Chapter One

The Carousel, in all honesty, was trashy. I would never have been caught dead in a place like it if I'd been home in Pennsylvania. The carpet was stained and didn't look like it'd been washed in years, the whole building smelled of B.O. and old pretzels, and there were holes in the wooden rollerskating floor that made people fall when they rolled over them.

I was sitting at a table eating one of those previously mentioned old pretzels while sipping my Pepsi, laughing at the various people that tripped over the holes. It was pretty funny to see them sprawled out on the ground and cause other skaters to trip over them, creating a giant pile of limbs and skates. I knew I shouldn't have been laughing at them, though, considering I probably would have  been the one to cause the whole pileup in the first place with my questionable skating skills.

"It's pretty entertaining, isn't it?" A boy slid into one of the chairs on the other side of the table, pulling my attention from the skate floor.

"I... uh... who're you?" I asked rather awkwardly.

He just smiled widely, completely oblivious to the fact that he had caught me off guard. "I like to sit here and watch everyone fall too. It's like a hobby of mine." When I just stared at him, he added, "Oh, yeah. My name's Bailey. What about you?"

"I'm Jackson." I said, still kind of awkwardly. "Come here often?" After I said it, I kicked myself in the shin in my mind for saying something so cliché. I hated that I was bad with people. I didn't know what I'd expected coming here. I wanted to make friends, but I wasn't actually good at doing that.

But Bailey breezed right over my stupid question. "I sure do. I mean, yeah, the place is rundown and nasty, but it's got character. Kinda like me. But hey, what are you doing here on a wonderful day like the Fourth of July? Don't you have family you can cook out and watch firework shows with like everybody else?"

This boy wasn't awkward around people, and definitely wasn't scared to ask questions. "I'm actually from Pennsylvania. I'm here visiting my sister, and since she's a college student, she can't really afford a huge cook out. But I think we're going to microwave some hotdogs. It's alright, though, neither of us are really that festive anyway."

"I don't normally trust people who say they aren't festive, but since you've come such a long way, I'll give you a chance."

Ha. How considerate of him. "Thanks, I guess. You know, I could ask you the same question. How come you're here on the Fourth?"

"What?" He'd lost focus and was watching the most recent pileup of skaters. "Oh. It's kind of a tradition for me and my parents. We can't really be together for more than a couple of hours without breaking into a fight, so on a day like this, I go someplace else for most the day so we can enjoy ourselves later."

Wow. This kid was so eager to spend quality time with his parents that he left for half a day just to be able to. And here I was, two-thousand miles away from mine, because I was tired of being around them. "That's kinda sad." I mentally kicked myself again for being inconsiderate.

Bailey shrugged. "It works." We watched the falling people again in stuffy silence. Suddenly, Bailey was all bright and happy again. "Do you want a tour of the city?"

"That's really nice of you, Bailey, but my sister has already shown me it."

The light-haired boy rolled his eyes and smirked. "But you haven't gotten one by me, Jackson. I hate to break it to you, but there are just some things locals can do better. What do you say?"

I bit my lip in thought. This guy had spunk, and I think spunk was just what I needed in my life. "I guess it wouldn't hurt."