STRESSING OVER LITTLE THINGS CAME EASILY. All I had to do was step into the shower, and there I was left alone every little thing I could stress over. Wind-down days like Sunday weren't for freaking out over a date, yet here I was. Spectacular first dates were ideal in many women's fantasies, but I didn't have the first clue on how to make things extraordinary. Especially not if the amount of information I knew about Val was as tiny as a seashell.

          Someone pounded on the door. "Ashton, dude, you've been in there for like two hours!" Luke said.

          Stressing over little things also made my shower quite long.

          After finishing in the bathroom, I opened the door, not expecting Luke to be there.

          "Jesus, Luke," I said, placing a hand over my chest.

          He rolled his eyes. "You know we're late 'cause of you?"

          "No, we're not. It's only..." The words died on my lips when I checked the time. It was three-thirty, and we were supposed to meet Dana and Val at the fair at three. I could already hear Dana scolding me about punctuality again.

          Luke sighed. "If we're waiting in a long line, I'm gonna kill you."

          I grabbed my wallet and phone and headed out with Luke. Calum and Michael were lounging on the couch with their phones, but seeing us, they stood up.

          "Jeez, finally," Michael said to me. "Took you long enough.*

          "Sorry, I lost track of time."

          "Anyway, Val said the ticket line wasn't long at all," Calum said as we got in the car.

          The drive was swift since our apartment complex was near the convenient side of the city. I liked accessibility, unlike Calum's uncle, who preferred to live among nothing but grass. Taking a stroll in the grassy areas made me feel like the woman from The Sound of Music.

          The fair was easy to spot because of the enormous ferris wheel and a rollercoaster loop. It was a Sunday afternoon, so the place wasn't necessarily packed with people even though it was Thanksgiving break.

          Dana made her and Valentine's presence known by frantically waving her hands on the air. I really did wonder where she got all her energy from.

          "You're late," she said. "But there's no time to scold you guys because I'm way too excited to start. So, here are your bands, and let's get partying!"

         "Which one should we do first?" Michael asked.

         "How about that one?" Calum said, pointing over to the one-loop rollercoaster ride.

          Seeing as the ride went in one big loop, swaying and stopping at points, I wasn't sure if it was for me. Motion sickness wasn't a problem, but I had work tomorrow, and a headache was the last thing I needed.

          "I'm gonna have to sit out on that," Val said, studying the ride with a hint of fear. "It doesn't have seatbelts or a bar, it seems."

          "You sure?" Dana asked, and Val nodded.

          "I'm out, too," I said.

          Dana laughed. "Okay, lovebirds."

          Everyone left to stand in line while Val and I lingered back. Neither of us knew what to say, and even though the atmosphere around us was loaded with noise and laughter, the silence still encircled us. Our attraction towards one another should have helped us at least talk to each other, but we were just so damn awkward.

          I glanced over at her, and she had her hands lifted towards her face, brushing her hair away. Looking closely, I spotted black and purple abrasions covering her tiny knuckles. Bruises? Why would she have bruises? I didn't peg her as the fighting type of girl, even though she appeared to have little spurts of anger at times. I knew that there was always more than meets the eye, but this seemed to run a little deeper.

          "What happened to your hand?" I caught myself saying. The urge to apologize for the question came immediately, but I didn't because I really wanted to know. With Valentine, I wanted my questions to get answers. Not assertively, but because she was so intriguing, and I couldn't stand not knowing.

          Val looked over at me and then inspected her busted hand. Her answer didn't come right away. "I got into a fight with my wall yesterday," she finally said.

          My eyebrows lifted, a little surprised that she was honest with me. "It looks terrible," I said, revealing my honesty as well.

          She shot me a devilish grin and said, "You should see my wall." The look she had on her face was different—it was wicked and wild. It was an expression that fit her too well, which almost scared the socks off my feet.

          I chuckled, attempting to conceal my nervousness. Everyone had a mask they wore in public, and I wondered if it fell right in that second. The idea unnerved me just a little—that I was possibly dealing with a slightly crazy person —, but then again, some people did have more fire in them than others. Me, I liked cat photos and thought they were adorable. But if Val enjoyed punching walls for fun, then I'd let her have that quirk, no matter how questionable or crazy it was.

          "That was insane!" said Calum when they rejoined us only moments later.

          My eyes traveled back to Val for a quick second, and her eerie expression completely vanished—gone within seconds. I wasn't imagining things, was I? As if she heard my thoughts, she caught my eye, and the corners of her mouth lifted slightly, mischievously.

          A little danger never hurt anyone, and while Val appeared to be somewhat menacing, I could help but get more curious. If the roads ahead were bumpy, I would have to deal with it because I needed to know where that mischievousness stemmed from.

          Dana clapped her hands. "Alright, folks! Onto the next ride!"

          There, we started our journey for the most thrilling rides. I described all carnival rides the same: This ride could kill you, but the city said it was okay. Because that's what made it safe.

          Once we rode about everything they had to offer, we all took a breather. It'd been approximately three hours of waiting in line and then getting a head rush from whatever ride it was.

          "I'm gonna go win my girl a stuffed animal," Michael said, and Dana squealed in delight.

          "I'm gonna go win my Calum a stuffed animal," Luke said, and we all laughed.

          "Cute, but I'm gonna go win my headache some water," I said, and Luke stuck his tongue out at me.

          "Mind if I join?" Val asked, already getting up to follow me. In line at the food stand now, she spoke first. "You know they're going to put us on the ferris wheel together, right?"

          I sighed. "I was kind of hoping they would skip it," I said.

          "There's no way they would," she replied with a laugh. The line moved up, and so did we, her colorful hair swaying slightly.

          "What made you dye your hair a rainbow?" I asked.

          She pulled some strands forwards, looking at them. "I had this friend, and I was the first person she came out to," she said, and then smiled sadly. "She, unfortunately, died before we got to high school. But last summer, my parents finally let me dye my hair. So, I did it during June, honoring Pride Month and every brave LGBTQ person because they get a lot of shit for simply being who they are. But they're some of the toughest people out there, and I admire them."

          "Wow," I said. "That's so amazing of you to do."

          She paused, seeming to be still lost in a daydream. Then, she blinked and stared down at the ground. "I'm thinking about going back to my original hair color, maybe on my birthday, but I don't know. I'm not sure yet."

          The line moved up again, and we were next. "When is your birthday?"

          "February fourteenth," she said.

          I thought about it. "Isn't that Valentine's Day?" I asked, and then the realization slapped me in the face. "Oh, Valentine. Your name makes sense now."

          She laughed. "How does a name make sense?" she asked. "If my name were any other name, would it not make sense?"

          "You know what I meant."

          With the water, I also wanted snacks. I didn't think my stomach could handle an entire meal, not after all that spinning.

          "You guys said you were getting water, not dining out," Michael said as he and the others walked up to us. Dana was now holding a stuffed dragon, and Calum had a unicorn. These guys were seriously weird.

          "I did get water," I told him. "But I also wanted some fairy floss."

          "The hell is fairy floss?" Dana asked.

          "He's literally eating it right now," Luke said, pointing to the fluffy pink cloud I was currently devouring.

          "You mean cotton candy?" Valentine said.

          "You guys and your American terms," I said, playfully rolling my eyes.

          "You and your Australian terms," she shot back. "What the hell is an 'oi?'"

          "Would you guys just go out already?" Dana said.

          Valentine threw jelly beans at her, "Stick to your own life," she said.

          "Anyway, ferris wheel, anyone?"

          Valentine looked over at me and winked. "We all know how this works," she said. "Michael and Dana. Calum and Luke. Ashton and me. There, let's not waste time."

          "Let us go then, you and I, when the evening is spread out against the sky," Luke said, quoting T.S. Elliot like an English dutchess and grabbed Calum's hand, and they both frolicked to the ferris wheel. Could they get any weirder?

          Luckily, the next round was about to start, and we were first in line. Val and I were seated in the one behind Michael and Dana, and Calum and Luke were ahead of them.

          "Jeez, these are so unstable and could probably lift up at any moment," Val said, touching the single metal bar that was supposed to keep us safe.

          "And everything looks rusty," I said. "We could get stuck."

          She gasped dramatically and turned to me. "How would we escape?" she asked. "We need a great escape plan."

          "Well, we could probably slide under the bar," I said, playing along. "Then climb down the rails and voila!—we have freed ourselves."

          "And if that doesn't work?"

          I shrugged. "We could drop to our death."

          "Sounds like fun."

          The wheel began to turn, and up we went. So far, the rusty bar only creaked. So, we were safe. Then, South Tucson was beneath us, and we were finally like the birds, peacefully gliding through the air. The setting sun reflected off the tallest skyscrapers, and a pink and orange haze painted the skyline.

          I turned to Val. "So, when would you like to, you know..."

          "Go out?" she finished with a short laugh, and I nodded. "Don't be afraid to ask me anything, Ashton. I'm an open book fifty percent of the time."

          I raised my eyebrow and chuckled. "Only fifty?" I said.

          "It's what I'm willing to share," she said.

          "That sounds like a challenge to me," I said. "Cracking the case of the other fifty percent sounds interesting."

          "Interesting isn't a word I would use to describe it," she said. "Nobody found it fascinating when they found out about it."

          "Like Calum?" I asked.

          "Yeah, he didn't find out in a nice way," she said. "Because, of course, I would never tell anyone about my problems on purpose." She turned away from me, now looking out into the city lights. Sighing, she said, "Believe it or not, but I like having friends, Ashton. But my problems find a way to get between that, and I've done some terrible things to some really good people I could never forgive myself for. The longer I can keep my bad shit hidden from you guys is how long we can still be friends. Because in the end, people leave. They always do."

          "Not everyone leaves, Val," I said. "You just have to find the right ones who will stay."

          She swung her feet back and forth. "I had good friends who did stay, Ashton," she said. "But when life hit, I took its punch. Now, two of them are specks of dust in the cosmos, and one hates every fiber in my soul. I went rogue and changed some of the best people I ever met in the worst way."

          Valentine was a girl who's world was loaded with hardship, and now she was becoming tragic herself. Living in the past caused her present to be regretful and her future to be neglected. It simply was tragic.

          "I think," I said with a heavy breath, "what you need is closure."

          She turned to face me and stared right into my eyes, her brown one's captivating mine. "I hate the fact that you might be good for me," she whispered after a couple of moments. She then sighed as the ride began to slow and peered out into the sea of buildings again.

          I just smiled and welcomed the silence between us. Some statements didn't need witty remarks or a meaningless reply because silence told you all that you needed to hear.

          "Friday."

          I looked over at Valentine. "What?"

          "I'm free Friday," she said.

          Right, the date. "Gotcha," I said, and she gave me a small smile.

          We met up with everyone else and decided to do something else. It was close to seven, and the night was only beginning. We were teenagers trying to savor it.

          "We could go to the drive-in theatre," Luke said. "Regular movie theatres are overrated, and we could bring our own snacks."

          Dana clapped her hands excitedly. "That sounds like so much fun!" she said, and everyone else agreed.

          "Give me a second, my mom is calling me," Val said and then stepped away for privacy.

          "What happened to her dad?" Dana asked curiously. "Did they divorce or something?"

          Calum looked to the ground while scratching the back of his neck. "Well, she's not really open about it, but her dad was a victim of a homicide this passing July," he said.

          Now that was a surprise to everyone. Mandy only mentioned that Val's dad passed away, and I assumed it was from natural causes. But murder? Just thinking about it made me feel sick, so there was no telling how she responded to it.

          Dana's hand flew to her mouth. "Oh my gosh," she whispered. "That's so recent. How is she coping with school and everything?"

          Calum was silent for a moment. Then, "She gets by," he said quietly.

          When Valentine came back, it was apparent—maybe just to me—that something ticked her off. I glanced down at her bruised knuckles again and worked to correlate some of the small pieces of information I now knew. Every time she had been angry was when it dealt with her mom, which meant something was transpiring behind closed doors. And it didn't appear to be pretty, not in the slightest bit.

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Anywaaay. I don't know why this chapter took so long to write omgggg. I cleaned my room, read books, created book covers, made ten playlist for ten different books, AND watched Newsies and Hamilton about five more times in between writing this chapter.

Damn, said Amsterdam ... we gotta start pillaging some stuff.

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