The familiar feeling of wind rushing through Amelie's hair felt exhilarating. She imagined that Mandy would kill her for messing up all her hard work, but she didn't care. All Amelie knew in that moment was the beauty of that night.

Her arms wrapped tightly around Gary's body, resting her chin on his shoulder to see the rush of Bullworth go past them. Adrenaline was pumping through her veins.

Gary sped down the streets of town, across the bridge and past rushing cars. Only a few minutes had passed when he slowly halted the scooter and parked on a nearby sidewalk.

His hands went up to his waist where Amelie's lay, grabbed them and lifted her arms over her head. In a simple maneuver, Gary managed to lift her up and place her on top of his lap, facing him. He placed his hands on top of her hips and stared at her. Amelie wasn't nervous this time. She held his gaze, drifting deeper and deeper into his dark brown eyes.

The time ticked by, neither of them saying a word. Leaves rustled in nearby trees, a few strangers walked by, but they were too far from reality to notice their surroundings. It wasn't awkward- Amelie was confident in herself, Gary was consistent in temperament.

A loud grumble suddenly sounded out of Amelie's stomach interrupting the nice calm. She groaned in displeasure as Gary gently pushed her off and stood up. Light laughter filled the air. "I don't want you to starve, Amelie. It wouldn't be a good look for you," A quick look went to the curve of her waist against her hips, admiring the hourglass shape.

"Okay. What's good to eat around here?"

"Well, there's the local heart-attack-on-a-bun shack a few streets down or the Prep's most elite eating establishment round the corner. Or I could get some chocolates-"

"I'd love some fries right now," Amelie smiled, hearing her stomach rumble again. "Or a burger."

Gary smirked. "Ah, a girl who eats! In Bullworth. Who would have thought?"

They hopped back on the moped and Gary revved the engine back onto the streets. The fast food joint had a few small benches outside, so Amelie opted to sit on one nearby as Gary ordered the food. When he came back, he was holding a tray with a large burger, fries and a milkshake.

Gary placed the food in front of Amelie and sat across the table, silently studying her. "Not hungry," he explained. Usually, Gary had the appetite of a large bear right before hibernation-he would eat anything and everything-yet he had no interest in eating and more in watching the girl across from him.

She had forgotten the last thing she had eaten and dug in. The food was delicious and greasy and she savored every bite of the meal. After a few moments of watching Amelie, Gary cupped his chin in his hand and looked away absently.

"You know, there's something sexy about a girl who can eat a burger like that." Amelie paused, glancing at him, suddenly more conscious of her eating. However, Gary continued to look at the sky while he talked. "It's almost animalistic. Very… lustful." Now he smiled coyly at her, his eyes filled with desire.

This made Amelie gulp nervously and pat her mouth self consciously with a napkin. "Sorry for being disgusting… I'm eating like a pig aren't I?"

Gary chuckled as he pushed a hand back through his hair. The sharp scar on his face shone in the moonlight. "Quite the opposite, dear. You're such a tease, you don't even know what you do." He looked fascinated at her.

Amelie blushed and continued to eat, slower this time. "So, what've you got planned? I figure you can tell me now."

"Naturally, we'll be hitting all the hot spots in town. This wouldn't be a proper introduction to Bullworth without seeing all it has to offer." His voice dripped with sarcasm, the familiar smirk appearing again. "And hey, it's a Friday night, there's a million things to do. Plus," Gary added, holding her hand over the table, "I couldn't very well seduce you in the boring old Bullworth dorms. No, I had to do something special."

There wasn't anything Gary could say at this point to dissuade her from staying with him. He was a cunning linguist through and through; he knew exactly what to say and when to say it. Nowhere to be found in Amelie's head was the voice of "reason": the person in the back of her mind that constantly harassed her about everything. She was able to relax more easily without the constant thinking.

"I see," she said, interested. Amelie sipped her shake daintily, pursing her glossy lips around the straw. This must have piqued Gary's attention as he looked greedily at Amelie's mouth.

"See, you're doing it again." He fake-pouted at Amelie and inched closer to her over the table.

"What, are you jealous?" She teased, playing with the straw in her mouth before taking another long sip. Amelie could have sworn she heard an almost inaudible sigh from Gary. He got up from his seat and sat down hastily next to Amelie.

"I thought you weren't hungry. Do you want a taste?" The girl asked innocently, completely missing the innuendo behind her actions. She then felt a cold hand travel under her dress and pause to rub rhythmically against her inner thigh. A gasp escaped Amelie before she could contain it.

"I thought you'd never ask."

Gary cupped Amelie's chin in his other hand and brought their mouths together in a soft kiss. A tongue flicked out and licked the chocolate concoction off Amelie's lips, making her moan into him. With that, he leaned back into his seat and licked his own lips, savoring the taste. "Cherry?"

"Oh… that's lip gloss. I can take it off if you want…" Amelie became embarrassed again, secretly shaming herself for allowing Mandy to put so much makeup on her.

"Or…" Gary's hand on her thigh ran up closer, "I can take it off for you," he purred into her ear. Amelie's body convulsed slightly at the sudden rush of excitement. But as soon as she closed her eyes expectantly, the rough surface of a napkin rather than Gary's smooth lips were brushed across her mouth. Amelie looked up at him with pleading eyes as he wiped the gloss of her. His expression was entertained, taking pleasure in the fact that he could make her react that way.

"Come on, let's get a move on." Gary stood up and stuffed his hands in his pants pockets, waiting for Amelie. She got up and straightened her dress. Once she was standing by Gary, Amelie boldly put her hand in with his just as she had on the beach. His hand was ice cold. With a small smile, Gary pulled their hands out and led her back to the scooter.

They made their way down the streets together. The rush of the moped and the junk food high had Amelie floating on cloud nine. It was as if all the worries leading up to the date didn't matter; she wondered why she had been so nervous in the first place.

An overpass went over their heads and led the pair to a large colorful tent with a gate. Gary stopped the scooter and kicked down the kickstand. An array of wild flashing lights appeared in the distance behind the gates accompanied by loud shrieks and shouts of joy.

Amelie widened her eyes like a small child in a candy shop. She could see a rollercoaster protruding from a large mountain, small tents set up for winning prizes, a house of mirrors… there was everything. "Wow… I can't even remember the last time I went to a carnival," she marveled. Gary seemed pleased at her reaction and took her hand once more.

"I thought you might like it." In reality, Gary had no idea what Amelie would think, but he didn't think that mattered much. All that mattered was that she was there.

After paying at the ticket booth, the duo walked slowly in, taking in all the sights and sounds.

Gary suddenly pulled her hand to a nearby tent that promised prizes for knocking down a pile of cans. His face was full of determination as he handed a ticket to the carnie and grabbed the baseballs.

"Easy," he said confidently. The ball hurdled with precision into the base of the tin can pyramid, knocking them swiftly over in an instant.

"You can pick a small prize down here or stretch your luck another ticket at our bigger prizes," The carnie pointed to the top of the tent where a row of stuffed animals hung.

"Perfect." he thought aloud. Gary turned to Amelie and grinned cockily. "Bet you I make this with my left hand."

"Go on then," she teased back.

Gary drew his left arm back and knocked all six cans down with the same precision as his first throw. "Nice aim, kid!" The carnie applauded while Gary smirked at Amelie. She rolled her eyes and jokingly shoved him. "Lucky shot."

"Call it what you want, a win is a win. I'll take the white one on the right there," Gary said to the carnival worker. He carefully reached up with a hooked staff and brought down the toy for Gary. It was a large, white rabbit.

Just like... The Velveteen Rabbit. The story of the toy rabbit who becomes real through the power of a boy's love.

"He's all yours." He handed the plush animal to the stunned girl. "Maybe he'll become Real now."

Gary couldn't possibly know the story...

The girl cradled the rabbit in silence, becoming more emotional than she had expected.

He's... making fun of me. I should have known.

That story was like a security blanket for her throughout her time in elementary school all of her classmates threw spoiled milk at her on the playground, she had ran back into school and read the book to distract herself. The time at summer camp when she was forgotten on the campground while everyone went on the end-of-the-summer hike, the book was there. Countless times she had depended on it just to escape the reality of her woes. Touching the toy's soft fur made her recollect all the horrible memories of her childhood. It was as if the book had manifested itself into reality: the very thing she desperately wanted to leave in the fictional world. Her emotions were running amok; extreme fury and grief were fighting against each other in her mind.

Gary touched her arm silently. Without another word, Amelie kicked off her painful heels, hastily picked them up and dashed for the exit.

No. Not right now, not in front of Gary, not ever.

Of course, Gary was only a few paces behind her. He let her get to the exit gate before grabbing her arm and spinning her around. "Amelie. What did I-"

"Just forget it, I shouldn't have-no, it's my fault. I am stupid for coming here, thinking that I could... you wouldn't understand," she nearly cried into the night sky. Then she looked him in the face with her eyes fierce with anger. "You think I'm a freak, don't you? You were just waiting for the perfect moment. Go ahead and make fun of me like the rest of them. I've got to get back to the dorm." Gary looked at her with bewilderment. "Amelie-"

"Leave me alone, Gary. Please, God. Just leave me alone..." she muttered under her breath as she forced her arm out of Gary's grip. Amelie angrily made her way down to the tunnel, then took off running as fast as she could.

Her speed was no match for Gary, who had caught up in a few moments. "I'm not leaving until you tell me what's wrong."

She stopped for a moment and looked Gary in his twisted up, scarred face. "It's not just some stupid book, Gary. You don't even know what the hell I'm going through." Her face flushed hot at the confrontation and her adrenaline kicked up several notches. "So fuck off, if you would." The sheer malice of what Amelie had said made her heart beat through her chest and her eyes filled with angry tears.

Gary, however, kept a straight face and Amelie thought she could even detect a slight half-smile. "And if I don't?" he threatened with a cackle.

"Then... then..."

"Then what, exactly? What are you going to do?" His face became suddenly dark, like a storm was brewing in his mind.

Amelie opened her mouth to argue, then gave up with a huff of breath and slumped down to the street. It appeared as though all the fight had left her; no matter what, Gary was going to be stronger.

She stared at the ground sadly. "Why can't you just leave me alone?"

He stood over her with his arms crossed over his torso. "It's too much fun to torture you, little Bee."

"Don't call me that," Amelie responded tiredly. A single tear rolled down her cheek. "I should have known better... they tried to warn me about you..." she murmured to the ground.

"Oh, yeah? And who is 'they'? And why should you have any good reason to give a damn about what they say about me? You should know better not to trust what anyone says. Especially not at this shit hole."

"Says the guy who tried to take it over and burn it down." She spat back morbidly.

Furious, Gary lifted Amelie up by her dress fabric and brought his face and inch away from hers. "Who... told you.. that." he grimaced between clenched teeth.

"None of your business," Amelie tried to break free of his grasp, hoping the dress wouldn't tear. "Who told you about the book?"

"It's a fucking book, I didn't know that was such a deep, dark secret that you would have a fit over." Gary's fists clenched tighter. Then he laughed to himself. "Not that it matters, but I was the one that got your precious bags back for you, I am the one that stopped those guys from raping you, I am the one that took you out here."

"No one told you to do any of that," she replied bitterly. "Why did you even want to hang around me in the first place?"

Gary stayed silent, still clutching on to her dress. He slowly brought her back down to the ground, allowing his muscles to relax. His voice was strained and controlled. "Look... you don't know the whole story."

"I could say the same thing to you."

This further frustrated Gary as he tried to regain his composure. He wasn't used to breaking down like this, especially around girls. It was unknown territory.

His eyes traveled down to Amelie who lay on the street beneath them. The girl was silently sobbing into her arms away from Gary's glare. Gary hated the idea of 'opening up'. It allowed people to see his weaknesses, to have this power over him. Yet, he felt a strange urge to comfort and at the same time abandon the girl who lay in front of him. Amelie could sympathize with him... and he could possibly gain a real ally. Or, dare he even think it... friend.

He wanted her: the one honest yet loyal companion he would ever have the hopes of getting.

So, Gary clenched his teeth and let out a large sigh. "I'm... sorry." Something he had never uttered before. Amelie looked up, surprised at the seemingly genuine apology. Her reddened eyes just made it all the more harder for Gary to walk away. The boy stuck his hand out to her patiently. "Let's... go somewhere, okay? I need to talk to you."

She gave him a small smile, wiping back the tears. "Oh, Gary... so you're not always a cruel, cold hearted dick?"

The scarred boy reluctantly snorted as she put her hand in his. "Don't be so naive, darling. Of course I am."

The brunette smiled to herself, seeing through his guise.

"We'll see about that."

A very different Gary is shown in this chapter. I thought it would be interesting to explore a different side of him that you don't really get to in the game, so let me know what you think. :)