Thomas quickly exited the school, a strange sense of embarrassment creeping over him. He wasn't sure if Carter had figured out his feelings for him, and the idea of being rejected, especially in such a public way, felt too overwhelming. He had planned to walk home with Carter, but today, he decided against it. Instead, he hurried down the sidewalk, clutching his bag strap tightly, his head down.

But then, a voice called out behind him.

"Thomas!"

Thomas jumped, snapping out of his daze, and looked up. He froze, then turned his head to the left, before fully turning around.

"C-Carter?" Thomas stammered. Carter was walking towards him.

"Hey, why did you leave without me?" Carter asked.

"I-I... uh..." Thomas struggled to find words.

"Come on, let's walk together from here," Carter said, giving Thomas a playful shove on the arm. Thomas blinked, still unsure. Did... did he not catch on to what Abby meant? he wondered.

As he stood there, lost in thought, Carter noticed Thomas wasn't moving and got concerned. "T-Thomas? Why are you still back there?"

Thomas quickly shook his head. "I-I'm coming!" His face flushed red as he hurried to catch up.

Once they were walking side by side, a silence fell between them. Thomas couldn't find the right words, but Carter broke the quiet. "Um... is what Abby said true?"

Oh no... Thomas thought, his entire face turning bright red as he glanced at Carter. "Um..."

Carter's eyes met his, and in that moment, Thomas couldn't help but think how much cuter Carter looked. He quickly looked away. "Y-Yeah..."

The silence stretched on.

"I never knew you liked me," Carter said, his voice soft. "When did you...?"

Thomas had liked Carter from the moment they met, the very first day he transferred schools. He hadn't grown up in Toronto—he'd lived in the United States, and before that, England. Originally, the plan had been to live on the island his dad was planning to dad buy, but life had other plans. They'd ended up moving to the US, and then, after a year, to Canada. Back in the States, he'd had no friends. His love for trains, despite the trauma of accidentally crushing people with his engine form when he was young. Loving trains made him a target for bullying. That was one of the reasons his family had moved—to get away from the teasing. When he transferred to the new school in Canada, he was certain the same thing would happen, so he kept everything about himself a secret.

But then he saw Carter. It was the walk from school, and Carter was in front of him on the sidewalk.

Thomas saw the something drop from the boy in front of him, it was a pencil—one of those cute, decorated ones. He picked it up, and was going to hand it to the kid. "Hey, you dropped this," he'd said.

Carter had turned around, and Thomas couldn't take his eyes off him. The dark hair the covered his left eye, his adorable tired expression. For some reason Thomas just felt blown away randomly.

"Oh... Thanks, this is my favorite pencil, I should of put it in a better spot-" Carter had said. "I should've put it in a safer place."

From that moment on, they'd always walked home together. And Carter was the first—and only—person Thomas had ever shared his secret with at that time.

"Wow, you really had a crush on me the moment I turned around?" Carter said, looking at Thomas in surprise.

Thomas nodded, his voice quiet. "Y-Yeah..."

He glanced over at Carter. "Um... it's okay... if you don't want to go to the dance—"

"No," Carter interrupted. "I want to go with you."

Thomas's eyes widened. "Come again?"

Carter blushed a little. "I'd want to go... but I've never been on a date before... especially... at a dance..."

That's when Thomas realized he'd never been on a date either. "Oh... right..."

"I don't mean to sound dumb," Carter said, scratching his head. "But... is there a way we could... go as a date, but still have all our friends come with us?"

"You mean Mei and the others? Like a group thing?" Thomas asked.

"Maybe she has a date already..." Carter said, shaking his head. "She probably wouldn't want to bring friends along."

Thomas remembered how Mei had been talking about aiming for either Tyler or Miriam to be her date, but knowing Mei, he was pretty sure she wouldn't mind if a few friends tagged along. "I know Mei. She definitely wouldn't mind."

"You know Mei?" Carter chuckled. "You've only been friends with her for what, a week?"

"She's easy to get to know," Thomas shrugged.

"Bye, Thomas!" Carter waved, smiling as Thomas headed toward his driveway. Thomas smiled back, waving as he walked up to the front door. Just before opening it, he tapped on the door. "Hello, son!" His dad's voice called out. "That's you, right? You better not be a burglar."

"It's me, Dad!" Thomas said, kicking off his shoes and closing the door behind him. As he walked past the kitchen and toward his room to drop off his school bag, his dad raised an eyebrow. "You seem rather cheerful," his dad smiled.

"Oh! U-Um... I... technically got a date..." Thomas mumbled.

"A date?! Oh! ... Um, tonight? Uh... Do you need me to drive you anywhere?"

"W-What? No, a date for the dance!"

"Oh! Alright! Do you need me to pick you and your date up for that?"

"Uh... no! I'm good!"

Thomas pushed his bedroom door open. Carter doesn't need to hear Dad talk about how I was when I was a baby... he thought as he dropped his bag. Looking up at the mirror, he blinked.

"...Carter agreed to go on a date with me..." he said, his voice still in disbelief. "...My crush... said yes... He said YES! HAHA!" he shouted, letting out an excited laugh.

"...Wait, Carter?" His dad called from downstairs.

"...Did... I say that out loud?"

His dad walked in, grinning. "Well, finally! I was wondering when that was gonna happen—"

"Ugh, daaaad! Get out!" Thomas groaned, throwing a sock at him.

Saturday arrived, and Monday was the big day—the Valentine's dance. Mei was at the temple with her mom, Ming. After the "Panda Apocalypse of 2002" had left the SkyDome in pieces, it was up to Mei and Ming to raise money to repair the giant stadium. After a year, they were almost there, but it wasn't finished yet. The school had wanted to host a Valentine's dance for years, but the building wasn't big enough for their plans.

The only place that could accommodate it? The SkyDome.

But every year around this time there is always something going on there, whether it be a sports event, or another boy band coming to perform, or a convention.

Since 2002, it's been closed for the construction, so it's of course been dead silent over there. So, the school saw there chance when they said they where reopening the SkyDome while it undergoes the last stretch of construction it has left to do.

Mei and Ming had volunteered to help with the event, though Mei had to bring some supplies herself since her mother was busy. "It's no big deal, I can just take the tram..." Mei thought.

But then she turned into her panda form, picked up the now lighter box, and realized there were way more boxes to carry than she had expected. "Oh no... What the? There were this many?"

And to make matters worse, the trams didn't run on Saturdays.

That meant Mei had two options—either walk all the way to the SkyDome (a long journey), or wait for her mom to come back. "Urggg..." Mei groaned. "The people at the SkyDome are waiting for these, and they need them soon..."

So, she then got her friends to help. She quickly ran back into the temple, found her flip phone her mom gave her for her birthday, and dialed her best friend's numbers.

Thankfully, they were all free and showed up in about ten minutes.

"Yo, Mei!" Tyler greeted her.

"What's up? You sounded stressed or something..." Miriam asked, concerned.

"Yeah, is everything okay?" Abby added.

"No, not really. We need to get these boxes to the SkyDome for the Valentine's dance, but my mom isn't here, and the stupid trams aren't running!"

"Can't you just carry them in your Panda form?" Tyler asked, clearly confused.

"I could, but I'm not sure if the things inside the boxes are fragile. You know I run fast in this form—I could break something if they fall of my back,"

"Yeah, they could be glass cups or something for refreshments," Abby said, nodding.

Miriam shook her head. "Nah, most stuff like these dances have it where they uses plastic cups."

"I don't think they'll trust middle schoolers with glass," Priya chimed in.

Mei sighed. "I'm just worried we'll be late with the delivery. The boxes might have things needed to build something... I'm not sure what."

Then, they heard familiar voices. Mei looked down the road and saw Thomas and Carter walking together. "Oh! Hey, Thomas! Hey, Carter!" Mei called out.

Thomas nearly tripped in surprise at her loud voice. "O-Oh! I'm sorry, didn't mean to startle you!" Mei apologized.

Tyler chuckled. "These nerds..." he muttered, though Mei heard him and quickly punched his arm. "Ow!" Tyler yelped.

"Where are you two going?" Miriam asked.

"We're just heading to the ice cream shop down the road," Carter answered. They walked over to Mei and her friends.

Abby raised an eyebrow. "Going on a little date before the big one, huh~?" she teased.

"Ugh, Abby, stop—" Mei groaned, while Thomas and Carter blushed.

"Um... Well..." Carter said, scratching the back of his head.

"Wait... Date?" Tyler asked, confused.

Mei didn't answer him, instead asking Thomas for help. "Hey, Thomas, I know you and Carter are busy, but... do you think your dad could help us with his car?"

Thomas tilted his head. "His car? What for?"

"Mei's mom is out, and we need to get these boxes delivered to the SkyDome," Priya explained.

Thomas looked at the piles of boxes. He wanted to help, but his dad was also out doing errands. He had only called Carter to hang out because he was bored and didn't want to stay home alone.

"Ugh, great... What are we going to do now..." Mei muttered.

Thomas took another look at the boxes. He didn't know exactly what they were, but he knew they were important for the dance. He didn't want it to be delayed because they couldn't get the supplies in time.

That's when he made a risky decision.

Just in front of the temple was the tram depot, where all the trams were stored. Since none of them were running today, the area was quiet. Those boxes could fit in my cab... he thought.

He hesitated for a moment. He'd kept his engine form hidden for so long... was he finally going to let it lose for this?