[Sig – 13 years] → starts during Chapter 57

"To me! To me!" I yell and Sam throws the football.

I catch it in a roll and spring back to my feet, pumping my fists up into the air with the football sort-of held in one of them. The ball falls out of my hand, but that's fine because I've made it past the goal line so it's a point to Blue Team.

We're not doing shirts-versus-skins this time like we did on Sunday since everyone playing right now is comfortable in whatever. Since it's a little warmer this week than last week and we're running around a lot, we're almost all shirtless to help keep us cool and I'm thinking of changing into swim trunks and heading over to the water pad here at the park. That place will really cool me down.

The only person playing with a shirt on is Macy, mostly because she's a girl and yeah. She's on my team and is pretty good at flag football even with some of the whacky rules we added. Ethan's on Green Team with Connor and Sam; Ethan and Macy showed up together just like they did last weekend. I guess they live really close to each other.

Our teams have five members each this time, with four other boys who joined us. I'm not really familiar with three of them but the fourth is Travis King, one of the classmates with Sam and Isaac and Greyson's older brother. It's weird that he's joined us today since he doesn't really do sports stuff. The few times I've seen him at the park, he's drawing or sketching something.

Usually an alternate version of the park's current scene with a giant octopus attacking it.

"I need a breather!" Ethan calls out.

"Same!" Connor shouts.

"Same," Travis says.

"Let's take a break now?" I ask. "We've been playing for awhile and could all probably use a break and some water."

Everyone agrees to that and we all head to the table where the ten of us dumped our things. I'm glad that it really was just a chores issue for my close friends, though I kind of wish Xander were here. He seemed to have a lot of fun last weekend even if he didn't at first and I think he'd have fun today, too.

"Surprised you're playing with us," Isaac tells Travis as we all sit at the table and pull out water and snacks. "You normally just sketch, right?"

"Yeah," Travis says, not expanding on why he's joined us.

"How're your brothers?" Sam pokes him in the side. "We don't talk much during summer since you never come out. Are they all still a pain?"

"Cal's never a pain," Travis tells him. "Henry's in a foul mood, and Greyson is… well, when I left home, he was 'meditating in the bath'. It's something he does two or three times a week. I dunno the reason for it."

"Henry's always in a foul mood," Sam groans. "I hate being around him. And he's going into middle school this year, right? So we'll be seeing him."

"At least we're in eighth grade," Travis says. "Fifth graders have lunch with the sixth graders, so we won't see him much."

While they talk, I look at the three guys I don't really recognize. I mean, I do recognize one of them since he goes to our school, but we've never really spoken before. He moved into the area last year and has always been a little on the quieter side.

He also always wears baggy clothes, so seeing him in shorts and a sleeveless really surprised me. I didn't even recognize him at first, so used to him wearing baggy clothes I am. And when he took his shirt off… I never imagined he was the kind of guy who'd work out or do athletic stuff but he's fit as heck, too!

It's probably a good thing Xander's not here, he'd definitely see Russell and think he's extra proof of the "abs mean you're healthy" thing. We still can't get that idea out of his head.

Just what got it into his head in the first place?

Russell has sandy-blond hair and green eyes, while the other two boys are fraternal twins with brown hair and blue eyes. They're both lean and toned, but not with six-packs, so Xander would probably wonder if they're sick.

I probably shouldn't look at them without saying something for too long.

"Where do you guys go to school?" I ask the twins once they finish answering Ethan's question about their favorite sports. "I don't think I've seen you around before."

"We'll be going to Dragon Falls next month," the one on the left, Owen, says.

"Just moved here yesterday," Chris, the one on the right, says.

"Oh!" I bounce a little. "Welcome to the area! If you ever want to hang out, where we're at is always the best place! Though we do explore nature quite a lot, so if that's not your thing, maybe avoid those bits."

"There's a lot of nature to explore around here," Sam tells the twins. "Hiking trails, streams, ponds, springs, waterfalls, and more!"

"Speak of water," I say. "I think I'm gonna change to trunks and go to the water pad. Anyone else?"

As some of them say they're going to join me, Russell's attention gets drawn to something else and the look on his face is a bit weird. It's like he's happy but nervous. Once Travis, Sam, Connor, and Owen all say they're going to go play at the water pad, too, I look at what caught Russell's attention and find…

Xander. He's walking a bit weird, sort of like he's doing small one-foot hops from spot to spot as if avoiding stepping on something but also to avoid having both feet on the ground at once. Wherever he went must have made him really comfortable for him to do something like that with others around. He always seems like he wants to avoid anything that could get him made fun of.

"Hi, Xander!" I call over to him, then wave when he looks up as everyone else looks over.

"Hi," Xander says, then walks the rest of the way over. "Oh! Hi, Russell!"

"Hi, Xander," Russell looks uncomfortable and is looking around for something for some reason.

"You guys know each other?" I ask as everyone else greets Xander.

"We see each other sometimes," Russell says. Why is his face redder now than it was after running around, playing flag football? "I thought you didn't like going to the park?"

"I didn't," Xander tells him. "But I became friends with S.G. and Connor and Sam and Isaac and they hang out here. Why is everyone but Macy shirtless? Were you going to go play at the water pad?"

"We all got sweaty playing basketball and football," I tell him. "Some of us were going to change into trunks and play at the water pad to cool off some, though."

"Oh," Xander looks at Russell. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Um, sure," Russell says. "Let me find my shirt first, though."

Why would he need his-ooooooooooh.

He likes Xander doesn't he? I bet he's feeling super self-conscious now that Xander's shown up.

Wait. He and Xander know each other well enough for that but they aren't friends? I am so confused but I doubt I'd get answers out of either of them so I just grab my trunks from my backpack and head to the bathroom to change. Once I have and my other clothes are stuffed back into my backpack at the table, I head to the water pad with the others who changed to swimwear.

It seems Russell ended up not putting on his shirt, and he and Xander are talking off to the side. I really want to know what that discussion is about but the dads would get upset if they learned I tried to push into a private conversation between others.

So I resist the urge and start playing in the water pad. It's a spacious zone with a textured floor and many tiny holes throughout it. Water sprays up either in jets or fans or bursts, and some of them move back and forth or turn on and off in sequences. There are a lot of little kids playing in the water, but also some older kids like us.

There's more than enough room for that.

I start chasing some of the kids through the water jets, and they let out squeals and giggles as they try to escape the water monster. This wears me out a lot but it's pretty fun, as is throwing water ball toys around and just running through the water sprays. When I finally tire enough that I really need a break from playing around, I return to the table with my stuff.

Everyone else is still there, though Xander, Ethan, Russell, and Macy are playing with a hacky sack and Isaac and Chris are watching while talking.

"Hi guys," I plop down on the bench around the table, then grab my water bottle and take a big drink from it. "I think it's almost time for lunch."

"I agree with that," a not-kid voice says and the three of us at the table turn to look at the speaker.

It's Mr. Thompson, and he's here with Mr. Fuller and Aunt Rachel. Mr. Fuller has a cooler in his hands, while Aunt Rachel and Mr. Thompson each have canvas grocery bags which look full.

"Grilling at the park?" I ask.

"Grilling at the park," Mr. Thompson confirms. "Where's Connor?"

"Being a water monster to some five-year-olds."

"What?" Mr. Thompson looks confused.

"He's at the water pad," I giggle as I point over that way. "Some of us were doing it to cool off. I've been playing here more than an hour longer than anyone else and basically been nonstop so I'm wiped!"

"You also haven't taken any breaks, you dummy," Isaac playfully whacks me on the head. "We've all taken breaks but you've been going nonstop! A park barbecue rather than at someone's house?"

It's not like we never do these, it's just unusual.

"Would you rather we went to someone's house just for lunch?" Mr. Thompson asks.

"Nope!" Isaac answers. "But there's a big group of us… did you bring enough for all our friends, too?"

"Of course!" Mr. Thompson laughs. "We always expect extra kids when we grill here for you."

That's probably not a bad idea. There are eleven of us right now and I'd feel bad if we had to tell some of our friends they can't eat with us when we're all hanging out together.

"We brought the cooler jugs as well," Mr. Thompson tells us. "Sig, Isaac, why don't you two go get them from my car?"

"Yes, sir!" We respond, and I look at Isaac. "Race you there!"

"Ha!" He laughs. "You're so tired, you'll fall asleep on the way!"

----------------------------------------

[Xander – 12 years] → starts during Sig's PoV

-and if I hop like this, the fairies flutter again. Another hop but like this, and the fairies spin in circles. A double hop like this, and the not-real fairies shimmer. Another hop, and the real fairies flutter again. Then if I hop again-

"Hi, Xander!" A friendly voice calls out and I look up to see S.G. waving at me.

So he is still here! But I was going in the wrong direction for that, maybe I should've paid attention to where I was going. Trenton likes watching the fairies move around so I was showing them to him since there are a lot more out right now than usual, though I also like seeing them dance and move around, too. That made me even more distracted when I was meaning to see if S.G. and the others were still here.

"Hi," I walk over to them, only noticing Russell when I reach them.

He's busy looking around as if he's looking for something, but he looks nice, even if a bit sweaty. Everyone at the table is sweaty so they were probably playing something. His sandy-blond hair is darkened and stuck to his head and his green eyes make me think of forest leaves again.

And the not-real fairies like him. They're all swarmed around him, just like they do with S.G. Trenton claims that means they're really good people blessed by the gods. Everyone at the table has a lot of the not-real fairies around them, but not swarmed like Russel and S.G. are. Trenton says that just means the others are really good people, but they aren't blessed by the gods.

I asked him about the not-real fairies on Tuesday, when I realized that they like some people more than others and even swarm around some. Those seem to draw out the real fairies, too, so this many people who the not-real fairies like being here is probably why there are more real fairies in one area than usual.

"Oh!" I exclaim in the same moment I realize he's here. "Hi, Russell!"

"Hi, Xander," he looks at me for a moment and gives me a small smile, then goes back to looking for something.

Did he lose something? He usually looks at me for longer.

"You guys know each other?" S.G. asks while the others greet me.

"We see each other sometimes," Russell answers before looking at me. "I thought you didn't like going to the park?"

The last time the park came up between us, I probably mentioned not liking the park because of all the people and not being comfortable. I don't remember such a discussion, but my memory was worse back then.

"I didn't," I tell him. "But I became friends with S.G. and Connor and Sam and Isaac and they hang out here. Why is everyone but Macy shirtless? Were you going to go play at the water pad?"

That would make more sense. Maybe they're getting ready to go to the water pad to cool off after playing something else and getting all sweaty.

"We all got sweaty playing basketball and football," S.G. tells me. "Some of us were going to change into trunks and play at the water pad to cool off some, though."

So I was partly right.

"Oh," I look at Russell. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Since I don't know how often I'll get to see him now, I want to talk with him while I have the chance. It's going to be big for me to do this but I need to brave through it and then reward myself with cheesecake later.

Landon said that Russell hasn't shown up at the sanctuary at all in the last few weeks. Since he's normally there every day, they reached out to see if he was doing fine, which they could do because they knew his last name and could look him up. He apparently was doing fine, and he looks really happy right now, too.

He still looks healthy, too. I was a little worried when I learned he didn't show up for awhile, but he still has his abs so he must not have gotten sick for a long time.

"Um, sure," Russell says. "Let me find my shirt first, though."

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

"Okay," I say as some of the others grab their swim trunks and leave.

"Where did I put it?" Russell opens up his backpack to look.

"Won't it be uncomfortable since you're all sweaty?" I ask.

"Well, yeah," he says. "But I'm also uncomfortable because-and you don't like being close to people who are shirtless-and-argh!"

Why did he let out a shout like that?

"I can put up with it if it's you," I tell him. "I swim with a kid who lives next door and his other neighbor sometimes, and I've gone swimming with S.G. and Connor and Sam and Isaac, too."

"But I don't like being the reason you're uncomfortable…" he says. "I can't find my shirt, though."

"You're sitting on it."

Russell checks under him and finds his shirt, his face turning bright red.

"Oh," he says. "Wait. You knew it was there but didn't say?"

Is he upset with me?

"I was confused about you wanting it," I say. "That's why I asked."

"Oh…"

He thinks for a few moments, then shakes his head and gets up and beckons for me to follow.

"We can talk over here without getting heard," he says.

We walk a little bit away from the table, just far enough away that only someone with good hearing like me or who uses magic to hear more would hear us. No one else is close by. I put up a barrier just in case. It's invisible and only prevents us from being heard from outside.

It's not illegal to cast this sort of spell. I checked before learning it. Well, the reason I wanted to learn it was to put up a barrier which prevented loud sounds from reaching me, but altering the spell a little makes it work to give us privacy for a discussion.

"What, um, what did you want to talk about?"

"You told me earlier this year," I say. "That you thought I was 'a little cute' and you wanted to know if we could date. And I freaked out on you back then, but then Landon talked with me and I realized what you meant. Sort of. What is dating to you?"

Mr. Trey asking me what it means to me made me realize that there are different types, and I want to see if Russell views it the same way. There was the statement that I have a view common about people my age so he probably does, but I want to make sure.

"Um…" he thinks for a few moments. "I just wanna be around you? And sit next to you when eating. I mean, I did that at the, uh, at the other place we've seen each other. But like, I also sometimes wanna hug you. Or hold your hand while we're sitting together. Or maybe while walking somewhere like to an ice cream shop."

That's basically the same as me, then.

"Also," he adds. "You're a lot cuter now."

"I put on weight and grew a little," I tell him. "And I stopped dyeing my hair."

"I noticed," he smiles. "I like your natural color. You look a lot happier, too."

"I am happier," I tell him. "Um. I never told you or anyone else at the safe place, but I'm a foster kid. And bad stuff happened to me before…"

"Lots of kids who go there had bad stuff happen," he says. "Or they're just depressed. Did you get adopted? Is that why you're happier?"

"Not adopted," I say. "But I got put in a new home and my foster-dad is super nice. And he doesn't make fun of me for talking to Trenton and he doesn't tell me that Trenton's not able to speak and that I need to stop 'playing pretend' even though I'm not and Trenton really does speak."

I look down at Trenton, then at Russell.

"He's upset I didn't tell you that he says 'hi'," I say.

"Hi, Trenton!" Russell greets him. "It's cool that you got some nice parents now. My parents and I are… doing better. They're starting to accept me."

They didn't like him doing art at all even though he really likes it and it made him depressed. Not as badly as I was depressed, and I think there was other stuff as well. It's cool that they're happier now, though.

"That's great!" I tell him. "So that's why you haven't been there recently?"

"Yeah," he nods. "I've been a lot happier and didn't need to get away. What about you? If you only learned today that I haven't been in awhile, then you haven't been there since May? You weren't there at all for a couple of weeks in June."

"Mr. Trey – that's my foster-dad – requires that I tell him where I'm going," I say. "But he didn't ask me to tell him about that one today, he just knew that it's a safe place for me. So I didn't go because I didn't want him to know where it was."

"Oh," he says. "I guess that makes sense. It's good to see you again, though!"

"It makes me happy to see you again," I tell him. "Mr. Trey said it's okay for me to date if that's how I view dating, but I think it's also because I'm going into the eighth grade. So if we're hanging out together, do you want to sit next to me lots? Oh, but he says he has to meet you first. But I don't think that means we can't sit next to each other lots."

"Sure!" He smiles. "Also, do you have a phone? We can text a lot, too."

"I do," I tell him. "Do you want my number? I want yours, if that's okay."

Russell pulls out his phone, so I pull out mine and we swap numbers so we can chat. His first message to me is a picture of him holding up a drawing he made of a wolf, except the wolf has wings and a halo and is summoning lightning.

"That's so you can have a profile picture for me," he says.

"Oh, okay," I say. "Um… please give me some time to check my pictures. Mr. Trey takes a lot with my phone. Ms. Katie does sometimes, too."

The one I pick should definitely not show that I live with a rich man, so I'll need to be careful of that as well. I don't know how well Russell would react to that or if he'd think he could us me to get money. He probably won't, but I want to be safe. It's not my money, anyway.

Well, I do have a lot of money now, but I don't want someone trying to take it from me.

"Okay!"

Russell watches while I look through the pictures on my phone, then I settle on one where I don't think I look as ugly and send it to him. It's a picture of me sitting against one of the peach trees in Mr. Trey's backyard, though the peaches in the tree aren't visible since the picture's too low for that. I do have a half-eaten peach in my right hand and Trenton on my lap in the picture, though.

Russell snickers when he gets the text with the picture.

"Is it a bad picture?" My face heats up. "I'm so sorry! Um. I was trying to pick a good one but-"

"It's a cool picture!" Russell giggles. "I just wasn't expecting to see you eating in it! You usually hide when eating at the other place."

"Oh," I say. "That's a peach tree I'm sitting under, and Mr. Trey lets me eat peaches mostly whenever I want. Oh! I have something for you!"

Just having a peach tree in the yard doesn't mean someone's rich, it just means they have a peach tree in their yard. It's safe to mention that.

"You do?" Russell looks confused.

"Yeah," I pocket my phone and pull off my backpack.

I put Trenton inside my backpack after opening it up, then pull out a puzzle sphere and offer it to him.

"You like drawing as a hobby," I say. "And I think I'm liking making small magitech things as a hobby. I made a bunch of these yesterday and this morning and gave some of them to my friends. You're not my friend but I like you enough that you get one, too. Oh, but we're also almost-dating now so I guess almost-boyfriends? And that has 'friend' in it. So I guess we're friends now? Are we friends now?"

"Do you wanna be friends, too?"

"Yeah."

"So do I," he says. "So we're friends! What's this?"

He takes the sphere from me, and I explain how it works.

"Whoa," he says after activating it, then adjusts some of the triangles. "You made this? This is pretty high magitech, isn't it?"

"No," I answer. "It's just a basic light enchantment for the glow with a function of brightness based on how correct the puzzle is, and pieces that just move up, down, or turn based on when others do. The materials for it costs about $42 in total and it took me, like, thirty minutes to put together and that's with cutting the pieces to fit. At minimum wage, that'd be about $7.50 an hour. So it's worth less than $50. High magitech is worth way more than that."

I factored in the use of the tools and machines for making some of the pieces for the cost of materials, too. Figuring out how to calculate that was difficult but I think I came up with the right numbers.

With it not even costing $50 in total, that can't be high magitech. It's not like the previous version, which I learned is worth millions due to the sensor it uses to detect the exact location of Errai. I only even used about $150 in materials and time to make that sensor.

How its value went up by so much, I don't know, but I figured it's better not to include it in puzzle spheres others are getting. That, and I didn't want the cost to be more than $50 and the material and labor cost for the sensor alone is higher than that.

That's fine for just making stuff at the workshop since I can do whatever I want with the stuff in there regardless of the price, but for my current puzzle sphere project, I need to keep the cost down.

"Oh," Russell says. "It's pretty neat. So you really like magitech?"

"I do," I nod. "These are easier to make than remote-controlled cars. Those take me so long and are so frustrating, but I like making puzzle spheres. They're fun."

"Yeah," he says.

"Do you wanna play a game or something?" I ask. "Or do you want to play with the sphere?"

Please want to play something.

"Sure! We can play something!" He says. "What do you wanna play?"

Yes! He wants to play something with me!

"Hacky sack," I tell him. "You?"

"I've never played with one of those before," he tells me. "How do you play?"

We go back over to the table and he puts the puzzle sphere in his backpack, then I pull a hacky sack from mine. I bought a few things to bring to the park, including my own hacky sack, after last weekend.

After I show Russell how to play with the hacky sack and he practices for a couple of minutes, we start playing with passing it back and forth.

"But make sure we don't get too close or we might kick each other," I tell him.

"Got it!"

We play with just the two of us for a little bit, then Macy and Ethan ask if they can join us. After forming a sort of square with the four of us, we start playing as a group and it's really fun. I practiced with the hacky sack and a couple of the guards at Mr. Trey's house after dinner yesterday and on Thursday so I'm better at it now, too.

Nobody gets mad when I accidentally kick the sack wrong, or when I hit Macy in the face with it by accident. While there's the rule about not apologizing for bad kicks… I still apologize for that one.

"Hi, guys!" S.G. says when he returns to the table, grabbing his water bottle to take a big drink from it. "I think it's almost time for lunch."

My stomach agrees with him on that, as does Mr. Thompson, who approached at the same time. I saw him and Mr. Fuller and Ms. Rachel walking over when S.G. returned, but I'm in the middle of playing a game and can't just stop without ruining it.

"Break time?" Ethan asks after a bad kick sends Russell to retrieve the sack while S.G. and Isaac are getting cooler jugs. "Sounds like food's coming soon."

We all agree to stop for now, me because I really want some food now and could use a breather and the others… probably for the same reason. As we stop, a boy who looks kind-of familiar comes over and grabs a water bottle.

"Excuse me," I whisper to him, and he looks at me. "Do we know each other? You look really familiar but I don't recognize you. But I also had a bad memory until recently."

Hopefully he doesn't get mad if we do know each other and I've just forgotten. It's not my fault my memory was awful. But since Trenton told me the other day about the not-fairies thing meaning that he's a good person, he probably won't get mad at me.

"Um…" he says. "I don't think I know you. What's your name?"

"I go by Xander."

"Oh!" He says. "You know my older brother, Cal. He works at the Wolf's Dragon. He's mentioned you before. And I think I heard this week that you know Greyson?"

"You're their brother, too?" I ask.

"Yeah," he says. "And I promise you, Greyson is probably as dorky at home as he is whenever you two are hanging out."

He looks around as if making sure we can't be overheard, then whispers to me.

"You know he's a dreamsage, right?" He asks.

"Yeah," I whisper back, we're not close enough to the others for it to be heard without really good hearing or magic, but I put up a sound-privacy barrier anyway. "He says he eats my bad dreams if I nap near him."

"I've known he can go into dreams for years," Travis giggles. "He pops into mine all the time. Last night, I was having a dream about magic octopus thingies playing beach volleyball and a weird one showed up and joined in to play one-on-eight against the ones playing before. I'm pretty sure that was him trying to hide that he was in my dream."

"It might've been him," I agree.

That definitely sounds like something Greyson would do. He tries to disguise himself as a wolf or a talking cheesecake when he's in my dreams after he realized that being a griffin made it really obvious it was him.

"Hey, boys!" Mr. Thompson calls. "We need four of you to fill up the cooler jugs! Two for each to carry back! Any volunteers?"

"I'll help," Russell and Ethan answer at the same time.

"I'm too wiped," S.G. plops onto the bench, having put the cooler jug he'd brought over on the table.

"I can try," I say.

"Isaac?" Mr. Thompson looks at Isaac.

"Yeah," Isaac says, still holding the one he carried over from the car.

I don't know where to go but the other three do, and we take the two cooler jugs to a spigot trio that's apparently just for filling things like this. The park is apparently set up for people to not need to bring their cooler jugs filled with water already. Why they need four boys for this, I'm not sure. It only takes one to carry a jug.

"We're not filling them all the way," Isaac says as he sets the one he's carrying down under one of the spigots. "They've got ice to put in as well. Fill up to the eight-gallon line and the rest will be ice."

Once the jugs are filled, I learn why Mr. Thompson said four boys for this: eight gallons of water is pretty heavy and that makes the jugs a bit awkward for us to carry alone. Isaac holds one handle while I hold the other on one jug, and Russell and Ethan each hold a handle on the other jug.

Back at the tables, the jugs are set up on one of the park's tables, but not the one everyone had been at originally. Because it's a big group that now can't fit at one table, they moved most of our stuff over to a trio of tables that are close together but still by the big grass playing field. My bag didn't get moved… probably because it has an enchantment on it to protect it.

"Travis says that protective magics like your force field are legal," S.G. says. "And that Greyon puts shock enchantments on them. That seems soooo weird! But you've got enchantments on your backpack?"

"It's a force field enchantment to prevent people from stealing it," I tell him. "And the shock one is allowed as long as it's not too strong. The enchantment I put on my backpack just keeps anyone other than me from being able to take it without permission. Well, it's a little more complex than that but that's as good of an explanation as I can give."

Since the backpack has a spatial expansion enchantment on it, protective magics are normal. Maybe it's a sign that it's worth a lot more than I want them to know, though? That might've been a bad idea. But as long as I say it's because I don't want it stolen, they might accept it. I don't want my stuff stolen even if it's not magic, after all.

"You can do enchanting, too?" Russell asks.

This makes me uncomfortable. Not Russell asking but the topic itself.

"A little," I pull on my backpack. "But it's nothing compared to what Luke and Greyson can do. Um. I'm gonna go do something. I'll be back… um… soon. I dunno how long I'll be."

"Okay!" Russell says. "Bye, Xander!"

The others tell me bye or just wish me luck, then I leave. Once I'm far enough away, I teleport with the spell to make sure I'm not noticed. The place I appear at is a smoothie shop I've never been to before, but I want a smoothie right now and don't want to ask Ms. Katie for one.

If Mr. Trey is right, then I'm allowed in restaurants and shops like this. I'm still doubtful, but I take a few deep breaths and enter.

"Welcome!" The girl behind the counter greets me. "How can I help you today?"

Mr. Trey taught me that that's how employees often ask what I'd like, such as what food I want to order. She's already asking me and I don't even know what types of smoothies they serve yet! She's making me pick without giving me time to think! I must've really fucked up and need to leave sooner than later!

"Um… I'm not sure what I want," I tell her. "Other than a smoothie."

"Okay," she says. "We've got a big selection to choose from, including some pre-planned ones or build-your own. You can see what we have up on the menu. Let me know when you're ready."

I'm not being forced to pick now? Oh. Okay. That gives me time to learn what they have and think so I look over the menu and try to decide what I want. They have so many options. In addition to build-my-own, I can choose ones like triple-berry, strawberry-banana, banana-peach, and more. Those three sound good, but they even have some lemonade variants.

I'm feeling like I want something with blueberries right now, so let's see… I don't remember ever having blueberry lemonade before so I'm not sure if I'd like that one. Triple-berry might be good, except it has raspberries and I'm not really fond of those. I could just do a strawberry-blueberry one, though.

Bravery today. That's what I want to do. Something new even if it scares me and I might not like it.

Okay! I've decided!

"May I please have a 20oz blueberry lemonade smoothie?" I ask.

"Sure," she answers. "That's $7 for it."

I pay for the smoothie, then she mixes it up and gives it to me along with my receipt, which I put into my wallet. The smoothie tastes really good when I take a sip of it, the lids from this shop designed for allowing us to sip the smoothie rather than needing a straw.

Which makes me happy. I don't have to put a straw into it even if I won't use it. Since the smoothie is good, that's two good thing about this smoothie shop. Three if all of the employees here are as friendly as the one currently working is.

I might come back again.

"Thank you," I tell her.

"Have a good day!" She says.

I leave and teleport back to the park, where the group of kids I met up with are doing different things. S.G., Connor, and Travis are resting at a table while looking pretty exhausted, Russel, Ethan, Macy, and Sam are kicking a soccer ball around, and Isaac and the twins (I haven't learned their names yet) are playing with a hacky sack. Mr. Thompson, Mr. Fuller, and Ms. Rachel are talking by a grill that's close to the three tables.

"Welcome back, Xander," Mr. Thompson says when he sees me. "That was a fast trip."

"It didn't take me long," I say.

"Isn't that smoothie place, like, a ten-minute walk away?" Connor asks when he looks over. "You got that fast."

S.G. and Travis both look like they're realizing something but Connor just looks confused.

"The smoothie is good," I say. "Mr. Thompson, I realized, but how come there were two water coolers? So that we don't need to refill one?"

With ten boys, one girl, and three adults, we might go through eight gallons of water plus however much ice melts into it.

"One's for lemonade," he snorts. "Would already have it, but S.G. volunteered to mix it but wore himself out playing."

"Just like… five more minutes," S.G. says.

"I still need to get the ice from the car," Mr. Fuller says. "I'll go get that now."

"I can mix it if you're okay with that," I tell S.G. and Mr. Fuller leaves. "So you can rest more."

"Sure," S.G. says. "Thanks."

"In the green bag," Mr. Thompson tells me. "There's a jug of lemonade powder. Not the fake stuff you might have seen before, it's lemon juice mixed with sugar, then powdered. Inside the container are two scoops, a small one and a big one. Do ten scoops of the big one and don't worry about leveling it off. Just scoop, dump, scoop, dump, and so on. Once you're done, take the big wooden-looking spoon from the bag and stir until it's dissolved. Don't worry if you lose count, just try to reach ten. It's okay to be over or under a little."

I don't need to be precise? That's so unlike baking where precision is really important. I'll still try to do ten scoops but at least I know I won't get into trouble if I count wrong.

"Okay," I set down my smoothie and backpack, then mix up the lemonade after checking with the adults which cooler jug it's supposed to be.

The answer to that is "either one".

Mr. Fuller returns with bags of ice while I mix the lemonade, then he fills both jugs with the ice. He does wait until I'm done, which I'm happy about. The ice would probably make it more difficult to stir since there's a lot of it.

I rinse the spoon off at the spigots after being told that it's okay to use them for that, then it gets set on top of the jug with the lemonade in it. After that, I sit at one of the tables and watch the others play while the adults grill beef hot dogs and frozen burger patties for us to eat. We're allowed to eat the chips and other snacks they brought, and there are drinks other than lemonade and water in the cooler.

Even though I'm not really playing with the others, just watching, this is kind of fun. Is this what a barbecue that's not at someone's house is like? A bunch of kids playing in smaller groups rather than one group, some resting, the adults talking, and food to eat without having to hide it?

I like this and want to do it more often.