After breakfast, Tyler was feeling pretty good, and he was eager to explore the estate. He was a smidge nervous, though--it was such a large place, not even counting outside. He didn't want to get lost, go somewhere he shouldn't, or miss out on something.

The rest of the children had gone into the yard already. As Tyler stood by the front window, seeming uncertain, Miss Lindsey approached him. "Tyler, would you mind doing me a favor?"

"No, of course not, Miss." The boy seemed to perk up a bit at the thought of being useful.

"Ask Josh to give you a tour of the estate. I'm sure you could get around just fine by yourself," she added, "but he's been hiding up in his room a lot lately. It'll be good for him to get outside."

"Sure, I'll go ask him," Tyler chirped, and he went upstairs, now in a certainly cheery mood. There was something about his roommate that interested him, although he wasn't yet sure what it was. It would be fun to get to know him. Maybe if he was lucky, they might become friends along the way.

Tyler had always wanted a best friend. He'd been mainly homeschooled as a child, and he had lived outside of town, so he hadn't really been around other people his age much. When he got to high school, he'd tried making friends with Joe, the boy he shared a locker with. Joe hadn't been interested, however, and had largely ignored Tyler's efforts.

He knew what a best friend was like, from watching TV and reading books--it was a person you would go do fun stuff with, who knew you as easily and strongly as you knew yourself. Tyler longed to connect with a person like that.

He wasn't sure if he should knock when he got to the room since it was partially his, but he did so anyway. Upon hearing an affirmative grunt from inside, he came in.

Much like their first meeting, Josh was laying in bed, reading, which Tyler took note of. He had a black band t-shirt on, with a gray snapback hiding his yellow curls. As Tyler approached, Josh took little notice of him; in fact, he chewed on his lip ring in concentration as his eyes flickered over the pages in front of him.

"Can you give me a tour of the estate?" Tyler asked, a friendly smile on his face. He was standing on his tip-toes, leaning forwards just slightly like a bird about to take flight. He always did this when he was excited.

Josh's pretty brown eyes glanced up from his book, but he looked annoyed rather than interested. "Can I, or will I?"

"Will you?" the other boy corrected. "Please."

Tyler waited patiently for Josh's reply, but none came. After a moment, he realized that the yellow-haired boy was just staring at him with a peculiar look in his eyes. "Please?" Tyler added to remind Josh that he was still there.

Josh blinked a few times as if suddenly released from a trance or spell. "Yeah. Yeah, alright." He put his book on the stack already forming on his nightstand, and slowly sat up in bed, swinging his feet out onto the floor.

"Thank you," Tyler said happily, dashing over to his bed to pull his combat boots out from underneath it. He was practically bouncing around the room. In all of his excitement, he didn't really notice Josh's eyes following him.

"Yeah, no problem."