- - S a s h a -

While she sat on the bench, Garret laid on his back on the other side of it. He mentioned not being a fan of insects and she could agree there. She didn't like bugs or anything creepy like that. She was surprised to know that butterflies tasted with their feet. "I'd hate to taste with my feet." She laughed lightly. "A diver? That sounds scary." She couldn't help but frown. "But I guess exciting too, looking into the unknown, floating weightlessly..." Sasha trailed off. Garret sat up suddenly and inquired as to what she wanted to do. "I...I don't know write um bake?" She threw out some of her hobbies. "Something fun, for sure!" That's all she knew.

A barking broke their conversation and they looked over to see a pack of puppies on a leash. "I don't know...I thought parents didn't like kids walking up to strange dogs." She said nervously but got up anyway. She hesitated but it seemed that was her mistake because suddenly something smacked her in the head. She clumsily caught the ball and saw four yellow blurs coming towards her. Sarah let out a squeak and stumbled to the grass as the puppies tried to lick her and chomp on the ball. One of the dogs got the ball and bolted off and Sarah rubbed her face, trying not to get too dirty.

"Huh? Yeah I'm okay." She said nervously. It seemed a dog wanted Garret's attention which made Sasha relax a little more. She got up when the older girl approached them, apologizing. "It's okay. Accidents happen." She laughed a little and bent down to pet one of the pups. "I was just surprised." She joked slightly. "You're friends with my brother, James aren't you?" She asked the teenager. "I think I've seen you around." She mentioned, just glad to not have hyperactive puppies trying to kill her with cuteness. It turned out the girl, Becca, was friends with Sasha's older brother, James. Becca explained she was doing some dog sitting for extra cash so she could have something to do when the school year ended.

They parted ways as Sasha mentioned they needed to get back home. "Well that was unexpected." Sasha laughed a little as they walked back to her place. She'd have to pass along Becca's hello to her brother. When they got back, they spent the rest of the time reading manga, playing pokemon TCG and watching tv. Soon Garret's mom was called and he was picked up. Sasha just gave a wave goodbye since she wasn't sure what else to do. As it turned out, the two ended up hanging out together quite often until the end of the school year.

Garret and Sasha got along rather well and even the parents spent time together while the youngins hung out. With summer truly beginning for the kids, it was announced that there would be a small festival in the local park. There would be booth games, food and even fireworks. The fourth of July was a month away but it never hurt to celebrate a little earlier. Sasha ended up spending more time with Becca who kept mentioning how she and Garret should go on a date but Sasha didn't really understand what Becca was on about. Sasha just waved Becca off as she went to go find out if Garret had arrived yet or not. Many people were walking around or sitting on benches. 

Many adults had beer while kids had cotton candy or corn dogs. The sky up above was teetering between a deep pink and a light purple. The air was warm and fireflies were floating around. The atmosphere was really inviting and Sasha hoped there wouldn't be any drama, after all, she wasn't a middle schooler anymore. The thought of high school made her stomach clench up in a knot though. Her father reminded her that she could read better books and she'd have a bigger library to discover. He was right, if she just focused on the positives and not the negatives or the unknown, she'd be okay. Spotting Garret in his hat, she ran over and tugged at it. "It's so hot, how care you wear that thing?" She teased him.

- - D e v o n -

It just sounded so girly. He just wasn't one for big nicknames and any other possibilities that came to mind sounded just as annoying. Desvster? Deverino? Devon was simple and fine as is. If she really needed a nickname, Dev could work but he wasn't so sure that he needed to have one. It wasn't like guys gave each other nicknames, well if they did they were usually insults like 'butt brain' or 'smelly jerry' or something like that. If she didn't call him 'Devie' in public around his friends or peers, he might not hate it so much but it just sounded so girly to him. He really didn't like it and hoped she would stop or tone it down or something.

Getting back to having seemed to be the best thing, he didn't want things to get awkward between them again. It felt weird to be mad at people, it wasn't his favorite feeling in the world. "Yeah let's play some games and see what cruddy prizes we can get." He agreed. The two of them buried the hatchet and went off to play some video games. They had a snack before they went back into the darkened arena to play another round. This time they weren't on the same team which made things interesting but still fun. Since Devon won for his team, Ami wanted a rematch so with their last game, they were on separate teams again.

This time Amity won and Devon figured it was okay to tie, even if his competitive nature didn't like it. The of them soon headed off before it got too late. At school, they hung out in their large cluster of friends. They all got along well and for the rest of the month until school got out, he and Ami hung over every so often. They either explored the area or played sports. Devon was pretty excited to be enrolled in a summer sports camp. It meant he could make more friends and hopefully win some games.

It was a camp that was every weekday and ran from ten to four. And after that, he got to do whatever he wanted. Though it was Saturday and he didn't have to run around and get sweaty, instead he was going with his family to a small festival of sorts that was being held in the park. He was sure he'd see more friends from camp or school there, so he wasn't too concerned about finding something to do. Warm smells of sugar and fried food filled his nose. Maybe running around could wait, he wanted to get his hands on something yummy. Asking his parents for some spending money, he jogged off to figure out what to eat first.

He picked a line for fired ice cream. It was a bit warm out but he wanted something fried too so somehow he could settle on both and not feel left out. He got his fried ice cream and ate it out of the dish as he stood near the chocolate sauce. He applied some to his treat and began to shuffle back toward where he had left his parents. He slowed down when he spotted Amity with some girls. He made a face and licked his lips, not sure if he should go over and say hello or not. 

The redhead then noticed two others from his class. Sasha and Garret. He tilted his head and approached them. "Hey."

"Oh, hello." Sasha spun around to see Devon with an interesting dessert option.

"It's weird seeing everyone outside of school huh?" He mentioned. Sasha looked to Garret and shrugged a little, not too sure how to make small talk, even with an old classmate. Devon picked up and the slight tension and held out his ice cream. "Here, try some." He noticed her eyeing it and figured she'd like to try some.

"Oh...um...are you sure?" She blushed and took it. "Thanks." She took his spoon and got herself a bite and ate it. It was creamy and crunching. Delightfully light. "Oh, it's really good. I'll have to get some for myself." She nervously handed it back to Devon who grinned at her. 

"Anyway I'll see you later." Devon waved and continued on his way, he didn't mind sharing things. it wasn't like he actually believed girls had cooties. He wasn't eight years old.