The matinee starts at ten, so we'll meet up at the mall around nine! -- Mary had texted us these words after school on Friday. Well, to all of us except for Ellie. Whom we were trying to surprise at her job. She was working at the Fun Castle up at the mall now as a waiter-slash-performer -- or was it the other way around? Anyway. The establishment, run by Phineas Taylor Barnum the Second, was a restaurant and carnival deal; the restaurant was above the average eatery, for sure, but it was definitely everything else that made it golden. There were all sorts of mini-productions and skits that happened, and there were exhibits galore in the wings of the place. On special occasions the place apparently went full-circus--not in the crazy sense, mind you, but in the classic sense. I mean the good old kind of circus. But anyhow.

So after a lot of surprised looks from my parents after saying goodbye on my way out the door (“He's awake?! On a Saturday?! Before nine!?” my mother had almost shrieked -- “Now, Shirley, calm down, give the boy some faith!” my dad returned), I was half-asleep on a city bus that was rolling along to the next stop, where Andrea and Rachel got on, both of them sitting in the row with me. Rachel snuggled next to me at once, while the older girl smiled. I put an arm around my girlfriend, and smiled back at Andrea.

“What about Mary and Anhe?” I asked her.

“I think Anhe's mother is taking them up, and joining us for the fun, too.” the redhead returned, taking off her glasses to wipe them with a piece of cloth as she softly grumbled about the lenses. “But anyway, Sean,” she then said as she put them back on, “Do you have anything to say?” she asked with a mischievous smile.

I was stuck for a moment, and then my cheeks reddened as I caught on. Rachel was wearing a super nice dress with leaf-like patterns, with colors of red, orange, and gold, along with her fancy shoes. And Andrea was wearing a dark green one with lighter green sleeves that had polka-dots. Both girls were also wearing their hair differently; Rachel wasn't sporting her usual side-tail, letting it hang back naturally, and Andrea had a green hair-clip holding her bangs back.

“Y-you look nice... today, both of you, that is...” I replied, suddenly feeling a bit goofy for going with my usual nondescript casual outfit. But Rachel giggled, nuzzling against my shoulder.

“Thank you, lover-boy!” Andrea replied teasingly.

“Ah-heh-heh,” I softly laughed. Pheeewwww... I sighed inwardly, relieved to have passed that test of social interaction with high school girls.

“Hah, you're clueless now and again, but it'd be nice to have a boyfriend like you...” the older girl then sighed wistfully.

“You can't have him, Andi, he's mine.” Rachel quipped back at once.

T-time to lay low.

“I know that!” the other girl softly whined, then mumbled inaudibly.

“Sean, if I hadn't come to school here, would you have dated one of the other girls eventually?” Rachel then asked me. I almost jerked out of my seat.

It's a hypothetical. It's super hypothetical. She won't get mad if it's just a hypothetical, right? Or would she? Uh-oh. Is there a right answer? No, I mean, is there an answer that won't lead to me making her upset? Or even losing points... even though Ellie's usually the point-taker of the group... I could end up with minus two-hundred if I say the wrong thing... or maybe even if I say nothing... uhh... what do I do... what do I say?!

“Sean?” she poked me.

“Ahh...”

Let's go for the obvious answer.

“I probably wouldn't have the guts to approach any of them anyway, so the point is kind of moot...” I said with a faint smile.

“Hmm...” Rachel gazed at me intently, then smiled. “That's fair!” she said, but then the smile turned to a smirk. “But what if one of them had asked you out?” she prodded.

No fair!!

“Hmm... I told Rachel once that I was at least kind of planning to, probably... I know that someone else was definitely going to...” Andrea remarked innocently.

“Hyeh?!” I returned in bafflement.

“I mean before you got here, he looked so hopeless and lonely, I just wanted to see if I could make him smile a bit more!” the older girl continued to Rachel, who let out a grin.

“I can see that!” she giggled.

“Nyah!?”

“Look, even right now, he's so hopeless!” Andrea beamed.

“True!” my girlfriend agreed. I made meaningless noises in an indignant fashion, and then coughed as I settled back into my seat, pretending, like a cat, that nothing had happened.

“But I can tell you that Ellie would definitely never have gone for him.”

“Hmm... I guess not, huh? She doesn't seem the romantic-type at all,” Rachel nodded.

“You'd be surprised. He's just not her thing.” the redhead shrugged.

“So Sean,” Rachel then turned to me again. A stammered-cough came from my throat. “Andrea... Mary... or Anhe?” she asked with a grin.

“I-isn't it k-kind of moot, now?” I wondered with quiet desperation.

“True! But I am really curious, now.” she told me.

“… I guess it would depend on who asked first... but Anhe would definitely have never asked me, I bet.”

“That's true,” Andrea agreed. “Hahh... I would never have asked first.” she then said, and I suddenly realized I had left myself open to being criticized as one of those guys by making so ambiguous an answer -- from which Andrea had delicately saved me.

“I still can't believe Mary had a crush on him all that time and never said anything...” Rachel remarked.

W-what kind of conversations do I miss when the real girls gather together?

“There's no blame to go around there.” the older girl shrugged. “I heard she wanted to ask him around Christmas or Valentine's. Things just didn't go in her favor,” she softly smiled. “But she's happy about how things turned out.”

“R-really?” I wondered. Rachel gently squeezed me. “Personally I don't see myself with anyone but Rachel, now, so it's... a relief to hear something like that.” I said with a gentle smile of my own.

“It means she really does care.” the older girl returned, to which I could find nothing to say. I gently squeezed Rachel, and she snuggled closer still as the bus rolled on its way to the mall.

When we arrived at the entrance nearest the Fun Castle Wing, we stepped off the bus and hurried inside to find Mary, Anhe, and Mrs. Liang waiting for us on a bench. The principal's daughter waved, and they stood up to meet us. Our teacher was dressy-casual today, as she always was; Anhe was likewise attired, but she had gone more to the dressy side of things. And Mary was wearing a cream-white sweater over a grey skirt and black shoes.

“Thank you, for always thinking of my daughter with these events.” Mrs. Liang said with a bow.

“Of course!” Andrea smiled back, bowing as well.

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“We're always happy to have Anhe with us,” Rachel replied as she and I bowed too. I could see Anhe turn slightly red, but her face was lit up in a smile.

“Thank you again,” our teacher smiled graciously. “All right now, let us go and see your other friend!” she added, and with that we made our way to the Fun Castle.

The mall, as expected on a Saturday, was pretty packed. It had been eight-thirty when I had gotten on the bus, and it was now just a couple minutes after nine. Fortunately, when we got to the Fun Castle's entrance, the lines weren't very long--yet. I never really got out much before this school year, but I remember half-hearing other kids in school talk about how long the waits could get for this place. One story I remembered was that there had been a line from one end of the mall to the other for a Christmas Holiday Special Event. And this is a big mall. Almost its own little city, really.

But today we didn't wait much more than fifteen minutes in line, and we were taken to a table close to the edge of the “ring”, as it was affectionately known in tribute to the old circuses. The rest of the theater-slash-stadium was filling up steadily. Just then, a blonde girl in a pink and white leotard and matching skirt and heels came up to our table, and then her eyes widened, as did ours.

“Huh?!” Ellie looked at us in a mixture of shock, horror, and happiness.

“Hey, Ellie!” Andrea smiled back.

“Dwah?!--ahh!!” the other girl stammered, and then recomposed herself. “Hi, welcome to Fun Castle! My name is Liz, I'll be taking your orders today!” she said with a grin. Her name-tag, by the way, really did have “Liz” on it. “Can I start you off with some drinks?”

“Please!” Mrs. Liang said, and we put in our orders. A few minutes later Ellie returned with them, and then dropped a note for us after taking our first meal order.

On break for fifteen when show starts. Will join you then.

“Aw, you shouldn't have.” Andrea smirked as she read it.

Ellie came back about fifteen minutes later with another server to help her carry the platter with our meals on them, and set them down with a smile. Both of them wished us an enjoyable meal and an enjoyable time at the show. The other girl had green hair, and was wearing a green version of what was apparently the waitresses' uniform here. I looked around idly, and saw that the male waiters had a uniform of a loose tunic with tights and jester-like shoes. Some waiters and waitresses even wore jester hats, complete with bells.

“That guy's really going for it, huh?” I said as I caught sight of one complete with make-up and a wig on, kind of like a clown but less sinister.

“Ooh, nice stripes,” Mary commented when she saw him.

“Def!” Andrea agreed.

“Like a cute tiger or something,” Anhe said.

“Exactly!” Mary exclaimed. Our teacher smiled.

“It has been a long time since I was at anything like this,” she remarked.

“Hm?” I wondered curiously.

“My father worked at one of the last real travelling circuses until he settled down, so I used to see this sort of thing quite a lot,” Mrs. Liang told us.

“Yéyé did?” Anhe asked her.

“He did!” the older woman told her.

“Oh, neat!” her daughter smiled.

“Come to think of it, there was a Liang who worked with the owner here for a while; was that him?” Mary then asked.

“It was him.” Mrs. Liang replied affirmatively. “He actually helped to arrange for a lot of the circus' old props and much more to be donated to this place when it was made. Look! The chandeliers; those are from the train that used to carry the old circus performers across the country.” she said as she pointed one out to us.

“Whoa...!”

“Wow!” Rachel and I exclaimed in wonder. “It's so beautiful,” she said, and I nodded.

“Oh! Is that--it has to be!” Andrea then said excitedly, looking at another spot. It was a bar, in the likeness of a caboose. No, wait, that's wrong.

“They actually brought in the old caboose and turned it into a bar?! Cool!!” I said as I took a look for myself, and our teacher smiled again, nodding.

“They did!” she laughed.

“Ooh...!” Mary remarked in fascination. “Andrea, maybe we should have one of our trips here; some of it's like a museum for entertainment, after all,” she then said to our club-president.

“Hmm... I'll see what Mrs. Brown says,” the other girl returned.

“I am reasonably certain Jennifer and Dr. Robertson would approve.” Mrs. Liang told us with a gentle shrug. Mary affected a semi-sheepish grin at the mention of her dad, and then returned her attention to the meal.

We finished up with our light meal about five minutes before ten; Ellie came back to ask us if we would like any desserts, to which we all agreed that we should wait until having a proper lunch before desserts. Giving us a thumbs up, she and the other server took away our plates and came back with a refill of our respective drinks. The lights then dimmed, and an announcer came in sight to tell us that the show was about to begin. Ellie then returned again, pulling up a chair and sitting near Andrea and Mary to enjoy at least the first bit of the show with us.

“Sure they don't mind?” Andrea asked her.

“The head-waiter said I could definitely have at least fifteen minutes, and I haven't gotten to actually see the opening act yet, so here I am!” she grinned back. A fanfare then played, and the show began. “Oh, yes!! The elephant!” our friend exclaimed, and we smiled.

***

It was everything that a classic circus should be and then some; our teacher described it as the perfect blend between the old-style shows and the new-style performances. The opening act of the elephant with the amazingly balanced dancers-slash-contortionists flailing majestically upon its back had amazed Ellie, and us, for the first ten minutes, and then with a wild applause the show continued into its next acts. Juggling unicyclists, fire-breathers, sword-eaters, lion-tamers, trapeze artists, stunt-performers, magicians, goofy clowns and eccentric mimes, along with a whole variety of other performers, all somehow neatly packed into a two and a half hour show, dazzled us with their art. Rachel positively lit up when the mermaid show came up, and I could see her smiling at me when I was mesmerized by a group of troubadours that was playing while walking on a tight-rope across a pool of water. How do they even, I wondered blankly.

When the show and its encores were over, we were served lunch, and when that had been finished we walked around some of the exhibits, including a mini-version of the Old Barnum's American Museum. Some of that place's original exhibits were on display as well, or at least depictions of them.

“It's all so amazing,” I said, and then we turned a corner to what I thought was the best part of the whole exhibit.

In a wide hall, there were several full-scale locomotive replicas of all the engines that had pulled the old circus trains around. I slid out of Rachel's hand to go up as close as I could to the oldest one, a steam-locomotive. There was a chain fence and a do-not-touch sign on all four sides of it. I let out a sigh, gazing at it with wonder as Rachel came over and gently slid her arm into mine.

“Definitely amazing, huh?” she smiled, and I nodded.

“There you are!” Ellie said as she came in.

“Oh, hey! Break again?” Andrea asked her.

“Until the next show starts at two, yeah,” she nodded. “Hmm...?” she then remarked, looking over at me. I wasn't paying that much attention, to be honest, but somehow I always sensed when she was directing her attention towards me. As if I really was her little brother or something. I heard a sneaky laugh escape her lips. “Justine!” she then called, and the girl with green hair showed up seconds later.

“Hey, Liz!”

“Heya! So, um...” she then whispered something I couldn't hear. But a couple moments later I felt my other arm taken by Ellie, who smiled at me, as did the other girl. “Come on, kiddo, we'll show you something fun!” she beamed, leading me along as the others followed.

We went to another exhibit, this one in a smaller but still fairly large room. And in the center of that one...

“Ta-da!” Justine said with a grin. “The reconstructed and refurbished original.”

This time, Rachel and I both walked up to it, heading inside to look around with the others for what felt like hours but which was really only twenty minutes or so. I was in a complete daze. I wasn't a huge fan of trains and stuff, mind you, but how often do you get to see something like this?

“The caboose-bar is from the latest version of the circus train, which stopped running about fifteen years ago,” I heard our guide say, “But there's a functional replica of the original train's caboose further down!”

“Cool!” Andrea's voice said.

“What are you thinking about?” Rachel asked me softly.

“How lucky I am, and maybe...” I paused, uncertain of what I wanted to convey.

“Maybe, what?” she asked me with a soft grin when I fell silent.

“I'll figure it out someday,” I smiled back. She nodded, and we went to follow the others.

“Well that was unexpected... or maybe it was... but anyway, I was glad you dropped by!” Ellie said to us when we began heading out.

“It was fun! We'll definitely have to come back for a holiday special!” Andrea said.

“Maybe on my day off next time!” the other girl grinned back.

“We'll see what we can do,” Mary laughed. We said our goodbyes, and then Mrs. Liang, who had a minivan, offered to take us home. We accepted, and were soon heading away from the mall and back to our regular lives.

Maybe, maybe I might actually start thinking about what to do with my life soon... I thought to myself as the scenery of the big city rolled past my window like an endless reel of film.