"𝐂𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐬"

𝟐. "𝐉𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐤𝐚"

Unsurprisingly, by the time I got to the big top, Grayson and his friends were already there. John was smoking, Mary was leaning on him, and Rick and Carl were simply standing by them and doing nothing. I took a deep breath, adjusted my beret and walked up to them. When Grayson saw me coming, he threw his cigarette and stomped on it to put it out.

"Hey, Grace. Sleep well?" He cocked his eyebrows and patted Mary's stomach to get her to stop playing around with her nails and look up at me.

"Yeah, I like having the trailer all to myself. It's quiet." I told them with a small smile.

"You got a whole trailer to yourself? That's cool. No parents, no curfew... You have to invite us some time." He grinned. Mary swiftly smacked his arm and leaned over to his ear.

"She just lost her parents, you doofus. She probably isn't happy they're gone." She whispered loudly. I immediately felt a wave of discomfort rush through my body.

"Sorry, Grace. Forgot about that." He muttered and awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck.

"Oh, no. I-it's all right. Don't worry about it. Let's start the tour. Please." I pleaded in an attempt to quickly change the subject.

In all honesty, I really didn't want to have to try and explain why my feelings towards my parents dying were more complicated than everyone thought. All anyone knew was that my parents were gone. No one knew that they changed. No one knew they had become drunks. No one knew they gave up on me when I was just eight years old. No one had any idea my father hurt me and that my mother belittled me every single day of my life. I lost them long before they died and wasn't grieving anymore.

"Well..." John began carefully. I plastered a fake grin on my face to encourage him.

"Ok, then. Let's start with our favourite place to hang out..." He paused, and the corner of his lips curled up.

"And drink." He added cheekily as if that was supposed to impress me.

I felt the urge to roll my eyes, but it quickly dawned on me that they would probably try and make me drink too, and I got nervous instead. I didn't even realise they started walking until Grayson whistled at me to catch my attention. I sighed softly and ran up to them. Mary then finally left John's side and skipped over to me.

"Hello." I smiled up at her.

"I like your accent. You sound funny. Like Mary Poppins." She tittered and tugged at my curls to make them bounce.

"Um, thank you? I suppose." I chuckled weakly, unsure of whether to be flattered or offended.

"I just love how itsy-bitsy you are. So cute." She giggled and booped my nose. I crossed my eyes and glanced at it.

She giggled once again, then promptly jumped back to John's side and planted a kiss on his cheek. I couldn't help but laugh at her behaviour. She was silly, but it was the good kind of silly. I liked people like that a lot. Everything was always more fun with them. I was beginning to think I could become actual friends with her.

"We're here." Grayson noted after a while and tipped his head at a giant oak on a small hill just outside the carnival.

I grinned at the sight of the tree and immediately wanted to run up to it and climb the branches, but before I could, Mary grabbed my hand and tugged me over to a little run-down brick fence. My eyebrows creased with dismay when she gestured for me to sit on it, but I did as she wanted. After all, I didn't have much of a choice. If I wandered away, they most likely wouldn't have followed me.

As soon as they all found places to sit, they began talking amongst themselves, not really bothering to include me in their conversation. It wasn't so bad since I was never much of a talker, but even if I wanted to be, they were chatting about a baseball team called 'Gotham Knights', and I knew absolutely nothing about sports. After about ten minutes, I decided to finally give in to my curiosity and ask them about the twins.