Chapter 4
"You've never been in this part of town before?" Yuri asked Diane.
"No, it's my first time here," she said. "I usually just stayed at the school."
"What was it like there?" The child asked.
"Honestly, it wasn't the best," Diane replied sadly. "I played the violin a lot, becoming a good violinist, but...not everyone liked that I was so good at it."
"Bullies?" Iben asked gently.
"Yeah," the young woman replied. "Everyone was just so jealous of me, I guess. And that night they threw me in the dumpster. I don't know what I would have done if Jake hadn't found me and Balan hadn't taken us in."
Yuri hugged her. "You don't have to worry about them again," she said.
"She's right," Iben said, also hugging the young woman. "It's going to be okay. When you're with Balan, he won't let anything bad happen to you again."
Those words put a smile on Diane's face. "He really is amazing," she said. "And it seems he really cares about others."
"He does," Yuri said. "He is always looking out for us and if we have problems, he helps us work through them."
She then spotted some of the stores and grinned. "So you really have never been here before?" She asked again.
"Nope," Diane answered honestly.
"Well, you're going to love this part of town," Iben said with a smile. "It has some amazing shops that we love to check out."
Diane smiled as she followed them into one of the shops that sold all kinds of clothes and accessories. Yuri gasped happily as she found a butterfly hair clip while Iben found a pair of earrings shaped like snowflakes. The pink-haired woman looked around until something caught her eye and she gasped as she saw something that she knew she wanted to get.
It was a beautiful silver necklace with a dual-colored heart gem pendant and the colors were green and pink, the green reminding her of Jake and the pink reminding her of herself. Yuri smiled as she saw it too. "That's a really cool necklace and totally you, Diane," she said.
"You should get it," Iben encouraged her.
Diane nodded. "I will," she said. "It's just perfect."
The girls found a few more things before making their purchases and heading back for the theater, smiling and enjoying themselves.
Back at the theater, Jake and Leo were hanging out with the young man playing the guitar while the teen was dancing to the music. They were practicing for a show and the music caught the attention of the other inhabitants, who came to watch them and when the two finished, the others cheered for them. Jake was a bit surprised, but smiled and Leo grinned, introducing the young man to the inhabitants, who all greeted him warmly before Ladderman came up to them.
"Hey, guys," he said. "Myself and the other costumes need some help in the back garden."
"What's up, Ladderman?" Leo asked as they all followed him to the garden.
"Best to have you guys see it," the costume replied.
When they got there, they saw a large green Tim with brown bunny ears was skittishly backing up into a corner, looking a bit scared. It was large enough for a normal-sized person to ride on. "Huh, that's odd," the blonde-haired boy commented.
"What's odd?" Jake asked curiously.
"The Tim's behavoir," Lucy said helpfully. "They are not usually so afraid."
"Wonder what's got him so nervous?" Eis said thoughtfully.
"Don't know, but we can't seem to calm him down," Ladderman said, gesturing to the other costumes that were trying to calm the large Tim down, but it seemed afraid of them and didn't want them coming near him.
"Aww, the poor thing looks terrified," Sana said sympathetically.
Jake noticed the Tim was the same color as his hair and he looked thoughtful before deciding to see what he can do. "Let me try," he said as he walked over to the big Tim, the other costumes moving aside to give the young man space as he slowly walked up to the large Tim, his hands in front of him in a calm, open manner.
To everyone's surprise and relief, the large Tim seemed to be calming down as its fearful expression turned into a calm and joyful look as Jake approached it. Taking this as a good sign, the young man reached up and gently petted its forehead. "It's okay, big fella," he said in a soft, soothing voice.
Leo approached the large Tim, who saw him and immediately grew afraid again. Noticing this, Jake gently petted the Tim's side to help him calm down again. "Don't worry. He's a friend of mine and so is everyone else here," he soothed and the Tim's expression changed to one of calmness again.
"Looks like he trusts you," said Frost Fairy with a smile.
"I wonder what happened that he was so scared," Fiona said curiously.
Jake was curious too and thought for a moment. "Maybe he was afraid his size would scare off people and he didn't want that," he said.
The Tim nodded before nuzzling Jake's side and chirping cutely, hoping for a few treats. "Aww, look at that," Soaring Sheep said with a smile. "He's asking for some treats."
Jake remembered Balan said the Tims ate the drops that were in the various worlds of Wonderworld, but he didn't have any on him. Fiona walked up to him and kindly gave him some. "Come visit our worlds sometime and you can collect these for the Tims," she said with a smile.
"Thanks," he said before feeding the big Tim, who chirped happily before nodding upwards towards its head, making Jake realize the big Tim wanted him to climb up and ride on top of him.
Leo grinned. "He wants to give you a ride," he said.
"Not sure how I'm going to get up there though," the young man said.
"Here, I'll help," Cal said, coming forward and giving Jake a boost.
"Thanks," he said before the Tim began floating off the ground and flying through the air. "Whoa," he said in surprise as the Tim chirped happily.
Jake was enjoying this. "I've never been flying like this before," he admitted, giving the Tim a gentle ear scratch, which the creature enjoyed immensely. The young man then spotted Diane, Iben, and Yuri returning from shopping and he saw the young girl point upwards and he waved to them when they looked up and they waved back with smiles.
"Whoa," Diane said in surprise. "Is that a Tim?"
"Yup!" Yuri said with a giggle.
"Some do grow large like that," Iben said. "That one must have attached itself to Jake."
The three continued on to the theater while the Tim continued flying around with Jake on his head. After hours of flying around the clouds, evening had arrived and the big Tim landed down gently in the back garden again, allowing Jake to slide down its side. "Thanks for the ride," he said to the large creature, giving it some more drops, to which it chirped happily and nuzzled him before heading with the other Tims to the Isle.
Jake smiled and headed back into the theater, meeting up with Leo and picking up the guitar so that they could practice for a bit longer before the performance. "How was the flight?" Leo asked.
"It was awesome," the young man said.
The teen grinned before looking curious. "I wonder why you were the only one to calm it down," he said. "I've never seen a Tim look so afraid of someone before."
"I don't know," Jake replied honestly before they headed for the stage room, only to find the stage destroyed. "Whoa, what happened?"
Slow Tortoise came up to them. "Sorry, guys," he said. "There was an accident earlier when me and some of the other costumes were performing. We're working to fix the stage now, but it won't be ready until tomorrow morning."
"Aw, man," Leo said in disappointment. "That means Emma and I can't do our performance tonight."
"I'm afraid so," the costume said apologetically.
Leo went to the living room and sat down on the couch, a bit upset that he and Emma couldn't do their performance they had been working on and Jake noticed before coming up with an idea to cheer up his friend. Going towards the kitchen, he found Diane and Emma in the hallway and they were smiling.
"You're a really good violinist, Diane," she said.
"Thank you," the young woman said. "I'm surprised everyone liked my performance."
"You performed earlier?" Jake asked curiously.
Diane smiled. "Yes," she said. "Everyone asked if they could hear me play and I couldn't refuse. Balan found me a violin to use and everyone loved the performance."
The young man grew worried. "The stage didn't collapse on you, did it?" He asked.
"Oh, no, that was after her performance," Emma said. "Iron Panda was working on an act with Slow Tortoise, Web Wrangler, and Jumping Jack and when Iron Panda was about to land on the floor, Slow Tortoise tried to stop his fall with his powers, but missed and the stage collapsed after Iron Panda landed on it. No one got hurt, but it did surprise us."
Jake was relieved to hear no one got hurt. "Leo's a bit bummed that you and him couldn't perform your act tonight," he said.
"Well, maybe we can do it tomorrow night," Emma said. "Balan did say the stage would be fixed by tomorrow morning."
Jake nodded. "I'm going to make something for Leo to cheer him up," he said. "You girls want to help?"
"Sure," Diane said.
"Yeah!" Emma said excitedly.
The three headed for the kitchen and sometime later, Jake went to go find Leo, who was still in the living room, gazing at the floor. "Hey, Leo," he said, sitting on the couch next to the boy.
"Hey, Jake," he said, sitting up to give his friend his full attention.
It was quiet for a bit before they began talking about their talents in music. "I learned a lot of my dance moves from movies and watching some famous dancers," Leo said. "I practiced those moves and still do."
"That's a good way to learn," Jake said, smiling. "My dad taught me how to play guitar and my mom always loved to hear me play."
"You've got some great talent, Jake," the boy said.
"So do you, Leo," the young man said, making the blonde-haired boy feel better. "By the way, I have something for you."
Leo looked curious and his eyes widened when Jake pulled out a candy apple and gave it to him. "Where did you get this?" He asked curiously.
"Diane, Emma, and I made them," Jake said. "I knew how upset you were about you and Emma not being able to perform tonight, so I thought something sweet would cheer you up."
The boy smiled at him. "Thanks, Jake," he said.
The young man ruffled the boy's hair in affection before the teen took a bite out of the candy apple, enjoying the treat immensely.
Later on, Diane was looking for Jake as something was on her mind and she found him in the hallway playing with a few of the Tims, a sight that made the young woman smile before she went up to the young man, who smiled at her before accepting the hand she held out to help him up. "Hey, Jake, there's something I want to talk about to you," she said.
The young man suspected something was up, but nodded. "Sure," he said as the Tims headed down the hallway.
They headed for outside the theater and Diane turned to him. "Jake...the reason I wanted to talk to you alone is because I wanted to know something," she said before taking a deep breath. "Are you a famous racer?"
A sad expression came over Jake's face and he let out a sad sigh, looking away from her, his reaction telling her she was right. She immediately felt bad as she could now see it was a sore subject. "I'm sorry," she said. "You don't have to answer that."
"No, it's okay," he said before looking at her. He then took a deep breath and looked out at the sky, to which Diane followed his gaze, standing beside him as he began to speak. "I am a famous racer," he said. "My parents always cared for me and believed I could become a famous racer when I was younger. The Corvette that I race was a birthday gift from them when I turned sixteen."
He paused before smiling. "I love racing," he said. "It's a thrill that you don't forget."
"I can imagine," she said with a smile.
Jake's smile then fell and he sighed, which told Diane that what he was about to say next wasn't going to be happy. "My folks...they passed away a year ago," he said softly.
"Oh, Jake, I'm so sorry," she said, hugging him in sympathy.
He appreciated the gesture. "It was tough, but I kept racing until two months ago."
She knew what he meant as the crash had been mentioned in a newspaper she had read a couple of days prior. She saw Jake looked sadder now. "The crash may have broken most of my body, but when the racing world and the people who believed in me quit on me, that hurt the worst.
"I didn't become a racer just because I wanted to. I became a racer because of the people who believed in me that I could become a racer, but now...I've lost everyone who believed in me. I haven't been able to race since."
Diane felt her heart breaking for him when she heard all that and felt sorry for him, seeing how sad he was. She gently cupped the left side of his face, making him look at her. "Jake, I believe you can still be a great racer just as much as I love you," she said honestly and with heart.
Touched by her kind words, Jake smiled at her. "Thanks, Diane," he said, gently touching her hand with his. "I love you too."
The two moved their faces closer and a moment later, both were sharing their first kiss. After a few moments, they parted, smiling at each other before heading into the theater, not seeing Balan was watching them from the window and he smiled, happy at what he saw. "Looks like those two meeting up wasn't just coincidence," he said to himself.
He may not have known what caused Jake so much pain, but he could see that the boy was beginning to heal, thanks to Diane.
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