Dopamine!

Chapter 5: Clementine

"Why is everyone busy tonight?" Dior sighs, putting the phone back on it's mount , "I mean, it is a Friday night. They could be out doing Friday-night things."

"Relax." Zenon says, going in for another plate of spaghetti and meatballs, "It's the first week for all the boarding kids in this town, nobody knows where to go for parties. I'm sure they're all just...out smoking at some local cafe."

"But the town's kids probably know lots of places." Anissa pointed out.

"We aren't exactly friends with them, are we?"

"Imagine we were." I sigh, sitting back in my seat, "They could help us out tonight, take us out to the ocean-side, show us where to find those hot-air balloons. Hey, why don't we just go out on our own?"

"Yes!" she cries, "What's stopping us?"

"Well, hang on then, let me just finish up here." Rocky cries, motioning at the spaghetti.

"Rocky. you've been at it for an hour." I sigh, "Alright, you know what, everyone up in ten minutes. We can go and discover the town a bit, but we can't stay out too late,because we don't know how safe or dangerous this town is yet."

"Danger-- okay, okay." Irene laughs, standing up, "I better go change into my favorite skirt in case something, or someone, comes up."

I rush across the hall and into my room to get my coat, scarf and beanie. After bundling up, I make it back to Dior's house, only to find that everyone, aside from Dior, is exactly how I left them.

"You guys, it's nearly nine o' clock already!" I sigh, "Lawrence and Anissa, no more talking! Zenon, your hair is fine. Mel?"

"I'm seeing how long I can last." she whispers, wobbling and struggling to balance her body on one foot.

"I don't see the point of that, and I'm not going to ask. But unless you want to stay in, all alone, on a Friday night-- hands off the bowl, Rocky-- you better get your butt into your room."

"Seriously." I sigh, walking into the washroom where Dior is doing her hair, "You'd think they'd want to do something, I don't know, different. I mean, I can't be the only one in a rush to just start feeling at home."

"You're not honey." she sighs, opening a tube of lipstick, "I have a bunch of cafes and other places I want to visit. Did you know they have a place here called 'Fairy Lane'?"

"Fairy Lane?" I gasp, putting the hairbrush down, "Well, that sounds beautiful!""That's about the gist of it. They have an ice rink and everything. It's supposed to be magical."

"Well, we'd better get going then."

Somehow, I don't know how, but somehow, I manage to get everyone dressed and in the main hall in a relatively short amount of time. The girls and I have dressed in pretty skirts and dresses, intertwining veins from the plants in mine and Anissa's balcony into our hair. You never know who you'll meet at a magical ice rink.

None of our efforts manage to outshine Zenon however, whose shiny black overcoat billows perfectly around his legs, which are clad in jet-black leggings. In the one minute he had, he managed to comb his hair to perfection; it seems as if every strand that's in place, or dangling on his forehead is carefully intended.

When we make it out into the cool autumn night, I close my eyes and inhale the scent of pine.

"Home, sweet, home."