then entered the room, praying that Gary didn't text me the wrong directions.

Luckily, he didn't because as I entered the bedroom, I saw Pete rubbing his right arm, and Gary next to him, laughing. I glared at Gary.

"Dude, give Pete a break, seriously."

"Awe, but it's so fun pushing him around."

"Gary..." I growled.

"Okay, okay, I'll leave him alone. You don't have to turn into mama bear."

I playfully pushed Gary, which earned me a rough push back. I laughed. I looked around the room. There were two beds, both with their headframes against the wall with a window looming each of them. There was a bookshelf covering the right corner of the room, and a file cabinet. There was another bookshelf at the left, but it didn't cover the corner. A wardrobe was placed in the center of the left wall. Next to the door, was a tall dresser, and a desk. Everything was surprisingly neat, except for the desk, and one of the beds. The desk had pill bottles that were either empty, or spilled. There were blank papers scattered across the desk, and the small trashcan was overflowing with crumbled up papers, pens, and a few worn out pencils. I turned my attention back to Gary. He rose up from his seat on the messy bed, glancing over at Petey and me.

"Ah, the day is young, and so are we. Shall we do anything, say, mischievious?" There was a playful glint in Gary's eyes.

"I don't know, have we all finished our homework?" I asked.

"Finished mine in class." Pete assured.

"Yes; now, the real question is, have you finished yours, Kat?" I scoffed at Gary.

"Yes, smartass, I finished it in class with Pete."

"Then there's nothing to worry about."

"Yeah, I-" I stopped mid-sentence as I remembered something important. I narrowed my eyes, wondering what that important thing was.

"Umm, Kat?" Pete croaked.

"Kat?" I gasped, as I registered the fact that I not only left my Xbox on, but also that I. Didn't. Save.

"Kat?! What happened?! Are you okay?!" I heard Pete worry.

"SorryguysbutIreallygottagosobye!" I would've shot out the door like a bullet, but Gary's tight grasp on my arm stopped me. I retraced my arm as if I had just touched fire when I felt Gary's hand on me.

"Dude! What the Hell?!" Gary had the most confused look on his face.

"What do you mean, 'Dude, what the Hell?'!? What was that all about? What did you even say?"

" If you must know, I was playing GTA last night, and I just realized that I never saved it, nor did I turn it off this morning. Hopefully my mom hasn't turned off my Xbox or something!" Gary's face soon contorted into a grin.

"Great idea! Let's go over to your house!" I was about to reject his idea, but then I thought it couldn't be that bad.

"Are we just going to walk there?" I asked him.

"Don't worry, I have a bike!"

"Gary, we're not all gonna fit on one bike."

"Oh, you just watch."

Gary left the room, to go retrieve his bike. I looked over to Pete. I knew now was the perfect time to ask him about Gary's problem. I felt very nervous to ask, but I was just too curious.

"So, Pete... Could you now tell me about Gary's problem?" He looked a little worried, but told me anyways.

"Oh, yeah, that. Gary has A.D.D., and he's sociopathic. He takes meds to take care of his disorders, but he's Gary, and he can be pretty destructive, especially without meds."

"Hmm. Is he prone to doing anything erratic, like throwing his meds away?"

"You could say that.."

"Has he ever done that before?"

"Well, a couple times throught our childhood, when he didn't take his meds, he was almost like a completely different person. The Gary you know is nice, compared to when he's off his meds. He'll go on and on about how he seems himself as a king, ruling over a huge kingdom, how he doesn't need medicine because he's so smart, and treats people like dirt."

"Between psychopaths and sociopaths, I know that sociopaths don't feel love. Does that go for Gary too?"

"Like Crabblesnitch said, he's a 'unique' case."

I was about to ask Pete what he meant by that, but suddenly Gary burst through the door with a smile.

"Let's go girls, before Kat loses her progress!" I stood up, grabbing my backpack. Pete didn't grab his, though.

"Pete, are you going to come?"

"Yeah, but I need to grab some more clothes from home."

"Why?"

"Because I'm now Gary's roomate."

"Ohhh. You should also bring a spray bottle too, for when Gary is misbehaving." I giggled. He laughed along with me. Gary was becomig impatient, tapping his foot.

"Are you guys done talking about your feelings, now?"

"Sure Gary. But I still don't see us all on just one bike."

"It will work, you'll see."

"I think Pete and I will be the judges of that." I looked at Pete, and he nodded.

We left the dorm, and Gary's bike was leaning against the staircase. Gary got on his bike, motioning for me to stand on the axle pegs of his bike. I got on, balancing myself by holding onto Gary's shoulders. I felt him tense up, but he eventually relaxed.

"Pete, sit in front of the bike."

"What? Why me?!"

"Because you're smaller than Kat. Come on, we don't want to take any longer." Pete gave me a disapproving look.

"Pete, it can't be that bad. My house is behind the retiremet home, so it should be a short ride." I gave him a reassuring smile.

"Fine, I'll sit there, just don't crash into anything Gary." He warned, as he sat in front of him.

Gary struggled at first to get the bike moving, but soon we were on our way to the neighborhood up in Old Bullworth Vale.

"22 is the house number."

Gary stopped in front of the gate. I got off, and opened it. Pete hopped off, following me. I unlocked the front door, and closed it once the boys came in.

"Still getting settled, eh?" Gary noted, seeing boxes.

"Yeah, we've all been too busy to open them. My room is up the stairs, to the left. Bathroom is that door." I said, pointing to my left.

"Mom? Dad?" The house was silent, once again. Great.

"Do you guys want anything to eat, or drink?" I offered.

"Could I have some water, please?" Pete asked shyly.

"Yup." I made my way into the kitchen.

"Make that two!" Gary called out. I grabbed two cold water bottles from the fridge. I threw one to Gary, and handed the other to Pete. I heard footsteps coming down the stairs, making everyone look up.

"Hello sweetie! Oh, I see you've made a new friend, how wonderful! What might your name be, young man?" She smiled at Gary.

"My name is Gary Smith, Ms. Presley." Gary put on the most innocent voice, to the point it was sickeningly sweet. My mom held out her hand.

"Well, Gary, it's a pleasure to meet you." They shook hands.

"The pleasure is all mine, Ms."

"And Peter, it's so nice to see you again! I'll leave you kids alone now. If you boys stay, just know I'm making spaghetti for dinner tonight. One of Katherine's favorites." She pretended to whisper the last part to them, and disappeared into the kitchen. We went upstairs, into my room. Once I shut the door, I blurted, "You're such a kissass, Gary."

"That's the number one way to win over an adult." He grinned. I blew raspberry at him.

"It looks like your Xbox is still on, Kat." I rushed over to Petey.

"Oh, thank God. Just give me a second to save it." I grabbed my controller, and made Trevor go to sleep. Afterwards, I turned off my Xbox.

"There. So, guys, what're we gonna do?" I asked them. Pete and Gary were both sitting on my bed, looking around my room.

"Why don't we go to the carnival? I heard that they've recently opened it." Gary suggested.

"Oooh, there's a carnival here? That's so cool!" I beamed, excited. Gary got up from my bed, ready to leave.

"The carnival? But what if there's bullies, or worse, jocks?" Pete bleated.

"Pete, there's no way someone's gonna start up a fight in such a dense place, especially since there should be police guarding area."

"Come on Pete, since Kat is the new girl in town, should't we at least show her one of the most, or only, entertaining part of Bullworth?" I sat down next to Pete, looking into his eyes to let him know that I'm serious about what I was about to say.

"Look, Pete. We can all stand up for ourselves, and I will defend you, should anything happen. If you don't want to come, that's fine, but if you do decide to, I'm sure it'll be a great time having you around." He smiled slightly, and stood up.

"Okay. Let's all go to the carival then." I patted Pete's back.

"That's the spirit! So, let's spend, like three or so hours, then come back in time for Pete to go home and pack clothes?"

"Sounds fair." Gary contemplated.

"All right, I'll be taking my bike. Do you wanna go get your bike, Pete?"

"The carnival isn't that far, I'll just ride with one of you guys."

Once outside, Pete looked at my bike, looking a little unhappy.

"You don't have any pegs?"

"No, sorry Pete. I never had a reason to get any. But I will buy some soon though!"

Gary exited last, placing his hand over his heart, mocking a hurt expression.

"Oh Pete, how could you? Choosing someone you barely know over your eternal best friend?"

"Shut up Gary, you're such a jerk."

"Can we go to the carnival now? Please?" I interrupted.

"Sure Kat, but I'll race ya." Gary challenged as he sat on his bike, Pete behind him.

"But I don't even know where it's at!" As soon as I finished my sentence, Gary sped off. I chased after him. As we raced down the road, I noticed that Pete was struggling to continue holding onto the back of Gary's seat. He soon saw me looking at him. 'Hug him!' I mouthed. With a bewildered, and disturbed look, he mouthed back, 'Why?!'. I laughed silently. 'Come on, it'll be funny! You're about to fall off.' Pete looked doubtful, but then wrapped his arms around Gary when he almost fell off from Gary hitting a bump. He immediately reacted, and yelped, "Pete! Get your damn hands off me!", causing him to slow down. I burst out laughing, and went ahead of Gary. I saw a sign above a tunnel entrance, saying that the carnival was only a fourth of a mile away.

I would've stopped to stare and admire the carnival, but I soon heard Gary's bickering behind me. I locked my bike onto a bike rack, and so did Gary. I couldn't hold back my smile from seeing Gary's bothered expression.

"What's wrong Gary? Cat got your tongue?" I teased. He glared at me, and bumped into me as he walked past me.

"Hey!" I turned my head to Pete, hoping for an answer.

"He doesn't like being touched at all, that's why I didn't really want to do it."

I went up to Gary, as he was in line for admission. I gently poked his side. Nothing. I poked even harder, making him jump, and let out a sound. I giggled.

"Can you guys cut it out with the touching? I'm serious!" He snapped.

"All right, just don't get your panties in such a twist!" He rolled his eyes, and faced forward. After we all bought admission tickets, I got myself cotton candy. I offered the boys some of it, and only Pete took a piece.

"So, guys, what will we do first?"

"We should walk around until we find something interesting to do." I observed my surroundings, and noticed a red and white tent.

"Oooh, we should all play games, and get prizes with our tickets, and go on rides after that!"

"There's go kart races, and a freak show here too." Gary remarked.

"Let's do those too!"

"Do the freaks?"

"Not like that, you know what I meant!" I huffed, nudging him with my shoulder. We ran up to the first game we saw, which was a baseball throwing game. We all took turns playing all the games available.

I yawned, snuggling into my stuffed bear. My heels ached from constantly walking and running around. I smiled deviously as I stared at the angelic halo and devil horns caps in my hands, thinking about sneakily placing them on Gary and Petey. I walked slowly, now behind the guys. I stuffed my bear into my back, then placed the caps onto them. The moment I did, I was giggling uncontrollably.

"The Hell?" I heard them curse in confusion, then grab at their heads. They took them off, and Gary stared at me, with slight disappointment at my childishness. My smile only grew more.

"Really Kat?" He raised an eyebrow.

"What? It's the perfect representation of your guys' personalities! Can I take a picture?" Gary narrowed his eyes at me, but I did my best puppy eyes at him, and pleaded. He looked away.

"Make it quick. And don't tell anyone." He said as he put the cap back on. I squealed in happiness, and took out my phone. Gary had his arms crossed, looking away from the camera. Pete was standing next to him, delighted.

"There! Thanks guys!" They both handed back my caps. I put them inside my bag, and went back to carrying the bear. The sun had already set, but it was still light outside.

"Hey Pete, since there'll only be light for like half an hour, would now be a good time to call it a day?" Pete lifted his sleeve, checking his watch.

"Yeah. Do you have to go home soon?"

"No, I was just asking."

"Cool."

After arriving at Pete's house, my phone rang. I answered it while Gary and I followed Pete into his room.

"Hello?"

"Sweetie, your father and I have something important to tell you."

"What is it?" I sat on a chair, waiting, seeing Pete dig out stuff from his closet.

"The bridge leading to Blue Skies is still being built unfortunately. We have decided to take a ferry and work in a different part of New England tomorrow in the morning. We will be back next summer." My jaw dropped.

"What!?" I exclaimed, catching Gary and Pete's attention.

"Am I going to be home alone the entire time?!"

"We have arranged for you to stay at the dorms at Bullworth Academy. Mrs. Peabody, the prefect of the girls' dorm will show you to your room. Come home soon to pack your bags, and to say your goodbyes to us. Love you." My mom hung up the phone. I grimaced.

"What just happened, Kat?" Pete asked.

"My parents are going to be out of town for the entire school year, and I'll have to stay at the dorms." Pete zipped up a gym bag.

"When are they leaving?"

"Tomorrow in the morning. I'll have to leave soon to pack clothes." I rubbed my temple.

"Want Gary and me to go with you? I just need one more bag and I'll be done."

"If you guys don't mind, meet me at the school around... 9pm."

"Will do."

"Okay, thanks. See you later!" I heard them return the greeting as I left the room.

After throwing in the last suit case into the trunk, I slammed down the door. My mom came out of the house.

"What about the pets?"

"We've asked some friends here in Bullworth to take care of them."

"Who?"

"The Morris family. They're environmentalists, and seem to love animals as much you do. They have a son that goes to Bullworth, Chad. You should make friends with him, he seems very pleasant."

"Oh. Where's Dad?"

"He went to go buy tickets for the ferry. He will not be joining us. Let's go before it's late." She walked away, but stopped in front of the driver's door.

"Almost forgot! Here's $100, it's your emergency money." I grabbed the money, stuffing it into my backpack.

We went inside the car, and buckled our seats. As soon as the car started, I changed the radio to her favorite station, 98.7. Don't Speak by No Doubt began to play. I slumped back in my seat, looking up at the stars. Only in small towns can you really see all the stars at night. It reminded me of all those nights of going home after being in town, or school, I would sometimes look out the window, my eyes trailing up to the moon. I could only remember one name for a certain phase of the moon: waxing gibbous. Right before the moon reaches it's fullness. I could pretend it's fate trying to tell me something...

"Here we are, sweetie. Your friends are waiting." She smiled warmly. I came back into reality, and saw my mom was right. She popped open the back, and I went to go grab my bags. Gary and Pete helped me carry them. Standing in front of the academy, I set down my bags, and hugged my mom. I could feel a tear threatening to spill at the repressed memories that came as I was in my mother's embrace. I know I'm a teenager now, but I'm still a child at heart, and life hasn't always been so great. I opened my eyes, and my mom also had watery eyes. She grinned, and fluffed up my hair.

"Take care. We'll come back soon." She said softly. She hugged me once more, and then left for home. I breathed out, staring away from my friends, and then picked up my bags. I heard Pete and Gary whipser yelling to each other, but they soon stopped. We walked in silence to the girls' dorm, the guys leaving when I entered inside.

Just like my room, everything was pink. An elderly lady wearing a long plaid red skirt came from seemingly out of nowhere, and spotted me. Her face softened.

"Ah, you must be Katherine Presley. Your room is upstairs. Follow me please." She turned to her right. I huffed at the help she offered. I placed a large backpack on my suitcase, a small bag on top of the backpack, and placed a large bag on the other suitcase. I followed the lady, struggling to pull up my stuff. She went down the hall, and stopped in front of the second to last door. She opened it, talking to whoever was inside. I finally caught up to her, taking a peek into the room. The lady stepped away when I did, leaving me visible to the girls.

"Hey, it's you! That's who I was talking about, Angie. Have you thought about joining yet?" Christy piped.

"Hi Christy. No, not yet." I answered. A girl with short black hair looked at me curiously.

"Oh! Angie, Kat. Kat, Angie." Christy introduced us.

"Hello Angie." I greeted.

"Hi Kat." I felt awkward, but Christy stepped in once again.

"Sooo, these two beds are already taken, so you can have that one! We don't use that desk either, so you can have it too. We both share the locker, you can use it if you want." She offered.

"Umm, thanks. I think I'll unpack my stuff now." I hauled in my luggage, decorating my side of the room.

After I finished unpacking my shoes, undergarments, and other necessities, I kept the rest of my clothes stored in the luggage under my bed. I looked at my space, and felt satisfied that it all looked cute. I had replaced the blankets, sheets, and pillow provided by the school with my own. I changed into an over sized shirt for pyjamas. The other girls had already dozed off, making me jump into bed and dream comfortablely in my sleep.

*Two weeks later*

I was in Gary and Pete's room, enjoying some treats I had baked at home the day before.

"Pete? Why is your shirt pink?" His face reddend.

"Ummm, it was accidentaly washed with some red socks.."

"Oh." I nodded, and continued devouring my cupcake.

"It makes your girliness stand out Pete." Gary teased.

"Gary, make fun of him one more time, and I swear I'll put lipstick on you." I threatend. His eyes narrowed, a grin spreading on his face.

"Pete-"

"Gary..." I growled.

"I think I'll start calling you Fem-boy!" I got up from my seat on the floor, Gary standing up too. He ran out the door, so I chased him. Pete protested, but he followed me anyways. I saw the doors slam shut, and heard Gary's laughter outside. I burst through them, Gary throwing some marbles behind him. I almost tripped, But I managed to evade them. I ran out of breath chasing Gary, so I stopped for a moment. I looked up to check my surroundings, seeing a boy with a tan jacket with jeans walking up the stairs to the main building. I squinted at him, but seeing Gary run from the other side of the school caught my attention. I chased him back into the boys' dorm.

I reached for Gary's sweater vest, and grabbed it. He stopped, trying to break free from my grasp. I pushed him to the wall, then ran inside his room with Petey, locking it. I giggled, knowing Gary couldn't come in. I walked off to his desk, seeing his belongings spread out. I noticed his medicine was missing.

"Pete, did Gary already finish taking his meds?"

"Uh, I'm not sure." Gary began to bang on the door.

"Hey, what are you guys doing in there?!" He barked.

"We're talking about feelings, you wouldn't like it!"

"You better not touch my stuff!"

"Don't worry, we'll be too busy painting our nails to even bother!" I heard his footsteps walk away from the door.

"Paint our nails?" Pete questioned.

"I was only trying to get him to go away." I giggled. Pete shrugged his shoulders. We went back to eating cupcakes.