Welcome back, everyone. Due to Cleo's purple hair being referred to as brunette and black, I have come to the conclusion it is simply a very dark brown in-universe. Unfortunately, due to a lack of comment on Miriam's dull pink hair, and Abby's dark blue hair, I had to make a stab at what it is actually supposed to be. Enjoy and review.

Zane and Miriam

Leaving the Juicy Bar, Lance and Rikki soon found themselves bumping into another couple of friends… Just not friends of the latter, but in the case of one of them it very much depended on the situation. They were Zane Bennett and Miriam Kent, the son of a successful entrepreneur who primarily operated in and around Dolphin City and the daughter of the mayor. While the identity of Miriam's father would have meant something to Lance, after all he was not a citizen of Dolphin City, the identity of Zane's would have meant absolutely nothing to him. He was just another businessman that Lance had never heard of, the world was full of them.

Upon seeing Miriam's hair, Lance's eyes widened and a flabbergasted expression appeared upon his ruddy countenance. Her hair was so light in colouration he couldn't tell if it was red or blonde… Maybe it was reddish-blonde? What did reddish-blonde even look like, he had no idea. Was that her natural hair colour or did she dye it?

Upon seeing Lance and Rikki, Zane inquired: "Who's this, Rikki? You replacing me with someone else? With eyes like his I'm surprised he can even show his face in public!"

From his arrogant tone, Lance took the guy to be someone Rikki was very much familiar with. A jerk with a crush no doubt, though how much of a jerk he could be, Lance could only guess.

"His eyes?" Miriam gave a small laugh and pointed at Lance's nose. "If I had that for a nose, I wouldn't show my face in public!"

Immediately, Lance replied with: "Better my eyes and nose than that bad dye job you've got!"

As a half-offended, half-wrathful expression spread across Miriam's features, Rikki could only smile while Zane himself held back a laugh.

Turning to Zane, Rikki said: "Zane Bennett, this is Lance Carter. He is new to Dolphin City." Still smiling, Rikki then looked at Lance and said: "Lance, this is Miriam Kent, her dad's the mayor."

Unsure of what to say to two individuals who had insulted him, Lance merely looked away. What could he have even said about Zane? He didn't seem to have a bad dye job, his eyes looked better, his nose looked better… The girls must have been crazy about him, though Lance couldn't imagine Rikki was, however Lance could only wonder if Miriam felt jealous that Zane had eyes for Rikki instead of her.

What was he doing? He barely knew these people and he was already making conjectures about what was going on in their lives?

"Carter?" Zane asked. "Why does that name sound so familiar?"

"I'm no relation to Jim or Jimmy Carter if that is your question." Commented Lance, only to wrinkle his brow. Jim and Jimmy? Those were the two Carters he went with? One was an actor known for works such as "Black Beauty", the "Julius Caesar" episode of "Shakespeare: the Animated Tales" and "Shakespeare in Love" while the other was just some dude. On the other hand, there were only three other unrelated Carters he knew and John Carter was fictional.

"Who the heck is Jim Carter?" asked Miriam.

Lance simply replied: "He's an actor."

Miriam's reply was merely to raise a hand and walk by, saying: "If I've never heard of him, he can't be a good one."

Without saying a word, Zane followed after, though not before pausing to look back at Lance and Rikki. What for? Lance had no idea he couldn't tell if Zane had just been making a joke or legitimately felt threatened by Rikki spending time with him. Could it have been both? Could it have been neither? How was he supposed to know?