Ingrid is out cold when suddenly, a bucket of cold water is dumped on her, waking her up from her deep sleep, a string of curse words following the shock of having freezing water poured on her. 

"Morning, sleepyhead. You slept through your alarm, and just talking to you wasn't working, so I had to get a little bit creative." Flynn grins, handing her a towel to dry herself off.

"How did you even get in here?" Ingrid yawns, propping herself up into a sitting position.

"Your mom gave me a key."

"I'm going to take that key back from you now."

"She trusts me, and besides, I'm a good influence on you."

"I mean, I'm not going to deny the fact that you are a good influence on me, but I don't really appreciate you coming in here and tossing some cold water on me."

"You were out like a light. I had to do what I had to do." he shrugs, leaning against her door frame.

"So you just decided to throw a bucket of water on me for no good reason?" she retorts, drying her hair with the towel.

"Well, when you put it like that, you make me look like the bad guy here."

"You are the bad guy here. You're dragging me out of my warm bed to go to school at the crack of dawn."

"It's not my fault you slept through your alarm. Being late to summer school isn't exactly my kind of fun."

"I mean, I could just skip, right?"

"No! Summer school's important; if you don't show up, it could interfere with you passing to twelfth grade." Flynn frowns, leading to Ingrid rolling her eyes.

"But I don't want to go!" Ingrid pouts, acting like an angry toddler.

"I knew you would say that, which is why I got you a bagel. Now, I'm going to leave the room so you can get dressed."

"I don't see any bagel."

"It's in the kitchen." 

Ingrid attempts to break free from her room to get her prized bagel, but Flynn blocks her from doing so, standing in front of the door. "Bagels are only for people who get dressed to go to summer school."

"Oh, you're good."

"I'm better than good, I'm great. Amazing, even."

"Oh, shut up and turn around so I can dress."

Flynn complies with her demand, facing the opposite direction. Ingrid takes the opportunity to peel off her t-shirt and sweatpants, changing into a different t-shirt and sweatpants. An idea pops into her mind after changing, a sly smirk spreading out across her lips. Breaking out into a sprint, she jumps onto Flynn's back, startling him to the point of almost dropping her. "Onward, noble steed!"

"I'm not a horse." Flynn groans, bringing her into the kitchen for her bagel, which Ingrid happily devours. "Carry me to your truck?" she asks, mouth full of bread. He reluctantly sighs, but does so, dropping her off on the passenger side. 

"Guess what?" he grins, walking around to the driver's side.

"You fixed it?" she gasps, opening the door to her surprise.

"After I dropped you off last night, I spent a couple hours of quality father-son bonding time in the garage."

"Never say the words quality father-son bonding time again."

"Got it."

"I'll be so glad when this whole summer school thing is over. I'm too lazy for any of this."

"I got that message from you within five seconds of meeting you." Flynn chuckles, buckling in his seat belt.

"Oh, shut it. You know you like me." Ingrid makes a face, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Oh, quite the contrary, dear Ingrid. I dislike you, maybe even hate you." 

"Now I know that's a whole lie right there. If you really hated me, you wouldn't be here right now."

"How can you see through my boldfaced lie like that? Nobody's ever been able to do that before."

"Well, you see, you're a bad liar, because you're blushing. Liars don't blush when they lie, you know."

Flynn grows silent, his blush brightening while they chug along to school. Ingrid grins, knowing that she had gotten to him.

Ingrid and Flynn were coming out of the classroom after they had finished for the day when an all-too-familiar squeal caught their attention. "Flynn!" Lexie exclaims, running over to them before wrapping her arms around him in a hug. Ingrid rolls her eyes, walking away.

"Hey, Lex. You're about a month and a half too early for the first day of school." he jokes, hugging her back.

"You're too funny! Student council's decorating the school for the new school year, and I've got to fulfill my duties as senior president." she replies, gesturing over to the handful of students hanging up posters and blowing up balloons.

"You never told me you got elected to student council. That's awesome, Lexie!"

"You weren't at school the day of the elections, silly. It was the last week of school, nobody was really here."

"That makes sense. Congrats, by the way. I know you'll make a great president."

"I hope so. I can't really compare to you, but I can sure try my best to."

While Flynn and Lexie discuss student council, Ingrid had wandered off through the school alone, running (quite literally) into something as she turned into the science hall. "Woah there, you okay?" 

Ingrid looks up to see that it was Daniel who she had bumped into. Her heart felt like it was beating out of her chest as she stood there, speechless. "I...um..."

"I haven't seen you since the party. Not a big partier, huh?"

"Well, nobody ever invites me to things, so..."

"Consider yourself invited to any future parties I throw. You were the life of the party that night."

"So I've heard. I don't remember any of it. Apparently I made out with your brother."

"Shame it wasn't me." the brunet smirks, taking Ingrid by surprise.

"Excuse me?" were the only words she could muster, not quite sure if she heard him correctly.

"Do you know I've always found you pretty?"

"Are you joking? You're like, the hottest guy to ever live in Lakeside."

"I'm not, trust me, but thanks for the compliment." Daniel winks before adding, "If I wasn't with Lexie when I met you, I'd probably have asked you out."

"But you're with Lexie."

"We broke up a couple of days ago."

"Good riddance, am I right?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"Well, you're single now, does that mean you're going to ask me out?" a braver Ingrid asks with a sly grin. The worst thing Daniel could do would be to tell her no. It would only break her heart in two, but at least she would know where she stood.

"The summer carnival starts tonight. I can pick you up around seven, you can text me your address." Daniel suggests with a shrug, his eyes lazily rolling over the girl standing in front of him.

The Lakeside summer carnival only came to town the last weekend of June, and it was always a popular event, with many locals attending every year. Ingrid had never been, what with money always being tight and all. She had always dreamed of riding the Ferris wheel, but of course, she'd never admit such a whimsical idea out loud.

"Are you asking me on...a date?"

"I was hoping for it to be one."

"Are you sure you want to go on a date with me? I mean, I'm rude, and lazy, and...the worst."

"You can't be much worse than Lexie, that's for sure. Besides, I like blondes." 

Ingrid was, for probably the first time in her entire seventeen years of existence, speechless. After many years of crushing on Daniel, he had finally asked her out. Her heart pounded against her chest as she stares in awe at him, mouth agape. She had wanted this for the longest time, and now, it was happening. Daniel Jefferson liked her back, and she wasn't even daydreaming this time! Snapping out of her trance, Ingrid manages to nod her head yes to his question, a huge grin plastered on her face.

"Yeah, I'm really feeling this." she mumbles, still in a state of disbelief. "That sounds amazing. I'll try to look all girly for you." the blonde adds, louder so that Daniel could actually hear her this time. Ingrid scurries away to look for her ride home, who was still deep in conversation with Lexie.

"Oh, Flynn, you're hilarious. I hope you bring that sense of humor to the carnival tonight." Lexie giggles, batting her eyelashes at him.

"Did you think I was going to leave it at home or something?" Flynn jokes, making Lexie laugh even harder. 

"Not sorry to interrupt the clown festival here, but I've been waiting for you to, I don't know, bring me home?" Ingrid scowls, crossing her arms impatiently. Lexie glares at her, as if to say, How dare you interrupt our special moment?

"I'll be right back to help you decorate, Lex." Flynn chirps before following an ecstatic Ingrid out of the school.

The scent of buttered popcorn and cotton candy flooded the fairgrounds as Ingrid, accompanied by Daniel, enter. His arm was slung over her shoulders, which felt perfect to her. For once in her life, all of her worries were gone, simply because she was with the guy she had crushed on since eighth grade, when the first wave of puberty swept the Lakeside Middle hallways.

"What do you want to do first?" Daniel murmurs, glancing over at his date, whose face breaks out into a grin. 

"Can we go on the Ferris wheel? I've never been on one before." Ingrid asks, trying to look as innocent as she possibly could.

"Sure."

And so they were off, heading toward the huge wheel on the opposite side of the field, until Ingrid stops, her eyes landing on Flynn and Lexie. "Maybe we should go a different route?" she murmurs, glancing back over at her date. Daniel's gaze follows hers, ending when he sees his ex with Flynn. They notice each other, Lexie smirking before pulling Flynn in for a long, romantic kiss, which prompts Daniel to do the same, shocking Ingrid to the point of pulling away. She storms over to the other couple, breaking them up.

"I don't know what you're doing here, but you need to stop. I'm just trying to have a good night with Daniel, and you're over here flaunting your independence."

"I'm flaunting my independence? Look at you, all cuddled up to my ex. You're the one flaunting your independence, if anything." Lexie snorts, eyeing the girl up and down.

"Oh, really? Then why, when you saw us, did you start making out with Flynn?"

"I just wanted to show him a good time, which is something you'll never be able to give to Daniel."

That was the last straw for Ingrid, who charges the other girl, knocking her to the ground. Ingrid's fists were flying as she takes her anger out on Lexie, who could barely defend herself against the taller girl. Daniel stands awkwardly, unsure of what to do, but Flynn, wise to Ingrid's violent tendencies, attempts to separate the two, but is unsuccessful. Security for the event rush over to them, pulling Ingrid off of Lexie, whose nose was bleeding. Ingrid, on the other hand, was relatively unscathed, save for claw marks from Lexie's long nails.

This, of course, leads to all four of them getting kicked out of the carnival altogether, security ushering them out of the fairgrounds. 

"I can't believe you got us banned from the carnival!" Lexie seethes, holding a tissue to her nose. 

"Oh, shut up. You're the one who got us into this mess." Ingrid grumbles, equally as annoyed as the girl standing next to her.

"But weren't you the one who tackled me to the ground?"

"If I recall correctly, I wasn't leaving red lipstick all over a Newfield's face."

"Well, Flynn seemed to enjoy it."

"He might have enjoyed it, but I sure didn't."

"Can you two stop fighting and apologize to each other already? I think both of you have done more than enough damage for tonight, and it's not even 7:30 yet." Flynn interrupts, attempting to act as a peacemaker in the dispute.

"What makes you think I'm going to apologize to her?" Ingrid snarls, refusing to back down.

"I'm not apologizing either. Ingrid needed to be taken down a few pegs." Lexie argues back with a huff, provoking Ingrid even further.

"And you didn't?"

"I was clearly in the right here, right, Flynn?"

"I'm not taking either of your sides. Both of you are in the wrong." the male states, separating the two to avoid further physical confrontation.

"Just give it up already, Ingrid. We can go back to my place and salvage what's left of the evening." Daniel mutters, a suggestive look in his eyes.

"What makes you think I'm going home with you? You're just going to use me as a walking mattress. I may not be the brightest star in the sky, but I know when I'm getting bamboozled here!" 

"Whatever. I could have made you very happy tonight." 

To Ingrid's relief, Daniel makes his grand exit, leaving her alone with Lexie and Flynn, who were staring at her.

"You know, both you," Ingrid begins, referring to Lexie, "and Daniel, are extremely toxic. No wonder you made such a good couple."

"Enough, Ingrid. Come on, I'll drive both of you home." Flynn sighs, seeming almost...exasperated with the girls.

"I'm not going anywhere with her." Lexie pipes up, frowning.

"Lexie, you live on the other side of town. I'm not letting you walk home alone."

"Then make Ingrid walk."

"Gladly." Ingrid fumes, storming off in the opposite direction. 

"Good riddance." Lexie simpers, making good and sure that Ingrid could hear her.

Ingrid was furious, but most of all, she was humiliated. She ruined her only chance with Daniel, who only seemed to care about getting her in bed. At least she got to beat some sense into Lexie. Now that was fun. On the other hand, Lexie and Flynn seemed to be having fun together. Popular needs popular, she reminded herself as she continued on her way home, feeling some sort of jealousy about the pair. Flynn didn't need or want her. After the program ended, she would go back to being lonely little Ingrid, a face that everyone would forget. Hot, angry tears burned her eyes as she stalked home. She was about to cross the street when she glanced up, a familiar white truck waiting at the stop sign. Flynn was alone this time, waving her over. 

This time, happy tears mixed into her resentful ones as she hopped inside the truck. He cared. He really did.