We're having a carnival! Even though it's probably freezing!

[Aiden Munslow]

For a teenager, he had a really bad attention span when it came to all the shiny lights and things. He was trying to have a conversation with someone. He would be in the middle of a sentence, and then turn around to look at someone, and find himself staring at the shiny lights, they were colorful and pretty? Could you blame him? So far they had already passed a bunch of animals,which looked fun. If he could find Jem then they might just have to go hang out over there. There was a thousand and one booths, and he really wanted to get his face painted like a tiger. Was that childish?

Well considering the fact that all the pictures on the sign for it were pictures of three year olds, it was probably safe to assume so. He just really like sparkly face paint. He wasn't sure where he was going, but he was holding Hannah's hand and looking around at everything, there was a kissing booth, and one of those photo booth things. Everything looked like fun. So he wasn't sure where to go first, but he was sure that this while thing was going to be really fun. If he could pay attention for eight whole seconds without getting distracted by the shiny lights, or something spinning.

To be honest, all that carnival food sounded really weird, and the next booth that he saw was a fortune teller. "Hey look a fortune teller," he said. Why he sounded so happy about that he wasn't sure, but it looked like fun, even if she was probably just going to read scripted stuff. "Wanna get your fortune told later?" he asked, as they walked by, that looked fun, even if they were probably just going to read a bunch of scripted bullshit. "Where is everyone though?" he asked. "Not that I mind spending the entire night with you or anything." he flipped his hair out of his eyes and looked up at her with a grin that was his best attempt at being cute.

"

[Erik Donally]

Erik was being an awkward tag-along... yet again. Though he barely knew his cousin, she had invited him along, and he didn't want to be rude and decline a polite invitation. Instead, he forced himself out of bed, shutting down the computer for the day and putting on his big boy pants. In all honesty, he did love going to carnivals. The fast, spinning lights on rides made for interesting backgrounds, and there were always people to look at that were great for photographing. Knowing it was cold outside, he wore a pair of finger less gloves so that he could better hold his camera while still staying warm. He didn't really care about his clothing style for the rest of his outfit, but he wanted to make a good impression on Hannah and her boyfriend - not to mention all of their friends. So he pulled on a pair of khakis and a nice sweater, sticking to his trusty Converse for footwear.

"Hey, I've got an idea." Erik paused, smiling shyly. He saw the way Hannah's fingers laced with Aiden's, and knew that it was a good picture. Of course, he'd already taken a photograph, but he wanted to try not to freak them out. Instead of being candid, why not be the photographer for the night? "I've got my camera... I can take pictures, put them on Facebook or Instagram or something?" He offered, running a hand through his messy curls with a downcast glance. He didn't want to seem like he was being a total freak, but he just had thought it was a nice thing to do for them. The least he could do, since she invited him. Who wants to take pictures all night instead of focusing on the fun? That could be his job.

"Why doesn't the cute couple pose?" he asked. He wasn't entirely sure if they were dating or not, but it was a pretty picture. The fortune teller's mysterious shack in the background, glowing lights of a carousel nearby. It was pretty, but darkly lit. All the same, it was a cute photograph, if they would let him take it.

[Heather Marie Barton]

The dancing lights made her dizzy, or was it the stench of fresh corn dogs that made her head spin? Her belly churned, "At least I wasn't assigned to watch the rides." She muttered to herself, grateful that the petting zoo was facing slightly away from the rides. A cool breeze caused the girl to shiver, wishing she had worn leggings under her dress that evening. Her green eyes appeared blue that night due to the strange lighting around. Strolling lazily to the pens, she plucked a baby lop ear from its nest. Next to each animals cage was a barrel of treats; Heathers job was to offer patrons the chance to feed an animal for fifty cents. Plucking a carrot from the piece she prodded at the rabbits mouth. "Come on, you gotta look cute!" She growled as she shoved a little harder at the creature, until eventually it began to nibble at the vegetable she held in her fingers. "Come feed the baby animals! Only fifty cents!" She shouted putting the best smile on she was capable of.

Heather scrunched up her nose at her ridiculous costume. A sleeveless pink and white stripped top, that spiraled down into a short dress in ruffles. It fit the petite girl loosely, a few measly safety pins kept it from falling off her body. A multi colored feathered hat covered her hair, her frizzy curls bounced down to her shoulders. She wouldn't be caught dead wearing this absurd piece on a regular bases. Her head itched, but the fear of clumps of hair tumbling out kept it in place. It wasn't the greatest pay in the world, but the extra money was nice. Besides, it was temporary, that and her other job had cut her hours recently. Though was it really necessary for her to wear this absurd thing!?

Nearly tripping over a few free roaming goats on her way back to the rabbit pen, her smile changed into an expression of anger. Heather diverted her attention back to the pens as the hungry squeal of piglets broke her sale pitch. Rolling her eyes, she grumbled something under her breath. She was never any good with animals, specifically farm animals. How in the world did they expect her to run this place on her own? They were so noisy, and stinky! She'd much rather be out there enjoying her self with friends, or perhaps a this was a chance to meet someone new.

[Courtney Parker]

(( www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=93604263 ))

Wearing a short little dress in the middle of January (the coldest month in New York, no less) was probably not the most responsible thing that Courtney had ever done in her life but it was a hell of a lot more mature than what else she was planning on doing tonight. It wasn't like she was planning on doing anything necessarily illegal but she had invited Jamie to join her at the carnival despite their age difference and the obvious student / teacher issue. She didn't want to think about that though. What a bummer would that be? She was still in denial about the fact that feelings for him could have surfaced from the whole oral sex fiasco that they shared in her classroom.

She wasn't looking to fall in love with anyone ever after her awkward almost marriage so the idea of developing a crush on Jamie was the last thing that she'd planned on doing. She wasn't going to go to some extreme and say that she was 'falling' for him because she knew that this feeling was very different from the ones that she'd experienced when she was falling for Logan. How could she trust this boy not to break her heart just like the last guy? And wasn't she a little old to still be getting silly little crushes like this one? She just didn't really know what to do anymore. Act on it and risk her career? She could literally lose her job for this boy and yet she was still considering it as an option.

She wasn't being logical in this situation. Most people would never consider doing all of this for some student who didn't even see her as more than a teacher who sucked his dick but that didn't mean that she couldn't enjoy his company in the meantime. Nobody here had to know that they were student and teacher! It wasn't like he was going to wear some Somerset sweatshirt or something and if he did then she could easily pretend that she was fellow student or went to college. Easy, right? She just wanted to have fun tonight and maybe get a kiss to see if any of her feelings for this boy were even real. It was a very real possibility that she was just lonely and confusing her lust for something real.

[Jude Chisholm]

"I don't know, go pet some animals or something," his sister said. He still wasn't sure why she had decided to drag him here, but he clearly did not fit in with her group of friends, which seemed to be no one at the moment. Yet she still didn't want to hang out with him, despite the fact that she had dragged him here. Which made not one bit of sense if you asked him. So after she disappeared into the crowd, and the bright shining lights he actually found himself taking her advice, and going towards the animal pens.

He was about to walk past when he heard someone say, to come feed the baby animals, only fifty cents. For some reason this offer sounded enticing. He didn't know exactly the reason why, but baby animals were cute right. Despite the facts that his older brother often randomly spewed out about them killing their parents, or some other vicious thing. He didn't really care to listen to his sibling's animal facts most of the time, and had learned to put on a face that looked like he was listening when he really wasn't. He had learned a few things though, like the fact that he was scared of bees.

He was bored, and always seemed to have a few dollars in change in his pockets so he walked up to the girl running it. "Can I feed a bunny? I know I'm not like five years old or whatever, but I don't have anything else to do," he shrugged like that was a perfectly normal thing to say, and held out a handful of change that equaled to what two quarters could have easily made.

[Deleted]

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It wasn't every day that the carnival was in town and Caroline wasn't going to let something as terrible as Aubrey's near death ruin the experience for their innocent little girl. It wasn't that she didn't take it very seriously because she totally did! She hadn't cooked anything unhealthy since he'd gotten home from the hospital and had even stopped 'Fried Friday' despite it being her favorite day of the week. She was having a serious craving for fried chicken right now and a nice little bowl of gravy to dip it in.. Oh gravy. She had yet to find a gravy recipe that wasn't terribly high in sodium so that hadn't been on the menu lately. It wasn't like she disliked healthy foods but she could seriously kill for something battered and delicious right now which was why she didn't fight Camila when she hadn't ate much of her dinner tonight because she knew that she could steal bites from her little girl's yummy treats.

The very first place that she had their little group go to was the pretzel burger stand to get one for her daughter and her to split. She didn't want to go too unhealthy since she didn't want an overweight toddler or anything. She was going to draw the line there for Aubrey's sake but then she saw a stand with fried chicken, fries and little cups of gravy and she knew that she couldn't pass it up so she ordered one of those along with a cake batter milkshake. Poor love. She'd brought some carrots and apple slices in her purse just in case he got hungry later on and Camila had a sippy cup of apple juice, too if he didn't feel like drinking anything that they had here.

At least he could still ride things, right? She didn't think that would have any sort of issue. She set her daughter down since she was getting kind of heavy and whispered in her ear to 'watch uncle Scott' even though it was probably going to end up being more the other way around while she and Aubrey did couple things. "Scott, are you hungry? I could buy you a cotton candy or an ice cream or you could try some of my food." She nodded before handing her daughter a piece of fried chicken that she'd pulled off of the bone and dipped into some of the delicious gravy.

She didn't have any issue sharing her food with her daughter unlike other not so kind parents who refused to feed their child anything unhealthy even if they were eating it. "Nutella, honey... do you want a fry?" "Yes please, mommy." She knew the answer before she even asked but something about the way that she said 'please' just made it all the more adorable plus she knew that Aubrey would be impressed with her new manners. She'd been working on them for the past couple of weeks and it was going really well so far. "See, Aubs.. I know how important that her being polite was so we've worked on please, thank you and other things." 

[Aubrey Sawyer]

All these fried food stands, oh dear. Aubrey was actually really happy and thankful to the Almighty Lord that he was alive. He had retired from religion after he began to have pre-martial sex but afterwards, he realized that if this greater power was as good as they said he was, then He would accept his faults. Not that having intimacy was a bad thing, it was human nature. To say the least, the seventeen year old was clinging to the faith he was brought up with. Although, he really did wish he could at least have a bite of a delicious pretzel burger or, ooh, maybe a candied apple. He loved those so much! However, Aubrey didn't want to die, no sir therefore he stood away from them and tried to focus on the non-edible things like the Ferris Wheel.

He'd never ridden the wheel with Caroline. Supposedly that was really romantic and a must do in a couple's lifetime. Well, good thing they had brought good old Scottie along. The youngest Sawyer was a very misunderstood person. He was generally very kind and caring and he got along with children the most. Technically, Scott was still a child but a very intelligent one. He was supposed to be in ninth grade but instead the school system felt like he was far too smart to be in a room with a bunch of dim-witted students. He excelled even the brightest in a class his age, it was both a gift and a curse.

"You don't mind watching Cami, do ya' Scott?" Aubrey quietly asked him. Scott shook his head and said, "Are ya' kidding me? I love the little munchkin!" he exclaimed before picking her up carrying her in a very professional way. It was almost as if the fourteen year old had already had children of his own by the way he interacted with them and how they understood him. Scott then looked to Caroline when she asked him if he wanted anything. He wasn't quite sure why Caroline always wanted to set him up with any decent face she saw. It was nice of her and all but it was tremendously embarrassing. Overall he was fond of his future sister-in-law simply because she seemed be doing a good job taking care of his older brother and niece. "I'd really like cotton candy but I don't want to tempt my brother there." he chuckled, nudging Aubrey slightly.

"Oh, you won't tempt me... I may drool but I'm not tempted! I can stand all of this... This..." Who was Aubrey kidding? He would go berserk for a pretzel burger. That lucky Camila! Yes, very lucky and for that he thanked that greater force everyday that his baby was not born with that awful diabetes. She was sweet enough only on the outside but he wouldn't want her to suffer like he has throughout his life. It was very much suffering - that was rather an overstatement but it was uncomfortable having to check your blood pressure every so and so minutes.

[Deleted]

"Oh Aubrey..." Caroline really did feel guilty that her own fiance couldn't truly enjoy himself tonight and there was nothing that she could do about it other than try to find things that he could enjoy. She was about to suggest that they go on a ride when she remembered that Camila was more than likely too short to make the height limit and she honestly didn't know how she felt about someone so little being on one of those things even if she was by some odd miracle tall enough. She wasn't necessarily an overly protective mother but she did have concerns about putting her only baby on something that could be taken down and put up in less than a week. What parent wouldn't? 

Now that didn't mean that she didn't want to go on but she didn't know how that would work unless.. Unless they let her favorite uncle Scott watch her for the evening like a date only less romantic and basically nothing like a date. She wasn't going to just cruelly leave him to babysit her child without any kind of a payment though! She figured that buying him a cotton candy was enough especially since she got him a blue one. She didn't know what the difference between the pink and the blue but she just assumed that the blue was more masculine. She skipped off to order that from the cotton candy stand and came back with one larger one for him and a smaller pink one for Camila.

"Here you go, Scottie!" She lowered her tone when she handed her daughter's to her and pecked the little girl on the forehead. She'd be lying if she said that she didn't pray every night that all of these little treats would make up for the fact that she was creating a sibling for her when they couldn't financially support it and provide her the life that she deserved. "Scott, do you mind if Aubrey and I go on the ferris wheel?" She was going to grab one of Aubrey's hands but then she would have to stop eating and that just wasn't okay with her yet. Her body needed to be fueled well to be in try to conceive mode, right?

That probably wasn't actually true considering that she was eating greasy meat and potatoes with incredibly salty gravy. "I want a little time with my boo boo bear and I'm sure that you'd like some extra bonding time with your little niece, right?"

[Deleted]

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Isabel would be lying if she said that she didn't miss Dylan but the pain was slowly starting to decrease. She thought about him less and she wondered a little bit less about what he was doing each day or thought about how he would like this or that. She was getting used to sleeping on 'his' side of the bed again and snuggling Egg Roll instead of him. Everything was just getting easier and that was why she decided to come to the carnival tonight. She needed to start getting out more if she ever wanted to get out of her funk.

She didn't think that it would be too terrible to go alone but she really forgot how many couples would be attending. Was everyone in love except for her? She didn't want to think about it like that but it honestly felt like she was the only single person left at their school. She knew logically that this wasn't true but the burn blog pointing out oh so kindly that Dylan had already moved on to someone else hadn't helped much at all. How could he be so happy while she was still so sad? Had he just never loved her at all?

She didn't want to think of it like that but how else was she supposed to think? She didn't think that anything could distract her from this pain until she saw his face and suddenly she was a belieber believer. She nearly lost her footing and tripped over a rock in the process but it was totally worth it. She knew that she just had to introduce herself even at the risk of possibly getting hurt again. Was the little girl his? She wouldn't judge him if she was but she liked to be informed of these things. "Hi! Um hello... I'm Isabel.. Mason." She'd never met him but he looked familiar.

Had she seen him at school?

No...

Must have been in her dreams last night.

[Aubrey Sawyer]

"Oh darling, it's alright." Aubrey saw how sympathetic Caroline seemed about the sugar and fat ban strongly suggested by the doctor. He knew it was for his own good and he would have to control his cravings and everything would be alright. He put his arm around her and held her close to him as if to validate that she need not worry for his stubborn antics. Aubrey didn't want to kick the bucket so young! What about Camila or Caroline or his big dreams of becoming an actor? They couldn't just all fly away simply because he decided to go on and have a pretzel burger. He smiled gently and nodded before releasing Caroline so she could order the cotton candy for Scott and Camila.

"Thank you, Caroline." Scott thanked her when she handed him his blue cotton candy. Hearing her uncle, Cami also copied him and chimed a gratuitous, "Thank you, mommy!" too. It was good to have Scott around, he tended to be a good influence although he put no effort. It was simply the way he was raised. He was far from perfect though it may have seemed as if he had no flaws at all. Still, Scott had his faults. He was simply too young to have made so many mistakes but he lacked a life therefore that was the reason why. "We'll be fine! You two lovebirds go on and have sometime alone." Scott motioned as if to assure them that he had no problem taking care of his niece.

Aubrey smiled and once again moved an arm around Caroline. "I owe you so much." He stated, feeling so blessed for having a kind brother. He looked to Cami and said, "You be good now, and don't run off because uncle Scott can't run very fast." he shook his head and laughed. Athletics did not mesh with Scott. "Very funny Aubrey. Truly a comedian." the younger Sawyer answered as he walked further away.

"Where to first, mademoiselle?" Scott asked Camila as he browsed the whole scene. The toddler looked around and then fixed her eyes on a young lady that was coming toward them who nearly tripped. Watching her come toward him, Scott gained nervousness. Oh dear god, what do I do!? He gently helped the young lady keep her balance by putting his hand on her shoulder so she wouldn't touch the ground. Scott looked to her face and nearly melted into putty. Actually, he was sweating therefore he might have just melted and it was rather strange considering it was extremely cold. "N-nice to meet you, Ms. Mason." Scott held Camila firmly with one arm and used his free one to greet Isabel properly with a handshake. "This little girl here is my niece, Camila. She prefers being addressed as Cami." he explained, feeling the need to introduce his niece concerning it would be rude not to. Camila waved and smiled, her arms were around Scott's neck being careful not to fall whole her cotton candy was getting stuck on his hair and part of his ear and neck.