"orthern Hills Annual Fundraising Event."

"Cool banner. They should have lessened on the flowers though," Sophie suggests.

"I think that the flowers are cute," I admire the little petals scattered on the banner.

"Everything is cute to you, Anna," Riley points out.

"Spiders aren't cute," I differ. "They have eight legs and twenty eyes and they have those little mustache thingies that's considered a mouth. What's cute in that?"

"I agree," Colette raises her hand.

"Jayleen has a pet spider," Riley says. "It's called Blackie. I don't know what she was thinking when she went to the pet store and decided to buy a spider as a pet."

Jayleen is Riley's ten-year-old cousin and she's the cutest thing ever. When I first met her, I had no idea how is she related to Riley. Riley has those natural Latina looks, while Jayleen is pure Korean, but then I met her mother and I understood that she took all of her traits from her mum. They are currently staying in South Korea.

"How can a cute girl like her buy a disgusting creature like a spider?" I shudder.

"I don't know. I guess it was because Rose made her watch Charlotte's Web," she replies. Rose is Jayleen's mother by the way.

"Are we done talking about Jayleen's spider at the entrance of the carnival?" Sophie asks and Riley and I nod. "Good. Let's go."

The four of us walk inside and I look around in awe. The place is fascinating. Several booths are lined up together and the amazing smell of donuts, funnel cakes, toffee apples and candy floss floats in the air making my stomach grumble. I'm not getting out of here with money after this.

I watch as a little girl tries to toss the ring around the glass bottle and it lands around the spout, making her jump up and down in enthusiasm as one of the people from school hand her a huge fluffy panda. Children zoom around as their parents chase them, making sure they are okay.

Fun fairs always gave me that cheerful feeling in the pit of my stomach. I've went to lots of fun fairs and I loved each and every one and now that I'm actually apart of taking care of one and performing at it, it sets even more joy in me.

I notice an enormous Ferris wheel and I'm surprised by the fact that they arranged having one. I even notice a carousel and a haunted hayride with the big clown face on it. Now for a girl who absolutely adores horror movies, hayrides aren't my thing and that is because of my fear of clowns. Whenever I want to get something from McDonald's, I ask mum to get it from me because I know that their mascot clown will probably be inside walking around and that is not appealing to me.

The girls and I head to our booth, the place where Jewel told us we will be handling. We are supposed to handle a balloon pop game. If I wasn't working in this, I would be going around playing every game. That is not going to stop me though. I will make the most out of this fun fair by going on the Ferris wheel and maybe I can get on the hayride too, I will just have to drag one of the guys with me (the girls don't like hayrides either). Maybe I can drag Luke with me; that's if Jennie doesn't make it her goal to snatch him first.

We walk inside our booth, which is big enough to the fit the four of us. Girls and boys start approaching our booth as soon as they notice it opening and we are soon collecting money.

About two hours later, the girls go to buy something to eat, while I handle the booth by myself (only because I told them to go buy me a funnel cake). A little girl with black hair and her mother come and she pays for a round and I give her the three darts. She sticks her tongue out of the corner of her mouth and closes one eye as she aims for one of the balloons, but she misses it.

She pouts sadly and looks down at the floor in disappointment. I walk over to her and crouch in front of her. "Hey, it's okay. You can try again," I smile at her, gesturing to the two other darts in her hand.

"Oh, she can't hear you," her mother tells me, smiling, then she turns to her daughter and signs what I said to the little girl.

She smiles widely at me and moves her hand to sign an okay. I learned sign language when I was fifteen because my grandpa is deaf and I had to know how to communicate with him, besides I was actually excited to learn ASL and I took it as a chance.

I give her another smile. "Go ahead," I sign and stand back up.

The girl's mother sends me a grateful look and smiles, then I smile back at her. The little girl once again aims for the balloon and throws the dart, only for her to miss it again. Her happy expression falters for a moment before she pulls it back on and tries aiming for the balloon again. She jumps up and down excitedly when it pops one of the balloons, then she runs to her mum and hugs her tightly before she skips back to me.

I crouch down in front of her. "Which one do you want?" I move my hands, asking her to gesture for the teddy bears.

She points at a medium-sized blue bear and I get it off of the wall, then I hand it to her. She pulls it tightly to her chest. The girl then wraps her arms around me in a hug and I hug her back.

She pulls away. "Thank you," she signs off.

"You're welcome," I smile at her.

"Bye," she waves and I wave back at her. She skips to her mother and holds up the bear to show it to her and the mother smiles, bending down to kiss her daughter's head.

I stand back up from my position and turn around, only to crash into a person. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to-" I pause my start of a rambling apology when I notice that it's Luke.

"Oh, hi," I smile.

"Hey, Cherries," he smiles back and places his hand in jean pockets.

"How long have you been standing there exactly?" I ask him.

"Long enough to see what happened with the girl," he replies honestly.

"You stood there for a whole thirteen minutes and thirty two seconds?" I question.

"Fourteen minutes, yes," he nods. "Don't make me feel like an idiot."

"You are an idiot though, hence the nickname," I tell him.

"Ouch," he says with a smirk on his lips.

I shrug and give him one of my 'sorry not sorry' smiles, then I slide back into the booth and add the five dollar bill that I got from the girl to the pile of cash that we already collected.

"That was cute, by the way," Luke comments, leaning on the booth in front of me.

"What was?" I question, counting the money.

"What happened with the girl," he answers.

I look up at him to find him smiling at me with the two dimples visible on both corners of his mouth and I smile back, feeling my cheeks burn up. "I was just helping her. It's nothing really."

"It's still cute," he insists.

"Thank you, I guess," I respond. "Where are the guys?"

"The booth," he replies.

"You left them with Seth?" Poor them.

"Too cruel?" He questions.

I chuckle. "A bit. Actually, no–a lot."

"He was annoying me. I had to leave before I punch him again," he defends.

"What did he do?"

"Exist," he simply answers.

"You're so mean," I laugh, placing the money back in the metal box and locking it.

"Not my problem," Luke responds, shrugging. "You're going to get on any of those?" He points at the rides.

"The Ferris wheel; yes and I was thinking about bringing Alex with me to the haunted hayride since I wanna try it and the girls hate hayrides," I tell him.

"You're going with Alex?" He raises an eyebrow with a slight edge in his voice.

"Yeah," I answer. "I figured that you might be hanging out with Jennie and I know that Zach is going to be hiding behind me the entire time when I'm the one who needs someone to hide behind, so I thought that Alex might be the best choice."

"We can go later. I'm sure Jennie wouldn't mind."

"Really?" I jump up in excitement and smile widely.

A small smile plays on his lips and he nods. "Yeah and we can bring Alex along, if you want," he adds.

"Okay," I nod my head enthusiastically.

"Babe!"

I resist an eye roll when I notice the person approaching and I turn back to the booth, pretending I'm busy with the money box.

"Hey, Jen," Luke greets her.

"Hello, Anna," Jennie states and I turn to her.

I give her a smile. "Hi, Jennie." I take notice of the big buff man standing close by, watching our interaction intently. I frown slightly. That's weird. I just brush it off and focus my attention back on Jennie and Luke.

"So, baby, I was wondering if we could go to the hayride later?" Jennie asks Luke, smiling and placing her hand on his arm.

"Sorry, Jen, I'm going with Alex and Cherries," he tells her and her expression falls. "We could go to the Ferris wheel later though."

"Yeah, that sounds good," she mumbles.

My phone buzzes in my trousers' pocket and I get it out to find a text message from Sophie.

I chuckle slightly to myself and text back a reply.

I slip the phone back in my pocket after turning it off. "So, Anna, how come you're not wearing one of your hoodies today?" Jennie asks, twirling one of her afro's locks around her finger.

I look down at the white T-shirt that has the school's logo on it, then look back up. "Maybe because this is what we're supposed to wear?" I answer, raising an eyebrow.

"Right, of course," she nods with a slight fake smile on her face.

I wear hoodies more than anything to avoid any type of judgmental looks from people. I could be confident and wear shorts and t-shirts, but I can't be like that. Insecurity is basically my thing. And let's face it, I don't have to shave when it comes to trousers and hoodies. I only do it when I really have to wear shorts or t-shirts or dresses.

"Right," I smile back, hoping that the disgust in my smile is evident. I'm actually being mean. Man, am I going to regret this.

Luke raises an eyebrow at me as in 'what' and I just shrug at him because I'm pretty confused about what kind of conversation is this too.

"I don't know why, but I really do think that you have a problem with me," she says, tapping her chin.

"I don't know, Jennie," I reply. "How about you answer that one for me since 'Asians are so stupid'?" I air quote her words and she tenses.

I'm so going to regret this.

I'll have to go pray in apology for that when I get home, maybe even apologize to mum, even though she thinks that some people deserve the worst treatment.

"I'm sorry, what?" Luke butts in, raising an eyebrow.

"I have no idea what are you talking about," she lies, avoiding any type of eye contact with Luke.

"Jennie, I need to talk to you for a moment," he demands, his voice dropping a couple of octaves into its deep demeanor.

"Um..yeah, sure," she mumbles out, then she walks away.

"I'll text you later, okay?" Luke tells me and I nod, smiling. He sends me a smile back before he follows Jennie.

I let out a huge breath from my mouth. That just happened. The girls finally show up and Sophie hands me my funnel cake. "Thank you," I smile, taking it from her.

"Where did alien and Luke go?" Sophie furrows her eyebrows.

"Alien?" Colette asks in confusion.

"Jennie," Sophie explains and Lottie's mouth forms into an 'o' shape before she snickers to herself along with Riley.

I shake my head at them and take a bite out of the sugary funnel cake. "They weft," I muffle before swallowing down.

"I'm going with Luke and Alex to the hayride later though." I inform them. "You guys wanna come?"

"Nope," Riley shakes her head.

"We're good," Sophie adds on.

"You have fun," Colette joins with a mischievous tone.

"Alex is coming with us," I repeat sternly. "Don't get any ideas."

"Not gonna stop us," Sophie sings playfully.

"I know," I sing too, mocking her and she laughs.

"Hi, guys," Jewel approaches us with a smile.

"Hey, Jewel," the four of us greet her back.

"When will you guys be ready to perform?" She crosses her arms, smiling.

The girls and I gape at her. "What–what are you talking about?" I let out a nervous chuckle.

"I know that you are TNC. It's super obvious," she says. "Our school is just too dumb to figure it out."

"True," we agree.

She giggles. "So, when will you be ready?"

"Whenever you want," Sophie responds.

"Just tell us twenty minutes before it, so we can change," I add.

"Got it," she gives us two thumbs up. "I will text Sophie to tell you when. Is that good?"

"Yup," Riley nods.

"Good. See you later," she waves, turning around.

"Bye," we wave back at her.

"That's another person," Colette says.

"At least, they're friends," I take another bite from the cake.

"I can't imagine Jennie finding out," Sophie states.

"Or Alison from The Umbrella Academy," Riley says.

"Why Alison out of all of them?" I wonder.

"Because she's the rumor girl," she answers.

"I'm sure she wouldn't care about that," I tell Riley.

"How are you so sure?" she narrows her eyes.

"Cause she has a daughter and she's too busy wasting her rumors on her," I reply.

"That's true," she agrees.

Another boy comes and hands us a five dollar bill for a round and Sophie takes it from him, then she gives him the three darts. He pops all three of the balloons and Riley gives him a large panda. He walks away with a smile on his face.

"How much did we collect?" Colette asks.

"One-hundred and fifty-five dollars now," I answer.

"We will definitely reach two-hundred by that rate, maybe even more," Riley says.

*Ting*

New text message from Idiot.

"Why are you smiling?" A feminine voice whispers in my ear and I shriek, jumping in the air.

Sophie laughs and I narrow my eyes at her. "You really need to stop doing that."

"Nope," she answers. "Who were you texting?"

That's when I notice that Riley and Colette aren't here and I frown. "Where are Riley and Lottie?"

"They went to get something to drink," she replies. "Who were you texting?" She repeats.

"Luke," I tell her.

"I knew it," she smiles and pokes my side repeatedly.

"Stop it," I laugh, pushing her hand away.

"Let me guess, you need to go the hayride?" She guesses.

"Yeah. You'll be fine handling the booth on your own?" I question, suddenly feeling guilty.

"Don't worry about me, girl. Go have fun," she pushes me lightly.

"Are you sure?" I ask. "I can wait until the girls come back."

"Nope, it's okay. They'll be here in a few," Sophie insists. "Now go and spend time with your future boyfriend or I will drag you by your hair there."

"Okay, okay, I'm leaving," I tell her.

"Bye," she stretches out the 'y'. "I'll text you when Jewel does." I nod in response.

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