Aaron studied Pastor Carlson as he made announcements to the group, noticing for the first time that the man almost flawlessly reflected the building they were all standing in. Superior, harsh, and beloved by the community. Well, most of them anyway. When he was done, Aaron pried himself away from his safe little corner and approached the pastor's daughter, who was handing out some of the tickets for the carnival. 

Aaron had seen her at pretty much all of the youth nights he attended, but he couldn't remember ever actually speaking to her. All that he remembered was that her name was Reyna. As he waited for his turn, he saw that she seemed to look a little depressed. It wasn't apparent at first, because she was smiling. Aaron had been working in retail for some time now though, so he knew a fake smile when he saw one. 

Aaron's mind raced as he approached her while he played with the zipper on his hoodie and tried to think of something he could say to her to cheer her up. He had drawn up a blank, however, and simply took his tickets, offering her a genuinely warm smile as he said “[i]Danke[/i].” and went on his way. 

Soon, everyone appeared to be ready to head to the carnival, so they all clamored onto the bus and took their seats, Aaron being the only one willing to sit in his favorite seat: the front. 

He plopped himself and his backpack down heavily on the seat and put his knees up against the barrier in front of him, curling up in a half-fetal position. A sea of voices began to trickle into the compressed air on the bus as everyone filed in. As they passed him, Aaron made note of the people who had caught his eye earlier, as well as someone with blue hair hidden by a hoodie who he hadn't seen earlier. 

Within a few short minutes, everyone was on board and the bus rumbled to life and began to move. As they began their journey, Aaron fell into a sort of self hypnosis as he watched the horizon pass by the window. Buildings soon gave way to trees, the sight of which brought a small but bright smile to his face. 

He was pulled out of his trance when someone from the seat behind him poked him in the shoulder. Aaron turned around, seeing an acquaintance he used to know from when he was in track. He didn't know him long enough to know his name, since he had to quit not long after the other guy joined. However, judging by the look on his face and the mischievous smile his friend was trying to hide, Aaron knew this conversation probably wasn't going to be about track. 

“What?” Aaron asked, his voice low from apprehension. 

“So, are you scared of girls or something? Or are you just a fa-”

“Neither.” Aaron interrupted him harshly, not wanting to let this jackass finish saying the dreaded 'f-word'. “And it's none of your business anyway.”

“That's just sad, man. I'll bet you never even kissed a girl.” The teen grinned toothily while his friend snickered like an idiot. 

Aaron turned away from them, returning his gaze to the window again. He clenched his hands together, trying to hide the fact that they were trembling with slowly boiling but contained anger. Luckily, the two had gotten distracted by something else as he took a deep breath and pushed the conversation away from his thoughts. It was pointless to dwell on other people's ignorance.

Aaron was pulled out of his little world when he felt the bus stop underneath him. Looking up, he was treated to a view of the carnival through the window. The group supervisor was talking to all of them, but none of it breached Aaron's reverie. 

A village of games, rides, and concession stands sat under the sky, the ferris wheel looming over all of it. People weaved though the stands and rides, usually followed by their kids or their friends. Bright happy flags danced lazily in the breeze as Aaron heard the faint sound of music playing throughout the fairgrounds. The dirt ground underneath everything was spotted with the occasional litter and hay, no doubt dragged from some of the more farm themed areas of the festival. 

Aaron was taking in the view when he finally noticed that people had started to leave the bus, so he climbed out with them and breathed freely in the open air once he was off the bus. The smell of kettle corn and fried dough filled his nostrils, washing away all thoughts of the morons from earlier. He didn't know where to start, but Aaron was going to make damn sure that it was going to be a good day from here on out.