the outfits literally have nothing to do in the chapter, but it's what I imagined. plus it's the face claim for vanessa, and joel.
and I thought it was cute.

this chapter kind of jumps around

• vanessa •

"Enjoy the carnival!" A high school student told us. I smiled at her while Joel and I walked through the gate.

"So, what do you do first when you come here?" Joel questioned. "Rides, games, or food?"

"If you don't eat the fries here first, are you even human?" I answered. "Or the funnel cake. But the games are where the fun is. Especially at this one, each game is worth one ticket, and tickets are really cheap." I led Joel towards the food stands, and we stood in line at the french fry stand.

"You know a lot about this carnival," Joel commented.

"It's held by my old high school. Students work for extra credit, and everything is bought by the city, parents and school board, and the school keeps the profits for the art program," I explained. "Ooh, can we get a large fry, please?" Joel had already handed the guy five dollars before I could protest.

"So this is your old high school?" Joel asked. I nodded. The carnival was set up across the street from the school, but it was still school grounds. "That's cool."

"Thank you," I told the guy when I grabbed the small bucket of fries. "Okay, before you eat these. They're going to change your life, they're literally the best fries ever. Perfectly fried and salted. These are all I wanted when I was pre—pretty young." I held the bucket towards Joel, and we both took a couple fries and chewed them.

"So what is it that you do?" I asked Joel after awhile. We were just walking through the entire carnival talking. "Tatiana didn't tell me much, or anything really."

"I, uh, sing," Joel answered.

"You don't sound too sure about that," I responded.

"I do sing," Joel corrected himself. "I— your friend didn't say anything at all?" I shook my head. "I'm actually a member of a band. We actually just finished our world tour last month."

"Wait— seriously? That's really cool," I told him.

"What about you? What do you do?"

Stay at home with my son most days. "I work at Forever 21, and I'm going to college online. Not yet anyway, I only just signed up."

"What are you going for?"

"I'm not sure yet, I'm going to get my generals out of the way, and when I do, I'll be able to be on campus to work towards some degree."

"But what do you want to do?"

"I really haven't thought about it. I was busy during my last years of high school while everyone was getting ready for college and thinking of their futures, I was—" taking care of a baby. "Uh, I've always wanted to be a teacher," I corrected myself. "Oh my god, they have cotton candy!"

And that's how I ended up changing the subject and getting cotton candy.

"No! I'd really like to hear about it," I told Joel. I had asked about his band, but he didn't want to bug me with the details. Personally, I didn't like to talk about myself, but whenever I did talk about myself I always said more than I meant to.

"There's really nothing to tell. We make music, and it's our passion," Joel told me while he shrugged.

"But like what kind of music? How'd you guys meet? You can't just say that you make music and it's your passion because that's the same for everyone that makes music."

"Alright. We mainly sing in Spanish, and we met on a tv show called La Banda," Joel answered. "Four other guys and I won the show and we were put into a group."

"That's so cool," I responded. "Wait— wasn't that the show Yashua and his brother was on?"

"Richard's actually a part of the group I'm in," Joel responded. "H—how do you know Yashua?"

"I've met him at a few parties I went with Tati, but I don't really know him, you know? He's more of an acquaintance," I explained, he nodded. "I—" I trailed off as I noticed an old classmate of mine, who immediately recognized me. I quickly let my attention go back to Joel and smiled at him. "Do you want to get beat by a girl at basketball?"

"You're on."

I smiled as the ball left my hand and fell into the hoop, I wasn't paying attention to the small scoreboard, but hearing Joel cursing under his breath was telling me I was in the lead. "I did lead the girls' basketball team to the championship."

"Woah, really?"

"Nope," I smiled, getting in an extra point before the buzzer went off. "But I did play basketball until my sophomore year. I was starting varsity."

"Congratulations, you can pick whatever you want," a high school student told me and pointed to the wall behind her.

"Pen?" I questioned. Penelope looked confused, then a smile appeared on her face. "It's been forever! How are you?"

"I'm a junior now!"

"I remember when you were a little eighth-grader," I responded. I saw Penelope freeze, and glance beside me.

"Oh my god, you're Joel Pimentel!" She squealed. "I love your music, I voted for you to become a part of La Banda. I— you're actually real."

"Thank you," Joel responded, laughing. "Would you like a picture?" Penelope nodded.

"Thank you so much," Penelope smiled, as she put her phone back into her pocket. "I— are you two on a date? What happened to Antonio?" Penelope asked me. I shook my head. "I'm sorry. Uh, have you picked out a prize yet?"

I looked at the prize wall behind her, and the first thing that caught my eye was Brandon's favorite character from Paw Patrol. "That dog looks really cute," I played dumb. "The one with the construction gear," I pointed to Rubble. No one my age would watch Paw Patrol for fun, or know the names of each character. I do. Rubble and Marshall were Brandon's favorites.

"Awh, is this for—?"

"Me? Yeah, of course, I did win," I interrupted. "Winner chooses and keeps the prize," I turned to Joel, "that was your rule wasn't it?"

"I was going to let you keep the prize if I won," Joel responded. But you didn't, I stopped myself from saying that aloud. "Want to go check out the other games?" I nodded, and we walked off after I said goodbye to Penelope.

—

"I can't believe you've won all of those games," Joel commented. "I have a feeling you cheated or something."

I laughed, as I was looking for my apartment key through my purse. "Yup, all of the games were triggered for only me to win," I joked. "Or maybe I'm just better at carnival games," I shrugged, opening my door, stepping in.

"I'd like to think the first thing," Joel responded, stepping in after me. I grabbed the four stuffed animals I won and tossed three on the couch, leaving a small stuffed bear in my hand.

"I had fun tonight, a lot of fun that I usually don't get to have," I told Joel. I handed him the small blue bear, "Here. I want you to have this as a reminder of our first date—"

"Thanks," Joel interrupted me.

"And the only time you were close to beating me," I gave him a smile.

"There it is," Joel said. "I also had fun tonight. We should do this again sometime."

"Are you asking me out on a second date?" I asked. Before Joel could respond, I answered. "Because we definitely should. Maybe you can practice your shooting and we can do a rematch if you're up for it."

"Sounds like a plan."

<><><>

So the date happened.

its been a minute, but i finally updated.
and its summer vacation!!

i was gonna update this last sunday and then this sunday, but i was on vacation, (im still on vacation but we're driving home now)

i hope you enjoyed this chapter! 💓