Number Days Oneshots

by PrinceKat

One chapter for each route, because I love all the Pacthesis games. POV changes (almost) every chapter.

6. Lena

HELLO MY SUBJECTS. THE DAY I'M UPLOADING THIS IS MY BIRTHDAY. 17 NOW. IT'S LIKE, 3:30AM.

NEEDLESS TO SAY, AFTER ALMOST TWO DAYS OF NO SLEEP, I'M PRETTY FUCKING TIRED.

I'M NOT QUITE IN THE MOOD ATM FOR SPELLING CORRECTIONS, SO I'M GOING TO LEAVE THEM UNTIL LIKE, MONDAY OR SOMETHING.

ALSO, NO ITMOA UPDATE BECAUSE I'LL EITHER BE HIBERNATING, OR STUFFING MY FACE WITH DELICIOUS CAKE.

(Warning!: If you don't like girl/girl THIS IS NOT FOR YOU. JUST GO AWAY AND DRINK APPLE JUICE, OR SOMETHING.)

---

...12? This fucking sucks. It doesn't add up to 4 or 7! Damn, it's so typical of life to screw me over, even when I don't even know what's going on.

"...Huh. Your number's much lower than mine." The sudden voice scares the shit outta me, and I involuntarily punch the invader of my space.

"...Ow. Geez, chill out." I look up, and narrow my eyes at him.

This rude guy has the same color hair as I do, he even wear's glasses like me (but mine are way cooler than this nerd's)! Damn guy is a full head taller than me. His eyes are a pretty cyan, but that's not enough to excuse his behavior!

"What's your name?" You asshat, I add mentally.

"Thane." Wow, asshole name for a jerkass guy.

I point to myself, "Kat. You stuck here too?"

"Yeah."

"Well, this fucking sucks. What should we do now?"

"Why, you tired?"

"Yeah, I'm so tired I could sleep in this fountain. I'm going to go to the café and eat all the cake they have. You wanna come?" I don't like this guy, but christ, I do NOT want to be in this park all by myself. Danger could come at me at any time, and I'm not exactly the strongest person alive.

"No, I have something I need to do. There's an angry guy running around the park, and we should probably try to stay in a group. See you later." He turned and jogged away.

I am determined to not get along with him.

. . . . . .

As I walk towards the café, I tried to access the internet through my phone, since I tend to read various fanfictions when I walk around aimlessly, but there is NO CONNECTION.

GOD DAMNIT, WHAT THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO DO FOR ENTERTAINMENT?!

I kicked the door to the café open, and was startled by the presence of people inside it. They both jumped when they heard me bust the door open. The one closer to the door was a guy. He had dark brown hair, green eyes (ooh, just like Jay!), a nerdy sweater, and he was... EXTREMELY taller than me.

Oh...O-oh dear...

I wasn't able to take my eyes off of him; tall people tend to make me nervous. Nervous enough that I actually act like a civil human being so that they won't hurt me. That's (sadly, the real reason) why I have short friends, but even then, that's not exactly the deciding factor.

Anyway..

Scary Tall Guy grinned brightly at me, "Hi! My name is Bryce, what's yours?"

AW, FUCK. HE'S FRIENDLY?! THAT'S EVEN WORSE.

"...K-Kat." I wanted to scratch all over my face, his stare was making me uncomfortable.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Kat. Are you stuck here in our company as well?"

"...Oh, uh, y-yeah. I am, I guess. I just got here."

"Bummer, huh?"

"You're damn right it is. I was going to go home and nap!" Civil... it's such a loose term, isn't it?

Bryce was shocked (at my sudden burst of vulgarity, I guess), "...U-uh, that's too bad. I'm glad you arrived, though. The more the merrier."

Not like I wanted to. It was fate fucking me over, as per usual.

It was about then that I turned my attention to the other person inside the café, and I nearly yelped. Not only was it a girl(!), but she had light blonde hair, blue eyes, and was pale as shit (;n;). Her clothes were almost all pink, except for a light blue vest thingy, but still...

SO.

INCREDIBLY.

CUTE.

LOOK AT THAT HAT. THAT IS A CUTE LITTLE FLUFFY HAT.

"...Who's that?" I point at her, getting tired of talking to Bryce.

"I have no idea." THANKS FOR THE HELP, BRYCE. SHIT LOAD OF GOOD THAT DOES ME. "She's been here ever since I got here a few hours ago, and she won't talk to me. I hope I didn't do something to offend her..."

And she avoids the Tall one too?! Perfect! "Maybe she'll talk to me, we do look similar, so maybe..."

I drifted away from Bryce, and over to the girl. After a tiny bit of hovering, I decide to sit in the seat cross from her in the booth she was seated in.

"Oh, uh, hi. I'm Kat, and I just wanted to know what your name is, and if maybe we could be friends?" Was that too awkward? Should I have been more confident, or would that have been worse?

So many options, so many thoughts...

I shake my head, and notice that she's staring at me, and that she hasn't answered either of my two questions.

"...Uh..." Was all I could utter. I'm not very good at voicing things when somebody is staring at me for prolonged periods of time.

After several more agonizing minutes of silence, she tugged her hat down, and finally said something(!), "...Lena."

"...What?" This is just an excuse, really. I just want to hear her speak again.

"My name."

"Oh! That's a pretty name. Reminds me of Reina, which is also a pretty name..." We stop speaking, and I just stare at her as she looks out the window. I guess she was done talking. What a shame. Now my only option is to return back to Bryce... joy.

"Wow! You got her to talk to you! She wouldn't even speak to me." Bryce looked sad. I wanted grin, but that's not very civil, is it?

...Actually, I grinned anyway. Fuck civility.

Bryce stretched, his arms reaching super high up (oh my god I would need a chair just to barely reach his hand). "Man, today's been such a long day. I'm going to sleep super well tonight!"

"Mmm. I'm pretty sleepy, so I can concurr. Even then.. how can you be so positive? This whole thing sucks ass."

Again, Bryce was shocked, "...Well, uh, actually, I was freaking out earlier, but that was when I thought I was all alone. Now, I know I'm not, so I can relax. The three of us, we'll surely get through this together, right?"

"...Uh, yeah." God, his friendliness is starting to freak me out.

Thankfully, I was saved by a mysteriously angry voice.

"LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE!" It sounds like the voice of my people! At last, somebody agreeable! Wonderful!

"WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LISTEN TO ME?!" ...And Thane. Less wonderful. Wait, didn't he say something earlier about some guy?

...Mmm. I don't remember. Wonderful nonetheless.

"BECAUSE I HATE YOU! I DON'T NEED YOUR DAMN HELP!" CRASH! They burst into the café, with the mysterious angry stranger in the front, and Thane coming from the rear.

This suave individual had nice caramel hair, anger filled gray eyes (nice color, are those contacts?), and a rEALLY NICE GREEN JACKET. I myself am wearing the light beige jacket my grandma bought me for Christmas, it's pretty rad. I'm also wearing the baggy blue shorts I usually wear in the summer, and my black, skull-filled t-shirt that may or may not actually be mine. I would have worn my cool cat hat with green fluff on the ears that my dad bought me from a con in Indianaopolis, but it was way too hot. That's a shame, because I like squeezing the little green fluffs on the end of it; it squeaks!

Anyway, dirtbag Thane stops squabling with the angry guy with the nice jacket to talk to me. "Oh, Kat."

"Mm. What's going on?"

"Well, I was just chasing this idiot." He gestured towards angry guy. How insulting! I find this stranger to be interesting, at the very least.

"What was that, shit face?!" See? Very classy! I wonder if he'd be willing to agree to role play with Mel and I...?

...Mel! That damn guy! He's the whole reason I'm here! Why couldn't he just keep track of his own damn wallet?! That's why I don't have one! I already lose things easily, I don't need a device designed to keep everything together, just so I can lose it and be fucked forever.

...Jade was right, I need to stop going off on these tangents.

I come back into the conversation, Bryce is the one talking at the moment.

". . .Let's just introduce ourselves, okay? Name listing, go!"

"Thane." Thane adjusted his glasses. I wanted to punch him, stop mishandling your glasses! They'll get all fudged up by your finger prints...

I noticed that everyone was looking at me. SHIT, I must do as the taller ones say, or else they'll all gang up on me, and kill me in the back alley...! "O-oh, uh, Kat!"

"...Lena." Somehow, Lena had managed to make her way up beside me (but yet behind me at the same time), and was staring at the floor, her hat covering her face. The others looked surprised; had they not noticed her sitting there before? Fools!

Angry guy finally introduced himself (still looking slightly pissed at Thane), "Spencer!"

Lastly, Bryce: "Bob!"

I couldn't help but laugh. I like random puns, or witty lines that take me by surprise. Even so, I still hit him.

"You're name is Bryce!"

Now Bryce started laughing, and I internally cringed at how loud it was. I hate loud voices, despite having one myself. I try to tone it down a few notches, but then nobody ever hears me! Sheesh, you just can't please people these days.

. . .

The guys were discussing the text message we had all received. Not me, I hate group participation talks. Nobody ever listens to what I say in them anyway. (-_-;)

". . .so, all of our phones display these weird numbers instead of the time?" Thane sighed, looking at him phone. He had a weird Alix the Cat picture for his background. Mine is way better, it has the most glorious goddess: Gumi.

Bryce listed off our numbers, since Lena and I had given him our phones. "Thane's number is 29, Kat's is... 12," Why the hell did he pause? Is there something wrong with my phone? "Spencer's is 22, Lena's is 20, and mine is 17." After that, he gave me back my phone in a hurry. What's his problem?

"I wonder why my number's the highest..." Thane sighed. I want to STRANGLE him! YOUR NUMBER IS THE GOD DAMN HIGHEST, YOU HAVE THE SMALLEST CHANCE OF DROPPING TO ZERO. WHY DOES IT SOUND LIKE YOU'RE COMPLAINING?! FUCK YOU!

I narrowed my eyes in distaste at him, "Well, it's better than having the lowest."

"...I suppose you're right. You have to be extra careful, Kat." My eye twitched. Damn it, I hate it when people I don't like call me Kat, but I hate being called Kathryn even more! I just can't win today!

Spencer yawned (even his yawn is angry-ish), "God damn, why am I so fucking tired? It's not even dark out!"

"Yeah, I know that feeling. I'm pretty damn tired myself." Spencer and I shared a look of understanding. Friendship!

"Are you two serious? I've been working the entire day, and I still have plenty of energy."

"Wow, so you are a robot..." I mutter underneath my breath. I think I heard Lena giggle, which is CUTE! Spencer snickered too, so at least he has a healthy sense of humor.

Then, Spencer swore, "Shit, hold on. My phone's dying."

He turned, and plugged his phone into the café's plug-in thingy. His phone's pretty shade of blue matches my shorts. Rad! He was tapping his foot impatiently as he waited. Hm, we share a lot in common. We could probably be good friends.

Bryce hummed, "Well, I feel just fine~?"

Big surprise, the freakishly tall guy who is also incredibly friendly doesn't feel tired. It must be his alien blood!

"...Hey, guys. I just noticed something." We turn to Spencer, "All of our numbers... they add up to 100."

I'm curious; why did he think to add them up? Oh well... it's pretty clever.

Thane was not so impressed. "Well, you're right, but does that mean anything?"

"Of course it does! It has to!" Aw, he's even insecure! I wanna be friends with that guy (+-+)!

"You can't just assume things like that." Thane sighed. Wow, killjoy much?

"Why not? Sometimes you just have to take a chance." I nodded my head to myself, this was surely a good statement. I didn't even mess up my delivery!

"See? Kat agrees! It has to mean something if two of us think the same thing!"

"Will you two shut up?!" I was going to start a brawl (or, at the very least, throw a single punch and run away), but Bryce stepped in, and I instantly backed off in fear.

"Hey, why don't we just all calm down? We'll go find a place to rest for the night, and pick up back on this some other time when we're all well rested."

Spencer snorted, and leaned against the wall (wow, it's the image of the shoujo manga rebel! Classy.), "Sleep? Why the hell would I go to sleep right now? It's still light outside!"

"...But, didn't you just say you were tired?" Bryce was confused, but I understood. Sometimes, I forget what I'm saying in the middle of a conversation too, and I won't remember for long periods of time, but I remember it when I'm already at home, and then I just sit there, wondering what to do about it.

Spencer was now experiencing one of those moments, "...I... did..."

His phone beeped (wow, so other people don't have asshole friends that set scary shit as their ringtone? Lucky!), indicating that it was now fully charged. Spencer stood there, staring at the floor, and then his eyes widened, and he picked up his phone in a flash.

"OH!"

Thane is a wizard, because he knew what Spencer's cryptic one word statement meant. "For real?! Really?!"

"That's too freaky!" I HATE being in the dark in a conversation!

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TWO TALKING ABOUT?! PLEASE SPEAK NORMAL FUCKING ENGLISH!" I grab my hair, and tug it in frustration. Instead of answering my question, Spencer held his hand out to me.

"Hey, gimme your phone."

"Fuck no." I say that, but I hand it over anyway. I've always had the tendency to loan my phone out easily as long as it's in my sight.

Anyway, he took my phone, stared at it a little (what is so wrong with my phone?), and then switched it for his phone. We have the same charger, apparently. That's pretty rad. It's like the friendship gods are trying to make us become the best of friends. The kind of friends that only the best of people can become... and I'm clearly the best of the best, so I am best friend material. It's better if everyone can just hurry up and recognize my greatness. I am not the 'Prince' for nothing, after all!

". . .Kat?" I come back, and notice everyone staring at me.

"What. What happened?"

"...Well, putting your day dreaming aside, how do you feel?"

"What do you mean? Like, heat? It's pretty damn hot out... I wish I had just stayed home. The heat makes me sleepy, but it's really nice 'cuz my body temperature is always lower than other people's. But, now that I think about it, I don't feel all that tired anymore. Is that what you wanted, Spencer?" Spencer blinked.

"Oh...Well, yeah, I guess. You seriously don't feel tired anymore?"

"Nope, I'm... wide ..." I can't help but start erupting into small giggles. I just love lacing song lyrics into my everday speaking. In general, I just enjoy puns, be they musical or not. Alexis and Jade don't quite share my love for musical puns (mostly Alexis, who flips her shit if I do it repeatedly). 'Tis a pity.

Thane stared at me, eyebrow raised in curiosity, "...Okay, so now we know that our energy directly correlates to our phone battery."

"That's handy. Wish I hadn't made my friend hold my phone charger for me." I sighed, "I would have kept it if I'd known this was going to happen."

"Well, that's okay, Kat. I didn't bring mine either." Bryce patted my shoulder. I really wanted to smack that hand away. I HATE physical contact... from guys, anyway.

"You two are in luck, they sell cell phone chargers in the cinema. I saw them there when I tried to steal some popcorn, but the doors kept me locked in until I payed for the popcorn, so you might want to make sure that you have the right amount of money."

"This shit sucks!" I groan, "This is so typical. The ONE day my friends manage to drag me out of the house this summer, and I get trapped in an amusement park. When I get back, I'm going to get my revenge...!" I trail off, noticing that I accidently said that out loud.

"...Kat, could you possibly have been in the arcade earlier today?" Thane stared at me, a weird look in his eye.

"Eh?... Yeah, I was in there." Before I got dragged out by my killjoy friends!

"Were you the one who was shoving other people out of the way so you could play arcade games, and even used another human as a shield?" Spencer laughed at Thane's assumption, which was not incorrect.

"Yup. Those fuckers were taking too long, and I was just giving them a little motivation to learn how to play faster. Mel's my general, so it's all good. Being my meat shield is his unofficial job."

"Oh? Who's Mel, Kat? Your boyfriend?" Bryce grinned. Is that what he thinks? Do girlfriends usually use their boyfriends as a human punching bag?

"What? Fuck no, Mel's not only my surrogate little brother, but he's dating my sister's best friend. Jay would have my head!" I groan, and rub my forehead. "Oh geez, just thinking about it is giving me a headache. I'm out of here, I'll be... somewhere. Bye."

. . . .

A few days later, I had basically barricaded myself inside of the arcade. I managed to jam the door shut by pushing a few arcade games in front of it. It was hard work, since I'm not strong, and they were bolted to the floor. You really don't want to know how I managed to get it undone. Anyway, I was just passing my time by playing various arcade games. I already had a bunch of tickets from when I had played at the arcade in the beginning, but there was really nothing else to do. The hard life of an antisocial survivor knows no bounds.

My stomach grumbled, and I smacked the game I was playing. I'm REALLY hungry, but I don't want to go out. Luckily, playing these games doesn't seem to be taking away any of my phone battery, which is great, since I still haven't bought a new charger. This was starting to get unbearable.

I grabbed the prizes of my choice; 2 game player thingys, and a plushie of some sort. I don't know exactly why I wanted the plushie, since it was kind of creepy; but I always like getting new plushies. After that, I make a small crack in the door, just big enough for me to squeeze through. I sneak over to the cinema first, to grab a stupid charger, and then to the café to eat all their god damned cake. I swear, I will scream if they have NO chocolate cake.

When I get there, I see Lena sitting inside the booth she was in when I first came into the café. Too bad I didn't see her BEFORE I went in, so the stupid bell chimed when I entered, alerting her to the prescence of somebody else. Lena's body tensed up, and she looked over to see me, who was just awkwardly sticking to the wall, slowly inching towards the counter.

"...What are you doing?" What? Did she just talk to me? Of her own accord? Without any prodding?

"Er, I was... going to eat cake." I pulled out a few boxes of cake, and put my cash down on the counter, turning back to Lena. I seat myself in the seat across from her, and set the cake boxes on the table. "Want some?"

I slide a box of funnel cake over to her (for some reason, it was just lying there with the boxes of chocolate cake), "Here, eat this cake."

Lena blinked, and for a moment I was worried that I was too insistent, but then she picked up one of the plastic forks, and took a bite out of the funnel cake. "...Um, thank you... Funnel cake is my favorite... but this is too much for me to eat by myself... can you help me?"

My god, as much as I absolutely HATE any kind of cake that is not chocolate, I cannot just say no to that face. I'm way too soft when it comes to girls... er, certain girls.

"Sure, no problem." I reach over and snag a bunch of her cake with my fork, stuffing it into my mouth. It... wasn't that bad, actually. Chocolate cake is still better, but... yeah, I could use to like this. "Mmm, not bad."

I lick my lips, and then turn my attention back to my exquisite chocolate cake. I eat three of those, and it's just pure heaven. Chocolate cake... It's just. So. Good!

When I finally finish, I lean back against the seat, and place my hands on the back of my neck to cool my body temperature down. It's also a nervous habit of mine to put them there. It's just plain comforting, okay?

Anyway, I look up, and see Lena staring at me, seemingly in awe (I hope?).

"...What's up?" As much as I like seeing her eyes, I still don't like being stared at. She blinked, and backed up against the back of the seat.

"O-oh! I-I was just thinking about how I wish they sold my favorite soda here, because I like to dip the pizza crust in it..."

I sat there, and imagined what pizza crust would taste like in Sprite. "...I can imagine that being kind of tasty, actually. Maybe then I'd actually eat pizza crust..."

Lena smiled (!), "Most people don't think it sounds tasty, but they just have to try it."

"Maybe they just don't like things that aren't within their already established comfort zone. I know I don't... I despise talking to taller people." I realize how bad that could sound, so I backtrack, "...Don't tell the others, alright? It's a secret. Uh, here, have some more cake. Bye!"

I shove another box of cake at her and jump out the open window. If only they didn't have a bush right there. Damn it! Not the cool exit I was hoping for.

I can feel Lena's eyes on me as I stagger away towards the restrooms. I really hope they have showers there... maybe a bandaid. A bandaid would be great right now.

. . . .

I silently curse my luck yet again as I walk into the restroom area. Standing right in front of the girls restroom is Bryce, Spencer, and Thane. They all turn to see me as I walk in, even though I was using my sneakiest walk! Geez, are they blood hounds?!

Spencer's the only one to speak, which is fine with me, since he's the only one I can relate to. . "What the hell happened to you?"

"Fell into a bush. It fucking sucked. I could use a bandaid. What about you guys? What're you up to?"

"Oh, you know. Just staring at a pile of broken shit." Spencer kicked a broken thingy I hadn't noticed before. It kind of resembled that weird plushie I got from the arcade.

"It's not 'broken shit'. It's some kind of machine." Thane huffed.

"Doesn't change the fact that it's broke as hell, does it? Let's not waste our time on this shit."

Spencer threw up his arms, "Finally, somebody REASONABLE! Two to one, Thane you lose! Let's all fucking leave."

Spencer and I were going to get out of here, but noooo! Thane had to bitch. "But what if this thing has something to do with our numbers?!"

Spencer scoffed, "The fucking toilets could have something to do with our numbers for all we know. I don't know about you, but I'm NOT going to look in toilets just because of a hunch that they MIGHT have something to do with our numbers."

I snickered quietly/loudly. Bitch got told.

Thane started pinching the bridge of his nose, "Robots have data. Data has information. Information is IMPORTANT. Maybe we'll end up having wasted our time, but how will we know if we don't try?!"

Bryce, whom I had completely forgotten about due to his quietness (and my inner focus to block him out), suddenly raised his hands in a calming gesture (that induced me to fear). "I think we should fix it, since we don't really have any solid plan on escaping at the moment. What do you think?"

Feeling some not-so-subtle pressure to agree with Bryce, I had to cave. "...I guess."

Spencer, although more grumbly than me, also agreed. Thane leaned down, and gently looked through the broken chamber of the machine, careful not to mess with any wires. After a few minutes, he stood back up, and spoke in a very professional voice that made me want to strangle him with my bare hands until the last sparks of his breath bled out of his mouth, and then I'd just throw him in the bathrooms to hide his body. I doubt the others would appreciate me doing this, though, so for now imagining it will just have to do.

Back to douchebag Thane: "This looks like it'll be an easy fix, but there are some parts missing."

"Why should we even bother trying then?" Spencer groaned, "It's not like the missing parts will be lying around, waiting for us to find them."

Thane huffed, "We won't know unless we actually look."

I gave Thane a short side-glance. I must admit, his serious determination to get this shitty machine up and running was quite admirable. "...I suppose it couldn't hurt."

I swear, if this all turns out to be for fucking nothing, I'm going to increase my hatred tenfold. On the offhand that this actually works, maybe I'll bump him up to acquaintance status. I could probably use a few more friends... I really only have like, six or seven, and only one is male. No matter how much Ron insists that we're only on acquaintance status, I know that we're actually on the best-friendship status.

Speaking of possible acquaintance status, here's more Bryce. "Has anyone seen Lena?"

"Yeah, I just saw her minutes ago. We were eating cake together in the café." I pointed into the general direction of the café.

"O-oh..." Bryce frowned, looking like a kicked small animal/child. If he was a girl I might have cared, but he's not, so I don't.

Spencer told it like it is, "She probably just doesn't like you, Bryce."

I saw the metaphoracle anvil crash upon Bryce's skull, but ignored his feelings for the sake of my own sick justice. "That's okay, I'll find her, since she's not afraid of conversing with me."

Another anvil crashed upon Bryce before we all split up to go our different ways. When I reached the front of the Alix the Cat giftshop, my phone freaked the fuck out of me when the shrill horror scream sounded out through the air, alerting me of a new message.

After clamping my left hand, which is abnormally colder than my right, on the back of my neck and calming down for a few minutes, I took my phone out of my pocket, and tapped the message icon without looking at my phone. I really wish I hadn't, though, because it had an incredibly ominous message.

When falling damp tree unveils ghost.

...Well, whatever. I can just bring this up when we meet back at the bathrooms later. Right now, I have to look for shitty machine parts, and Lena.

. . . .

Of course, the first place for me to look would be the café, correct? So I slowly made my way towards my destination, passing through the merry-go-round, when I smashed my poor little toes into a heavy piece of shitty metal. I look down at the offending object with a scowl on my face. It'd be just my luck if this piece of shit was actually one of the machine parts that we so desperately needed. Right now, I really just wanted nothing more than to melt this toe-stubbing object into scrap metal, but like I said, it'd be just my luck if I were to actually do that, and then it turned out that it was actually part of the broken machine that Thane insists we fix.

Picking that up (dear god it's heavy), I continued on my way towards the café, grumbling about my poor luck. Of fucking course, grumbling does you nothing in life, because I managed to trip over some heavy object, and smashed my face into one of the many tables that littered the outdoor part of the café. Looking back at the stupid thing, I noticed that it was yet another one of these stupid fucking machine parts. Not only that, but my glasses were now totalled; apparently, glasses break easily once it is smashed against wood. It's times like these that contacts would be pretty handy, but I have a serious issue with putting my finger anywhere near my eye, so that's out of the question.

No need to fear, though! Before we had gone swimming earlier, Jay had given me her glasses, which are the same prescription as mine, so that she could swim without worrying about them. I'm kind of no good at swimming whatsoever, so I just stayed in the shade. I don't trust non-private pools/non-waterparks. Jay should probably be okay though, she doesn't have any issues with wearing contacts, that fearless fucker. I mean, christ, the girl is wearing a scarf in the SUMMER!

Whatever, back to things that are actually important, like Lena! After slipping on Jay's black glasses, I peeked inside of the café. No Lena in sight. Damn it! I could've forced asked her to locate machine parts with me. Ah well, you win some, you lose some. In my case, I lose a lot. Luck just doesn't like me.

Trying to think of where a little, shy teenage girl would go, I took out my mini-map thing I had gotten the second I stepped inside the amusement park. Apparently the enormous signs announcing where everything was just wasn't enough, they also had to force a map into your hands (almost like every Pokémon game in existence). After a long, heated debate with myself, I decided to go check out the rides. I don't know, children like rides, right?

. . . .

The ferris wheel revealed nothing, which is just what I'd expect from the second most dangerous death trap I've ever seen. The thing is GIGANTIC! My anxiety is going off the charts just from looking at it. Shush Kat, just don't look at it and keep moving... left, right, left, right. Good.

After that disaster, I ended up at the roller coaster, which is my WORST FEAR, where I could see Lena just hanging around. Weird place to hang around, but meh, who am I to judge? If it were up to me, this place would be called Pokéland instead of Pactheland. Eevees and Skitties would roam everywhere, directing all of the rides and shit, instead of boring ass people. Cute Pokégal cosplayers would be everywhere, and there'd be puns galore! (Sigh) That is but a distant, unobtainable dream though. Quite sad.

My deep sigh full of broken dreams seemed to have caught Lena's attention, because she turned around, and was just watching me as I imagined the little Eevees and Skitties running away... But I'm not obsessed. I'm not. No matter what the others say, I am a perfectly normal being!

I blinked a few times, readjusting myself back to normal. Sometimes my vision will just go blurry because I'm not focusing at all. It can be a pain. Anyway, "...Oh, uh, hey."

Wow, I'm the smoothest motherfucker there ever wasn't.

Lena shuffled her feet a little, before glancing up at me. "...Hi."

I sat on the back seat of the roller coaster (very cautiously, mind you. I don't want to accidently trigger it to blast off at the speed of light.), carefully setting my machine parts on the little space between the seat and the back part of the coaster.

Time to act casual. "Mind if I hang out with you?"

She shook her head rapidly, "No, not at all."

"Good." I wasn't going to leave either way, to be honest. Now, I have to sound super natural so that my underhanded motives aren't revealed (which, at this point in my life, I have clearly mastered). "You know, the others were worried about how you went off from the group. I mean, I don't blame you for wanting some time to yourself. Thinking to calm yourself down is good for situations like this, but sometimes it just doesn't work. Sometimes, you just have to be with other people to make yourself feel better, y'know?"

"...Well, I don't mind being around you..." Lena tugged her hat, with it slightly covering her eyes, "It's just..."

"Just...?" I gently prodded, despite my curiosity.

"...I... can't look at tall people." She looked up at me, like she expected me to be insulted or something. I may have like, an inch or two on her, but that's no big deal. "...I get nervous and lose my ability to speak whenever I see somebody looking down at me... So I wear this hat to block the view of the world above me."

"...Ah. Is that all?" I raised an eyebrow. She looked surprised at my statement, but I continued without stopping. "If it makes you feel better, I'm scared of tall people too. They make me nervous as fuck, but that's just a primal instinct of submitting to those who are bigger and stronger than you are, so it's not really something to fear. Yeah, seeing somebody tower over you in incredibly nerve-wracking, because you can't help but think that they're all out to get you, but that never actually happens, so there's not really anything to fear. In my group of friends, I'm actually considered quite tall, despite being barely 5'4", but I can't imagine what the world must look like to Bryce." Christ, he's a walking skyscraper!

"...Bryce... he is a bit too tall for comfort. But then again, I suppose I'm just really short... even for a girl. Most people tower over me easily. "

"You're not that short. I have three friends that are practically the same height as you... And you have to look slightly up to talk to me, you know that, right? Not that I want you to suddenly stop talking to me, but... if you can stand a few inches, a foot or so shouldn't be much of a challenge. We could work on it if you want to. Not being able to talk to anyone because of fear is lonely."

"...I suppose you're right. I'm... weird, aren't I?"

"Nah, girl. These kinds of worries are incredibly normal. Then again, weirdness is only defined differently by different people. Some people might find cannibalism to be just an everyday occurrence, while others find it the bane of humanity, and think that those who practice it should be burned at the stake, like in those witch trials." I'm highly aware that my examples aren't really the best, but it's all I've got. These are the more... appropriate ones. Don't wanna scare off my new little pal. "...Anyway, why'd you come to an amusement park, anyway? It's really obvious that there would be a bunch of people here, each varying in height."

"W-well... I came here hoping that I could overcome my fear... I thought that if I went on the tallest roller coaster," Lena gestured to the roller coaster I was currently sitting on, "or saw the view from the top of the ferris wheel, I might feel taller, and not be afraid of the faces looking down at me."

"Well, it makes a world of difference that you've even made the attempt to overcome your fear. I, on the other hand, have done shit nothing to defeat any of my twelve phobias." I give Lena an awkward smile (awkward only because I'm not good at smiling). "I'm certain that you'll be able to move forward one day. If anything, 'ya got the princely me on your side."

She just stood there, staring at me blankly, and I vaguely registered that normal people don't call themselves a royal figure of the opposite gender, but can you really blame me? Princesses are annoying bitches. Just look at that daughter of evil, or the one singing about chihuahuas. They're incredibly annoying; just thinking about it gives me a headache.

Lena's quiet voice brings me back to attention, "...Hey, Kat?"

"Hm?" I answer, as I struggle to get out of the seat. Sitting inside the cart with my feet sticking over the ledge wasn't a bright idea after all, given my past struggles with doing this exact task.

"...Um," She tugged her hat on tighter, "...Thanks... for listening, I mean..."

"Anytime. Now, here's the actual problem: I'm stuck. Can you help me~?" I reach out both of my arms, wiggling my fingers for emphasis. After a few moments of hesitation, Lena yanks both my arms forward, nearly pulling them out of the sockets. Her surprising strength and my lack of strength led me to almost crash right into her, knocking us to the ground. Luckily, my princely charms helped me stop at the last second.

Brushing off the dirt and dust that surely was inside of that blasted device of death and destruction, I picked up the machine parts off of the back seat. After almost dropping everything from the sudden gain in weight, it ocurred to me that there was now another part amongst my small pile that used to only consist of two parts, but was now three. Well, that's convenient.

Taking hold of Lena's arm, I led her away from the death contraption, informing her of what we were currently looking for (shitty machine parts), and that the two of us should definitely stick together for safety. She just quietly accepted it, and the two of us made our way to the front entrance of the park.

. . .

At the moment, the two of us were looking around in front of the cinema. After not being able to find it in plain sight, we decided to crawl around and see if we could find a machine part lying around. We had been looking in silence for at least a half hour, and I made a mental note that if we didn't find one in the next ten minutes, we were going to move on to another place. I was trying my hardest to stay focused, but I couldn't help but find my eyes continually traveling back towards the big, pink hat that sat upon Lena's head. It was pretty neat, despite being a little too girly for my tastes. She looked up at me, having obviously noticed me staring holes into the top of her head. Hope I hadn't made her nervous.

"...What is it?" Lena whispered.

"Your hat," I point at it, "it looks neat."

"O-oh, really? It's my favorite hat."

"Mmmmhm..." I stare at it a little more, and then submit to my inner instincts, snatching it off her head, and putting it smugly on mine. Lena freezes, staring at me, shocked. I then submit to my bad habit of petting heads, and reach over to viciously ruffle her fluffy hair. How do people get their hair this fluffy!? Special shampoo, or what?

"...A-ah! My hat..." Lena tried to snatch it back, not bothering to fix her hair. She looked rather adorable, almost like a little chick. Snickering at the mental image, I dodged all of her attempts to retrieve her hat, and simultaneously smashed the heel of my left foot into a metal object; yet another machine part. Fuck all these parts! What did I ever do to them?!

I rub my foot, whimpering to make it sound like I might cry. I say "might" because even if I feel like I will, I never do. Jade likes to call them crocodile tears. After several moments of doing that, I recomposed myself, and picked up the stupid, offending piece of shit machine. I swear Lena was trying to muffle her laughter from behind me.

. . .

The two of us stare at the peculiar sight that is way above us. Right now, we're standing in front of the arcade, looking at a machine part that is not only way out of our reach, but it is apparently lodged in the fucking wall. How the HELL did it get there?

"It's really in there, huh?" I sighed. It was starting to look like I might have to go get one of the other guys to come help.

"Yeah... everyone is really tall, aren't they?" I assume she's referring to the fact that it was within the reach of any one of the three boys, but too far for us.

"...Unfortunately, it's actually more likely that we're just short." I let out a rather large breath through my teeth, with my tongue sticking between my upper and lower teeth. I really did not want to have to go track down one of the guys, but there was no way I was going to exert the physical energy to break my way back into the arcade, grab a stool, drag it out here, and then stand on it and pry the part out of the wall! Too much effort. "How are we going to get it down on our own...?"

Lena looked me up and down, and smiled slightly. "Well, if one of us lifts the other, we should be able to reach it easily."

That doesn't sound so good to me. I don't think Lena'd be able to lift me, and I certainly cannot lift anyone above the age of seven. "...That's going to be difficult. Plus, you're wearing a skirt. Are you sure you want to do that?"

Lena gave me a weird stare, and gestured towards my awesome shorts."You're not wearing a skirt."

Without even waiting for a response, she picked me up by my legs, and held me straight up, though I struggled to stay up straight by flailing my arms. Now, I was at eye-level with the weirdly placed part, and I grabbed onto it for dear life. It wasn't hard to realize that if I pulled it out, that would result in my body jerking backwards, because it would react from the sudden loss of force being exerted. Damn you physics! Despite that, I had to do it, because I doubt Lena can hold me up for long.

With a few excruciating pulls, it came free, and, just as predicted, I fell backwards. Luckily, I managed to not crack my skull against the pavement. Instead, I only painfully fell on my back, but I did manage to smack the part against my forehead. Lady Luck truly seems to hate me, but then again, that's not exactly a new fact in my life.

After gathering up the machine parts, we made our way over to the front entrance, where we could see Bryce "searching" through the fountain (actually, it looked more like he was playing around in it. What the hell?), so we just quietly sneaked past him, heading for the pool house instead.

Well, there wasn't any looking required, because the last part was just sticking out of the ground, which is pretty abnormal. How did all these parts end up like this...? Ah well, not my problem. I grabbed it, since Lena was already holding three of the parts so that neither of us would die from the sheer weight of the machine's parts. The two of us slowly made our way back to the bathrooms, with some slight chatter as we went. Mostly about Lena, since I was practically forcing her to converse with me.

"...Ah. I just realized something." Lena blinked, "I won't have time to finish my summer homework in time for school..."

I laugh, ruffling her hair with a spare hand. "Of all the things you could possibly worry about, you think about homework? That's pretty interesting, Lena."

She smiled slightly, "...I suppose it's rather funny. Why should I be worrying about that in a time like this? I guess I haven't completely lost my touch with my ordinary life..."

"That's pleasant. I keep waking up at what I assume is five o'clock, like I normally do on any other day. Old habits die hard, I suppose."

"Um, do you think we'll be stuck here forever...?" I smack her lightly on the shoulder.

"Don't say that, you might jinx us."

"O-oh, sorry..."

. . .

Spencer was leaning against the girl's bathroom like some kind of badass (again, typical rebel in shoujo manga). It didn't really look like he had moved much, so I doubt he had found anything. Thane was also standing around, empty handed. That makes me rather pissed off, since he was the one that wanted to do this machine part shit in the first place; yet I, who didn't even WANT to participate in this in the first, found seemingly all the parts (with help from Lena, of course). Bryce's shirt gave away how much he was fooling around, since it was soaked thoroughly by the water from the fountain. All I could do was stare at them blankly as Lena and I approached them with our machine parts.

Spencer stopped leaning against the wall, and walked a little closer to the group. "Did we get everything?"

...Did he just say "we", as in everyone? He clearly didn't do shit. In fact, NONE OF THE BOYS DID SHIT! I mean, I assume Thane at least tried searching, but Bryce clearly did fucking nothing (see: HIM PLAYING IN THE GOD DAMN FOUNTAIN). My eye was twitching quite a bit, but it didn't seem like anyone was noticing, or they just ignored it.

Instead of making any kind of snarky remark about how Spencer didn't do anything (which would have had no complaints from me), Thane adjusted his glasses. "Well, we're still missing a few screws, but we'll probably be able to make do without them. They're pretty nonimportant."

"Hm? How do you know?" I raise an eyebrow at that statement. Thane may look like a nerd, but he looks like more of a gamer nerd, seeing as how he's wearing the uniform from the arcade. Not that I'm one to talk, miss "Prince of Otomes and Pokémon".

"Well, I'm in the robotics club at home, so..." Thane shrugged. Ah, those hard-working clubs. Alexis is in our robotics club back at school. Me? Nah, I'm not into clubs. I'd be in the anime club if it'd ever open, though.

Bryce seemed to have finally noticed Lena, who was standing slightly behind me, still hatless (I refused to give it back), and therefore staring at the ground. "Oh, you found Lena?"

"Hm? Ah, yeah. We went around and found some of the parts together. Lena's cool." I shifted all the parts into my right arm, using my left hand to ruffle Lena's fluffy hair again. I engaged Bryce in a staredown as I continued to mess up her hair, since he was looking like he wanted to say something, but screw that. He was ultimately what forced me to search for these blasted parts, so I will exact my vengence! The Prince will have her revenge! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Thane could apparently sense the subtly tense atmosphere, because he pulled out his phone, momentarily distracting my one-track mind. "...Anyway, did anyone else get another one of these weird texts?"

Setting the parts down on the ground next to the shitty machine of misfortune, I fumbled with my phone to access the mysterious text that I had received from earlier.

"Uh, did yours say anything about falling trees and a ghosty ghost?"

Seeing that his obvious diversion tactic had actually worked, Thane smirked. "Maybe it's a bad case of auto correct?"

Spencer contributed too, using the opportunity to insult Thane. "Don't be a dumbass. It's obviously a puzzle sent to us by whoever the hell sent the first text, seeing as we're incapable of receiving messages. It'll probably give us the key to escaping this place."

"Then are we supposed to read it a certain way?"

"Did you not hear what I just said? I said. . ." I had the foresight to know that they were going to start making crude guesses about what the message could possibly mean, so I tuned them out (which was rather easy, given that I wasn't all that interested in them in the first place). Instead, I turned my attention to my much more interesting companion, Lena.

"What do you think?" She jumped a little, seemingly surprised that somebody had spoken to her, but calmed down when she saw that it was just me.

"...I was... just thinking that if we were birds, we could just fly out of this prison..."

"Well, as nice as having wings sound, I'm pretty sure that this dome goes all the way around, with the top of it sealed. It's not like there aren't any plants around here to provide us with oxygen. Not only that, but I don't exactly... like birds..." I shuddered at the mere thought of being one of those creatures. Those beady eyes, creepy feet, and the diseases...! Unless it's Hatoful Boyfriend, I want no part of any of those damn birds!

"...I see." With the end of that little chat, the guys seemed to have stopped speaking nonsense, and were looking at us expectantly.

"...What?"

Thane sighed, "I said to hand over the machine parts so that I can fix it. Now, if you two are done chatting, we can actually progress."

I scowled at him as Lena handed over her half of the machine parts. I was having a nice talk with my new pal, and they just HAD to ruin it! I grumbled angrily to myself as we waited for stupid Thane to do his stupid mechanics.

After about a half hour, he stood back up, oil all over his fingers. Just looking at the little (now upright) machine made me hungry. It looked kind of like a mini-snack machine on wheels, but with those little phone plug-in spots instead of the glass case where you can view the snacks. It didn't look quite as creepy now, since all the wires and shit were back inside the machine, but its souless eyes were a little unnerving.

"That should do it." Thane wiped his hands off onto his pants. We waited for a few pointless moments, but nothing happened.

"This thing is busted. No worries, the prince has the perfect solution." Without waiting for any reply from the others, I swiftly kicked the machine as hard as I could. As unbelievable as it may be, I'm actually really good at kicking something if I want to. It smashed into the weird penny machine that stood in front of the girl's bathroom, and started emitting this weird noise.

"...Great job, Kat! You broke it even more." Spencer groaned, shaking his head. Just then, the machine elicited a white light, and it's cold, dead eyes turned a bright white. The gears whirled inside of the machine, and the machine came to life, spinning around in a circle.

"Oh! You did it, Thane!" Bryce clapped his hands excitedly, completely ignoring the fact that it was me that got it working with my genius.

"Howdy y'all, the name's Cashy." I snickered at Cashy's name, already being able to guess at what its purpose is.

"...Cute." Lena's face turned a light pink from the mere sight of Cashy. That's a little creepy, but then again, I find Moemon adorable as fuck, so I'm not quite one to talk.

"...So, what does this thing do?" Spencer raised an eyebrow at Cashy, who somehow managed to look angry.

"Thing?! I am not a 'thing'! I am a rockin' lady's robot! I get all the chicks, because I have tons of cash to spare!" Steam started coming out of Cashy's small crevices. "But to answer your question, I'm basically like an ATM. You plug your phone charger into me, and you get cash in exchange."

"Mmm. That's interesting." Cashy turned towards me with a grin.

"Why, thank 'ya Girly."

Thane rubbed his chin with his hand in a contemplating matter, "That's odd. I don't remember finding any money inside this thing... ah, maybe that's why there was a locked safe."

Cashy turned to him sharply, looking a little peeved off (is that possible for a robot?). "So YOU'RE the one that repaired me? I should sue you for sexual harassment!"

Thane took a step backwards in surprise, "...What?"

Cashy crept closer to him, "You didn't have my permission to feel up my private parts, now did you? Pervert!"

Bryce snickered, "Oh gosh, Thane, he's right!"

Grinning, I covered Lena's eyes, "Don't look, Lena, it's a hu~ge pervert!"

Red in the face, Thane put his face in his hands. "I-I don't even understand anymore..."

"As much as I enjoy Thane's embarrassment, let's pay attention to more important things." Spencer turned to Cashy, glaring, "What do you know about this hell hole, and our weird ass numbers?"

"If by numbers, you mean cash, then I know plenty! Money is everything-" I interrupted it by giving it a lighter kick.

"Stop fooling around and get your shit together." Cashy was quiet for a bit, but then let out some cheery tunes.

"Tally ho, mofos! I've got some... business to take care of." With that, Cashy wheeled away, running over Bryce's foot in the process. A part of me felt kind of bad for him, but it was overwhelmed by my amusement on how he was the only one hit.

"Oww!" Bryce whined, as he rubbed his foot in a similar fashion to the way I nursed my foot wound earlier, except he's way taller.

We all stood there in an uncomfortable silence, all creeped out by what just happened to us. We hadn't found out anything; Cashy turned out to be a huge shit lord, and I highly regretted having taken part in his fixing. Sighing, I crossed my arms, scowling. I was pretty annoyed by that thing. What if it creeped on us in our moments of weakness (i.e. when our phones are low on battery or something)?

"...Cute..." Lena smiled slightly. Spencer sighed, and ignored that statement. Was probably a smart move.

"We spent all that time finding the parts and fixing the damn thing, but we still end up knowing almost nothing about our situation." Again, he didn't do shit, but I'll let that slide for now. I will have my revenge later, when nobody is watching me.

"Putting that aside... I hope we can escape soon." Bryce's stomach grumbled, "I'm beginning to get really hungry."

Little noises of agreement rang out throughout the group, except for me, who was still kind of full from the cake I had eaten earlier, but you could never have too much cake. Never.

"Y´know, there's food at the café. I could go get some for us, and we could just eat it in the gift shop. It's nicer in there, and they have air conditioning." I shrug, and put Lena's hat back on her head, since I'd be temporarily gone, so she needed some type of comfort.

"Are you sure?" Thane sounded puzzled. I looked back over my shoulder as I walked away.

"Why the hell would I offer if I wasn't?" Turning back, I grinned evilly as I pulled Mel's wallet out of my short's one and only pocket. He deserved it, for getting me into this in the first place. Besides, I was just going to tell him it was stolen and keep the cash for myself anyway.

. . . .

I had purchased two boxes of pizza, a couple packages of hamburgers, a pack of ice-cream bars, and (of course) about a dozen cartons of cake, consisting of only chocolate and funnel cakes. I also got a few bottles of water, since this shit needs drinks to gulp down along with. I struggled to make my way out of the front door, since the boxes of pizza were slightly too big to fit, and I had balanced everything on top of those boxes, so I couldn't exactly turn it sideways to fit through.

Right as I finally managed to escape the café's death trap, my phone let out that shrill scream again, almost making me drop all my precious cargo. Gently setting it down on a nearby table, I pull my cell phone out, automatically clicking my message icon without looking. There was no message, but it was nice enough to inform me that my number had now dropped down to 4. Awesome! Four's my favorite number! On the down side, I doubt the others would find this half as great as I do, so perhaps it's best that I don't inform them of this. I slip my phone back into my pocket, and look back up, only to get the second biggest shock of the day.

A few meters away, standing still with a large grin on his face, was a guy that looked only slightly older than me. He had flaming red hair, red eyes, and a sweet black, sleeveless hoodie, along with a bright yellow t-shirt with a white collar. He was taller than Spencer and Thane, but slightly shorter than Bryce.

He jumped a little, "...A person!"

"...Uh." He skipped closer to me, only stopping a few inches away. His lack of personal space was unnerving. I may be one to invade other people's personal space, but I don't like it the other way around unless I say so. Nevertheless, I wasn't going to back away, because that might give him the satisfaction that he's successfully scared me.

The grin on his face was starting to make me angry, actually. "...Can I help you?"

"What's your name?"

"You should give your name first when asking for another person's name." I frown.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" He grinned, "I'm Arlo! Hello!"

"...Kat. My name's Kat." Arlo clapped his hands enthusiastically.

"Kat sounds like a great name! I like it~!" I cannot help but feel a corner of my mouth turn up slightly. His cheeriness may be annoying, but it's infectious. Besides, this boy obviously has good taste in names.

"Why, thank 'ya. So, when did you get here, Arlo?" Arlo suddenly looked slightly panicked, like he didn't have any real response. Whatever, not my business.

"Um, not too long ago, I think. This place is huge though, so I got lost the moment I got here!"

"Ah, so you're trapped here like the rest of us, huh?"

Arlo looked shocked, "There...There are other people here?!"

"Well, yeah. My food load makes that pretty damn obvious. You should come eat lunch with us, they're all pretty decent people (I guess)."

He let out a large breath of relief, placing his hand over his heart. "Aw man, I was freaking out because I couldn't find anyone anywhere! I thought that I was going to be stuck here all by myself...!"

I felt sorry for this guy. He's incredibly childish, only got here a few hours ago, and thought he was all alone because he couldn't find anybody! He's like a little lost puppy, for god's sake!

I came back to reality when Arlo took another little step forward, and took my hands in his, his eyes sparkling. "Hey, Kat?"

"...Yes?"

"Will you be my friend?"

A bunch of weird scenarios that were not going to happen ran through my head, all from the sheer panic and anxiety that ran through my blood. This complete stranger, who was too friendly and invaded my personal space to the max, was asking me in a creepy manner if I would be his friend. What if this guy was the murderer?!

"...No, friendship is a process that happens normally over time, so I cannot just agree to be your friend on our first meeting. Sorry dude."

"...Oh..." Arlo looked contemplative, "I never thought of that before... Friendship happens over time, not just instantly...?"

"Yep."

Arlo grinned, and gave me a hug (WHICH I FUCKING HATE). "I like you, Kat! You're super interesting~."

Struggling to escape, I started trying to hit him instead. "Let go of me! LET GO OF ME! I HATE HUGS! DON'T FUCKING TOUCH ME!"

Arlo instantly let me go, allowing me the ability to fix my sweatshirt, which was slightly askew. "Well, thanks for letting me go, I guess. C'mon, let's go to the others. Struggling makes me hungry."

. . .

I had forced suggested that Arlo take most of the food load to make up for almost killing me (which was overdramatic, but whatever! I'll do what I want!), but I still carried all of the cake. I don't want anything happening to my cake.

I opened the door to the gift shop, because I'm curteous like that, and placed all the cake on the large table they had managed to get ready for lunch. I seperated the funnel cake from the chocolate cake, and took half of the chocolate cake for myself, settling down in a corner, slowly eating the cake with my hands as I stare at the others.

"...Kat, did you only bring cake?" Spencer was giving me an owlish stare, as if trying to decide whether I am mentally unstable or not.

I licked my lips free of the delicious chocolate frosting before speaking, "No, but I wish I did. Arlo should've been right behind me..."

Before anyone could ask who I was even talking about, the door opens, and in walks the heavily loaded Arlo, who struggles to make his way to the table. Once he finally makes it, he sets it down with a loud plop. After that, he just stands there, grinning at everyone.

"So... who's your new friend, Kat?" Bryce raised an eyebrow at Arlo. I stood up, wiping my chocolatey fingers off onto a napkin that came with the cake, walked over to Arlo, and smacked his back as hard as I could in a "friendly" manner.

"Guys, Arlo. Arlo, guys. Arlo just got here, so, yeah."

"Hello!" Arlo chirped.

Everyone introduced themselves (with a slight mishap from Bryce, who tried to trick Arlo into thinking his name was Bob), and we all settled down to eat. I sat near Lena, and snagged her hat again before chowing back down on my ever-so-delicious chocolate cake (but with a fork this time, at the insistence of Spencer). The order of our little circle/star was like this (starting from left to right): Me, Lena, Thane, Bryce, Arlo, and then Spencer, who was on my right.

Bryce tried to make simple small talk during lunch. "So, Arlo. Where are you from?"

This simple question made me realize that we hadn't really had a conversation about things outside of our current situation. This could be nice, as long as they don't ask anything about school life. A majority of my school's students are... not the straightest citizens. I'm sure that some of them could be great people, but I definitely ain't taking any chances to find out.

Back to Arlo. "I live here in East Cigam, actually."

"Oh? I live here too. Maybe we've passed by each other before..." Thane hummed as he chomped on a hamburger.

"I-I don't think so." Arlo's tone had a 'and that's final' tone to it, as he anxiously fiddled with his hoodie. He had insisted that he had eaten before coming here, so he wasn't hungry at the moment.

"Well, I'm from South Cigam." Spencer put in his two cents, moving the conversation along. He spared Bryce a quick glance, "...Let me guess, Sweater Vest is from West Cigam?"

"Wow! How'd you know, Spencer?" Bryce smiled, impressed

"...Lucky guess.". I didn't quite get it at first, but the instant Spencer responded, everything clicked, and I nearly choked on my cake from my sudden eruption of laughter. Spencer had to hit my back really hard to help me out, but I couldn't stop laughing.

"...Wait... You think I'm weird?!" Bryce whimpered, giving Spencer a pouty look that didn't really work for somebody of his height.

"'Weird things happen in West Cigam.'" Spencer disguised his statement between poorly faked coughs. By now, I was finally able to calm down a little, having progressed into only small fits of giggles. I turned to Lena, ruffling her hair a little bit to calm myself down. I like touching people's hair, it's oddly calming. However, I don't want people petting my head unless I say it's alright.

"Well, what about you, Lena?"

"...North Cigam." I hum, placing my elbow on her head, leaning slightly on her.

"I see. I've heard North Cigam is a nice place."

"Y-yeah, that's what everyone says..." Lena flinches, and sinks back into silence, silently eating some of the funnel cake I had acquired just for her.

I take another large chomp out of my third chocolate cake, "Well, that's cool. We're all from different parts of Cigam. Damn, this town is huge..."

"Wait, wait, wait. Kat." I look up, giving Thane my attention for the moment. "You didn't say where you were from."

"...I didn't? I could have sworn I did. Huh. Oh well, I'm from Central Cigam. Even if I didn't say it, it should have been pretty obvious, since it was the only one not stated."

"...You're seriously from Central Cigam?" Spencer looked at me with a small twinkle of curiosity.

"Yeah, why? You can't have the other directions unless you have a center, Spencer. Reference point, y'know?"

"I know that!" He snapped, but then softened up just a tad, "I was just... curious. I've never been to Central Cigam before. What's it like?"

Recalling all the various times the police have "patrolled" outside our highschool, and/or patrolled inside the school, I let out a huff. "...Pretty normal, I guess?"

"...Oh, okay." Spencer and I conversed about various dumb things, while Thane was on the sidelines, trying to talk about something actually important with Arlo.

"So, Arlo... what's your number?"

Arlo was startled at the sudden change of topic, "H-huh?... You mean my phone number?"

"...No. I meant the number on your phone." My attention was now piqued, so I stopped listening to whatever Spencer was saying, and leaned onto the table, staring at Thane and Arlo as they talked back and forth. Arlo looked incredibly confused, so Thane elaborated. "All of our phones have a number instead of the time."

"Oh, uh, really? Hold on..." Arlo shuffled through his various pockets to locate his phone, but eventually he just straight up quit. "I can't find it. I must have lost it somewhere." He gave a nervous laugh.

Spencer stopped his pointless talking to stare wide-eyed at Arlo, alarmed. "What do you mean you lost it?!"

"It's okay, I lose things all the time! Things seem to have a knack for escaping me..." Arlo trailed off, noticing the looks he was getting from the others. I, on the other hand, was reminded about my same exact skill for losing shit, and looked through my pockets for my phone. "...What?"

Spencer started shaking him by the shoulder, "Oh my god... this is bad... this is so bad..."

Arlo only seemed to be vaguely fazed by this course of action from Spencer, "What's wrong?"

"You won't be able to charge your phone if you don't even have it!" Spencer smacked Arlo upside the head, just like he deserved. Not that I'm one to talk at the moment, seeing as I'm still searching for it (but not really; I'm actually watching the two of them. I hope a fight breaks out). Seeing the dumbstruck look on Arlo's face (god this guy's an IDIOT), Spencer continued with a deep sigh. "That's right, you're new to all this shit. Okay, to make a long story short, our energy is directly linked to how much battery life is left on our phones, and we have to keep charging them, or else we'll become exhausted, and we don't know what happens if your battery dies."

That seemed to get through Arlo's thick skull, "Wha-Really?!... Oh gosh, this is bad, isn't it?"

Thane tried to placate the situation from getting out of hand, "Calm down, you two. Arlo, we can simply just walk around the park until we find your phone..." He trailed off, seeing Arlo's head sink down in defeat. "...unless you left it on silent."

"...Arlo, really?" I let out a large breath through my teeth, annoyed at how stupid Arlo was turning out to be.

"...Yeah, it's on silent." He tried to crack a weak smile, but it wasn't very convincing, so he sighed instead. "B-but my phone has a pretty long battery life when it's not in use, even if it's on! Maybe we'll find it before it runs out?"

Finally, I had located my cell phone! I had, for some reason, placed it in one of my inside pockets of my sweatshirt. I pulled it out, and stared at the screen, only now registering the obvious strangeness of my phone. Instead of my gorgeous goddess that is Gumi, what was splayed across "my" phone was a picture of Yuri Lowell, from Tales of Vesperia, holding a puppy Repede in his shirt. This was obviously not my phone, but I did know who's it was...

I swore under my breath, and smacked the phone against the table angrily. When had she switched phones with me? How didn't I even notice until now?! Somehow, in the midst of my own internal arguements, Spencer had glanced over at me to see what my sudden issue was, and caught a peek at the number on my phone.

Spencer's eyes widened, "Kat, what happened to your number?!"

I nearly smashed my head against the table. I didn't want them to know that my number had dropped, even if it WAS the radical number four!

"It dropped, obviously." I rolled my eyes and shrugged, trying to keep it casual.

"No, I meant how did that happen? When did it get so low?!" Spencer snapped at me.

"Wow, calm down sir. I don't know how the hell it happened, it just did about a half hour or so ago, I don't fucking know."

"So, then all of our numbers changed except for Spencer. Bryce's number was the only other one that dropped, but it was only by two." Thane sighed angrily. The hell is he angry about? This is MY problem, not his!

I felt a slight tug from my left, and turned to see Lena looking up at me with a puppy-eyed look. She didn't say anything, but I already felt super guilty just from looking at her.

"Uh... sorry. Don't get sad?" I frantically looked around, trying to distract myself. I do NOT handle these types of situations well.

"Well, you can't expect us to NOT get worried, Kat. Your number is dangerously close to zero!" Bryce huffed, crossing his arms in a pouty fashion.

"Calm your stupid ass, this isn't THAT big of a deal. It could be worse, and I could have already dropped to 1. 4 is a rather lucky number fo rme, so I doubt something bad will happen. Sheesh, you guys are too serious about this." I roll my eyes, and get back to eating my cake, "Y'know, I don't even know if anything would happen to me if it turns to zero. This isn't even my phone."

"What?" Thane's eyes widened, looking at the phone I had placed on the table.

I gestured towards the offensive background, "This isn't my phone, I don't have any images of Yuri, no matter HOW girly cute he looks. My sister, Jay, does though, so this is probably her phone. Dumbass must have taken mine on accident, since they both have identical thick phone covers."

"...Then, if this is her phone... why are you here?" Arlo knitted his eyebrows. I shrugged in response, and took a drink of my water bottle.

"Fuck if I know. Let's stop talking about this heavy shit. We're in an amusement park for fucks sake, let's do amusement parky stuff."

Luckily, Arlo perked up at the mention of amusement parks (where did he think we were, prison?), and forced us to all go get ready to go swimming.

Arrrrrrgh!

. . . . .

Thane was standing in front of the pool house with his back towards me, staring at his cell phone. Perfect! I slowly, but quietly, made my way towards him, and then clamped my hands down on his shoulders screaming "BOO!" really loudly, and then running inside as fast as I could. I hope the dumbass learns not to scare girl's on the first meeting!

Given the fact that I hadn't gone swimming earlier, I, of course, didn't have a swimsuit on me! No need to worry though, because they sold swimsuits in the pool house, much to my dismay. I'd rather not drown today, but Arlo insisted that I participate, and wouldn't take no for a damn answer. Damn him. So, I begrudgingly purchased the only respectable swimsuit there; a dark green one-piece with disgusting pink hearts on it. I don't exactly care for the pattern, but it's better than the other, rather slutty, swimsuits they were selling.

Being super paranoid, I barricaded my skin in sun lotion. I may have only gotten one sunburn in my life, but it was NOT pleasant, so I'd rather be cautious than stupid. I especially paid attention to my cheeks, which are already red enough as it is. I stepped out into the pool area, and just stare at the others. Apparently I missed something huge, because Spencer and Thane are duking it out inside of the pool, and nobody even seems to care. Aw, I missed a good show!

I grab a black innertube, and sit on it as I spin around the pool, splashing like an idiot. Eventually my innertube crashes into the only other innertube in the pool, and I fall out. I frantically splash around, only until I realize that I can reach the bottom of the pool if I stand on my tippy toes. Well, that's embarrassing... wait, how did Jay nearly drown? We're the same height!

I look up to see that the inner tube I smashed into belonged to Lena, who was wearing a large sunhat. Speaking of Lena's hats, I had left her pink one in the changing room, since there wasn't any risk of theivery in this place. She looked at me blankly, as if she was wondering what she should do.

"...Are you okay?" Lena spoke quietly, so that only I could hear her.

"Uh, yeah. I'm fine. Perfect, even."

"Then... are you having fun?"

"Nearly drowning? It's more fun then you might think, actually. Once you get used to the water filling your lungs, dragging you down to the bottom of the water source... Nah, I'm kidding. This is pretty neat." I sincerely hope that this pool is cleaner than the actual pool. "What about you?"

Lena blinked, confused. "Huh?"

"I was asking if you're having fun, deary. You don't seem to be all that enthusiastic about this whole ordeal, not that I can blame you, really. This whole thing is a pain in my ass-"

She cuts me off from my tirade, "...But... I really am having fun...Today's the perfect day to go swimming in the pool."

I stop speaking, and hum, looking up at the calm, blue sky. "Well, the weather has been flawless since we arrived. Kind of a pity, really, since I kind of enjoy the clouds...I wonder if it ever rains or snows here...?"

"That's kind of deep."

"What? Oh, sorry, I wasn't paying attention again, was I?"

Lena shook her head, "No, it's okay. I like listening to you... I mean, sometimes I find myself wondering 'What would Kat do/think in this situation?'"

Well, if I wasn't surprised before, I am now. "What? Really?" All those thoughts about what to do should involve either violence, or panic. If not, it's not me.

She looked slightly worried by my reaction, and almost floated right into the Saki statue that was, for some reason, planted right in the middle of the pool. "I-Is that strange?"

"Not by a long shot, kid. I was just wondering why you would POSSIBLY wonder what I would think or do, even if I am the most princely, I'm not exactly the best with social situations."

"I admire the way you handle things, though. You're really confident, and brave... I'm neither."

"Well, you're pretty brave yourself, in a way. You're not all that worried about the situation, and can keep your focus."

"It's not the same though. Yours is the kind of brave that helps yourself find happiness..."

I sigh, "Not really, I mean, this 'braveness' has screwed me out of like, 5 friendships, 3 small-term crushes, and one 7-year long crush. My friends that I have now do't mind my quirks, but it still bites me in the ass every now and then. My luck is shitty as fuck. Seriously! Look at this, I am stuck in this shitty amusement park, that I didn't even want to come to in the first place, and I keep injuring myself. Arrrrrgh!"

I splash the water furiously in frustration, and only stop when I run out of energy, which is rather quickly. I'm not the athletic type... at all.

"...But, if you hadn't been stuck here..." Lena's quiet voice made me stop completely, and pay better attention, "we probably wouldn't have ever met..."

"...I suppose you're right. I'd rather be stuck here in this shitty amusement park with you, my new pal that 'ya are, than at home all by myself." Then, Arlo forces everyone to participate in a game of pool tag. Needless to say, I lost, and Arlo won.

. . .

After splitting up for the rest of the day, we all met back up the next day to go watch a movie. I never get to see movies in the theaters, so this is a pretty good thing.

"Move time~!" Arlo squealed as he jumped all over the front room of the cinema.

"Arlo! Knock it off!" Spencer scolded him, flexing his fist to show what might happen to Arlo if he doesn't cooperate. Nice.

I was at the snack counter, buying me some nice sugary snacks for the movie. Only for me. Nobody else. Fuck them. These are MINE!

As I was internally brooding over my snacks, Lena had quietly snuck up on me. I hadn't even noticed her until she started speaking.

"It's nice to come to the movies with other people... I don't like going alone, ever. Even if it's not a horror one. It's just... uncomfortable to see everybody else in a group, while you're all by yourself."

"Yeah, I don't get to see movies in the theaters much either. Who do you usually go with, if you don't mind me asking?" A boyfriend? Gosh, I hope not. Wait, wait, wait, Kat. Kat, shut up. That is not the thing to think about right now. Right now it's friendship time. It's always friendship time. THIS IS HOW YOU RUINED ALL YOUR CHILDHOOD FRIENDSHIPS!

It ocurred to me that she had already finished with her reply, so I had to go and be the stupid person, asking her to repeat what she said. Lena didn't seem to mind though, apparently already used to me drifting off into my own little world.

"I said I'd usually go with my small group of friends, but they're not really movie people."

"Oh? Well then, when we get back, we should exchange emails or some shit like that. I'm up for movies, and I'm pretty sure a few of my pals would tag along, if it's an actually decent movie. Hope you won't mind that Jay has a tendency to tear movies apart."

"...That sounds fun. I would not mind that." Lena smiled softly, and then Arlo called us to come join them for the movie. Damn Arlo.

. . .

I was assigned to sit in the front, with Arlo on the far left, Bryce in the middle, and me on the far right, but I did NOT want to sit next to the two tallest people we had, so I forced kindly asked Thane to switch places with me. Luckily, he was eager to switch places, because he couldn't see anything from behind Bryce. I spent the entire movie playing solitaire on my phone, since it was a Xolga and Toko movie, which meant no romance (unless you're a fangirl... I'm totally not), so I wasn't interested.

Lena started watching me halfway through the movie. I guess she got bored with the movie itself, or gave up on trying to see from behind Arlo and Bryce. I would have played Tetris instead, but I'm trying to NOT get so angry that I interrupt the movie, and I surely would if I played it. It's a fairly stressful game, because you have to fit all the blocks together, and if you don't you LOSE. I don't like losing. At all.

When the movie was finally over, Arlo and Bryce were having a very animated discussion about it, but remained friendly. Spencer and Thane, on the other hand, seemed to be arguing about something. I doubt it actually had something to do with the movie; probably involved the stunt that happened at the pool that I missed. Again, what a pity. I had missed a good show.

The two of them actually started a nerd-war, and Spencer challenged Thane to a video game fight, to see who was better. That was totally logical, because it didn't depend on any real life physical attributes, only skills. That's why I prefer Pokemon games. Only the best fighters there (not counting the ready-made NPC trainers made for beating the living daylights out of for cash)!

They started trash talking once they were in the arcade. The rest of us had followed, wanting to see the good fight. I secretly hoped one of them was going to throw a punch in the middle of the fight.

"Ah~ It's another little fight for dominance. It's a common ocurrence between young teenage males." Bryce grinned, leaning against the prize counter.

"I get what your saying, but why are you not including yourself? Are you an old man, or something?"

"No, actually, Lena is the oldest of our little group." What. What? She's older than me? Didn't see that coming.

Speaking of Lena, it looked like she was trying to mosey in on the little nerd fight. I wanted to warn her that that was a dangerous move to make, but she had already tapped Spencer on the shoulder, asking if she could join their little game tourney.

"...Sure, Lena. Of course...?" Confusedly, they allowed Lena to join. They lined up at the three fighter games, and started playing furiously (only Spencer and Thane, that is. Lena was totally casual).

As they battled in a deathmatch of the century, Bryce and Arlo tried to make small talk with me.

"So, Kat. Who do you think is going to win?"

"I don't know... this bloodmatch is pretty intense."

Arlo smiled innocently, "I hope they all win."

"Stop being naive, you stupid ass. If they all win, then there's no loser. If there's no loser, then we won't get to see somebody get sad/angry that they lost. I want to see somebody lose!"

"...Well, as long as everyone's having fun." Bryce laughed, "...Maybe the three of us could have a special kind of fun."

"Wow, that sounds suspicious as fuck, but you got my interest. What'cha thinking?"

"Perhaps a bet?"

"Ooh! I want to bet!... Aw, but I don't have a lot of money on me.." Arlo pouted.

"That's okay, we could just bet with something else." Bryce looked at me. At this point, I was starting to get SUPER suspicious. This couldn't lead to anything good. "Like... maybe a kiss from little Kat?"

I growled, "Fuck no, I'll skin you first." The two of them slowly backed away from me, which is a smart move on their part.

"Calm down, I was kidding." Bryce laughed nervously. I let that roll around in my head for a little, and then shrugged.

"...Oh. Okay. Guess I just overthought things. Happens to the best of us (and I am the best), I suppose." I turned my attention back to the mini-tournament as it came to a close. Apparently, Lena kicked their fucking asses, because the two of them were slightly miffed, but if one of the two of them had one, the other one would be seriously pissed.

They weren't angry at Lena though, of course. I'd kill them by my left shoe if they were.

"You're... really good, Lena." Thane smiled.

"Yeah." Was it reasonable of me to take this as Lena liking video games? I'm not sure, but I'll go for it anyway. I pull the forgotten video game player thing out of my pocket, and put it into Lena's hand.

"It's a prize for winning... plus, I don't need it."

"Oh... thanks...?"

"Good. Now, I'm out of here. I need naps ASAP."

. . . . .

The day after that whole fiasco, Arlo forced us to ride the ferris wheel.

My second greatest fear.

Fuck.

Just staring up at the tall... and I mean REALLY tall ferris wheel, was making me incredibly nervous. I had to anxiously rub the back of my neck to make myself calm down. Arlo, on the other hand, was super mister sunshine.

"Riding with all six of us in one cabin will be trouble, so we'll have to split up into smaller groups." Thane sighed, slightly pale. Does he share the same

"I want to ride the ferris wheel with Kat!" He clapped his hands childishly. I'm starting to wonder if there's something seriously wrong with this boy.

"Knock it off, Arlo. I'm serious, let her choose her own path." Yay! +50 friendship points for Spencer!

"Well, I'll go with Spencer." Bryce put his hand down on Spencer's shoulder. When did they become best buddies?Ah well. They boarded into a red cabin, leaving only us four left.

"I guess I'll go with Arlo, then..." Thane sighed, and dragged a whining Arlo into a bright yellow cabin. I hate yellow.

Well, that only left Lena and I, and it was marvelous, if not for the fact that I HATE HEIGHTS.

"...Are you okay?" Lena whispered as she climbed into the nicely shaded blue cabin that came next. I followed her inside, albeit a little hesitant.

"...Totally. Of course I am. Why would I not be?" I mutter, as I curl up into a comfortable ball, staring at the ground, trying not to focus on the fact that we're going up really high, or that the cabin could possibly fall and crash to the ground at any moment, killing me instantly, or even that for the split second I ahd looked up before I entered the cabin, I saw Arlo jumping around his cabin like a lunatic, with Thane freaking out.

Nope. Not scared at all.

Lena was staring out the window, "...The view from here is pretty."

"Oh, is it? That's nice. Very nice." The ground right beneath my feet would be a much better view, in my opinion.

"Yeah, I feel like I'm on top of the world." Lena's statement made me snort in amusement, given her vertical challenge. "...If I felt like this all the time, would I not be so afraid...?"

"...Mm. Lena." She turned around to face me. I had turned my eyes up to look at her from my panic position.

"...Yes?"

"Tell me more about yourself." Maybe that'll distract me from the panic slowly taking over from the back of my mind, plus the bonus of increasing friendship values.

"...W-what?"

"Well, it'd be nice if I could get to know you better." She started fidgeting with her skirt.

"O-oh, uhm..." Lena turned her head down, her hair covering her face slightly, "...I like the sound eggs make when they're being cracked."

"That's nice. I make eggs almost everyday." I'm only half lying, since Jay makes them for me, and we're practically the same being, so it's ALMOST like I'm the one making them. Either way, I'm the one that eats them, so, whatever!

"My favorite color is pink."

"Mine's green."

"I go to North Cigam High." My mind internally answers with 'And I go to a school full of people that I mostly hate'.

"...Okay. Question for 'ya." She looks up at me expectantly, "If you were trapped on an island, and could only have one thing, what would it be? Not including food, water, or a boat, of course."

She looked back down, and gripped the edge of her skirt, "...A friend... I'd... like a friend to share my troubles with..."

"...You know, that's one of the better answers I've heard."

. . . .

Luckily, I made it through the ferris wheel with no trouble, but NOW Arlo was dragging us to the ROLLER COASTER. FUCK.

"C'mon~! Let's go ride the coaster~ It's super fun!" He sang (horribly off-key, I might add) as he dragged my unwilling body towards the coaster, located right next to the ferris wheel. Despite my protests, and pleading the others to save me, nobody would come to my aid; although, Lena was walking right behind my dragged body.

When we were finally at the damned monstrosity, I was released. Already anticipating my panicky heat flashes, I took off my sweatshirt and hung it on the yellow waiting line bars. As the others got everything all set up, I was standing there, rubbing the back of my neck to keep it cold.

Thane was having issues (as was I), "Are you sure we should ride this thing...? What if it's not safe?"

DON'T SCARE ME LIKE THAT THANE, WHAT AM I GOING TO DO IF SOMETHING ACTUALLY HAPPENS?!

"What, are you scared?" Spencer smirked at him.

"No! Of course I'm not." Well, Thane, it's pretty obvious that you're scared shitless. You are not very good at lying. The prince is disappointed in you, Thane.

"Well, then isn't it perfect how there are juuust enough seats for the six of us?" Bryce grinned, smacking Thane on the back. Since Bryce is a psychology student, I have a feeling he figured out Thane's fear, and is just taking advantage of the situation. +5 points for Bryce.

"Eee~! This is going to be SO much fun!" Arlo grinned, skipping around while he squeals like an excited little girl going to a candy store. I stared off dazedly, until I realized that the others were calling for me.

"Huh? What?" I blinked, and noticed that all of them were sitting down already. Arlo&Spencer in the back, Bryce&Spencer in the middle, and Lena was sitting all by herself in the front. I assumed that I was supposed to be sitting next to her.

"Get in already! Sheesh!" Spencer groaned, and I begrudgingly got in. I was NOT looking forward to this at all.

. . .

I had slumped as far down as I possibly could within the confines of my seat, trying to calm down my racing pulse. These kinds of "thriller" rides are REALLY not for me. They scare the shit out of me, and this is the only one I've ever ridden in my life. I had managed to skip out on the one my friends had ridden when we came, but these bastards didn't give me a goddamn chance!

I let out a large breath through my teeth, but it sounded more like I was gagging, which I probably was. I closed my eyes, and started rubbing my face to stay awake. If I wasn't careful, I was going to pass out, and if I passed out, would I fly out of this ride? I don't want to take the risk.

"...Kat?" I peeked my right eye open to let Lena know I was paying attention.

"Y-yeah?"

"Do you... think I could become brave like you someday?" Wow, that is a kick in the teeth. Does she not see what I'm doing right now, or is she just making fun of me? Argh.

"What the fucking hell are you talking about? You still going on about that? I'm not brave, I am losing my goddamn mind here, if you hadn't noticed. It'd actually be better if I wasn't scared shitless, and remained as calm as you are." I rubbed my temples to get ride of my terrible, pounding headache; also, I pulled Lena's hat down really snug over my eyes, but it didn't exactly work.

"...I see..." She turned her head down, and muttered, "...I can do it...I won't get over it if I don't face it."

Her tone was incredibly suspicious, so I tilted the hat up just a little bit to get a clear look, and as the coaster came to a stop at the top of the hill, I saw the most shocking thing since coming here.

Lena was standing.

Not INSIDE OF THE RIDE, but STANDING ON THE GODDAMN SEAT, WITH HER ARMS STICKING STRAIGHT OUT!

"Wh-wha- L-LENA!? WHAT ARE YOU-" My sentence was cut off as the coaster went zooming down the hill. As expected, Lena went flying back, but NO WORRIES. SHE DIDN'T DIE. Bryce had managed to just BARELY grab her ankles, holding her upright somehow as we went barrelling down the coaster.

Everyone, except for Lena, that is, who remained cool and levelheaded(?). I, on the other hand, was freaking my shit out. My anxiety was spiking off the charts, and there was no possible away for me to steer clear of the situation, which is my normal medicine for these spells, so I promptly passed out across the seat.

. . .

"Oh, no wonder Kat got stopped screaming, she passed out." I could hear Bryce's loud laughter booming, amplified by my pounding headache. Some asshole started shaking me, and I assume that it was Arlo, since only he is this dumb.

"Kaaat! Kat, wake up!" He whined. Eventually I stopped trying to pretend to sleep, and punched him right in shoulder as hard as I could.

"Will you shut up?! I'm fine! Jesus fucking christ!" I growled, climbing slowly out of the cart. After that, I managed to sit peacefully on the ground, but that made me too dizzy, so I flopped backwards and started rolling on the ground to gain coldness. "IT'S TOO HOT!"

"...Are you okay?" Lena leaned over, blocking my vision of the sun.

I scowled, "Nope. I'm dizzy, and pissed as fucking hell right now."

I manage to get up off the ground, clamped my hands down on her shoulders, and starting shaking her viciously. "DON'T DO THAT! HOLY FUCKING SHIT THAT WAS THE ABSOLUTELY DUMBEST FUCKING THING YOU COULD POSSIBLY DO! PEOPLE DIE FROM THOSE TYPE OF THINGS! YOU NEARLY GAVE ME A FUCKING HEART ATTACK, MY BLOOD PRESSURE RAISED SO HIGH! I WAS TOO NERVOUS IN THE FIRST DAMN PLACE!"

I let go completely, wiped the sweat off my forehead, and waved at the others. "I'm going to go dunk my head in the pool before I die of a heat stroke."

. . .

Argh. Did I go over the boundaries of friendship? I've never known anyone that was actually STUPID enough to try and stand on the roller coaster as it went hurling down the hill at probably 100mph (nevermind the fact that I avoid roller coasters completely).

Stupid stupid stupid!

I flail around angrily in the water, unaware of somebody watching me until they actually walked up to the ridge of the pool, and sat down indian-style.

I look up to stare Bryce right in the eyes. It was an odd, drawn out battle of the two destined rivals of the short and the tall. In reality though, it only managed to last about two minutes until it got to me, and I snapped.

"What?! What do you want from me!? STOP STARING AT ME YOU'RE FREAKING ME THE FUCK OUT!"

"...Oh, nothing." He grinned, and walked away.

What the fuck was that all about?

. . .

Days later, I was sitting in the outdoor part of the café, eating some cake. By now, I had finally been able to calm myself down, and stopped my boiling anger from taking over. Occasionally, my emotions in the heat of the moment can take over, and I'll fuck everything up that way. My family... we don't have the best emotional control.

As I was daydreaming about how fucking stupid I am, the one person I didn't quite want to see yet came walking up, and sat across from me. I started choking on my cake from the surprise of seeing her there when I opened my eyes.

The two of us were incredibly quiet, until Lena broke the silence.

"...Night is a strange time, isn't it?"

Curious, and wanting to move past my own stupidity, I decided to participate. "Oh? How so?"

She squirmed a little, "W-well, it's the time when most people wander about through their dreams... but yet, most dreams are just forgotten anyway."

"...I see your point. I used to dream about how things might go if my 7 year crush came to fruition, but then I realized that I'm really quite a dumbass, so I forced myself to just give it up, since it just wouldn't be happening."

"It's a little strange how so much time is spent on things that become lost in the end, isn't it? But... it's a part of life, I suppose. It's nice to put in a good effort for living... even if we won't last forever. To me... that's what I think the world might be like."

"I suppose your right, but at the same I disagree. You could live with that philosophy, I guess, but that's terribly depressing. You probably wouldn't strive to do shit, because it'd weigh in the back of your mind that you'll eventually die, so what's the point of living? On the other hand, you could enjoy shit while it lasts, and take on challenges and shit like that. For example, you're afraid of looking up at faces, correct?"

"...Yes."

"Well, for now you can feel comfortable looking up at me, but what would you do if I suddenly had a growth spurt? You wouldn't be able to, nor want to, look at me anymore, right?" As unlikely as a growth spurt for me is, at 17.

Lena stared at me, wide-eyed, not showing any other sign of response. I felt like shit just staring at her; that was probably not the right question to ask, nor the correct scenario.

"...Uh, sorry. That was an odd question, wasn't it?"

Lena looked down, gripping her hat that I had left behind when I had stormed off days ago. Her hands were slightly shaking (is she cold or something? Maybe I'll give her my hoodie), "...I'd cry."

"...What?"

"I-If I felt that such discomfort and fear just from looking into the face of the person I liked..." She sniffed, "...I'd be incredibly sad."

What.

What.

What.

Am I hearing correctly?

Do I need to clean my ears?

Did she really just say that?

"If that really happened," Lena continued, "I'd probably pray and wish everyday to become taller, so that I'd be able to look you in the eyes again."

She looked up at my slack-jawed face, peering slightly over the hat that she was now wringing in her hands. "...I like you..."

Seeing that I wasn't really responding, she repeated herself. "I like you, Kat... but... this is a one-sided love, isn't it?"

I WASN'T HEARING THINGS?

THIS IS REAL LIFE?

"..What?" Lena flinched.

"W-well, I'm a... girl. We both are... I never expected myself to be somebody that could fall in love, but... you're different. It's the first time in my life that I've been able to find a person who I like being with... who can make my heart feel like this..."

She took in a short, shaky breath, and continued. "...But it's impossible, isn't it? We can't be together like that. It'd be nicer if I had control of my heart, like you... so that I could stop liking you like this, and we could be together as friends."

"...What the hell are you talking about without asking my own opinion on the matter? Girls don't belong together? Sounds like total bullshit to me. Anyone can be with anyone, no matter the gender, age, or what the fuck ever. Besides, I'm a lesbian, so you're argument is terribly inaccurate." I sighed, "Don't let shit like that get to you, Lena. I do, in fact, like you. It's why I mostly only talk to you, why I steal your hat, and why I'm not nearly as short with you as I am with the others. I quite frankly don't give two shits about what society might think of it, but my feelings are my own, and in my humble, princely opinion, they can go hitch-hiking, get run over, kidnapped, tortured, and be left to bleed to death in a germ-infested prison cell."

She stood up, and walked around to where I was seated, "...Kat?"

"What?"

"Can I have a hug?" I raised an eyebrow at the request. To anyone else, the answer would be fuck no, because I hate hugs most of all. I opened my arms a little, and let her cling. I wasn't exactly enjoying this. Invasion of my personal space is not appreciated, even if I say so, and especially if I don't.

"...Please don't ever leave me." She pleaded quietly.

"What?"

"I'm not brave like you are...I don't think I'd be able to handle it if I ever lost you... because you're important to me." She leaned back, and pressed our lips together, without giving me a chance to respond. Wow, I don't feel llike a creep or anything.

When she pulled back, my face was burning, and I placed my head in my hands, covering my eyes. "...Well, there's no need to fear. The prince here is the bravest there ever was... Ugh, I'm an incredible idiot..."

. . . .

I spent an embarrassing amount of time with Lena over the next week and a half. I say embarrassing, because apparently the reason Bryce had been staring at me over a week ago was because apparently everyone had figured out I was a lesbian, and took great amusement in bugging me. I mean this is the playful way, of course, since it wasn't all that big of a surprise. At the end of that week and a half, Spencer called us all together. Apparently, he had some huge announcement about a breakthrough he had made.

We all gazed at the large amount of writing he had done on a part of the dome, located underneath the roller coaster. There was loads of things scribbled out, like numbers, possible meanings of things, etc.

Apparently, When falling damp tree unveils ghost turned into giving up all self worth means the end.

"Wow, I can't believe it took me this long to figure out something as simple as this." Spencer huffed.

"Props are due where props are due, Spencer. It's pretty nifty that you did all this shit by yourself." I patted him on the shoulder. He should be plenty proud of himself now, because the princely me has praised him!

Thane sighed, "So it was an anagram... but what does it mean?"

Spencer turned around to face the dome, looking over his writings. "...Well, if I'm right, the numbers all represent our values and dignity. The more selfless we become, the lower our number gets, and vice versa."

Despite Spencer's in-depth explanation, Bryce was still confused, "...What?"

Spencer turned around just to glower at him, "Don't 'What?' me! You're into psychology! You should know exactly what I'm talking about!"

"O-oh! You're talking about giving value vs. taking value, right? Giving value makes other people feel better about themselves; giving compliments, gifts, and being friends are an example of such." Suddenly, Bryce took on a more serious tone, "On the other hand, a person with low self-esteem may try to take value from others to make themselves feel better instead. In short: bullying... but in this situation, we don't have much of a choice but to take value sometimes. As you are surely implying, I think that when we take value, we drain it directly from the one who gives it to us?"

Wow, for once Bryce managed to not sound like a total fucking moron. I mean, he's a semi-acceptable friend, but the man has a few screws missing here and there, not to be mean. Speaking of loose screws, where is that somewhat adorable idiot named Arlo?

"Ah, so that's why my number got so low when I bought lunch."

"Are you absolutely sure about this? What if everything's just a coincidence?"

"Well, I see your point, Thane. That shouldn't have been so drastic, I didn't buy that shit with my own cash, and most of the cakes were for myself. I didn't really do it for the sake of others, I was just satisfying myself, and getting some lunch for others on the side. I think Bryce is correct, though, since I did in fact give lunch out for free."

Spencer sighed, "Geez, all this time, I've been trying to figure out the basic concept of our numbers. I was certain that it was interactions that affected them, I just didn't know how. It might have taken me a while to clear everything up, but it was because I wanted to make sure I had everything straightened out. I'm positive now though, because I tested it out on you guys. Whenever I did something for the sake of somebody else, my number lowered... and it would increase when somebody made me feel better about myself."

"Mmm. I've... noticed the pattern too." I fumble with my phone inside my pocket, but not bringing it out.

Bryce, being super friendly guy, continued to be stupid. "So how do we raise our own numbers, but without taking values from other people's?"

"I don't quite think that's entirely possible, Sweater Vest. The values appear to be like energy and matter; they can't be destroyed, nor created. They'll just be forever exchanged between us. I've been keeping track of all our numbers, and they always add up to 100 exactly. If by dropping our numbers to zero lets us leave, then... somebody could very well be stuck here forever."

"But we don't actually know what will happen if our numbers drop to zero, so it's probably best that we don't make hopeful bets on what might happen, until we're absolutely sure. I mean, fuck, one of us could fucking die from that."

Everything went silent because of my bluntness. Wow, Kat, great fucking job. You're a pro at socializing. It was then that I rememembered something I had noticed earlier; where the fuck is Arlo?

"What about Arlo, then? If only the five numbers that belong to us add up to 100, what about him? Does he not take or give value, or something?"

Spencer paused, narrowing his eyes. "...Now that you mention it, I don't recall my number ever changing after interacting with him..."

"And his phone has been missing for an awfully long time..." Thane muttered.

I sighed, ruffling Lena's hair as a stress reliever. I was back to wearing Lena's hat, because I like hats.

"Should I be the one to say it?"

Nobody was able to say anything, because then shit went down, and everything became see-through and went through a complete 180 on the hue-sector. Nauseating shit.

Lena clings a little bit closer, which is really, REALLY embarrassing. The five of us decide to split up to cover more ground, because this shit Arlo's pulling ain't gonna fly.

. . . .

I took a leisurely walk around the park, since I don't really have the athletic ability, nor the energy, to run around like an idiot searching for the little puppy. A bunch of shitty transparent numbers had started falling from the sky, but I noticed that there were none falling by the front entrance, so I quickly sprinted over there. If Arlo was there, I had to hurry, of course, so that I could catch him before he tried to get away or something.

"ARLO!" Said boy swiveled around in panic, clearly shaken. Probably not helped by the fact that it was me that found him, instead of, uh, Bryce, I guess. "This shit was you, right?"

He complexion paled, and his hands started to shake lightly. "...I-I'm sorry! I'm really sorry about all this...!"

"Well, what happened?"

"U-um, my heart is just... a tad bit unstable. Just a little bit. B-but don't worry! Just give me a little bit to heal. You guys are safe here, I won't let anything happen to you guys. You're my first friends..." Arlo sniffed, "Well... I was sort of hoping that you guys wouldn't have to find out like this, but... I don't... I don't know what I should do. Kat, what should I do?"

"Stop your whining, and telling the truth is a good start. Let's start with that, and work our way up from there."

"...You're right."

"Damn right I'm right, I'm always right."

. . . .

It turned out that we did not need to exert any physical energy to gather everyone after all, because they all just eventually made their way to the front entrance. Getting everyone to start talking, however, was on an entirely different level of difficulty.

Being the prince that I am, I took the initiative, "Arlo, what the hell do these numbers mean?"

He gave us a sad smile, "...They're happy points. You give them to someone when you make them happy, and you get points when you are made happy by someone else. Some people give more than they take..." He gestures towards me because I'm the fucking best, of course, "...others take more than they give..." He looked in Thane's direction. Ouch, burn. "However, I think that the best relationships are when people both give and take. I wanted to be sure that you guys would all get along... so that's why I assigned you guys those numbers."

"So, if you're from here, than what are you?" I tilted my head, in confusion. Surely somebody that's a native of this place can't be human, right?

"I'm... a hamadryad." I narrowed my eyes in confusion. I had absolutely no idea what the hell a hamadryad was. Of course, if you don't know, you've gotta ask.

"What's a hamadryad?" Arlo smiled at me.

"A hamadryad is like a spirit that lives within a tree, and when the tree dies, so will the spirit. I'm the spirit of the large tree in the center of the amusement park."

"A real one?" Lena was rather amazed, as well as Bryce, who was pretty stoked.

"S-sorry guys... it's all my fault..." Arlo sniffed, "...that you guys are all stuck here... This is my 'home'. I based it off the real amusement park... but I was lonely. I wanted to have a real friend..." He sniffed again, "Th-thank you guys... this has been the most fun I've ever had. I-I...I..." Arlo burst into tears, "I-I love you guys! B-but now, you all h-hate me, because I lied. I'm a liar! All the f-fun we had together made me really happy... but it was all built on th-the lies I told. I-I'm terrible! Horrible, even!" By now, he was just creating a flood of tears. I was starting to become worried that I was going to drown from this shit, and I had to fix it, quick.

"Arlo, I don't hate you." Spencer quickly follows right after me, how nice.

"I am pissed!" Well, that's... less nice.

"Spencer, what the hell!?" I glared at him.

"No, let me finish! I'm pissed! We're been trapped here for, what? Two weeks?" He grumbles, getting even more heated up, but then he slumped, relaxed and calm. "...Arlo, if you had just explained to us that you wanted to be friends with us, I would have stayed. This whole ordeal is pretty shitty... but I would have willingly stayed. You didn't really need to resort to a giant glass dome and crazy numbers. Real friends can, and should, trust each other."

"O-oh... I'm sorry, Spencer... you're right."

Thane gave a deeper sigh than usual, "But... real friends also forgive each other."

Bryce grinned, "Yep~ Be more honest with us, and we should have no problems in the future."

"Well, now everything has all been dealt with."

Arlo grinned, and tears streaming down his face (ARLO STOP BEING A BABY). "Th-Thank you..."

There was a flash of bright white light, and then everything returned to normal... or, at least as normal as a parellel world of an amusement park can be.

"...When your happy points drop to zero, you'll be able to go home, so... you can all leave if you want."

"W-wait. Won't somebody be left behind with all 100?" Isn't the answer obvious by now, Spencer? Sheesh.

"Oh, don't worry. I'll send the person left behind back home, safe and sound!" Just as expected of Arlo, the superhero pup.

"Heh... all 100 happy points, huh? That person sure would feel special!" Bryce grinned at Arlo, who managed to give him a weak copy.

"You're right, but there's an even better side to the happy point system! Even when you give away your happy points, you'll still feel happy!" Arlo sighed, "Again, sorry. If you guy will ever come visit me ever again, I promise I won't use the happy points system anymore. It's just that I was afraid that nobody would try and get along if I didn't use it, but I realize that's wrong now. Incentives weren't needed after all."

Arlo looks down at me, and pulls me into a hug, planting a large kiss right on the top of my/Lena's hat. After that, he quickly pulls away and takes a few precautionary steps backwards.

"...What the fucking hell, Arlo? That's like, level two Kat harrassment. I'm going to have you hanged." I spoke in a clear, level voice to add to the threat. It always works with Jay, so it should work for me, given that we have the same physical features.

"Well, you got a special kiss because you're the one who found me first, and even helped me choose the right path!" Arlo paused, and looked over at the others, who instinctively took a step backwards. "...But you guys also searched for me, and helped cheer me up as well... so, maybe I should give ALL of you special kisses?!"

Everyone got the fuck out of there in record time. I dragged Lena to the café, since now was the time to talk about shit.

Serious shit.

. . . .

I collapsed into a chair, letting out a deep breath that I had been holding for god knows how long.

"That was so frustrating! At least we'll be able to go home at last." I sighed, and pulled out Jay's my phone, "Anyway, I didn't just drag you here for a little chat. I'm in a bit of a fucking problem."

"What is it?" Lena tilted her head. I placed Jay's my phone into her hands, pointing at the screen.

Displayed on it (besides the stupid Yuri Lowell), was a big, heartwrenching 1. She stared at it with wide eyes, slowly processing what was in front of her. When it finally seemed to get through her head what was happening, she looked back up at me.

"Wha... Y-you're number..."

"Yeah. It's been like that since yesterday, so it's actually a good thing that I found out what was going to happen when my number dropped to zero before it happened. At least we know I'm not going to die or some bullshit like that." I pause, "Say, Lena?"

She looked up at me, "Yeah?"

"When you get back, I'll be sitting riiight here."

"..What?"

"Right here. In this seat. With this hat." I flick the visor of her hat, so that it flipped up a little, just to emphasize my point.

"...Y-you mean that... you're willing to make room in your life for me?"

"The hell gave you the impression that I have a life? But, yes, I would like it if you'd accompany me in the real world." I grinned, and took off my sweatshirt, tossing it to her.

"Here, keep it until you get back to me. Just so you know this shit's real, 'kay?" The lower half of my body started to glow and turn transparent. "Oh, it looks like I'm leaving now. Remember, I'm going to be right here, waiting. Don't make me wait too long though, I hate waiting the most."

. . .

I was sitting in the café of the amusement park with Jay, eating cake like we normally do. It had been a few days since I got back, and Jay still hadn't let me off the hook for disappearing, the stupid asshole. I'm relieved that she finally allowed me to come back here though. I hope Lena didn't return beforehand, 'cuz what if she thinks that I'm a goddamn liar now?

After like, an hour or two of cake eating, we're interrupted by somebody pulling a chair up to our table, right between Jay and I. I look up to scream at them to leave, but drop my cake onto the ground instead.

"L-Lena?!" She smiles timidly, scooting closer to me, and farther from Jay.

"H-hi. I didn't think I'd really find you here... I thought it wasn't real."

"If it's because you came any other day, it's all Jay's fault. Jay's such an asshole." I flicked a handful of water at Jay, who then got up and left.

"What happened to her...?" Lena looked at me questioningly. I shrugged.

"I don't know. She has problems sometimes. I don't know what the hell she's doing though, because we were going to go watch a movie. Well, now I have an extra ticket... Wanna come?"

Lena smiled, and the two of us walked hand in hand over towards the cinema, "Of course."

---

It's really awkward and embarrassing for me to write anything about myself.

Arrrrggggh!

Sadly, Arlo's will be a tad bit more difficult than all the others, so it has to be moved to summer vacation. Sorry guys, but it'll be worth it (I plan, anyway.)! Maybe I'll be able to get parts of it done here and there, 'cuz we've got plenty of holidays.

NOW, I WILL SLEEP IN A COMA FOR THE NEXT 12 HOURS.