On Day 5, Conner woke up with a strange bout of energy. He was nervous, but he was also excited.

Today would be the day to make an important move!

Today would be the day to do something he had always wanted to do!

Today would be the day-

"Conner!" Charlotte yelled, cutting through Conner's inner monologue. The boy snapped to attention. "Yes sir- I mean Mom- I'm totally alert right now." he announced loudly, eliciting a chuckle from Bree.

"I found this nice board game in the house," Charlotte explained, a rectangle cardboard box in her arms. "Maybe you can use this to occupy your friends for a while, and spend some time with them," the mother suggested.

On closer inspection, the board game was a modern version of The Game of Life. Conner took it and felt some memories float back. When his dad was still alive, the family of four played the board game sometimes, but after his death and all that happened afterwards, Conner didn't get a chance to open the cardboard box again.

Charlotte seemed to recognize its sentimental value, and smiled gently. "I wiped the dust off, so it should be clean now. Now have fun!"

"Umm hello?" Conner asked as walked around, holding the box in his arms. "Anyone up for a game? Anyone?"

"A game?" Red asked curiously, before using her finger to poke at the cardboard box. Her nose scrunched in disgust. "A box? So this is what the commoners in this world do to amuse themselves. How desperate."

Conner resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "It's more than just a box, Red."

Froggy hopped over and peered at the box too. After their rather unconventional wedding, Froggy and Red were rarely seen apart. "I'm in." he decided. He shot a look at his wife. "And so is she."

"Great. We just need one more person." Conner scanned the area, and his eyes were drawn to a familiar blonde figure standing on the deck of the Dolly Llama. Oh, who was he kidding? Ever since he met her in school he had developed a talent for noticing her in the middle of the crowd. Conner wasn't sure if it was a useful skill or not, since prior to their runaway every time he saw Bree he would do something stupid, like tripping over thin air.

Bree had her earbuds plugged into both ears as she enjoyed the silence. She felt a tap on her shoulder, so she pulled one earbud out and turned to see Conner. The awkward teen shifted his feet before speaking.

"Hi." Conner said quickly. "Up for a round of The Game of Life? Froggy and Red are joining."

Bree thought it was cute that even they'd known each other for two years, Conner was still nervous and bumbling around her, and more so when he talked to her. "Sure," she agreed readily.

The four found a quiet place and laid out the board game. Conner and Bree tried to explain the rules to Froggy and Red, and Froggy listened patiently. Red tried to listen, but in the end she said, "Let's just get on already."

Conner and Bree shared a look. "Well, if you say so." Conner shrugged, and gave out the fake money to all of them.

It was a bit difficult at first, because in the Land of Stories there was no such thing as college, cars and jobs like brain surgeons and pilots. Conner had to remind Red from time to time that her place as a queen did not exist in the game, and she would get no extra benefits.

"It's a pity they don't include writers in the jobs," Conner commented.

"If they did, you and I would have to fight for it." Bree replied, absentmindedly fiddling with a card she had.

"Is it my turn? Oh yeah it is." Conner spun the wheel, and everyone watched as the hand landed on "5".

"One, two, three, four, five." Conner guided his plastic car to land on the spots. His eyes widened slightly when he saw where he landed. "Well guess who's getting married?"

"Me." Red replied immediately.

"No, in the game." Bree said.

All four peered at the space where Conner landed. Red looked confused. "So, I have to get married in this game?"

"Yes. Everyone has to." Bree explained as if it was obvious.

"Can I marry Charlie?" Red asked hopefully.

"It doesn't work like that. You can't marry other players." Conner explained as he chose a pink peg to put on his plastic car.

Red mumbled something inaudible, but accepted it.

It wasn't before long when everyone got "married", and moved on to "having children". Under Conner and Bree's advice, they all chose the "family path", which every space guaranteed at least one baby.

Red groaned when she landed on a space which said she would have twins. "Can I pass these kids onto Charlie? I don't want kids the natural way."

"Sorry, no." Bree answered. "And besides, the more kids you have, the more money you get from them in the end."

That shut Red up, and she took two blue pegs to put in her car obediently.

"Oh look! A girl!" Conner exclaimed delightedly and placed a pink peg in his car. "Who's next?"

"Well, wish me luck." Froggy spun the wheel, and unfortunately, he spun a "ten", missing all the spaces with kids and reaching the end of the "family path".

"Aww." The other three sighed in sympathy. "Poor you," Conner added.

"At least you have one more try," Bree said. "If you spin a certain number, you'll get kids too."

Froggy spun the wheel, which resulted in getting one kid. Froggy took a blue peg and said, "One's better than none."

Conner clapped his hands. "Behold the wise Froggy, teaching us the secrets of life." he mimicked a deep, booming voice. The others chuckled slightly.

It was Bree's turn, and by some stroke of luck (or the lack of it) she also spun a "ten". She sighed and said, "At least I'll have one more try."

Thankfully for her, she got triplets. "That kind of makes up for skipping all the important places." Bree shrugged. "Can I choose the genders?"

"I suppose you can." Conner replied. "I haven't read the rules in a long time (he actually had never read them, Alex was the one who did). And seriously it doesn't matter."

"I'll have two girls and one boy." Froggy passed her two pink pegs and a blue peg, and she stuck those in her car.

After the "family path", both Conner and Bree ended up with three kids, Red with four, and Froggy with one.

Both Red and Froggy subtly noticed that not only Conner and Bree had the same amount of "kids", they were also two daughters and one son. Coincidentally, they also placed their pegs in the same spots in their car.

To be honest, both Conner and Bree noticed too, but they passed it off as nothing special. It was just by chance, was it?

(In fact, it was NOT. In the future, they would get married and have one daughter, followed by a son and another daughter.)

Again, Red had landed on a space which got her another son. She stared incredulously at her full car. "I have no space! Do I abandon this one?" she added, in a somewhat hopeful tone.

Froggy plucked the blue peg from Red's fingers, and placed it between two pegs on Red's plastic car, so half of the new blue peg poked above the others, but it was held steady. "Problem solved," he said simply.

"Ooooh," Conner and Bree said in awe like spectators in a soccer match, even though that was not really special.

"You know, Froggy, you should open a blog called 'The Wisdom of the Man-Frog' and share your tips on facing problems in life." Conner joked. He had always found the friendly and calm atmosphere around his friend very welcoming.

"What's a blog?" Froggy asked.

"It's like a book, except it's about your life and you update it." Bree explained.

"Then you two should write it, since you want to be authors and all that." Froggy gave Conner and Bree a suggestion in return.

The teenagers shared a glance. "That's not a bad idea." Bree said after some pondering, already imaging a website with lily pads in the background, and the words "The Wisdom of the Man-Frog" written in a fancy calligraphy text.

"Okay okay that was just a joke." Conner said hurriedly, since he didn't want Bree to really create such a blog. "No need to take it seriously."

"By the way, are you two going to get married in the future?" Red suddenly asked straightforwardly.

"WHAT?" Conner and Bree screeched. Conner dropped the pile of fake money he had been counting, and the bills spread out messily on the board. Bree stared at Red as if she lost her head.

"Now now dear, no need to be so inquisitive in other people's love affairs." Froggy said, trying to calm the three of them.

"WE DO NOT HAVE LOVE AFFAIRS," Bree declared in an uncharacteristically loud voice, which Conner took it as Bree being really agitated, since she rarely raised her voice.

"Yet," Conner added so quietly, the others almost missed it. He grinned sheepishly as Bree shot a glare at him. Froggy gave a cough.

"But honestly Red, why do you ask?" Conner asked, trying to avoid any more awkwardness.

Red shrugged. "Since you two are writers, I'm just wondering whether your kids will be the greatest writers of all time. I can recruit them to write my dramatic, educational and sensational story." Red finished with a flourish. The others began to look slightly uneasy.

"Uhh... I don't think my future children will appreciate it." Conner said with a face that said "eww" and he tried to edge away. "If I have any children anyway," he added quickly.

From that, the others could already tell he did want children, but they remained silent about it.

"Nor will mines', if I have any." Bree seconded.

Foggy coughed for the second time that day. "Shall we continue with our game?"

After roughly ten minutes, the gang finished the game. Unsurprisingly, Red ended up as the richest, seeing she had five kids.

"I'm RICH!" Red fanned herself using her hand. "I am still the wealthiest of you all, even without my status as a queen!" She put her arm around Froggy, and smiled sweetly at Bree and Conner. "So long, peasants. I have my queen duties to do." She batted her eyelashes and sashayed away.

The teenagers stared after time, identical deadpan expressions on their faces.

"Fame has gotten to her head," Bree muttered.

"And we have to clean this up ourselves." Conner looked down at the board and the paper bills. He honestly did not mind, because it would mean more spent time with Bree.

Okay, kiddo, you got this. You got this.

God, why am I talking to myself in Mother Goose's voice?

Voice #1 chuckled, and it was Mother Goose's hearty chuckle. Because I have countless love experience, unlike you.

Voice #2 grunted. Yeah, thanks for the boost of confidence.

Conner sighed, puffing on his bangs to get them out of the way. He was so nervous, he had began to talk to himself. He was definitely crazy.

He and Bree were on the observation deck, the same one he had found her "hiding" a few days ago. It really wasn't hiding, as Conner had an idea that Bree was there purposely for him to see in a dress. At least, that was what Conner's lovesick, deranged mind thought.

Conner's palms began to get sweaty, and he hastily wiped them on his pants. Stop sweating please! You'll ruin the whole thing! He glared at his hands, as if trying to communicate with them.

So, it was time to put Conner's grand plan of "holding hands with Bree" into motion! The boy had laid out a few simple steps.

Step 1: "Casually" step closer.

Step 2: "Accidentally" touch hands.

Step 3: Hold hands.

Seemed easy enough. Conner shivered in anticipation, before walking towards Bree. Except his legs felt like lead and his movements were highly robotic. He hoped with all his might Bree would not notice, because that would just be very awkward. Just imagine the following conversation:

: So hey, trying to hold my hand?

: W-what are you talking about? Of course I'm not going to! Ha, ha, ha.

: Weirdo.

(Bree moves away from Conner. Plan- failed!)

Conner tried hard to calm his hyper imagination. Two inner voices, and a hypothetical conversation would do no good to him. Standing next to Bree, they watched the empty, quiet city together. His heart was thumping especially loudly.

Good. He had done Step 1. The boy peeked at Bree's hand, wondering if it would fit perfectly in his. He noticed her usual bracelets on her wrist, although compared to when he had first met her, she wore less accessories now.

Step 2. Conner took a breath and gently moved his hand so it brushed against Bree's fingers. The girl looked at their hands briefly before turning to admire the view, and she almost gave Conner a heart attack.

Okay okay. Now or never. NOW OR NEVER. Conner could hear his breath going in and out sharply. DAMMIT CONNER JONATHAN BAILEY, GET YOURSELF TOGETHER!

Gulping, he did it.

He did it.

Conner intertwined his fingers with Bree, carefully observing her reaction. Her eyes travelled over to their joined hands. She gripped his hand back, and the two stayed like that for a few seconds.

For those few seconds, it felt like heaven to Conner. Her hand was smaller but warm, and he felt like his emotions were about to burst out from his heart from happiness.

But then, Bree unexpectedly pulled her hand away. Conner gazed at her, shocked.

"I'm sorry Conner." Her brown eyes searched for his desperately. "I- I can't do this. I'm so sorry."

Hurriedly excusing herself, Bree ran away. Unknownst to Conner, her face was bright red, and that wasn't due to her running.

A frozen Conner stared after her. He had suddenly been yanked from heaven to hell. What had he done? Was he too bold? But she didn't pull away the first time.

Conner wanted to scream. His face drained of colour, Conner pounded the glass panes with his fists, as he was unable to vent his anger out using other methods.

He had not only screwed up his potential romantic relationship with Bree, but also their friendship. Way to go, Conner, he thought sarcastically.

Conner remembered the girl, his crush's panicked, yet upset expression. He wanted to tear his hair out in frustration.

Oh, what have I done to hurt you, Bree?

Conner placed his head on the cool glass, eyes staring sullenly at the view below as if the buildings would give him the answer.

What have I done?