Not bulletpoints this time!

"CINDEEER!"

A lanky boy with a mop of black hair pulled a rather disgruntled Cinder into a bone- crushing embrace. Cinder sighed, and tried to remember what she said every year after the holidays when this happened.

"Kai. It was only the summer holidays. 2 months." Tapping Kai's arms that were still wrapped around her, Cinder patted him on the head and flashed an awkward smile to Peony. It was times like this when Cinder wished two things: that sometimes Kai didn't have to be so protective of her (she could deal with that bully Levana on her own, you know!) and that Peony didn't have so big of a crush on Kai. Of course, she normally kept these thoughts tucked right at the back of her subconscious. Except her hate of Levana. She was sure she had cheated on that math test, sure of it! Now Levana was the 'best' mathematician when Cinder knew it was rightfully her. 

Peony smiled just as awkwardly back. She was a sickly girl, and didn't spend much time at school. Most of her time was spent in bed, or in a hospital, and all the time keeping up with her favourite celebrities.

* * *

A girl with bright orange hair that enveloped her face hopped out of a trundling farm van, kissed the driver ("See you tonight, grandmere!" "Enjoy school again, Scar,"), and peered through curls that had been compared to fire. Scarlet spotted Cinder, Kai and Peony, but no sign of Wolf.

"Boo." Scarlet yelped as Wolf chuckled, emerging from behind her, green eyes flashing with laughter in the sun. "You always fall for that one!" he said. "Pfft," scowled Scarlet. "Come, let's go say hi to Cinder and Peony and Kai and that lot. I expect this peace and quiet will be over when Thorne arrives..." Wolf smiled again. "Let's make the most of it now!"

* * *

"COME ON, CRESS! YOUR HAIR DOESN'T HAVE TO BE PERFECT!" yelled Thorne. "IT'S NOT EVEN THAT LONG ANYMORE!" He was just glad both of Cress's parents were out now. Oh, the death-glare Dr. Erland would give Thorne right now...

"Just wait!" shouted back Cress, sighing at the impatience in Thorne's voice.

He chuckled to himself, then abruptly stopped. That stupid bet! Stupid, stupid, stupid!

"CRESS, HURRY UUUUUP! I made a bet with Wolf, if I'm not there before Iko,  ugh, I don't know, something terrible will happen!" In actual fact, Thorne knew exactly what would happen. It scared him so much that even saying it out loud made him shudder.  The embarrassment! The pain! The humiliation! The laughing faces of his crew! To give him such a horrible thing to do, they must really hate him. Or just love watching him in pain. Thorne expected the latter.

At long last (most likely 45 seconds), Cress descended down the stairs. Her light blond hair swished in the faint breeze along with her sky blue flowy dress that complimented her big eyes. Thorne shook his head. Stars! He needed to stop noticing things like this.

"Who's driving?" Cress looked nervous. School always made her nervous. Being homeschooled with only  movies about schools to watch, she had concocted an idea that everybody in school teased you, hated you, all the popular girls were amazing singers and bullied all the nerds, all the boys were either jocks or nerds (Thorne obviously falling into the jock category...*dreamy sigh*) and the teachers hated you because of that one time you wrote 'your' instead of 'you're'.

Thorne grinned at her. "Who's driving? Come on, Cress, have a guess!" She slumped into the backseat, slinging her schoolbag in beside her. "I think I might... walk?"  It was an empty threat. Cress knew Thorne knew that Cress knew that it was an empty threat. "Cre-ess! I'm not that bad at driving! I'm thirteen, nearly fourteen, which is three, nearly two years away from me being legally able to drive." He stuck his tongue out and fake-scowled. "Plus, last time you trusted me with your life, it worked out just fine, didn't it?" Cress sighed. He just wouldn't let that one time go, would he? "Thorne, that was cross country! You gave me a piggy back and let me drink your water... it was hardly life threatening!" Thorne grinned, and in a voice heavy with sarcasm yet light with laughter said, "Sure, Cress. Hardly life threatening." Cress kicked the back of his seat, thankful he couldn't see her blushing.

* * *

"Thorne and Cress are laaaate!" sang Winter.  The wind ruffled her dark curls as she flicked it out of her eyes, before frowning. "And Jacin. How annoying." Cinder sat on the swing, jumping up when it was damp. "Yeah, I heard he was picking her up," she smiled, thinking about the drama it could evoke. Levana totally hated any couples, as she didn't have the perfect romance that they had. And what Thorne and Cress had? Perfect.  Scarlet nudged Wolf, nodding not-so-subtly at him, and smiling. "What?! I can't pick you up! My parents would interrogate you, ask for your flippin' life story... And in the circus car? Hmph. My parents would probably think it would be a good opportunity to walk the actual wolves..." Kai raised his eyebrows at Wolf's sudden outburst, but then grinned and nudged him too. "Come on, Wolf, you know you want to!" The whole gang laughed, just as Iko swung open the gate to the school's playground, panting. "Am I late? Is Thorne here? Is he hiding?" Iko's wild eyes and blue braids flapping everywhere made everyone laugh a little harder, and even Iko let out a breathy giggle. She guessed she was safe, as Thorne and Cress were nowhere to be seen. And Thorne and Cress? Soooo CUTE! Iko had spent weeks of her summer holiday just giggling over them. And how Thorne had offered to pick Cress up? Almost as big as marrying her! Oh stars, the wedding she could organize for the two of them...

"So, he's not here yet?" Iko's heart was in her mouth when she spoke those words. She almost felt sorry for Thorne, the challenge Wolf had set was not one where she could use her escort android body and android training to her advantage. The fear that washed over her even when he said those words nearly made her short-circuit!

"No, lucky for you, Iko! Neither is Jacin, though, I wonder what happened to him.." Winter knew nothing bad could've happened to him, but he was never this late! "Don't worry, Winter, I'm sure there's just traffic somewhere round here," said Scarlet. "Stars! You should have seen the jam we got into! Cars for miles, I swear!" Wolf looked thoughtful. "I guess that's one pro of coming here in the circus car, everyone avoids you," Scarlet punched the air, with a triumphant 'yes!'. Wolf rolled his eyes, smiling nonetheless. "It's only one pro, Scarlet, I still haven't said yes." "Hello, peasants." came a new voice. Winter shrieked and jumped up, hugging Jacin before he even reached the swing set (where the gang was hanging out). "Stars, Winter, calm down! I only got stuck in a lil' traffic, that's all," he laughed. "Did you see Levana's face when Thorne and Cress arrived? Priceless. The pure hate. I bet she'd tell on him!" Jacin raised his voice a little just as Thorne and Cress walked up. "Why would she tell on me? I'm so prefect, she couldn't find anything wrong with me!" Thorne said, striking a pose. Cress smiled weakly and waved to the gang, settling down on a patch of grass. "Pff! Perfect? Perfect at driving, huh? Everyone saw you crash!" snorted Jacin. "You didn't crash!" Cress yelped. Thorne looked sheepish as Jacin carried on. "Yeah, he did! Well, not really crash. He knocked over a trash can and there was rubbish everywhere!" Thorne bit his lip, suppressing his grin. Cinder sighed, shaking her head. "Your parents are going to kill you, you know, Thorne!" Thorne rolled his eyes. "But they aren't going to find out, are they, now?" As much as the crew found Thorne annoying, none of them would sell him out, or even tell on him. "But Levana's got it in for you, I heard her saying it to that Sybil girl!" exclaimed Jacin. "Why?" frowned Cress. "Some of that trash hit her precious car," Jacin sneered. "Aces," groaned Thorne. "I've not been here twenty minutes and Levana already hates me? Ugh!" Everybody giggled at this, eyeing the auburn- haired girl who stood with one hand on her hip, evidently gossiping to her cronies, Sybil and and boy named Park. Iko suddenly stood up, punching Thorne on the arm. "I won the bet, sucker! I won the be-et!!"

Thorne's grin faded into an ugly frown. He had hoped they had forgotten about the bet, but no luck. Wolf sniggered, reaching into his schoolbag. "Lucky, because there's a show today, and I've got tickets." If Thorne's heart could sink any lower, it did. "It's at 4 o'clock to 6 o'clock, half an hour break inbetween. That gives us half an hour to get to the circus, and then our 45 minutes to teach Thorne how to train wolves." Wolf flashed a impish grin, unusually sharp canines glinting in the early morning sun. "Don't worry," he said, still smiling. "They'll love you."

* * *

On the previous last day of school, Wolf had casually asked what Iko and Thorne were most afraid of in the city. They had both answered the circus wolves. And the being the gullible people that they are, they made a bet/ dare type thing that went a bit like: whoever comes last to school out of Iko and Thorne will have to go into the wolves's training pen, alone, and then train them before a show with Wolf.

Thorne was really regretting this bet now.

I saw this solitary part in my drafts and eh... Did you like it? —Bobbie