Who: Kiley and Chase Where: In town When: Late morning
Chase couldn't remember ever having been so happy to be outside, to feel the air, to see the sun, the trees, that damn blue bike waiting where it always did. He'd practically run toward it, empty gym bag in tow, with the excitement of a little boy, as if it were a gift he'd just received from a loving parent. He couldn't even remember the whole bike ride down, just that he'd been smiling like an idiot as he weaved carefully down the path to make sure he didn't unseat Kiley, whose hair kept sending whiffs of pretty smells right at his face. It was easy to forget about that morning for a few minutes, about the words people had apparently said about him, about Kiley, about his friends.
When the sign welcoming to Mount Zenith came into view, he could feel his smile fade a little bit as nerves took over, pausing slightly as if trying to decide which direction to go toward. He let his feet brace on either side of the bike, making certain he didn't unbalance Kiley as his thumbs tapped against the grips of the handlebars.
"So....you know how I was going into town by myself before the lock-in?" Of course she did, it felt like a stupid question. "I...want to show you what it is, but I don't want you to be, like...creeped out by it or anything." Because it was in a graveyard, and he was apparently already creepy. And crazy. And looked like a baby seal. And was...apparently hot. None of that was anything he was really prepared to process right now. He wasn't entirely certain how he'd gone from not thinking about the quotes to wanting to pull them apart in his mind to figure out who had said what. Because before that morning he thought only Marco had really disliked him, but almost none of them had sounded like him.