On Friday morning, Cassie got Miss Tante's street portraits finished fairly quickly. Then, she went to a fast food store to grab a burger and a bunch of French fries for lunch. Her parents would certainly disapprove of her occasional junk-food diet and advise that she would be lacking "important minerals and vitamins" since she was already a vegetarian ... If only they accepted the fact that none of the vegetarians she knew had ever finished a bowl of raw salad, Cassie mused.

And today, the tickling, excited feeling in her stomach about Michael's surprise meant not much food would go down anyway.

At a quarter to two that afternoon, Cassie drove to Neverland, like she had done every other fortnight. The car slowed to a halt in the designated parking space and she got down from it. Cassie was opening her car boot for her trusty equipment when it struck her: it was oddly quiet.

Except for the distinct sound of splashing water, the chirruping of birds perched unseen high up the trees, all was silent. There weren't any classical music played or sounds of laughing children either. And Michael would usually walk here by now.

A shadow swooped past behind her.

Cassie spun around. "Michael?" she called.

The shadow had vanished.

She approached one of the trees in front of her cautiously when it all happened so suddenly she jumped out of her skin - from behind the surrounding trees leapt out multiple figures. Cassie let out a short, high-pitched scream but quickly she saw that the figures were ... much shorter than her?

She couldn't believe her eyes.

"Heather?" Cassie said to one of them.

The girl nodded. "It's me," she smiled and waved. Cassie noticed Heather had grew slightly taller, and so did the other children she recognized.

"What're you doing here?" Cassie asked, bewildered.

"Michael invited us here. He sorta told us to ... scare ya," Heather said sheepishly. "C'mon, follow us!" She skipped forwards and held one of Cassie's hand with both of her own. The children led the way.

* * *

"Ha, so this was what you told Heather back then. Hmm, but did Stage One of your surprise plan originally include considering I may or may not have a heart attack?"

"Wait, do you have any heart -?" he asked, his voice panicky.

"Nah ... "

Cassie and Michael were filling up water balloons while Heather and the other children from the orphanage were playing at the amusement park, supervised by Mrs Bailey.

"They're so happy," Cassie said, observing the children. Each time a ride spun, whirled or zoomed in its tracks, screams of delight would be carried by the wind to the shade of a tree where Michael and Cassie both stood.

Michael nodded. "Kids ... Busloads of them - they would come a few times every month. It had always been a dream of mine that ... my home could be a source of joy for children, especially those who are sick and ..." he broke off and stared down into the bucket of water between them.

It was heart-wrenching. No quote-worthy sentences came to her mind ...Michael had been a patient, listening ear to her, she really wanted to return the favour.

Gently, Cassie placed a hand on his shoulder. "Love and happiness. You give them that," she said. "That's your ... I believe you feel it's your mission, and you're doing your part."

Michael nodded wordlessly. Cassie lifted her hand from his shoulder to resume filling another balloon when she spotted a palm-shaped water print on his shirt where her hand had been.

"Oh God. Sorry, sorry -"

"It's okay," said Michael. Cassie was relieved to see him smiling again. "I might get worse. They're -" his head pointed in the direction of the park rides. "- unknown opponents."

"Huh, I'll stay safe and dry with my camera," replied Cassie, waving her water balloon around carelessly.

With a plop, the balloon fell onto the ground and burst. Water splattered mercilessly onto Cassie's jeans and Michael's black dress pants.

* * *

Cassie's body was literally hugging the grass. What the public doesn't see from a good picture was the photographer in an embarrassing, awkward position - but Cassie wanted to get shots from a bottom-upwards angle, so this was it.

The game was getting quite wild; Michael had to put his hat away to dry as a water balloon hit him right on the head when he was hiding behind a small bush, and from how some of the boys looked as though they had jumped into a swimming pool, Cassie didn't think all of the balloons which exploded on them belonged to an opposing team.

Standing up, Cassie decided to move to higher ground when, out of nowhere, a particularly big balloon launched towards her left and exploded upon contact.

The entire scene momentarily froze. Holding her camera at arm's length, water trickled from Cassie's head down her body. Her soppy hair became plastered to her face.

In several quick movements, Cassie secured her camera on the stand, went to grab a water balloon from the bucket, and threw it at Michael - she was afraid of upsetting any one of the children, Michael was obviously safest to attack!

All chaos broke loose and everyone started randomly throwing balloons at each other. A few more hit Cassie but she couldn't care less! Chasing the children who were each running in a different direction, and ducking around to avoid oncoming balloons - it was a while before she spotted a figure sneaking towards her camera stand.

Cassie swept her soaking hair up her forehead and wiped aside the water droplets gliding down her face. The figure was rather tall -?

"No - Wait, wait, wait - Michael, no you don't -!"

Cassie was a distance away from her camera. Michael gave her a smirk and a very trouble-indicating "victory" gesture before proceeding to press the shutter button. He giggled when Cassie reached and made to strangle him.

"You're killing me!" he laughed. "Murder! Somebody heeeelp!"

"You're ... You're ... going to pay for the films ..." Cassie panted, out of breath.

* * *

Streaks of orange-red now stretched across the sky. One by one, the children boarded the bus.

"I threw that balloon at you," Heather whispered to Cassie.

"Hmph," said Cassie, pretending to strongly disapprove of such an act. "Luckily I bring around an extra set of clothes!" (One photographing trip into a forest and a fall into a muddy pond taught Cassie this.)

Heather gave a short giggle and hopped up the bus. Continuous chants of goodbyes trailed behind the vehicle as it slowly rumbled out of sight.

Cassie turned to Michael. "So, I'll be going too. I had a great day. I never had this ... since a long time," she smiled.

Yet, Michael had his hands in his pocket and he was rocking on his heels. He bit his lip nervously. "Sorry about the films," he said.

"What?" Cassie asked blankly.

"I'll pay for the films," Michael said earnestly.

"Ohh ... that," said Cassie. "Well, I have faith that besides having music in your blood, there's also photography cells." She patted the side of his arm in an exaggerated confident manner.

He smiled. The little rays of light from the setting sun were reflected in his brown eyes.

Bidding goodbye, Cassie strolled down the path to the parking area, waving at Michael as she did so. He was still wearing that attractive and cute smile on his face ... She couldn't help but feel particularly taken with him; she never noticed how good he actually looks before. Cassie turned away quickly to hide her smile.

She got into her car and began to drive back out to the city.

And it was only when her car halted at a traffic light that she became aware of the silly smile that was still present on her face.

Cassie mentally shook herself. For God's sake, focus. You're driving on the road right now.

But Cassie didn't seem able to get the images of all the times Michael ever smiled at her out of her head. His simple smile made the particles in her fingertips tingled with warmth ...

Wait, no - why am I thinking of him in this way?

And why was this question itself terrifying?

The thoughts swimming in her head made her unsettled, disorientated. Her rationality protested in denial at the dawning fact. She couldn't ... No ...

But a small, truthful voice in her head whispered the answer, and there was no stopping it:

You like him.

- - -

A/N: Two words: Oh dear. :3

Wow, I've written up till Chapter 9! This is a major personal achievement ... In the past I've never written further than three chapters for any story idea I've conceived!

So, Chapter 9. This is the first time I've described, well, more-than-friends kinda emotions in a story. I put in all my wits to write this. :')

So, yeah ... Chapter 9. The next chapter will be Chapter 10. (Audience: Oi, this is a nonsense, needless-to-say fact.) Let's see what happens next. Will Michael return those feelings? :3

Lastly, if you like my chapters, it would be amazing if you would vote or review. But on a less numerical-ish note, if anything I've written, even if only a single sentence, brought out an emotion in you (I luvs yous, my dear reader!), I think I've already succeeded.

(*stuffs a packet of French fries into your hand and whispers secretly* You know what to do. Vote or review and all these fries are yours.)