Once again, Henrietta was dragged along by the mutant boy. She smiled as she ran. He wrapped him arms around her as they ran through the large exiting crowd. Once on the other side, he set her free. It turned into a huge spin and Henri laughed as she regained her balance. She was momentarily dazed and the brunette blinked a few times to see clearly. Still feeling a little dizzy, she heard Van's cousin tell her to keep him out of trouble. Grinning at the man, she said, "I'll do my best. Nice to meet you!" Van then whispered that he didn't get into trouble and Henri felt herself smirk slightly. Why didn't she completely believe that?

"Come, power walk with me." Henri walked up next to Van and began to lift her legs the same way the boy did. He did say to power walk with him. She felt a little odd since she was in a dress. Thank the lord for leggings. This could be really, really awkward otherwise. The boy had said they had a few buses to catch. She tried to imagine where the pair could be going, but couldn't think of anywhere in particular. Following Van, she noticed a few people looking at her like she was strange. Instead of letting it bother her, she waved politely at them and continued her odd stepping pattern. Henri turned to watch Van for a moment. For some reason, he reminded her of a show pony. A very cute show pony.

Henrietta had really begun to enjoy the time she spent with Van. He was fun and a lot different than her. It's what made their time together so interesting, she thought. At the same time, she didn't feel very different than him. She wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because under all her fear, she didn't feel so wimpy. Most of her fear came from what people thought of her and if what she was doing would make her mother happy. Henri knew that it wasn't the right way to live or feel. Something about Van made her feel less scared of all that, in a good way. She just hoped that they could continue to hang out like they had been doing.

People on the street had begun staring at the pair who were taking major power-pony-perfect steps down the way. Van reveled in the stares, he very much liked the attention. Part of him wished he had his camera even though he knew it was never a good idea to take one to a show–not even one that could be more mild like an electro pop set. He wanted proof that this night was happening–something he could look back on to remind him of the girl in the simple black dress who was nothing like simple. She was prancing around New York City with him for goodness-gracious-god's sake! The question was: did he want to blow twelve dollars at a tourist friendly convenience mart for a disposable camera? What if the night ended up sucking later, then he was out twelve dollars plus some to develop the film.

That thought could wait for later.

They’d made it to a bus stop, right on time for their first bus. “Cutsies!” He called, sliding in front of her so he could jump up the stairs first. He had change for the two of them and dropped it into the slot before turning and holding his hand out to the girl. “Your chariot, madame.” He waggled his eyebrows crazily for almost twenty seconds before pulling her inside the bus and into one of the seats up front. He didn’t really know why, but whenever he got on a bus he liked to sit up front, he hardly ever ventured past the first three seats.

“So if I drop twelve dollars on memories will you promise me they won’t be the crappy, smelly kind that don’t develop right?” The question was out before he could explain what he meant but Van decided to leave it that way–gauge her reaction.

Getting on to the bus, Van jumped in front of her. It made her slightly frusterated until she realized he was paying for her. She told him thank you, as all polite girls do. He held out her hand and did something funny with his eyebrows. She put her hand in his and he yanked her onto the bus. The pair sat in a seat near the door like the last time. Henrietta wondered if he liked the thought of getting off fast in case something happened or if it was just out of habit. In a bigger city such as New York, she would probably want to sit closer to an escape route, especially if she was alone. Call it paranoia, but being jumped by a group of guys once was enough to keep her worried.

As they sat there, Van asked her a question. “So if I drop twelve dollars on memories will you promise me they won’t be the crappy, smelly kind that don’t develop right?” Henri looked at the boy for a moment and blinked. It took her a minute to understand the question. He was worried to spend a lot of money and then have it be a waste. She could understand that. Smiling, she shook her head 'no'. "I promise our memories won't be crappy and smelly, okay? I can't promise the developing part, but I have a feeling they will. Besides, I can pay for half of it. Or all of it. You've already bought me a Coke and my bus fare." She paused a moment to think. "You've paid my bus fare twice, actually. I don't want you to feel like you have to pay for everything." She looked at Van and then out the window. Her curiosity was getting to her. "So where are we going?"

Hmmm...halfsies had good possibilities. Van could go halfsies if she wanted to go halfsies. She was a modern girl after all, she didn't need to man to pay her bills. Did that mean that she was a woman paying a man's bills? Was that de-manning? Hmmm..."Well, if you promise they won't be a waste of money I think I can drop twelve..." He smiled at the girl in the seat next to him and noticed that she was smiling as well. It was cool that she understood what he meant...to an extent.

"Nnnnnno." He shook his finger at her."That's a secret. If you don't know where we are going now you'll have to wait till we get there."

Suddenly getting an idea he ducked in the seat and looked up at Etta."You know what else is fun? The awkward staring game. It's only attempted by the most daring and brave fellows." Especially on a New York City bus where sometimes funny looks were dangerous. "Actually, let's not play that game..." Van sat back up and looked out the window."Let's play where's Waldo!" They had a few more minutes before their next bus and Van had a short attention span.

The stretchy boy said he could pay the twelve dollars. “If you’re sure…” Henrietta smiled at him and watched as he shook his finger and told her that if she didn’t know, he wasn’t going to tell her. Well, I’m not going to find out where we’re going until we get there, I guess. I’m just going to have to be patient then. She strummed her fingers on her purse. This was easier thought than done. Henri still had some stuff to learn. This became more evident everyday. She wasn’t an adult yet. There was a ways to go until then, mentally.

All of a sudden, Van ducked low into the seat. He looked up at her in a secretive way. He started talking about playing some sort of game where you stare at people. He scratched that idea and sat back up quickly. “Let’s play where’s Waldo!” The boy seemed slightly excited. Henri caught herself grinning. He sure does change his mind fast sometimes. It didn’t bother her at all because sometimes she got that way. She was pretty sure most people got that way at some point. For some reason, with such a tough look about him, the randomness softened him. She liked that about him. Maybe that was why she wasn’t so scared of him.

“Sure, let’s play where’s Waldo. Does that mean we’re finding someone that looks like Waldo, or are we going to pick a certain type of person to look for?” Henrietta looked at Van and tilted her head as she waited for what he was going to say.

She went along with his weird actions, only questioning the rules of the game. Niiice.

"Basically we're looking for anyone in stripes. There's bonus points if you find someone in stripes and a--" And then the moment was ruined by Van's phone going off. Or at least it would have been ruined if his ring tone wasn't so awesome. 'My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard...' his phone sang to him as he fumbled around in his jean's pocket for the thin, black Razor. It was especially hard to squeeze one's phone out of tight pants when you were also dancing to the song it was playing. Intensely hard even.

"Why helloooo!" He affected a tone similar to Julia Childs when he greeted his father. "Yep.Yep." Van rolled his eyes as his father spoke. "I know. Yep. It's good, I think. Yep. 'kay, bye Daddykins." This was a rare phone conversation that did not end with an argument, it had been very civil. Weird, Van was not used to civil conversations with his father--he must have been in a good mood. Maybe they were both in a good mood? That had to be the ticket to family happiness.

"HA! I see one!" He suddenly reached across the girl, uncaring that he did so, to point at a woman walking on the sidewalk in spiked heels that had on a striped dress underneath her purple, velvet coat. "That's a million points for me." He smiled at the girl and then moved back to a safe distance from her personal space.

The boy began to explain the rules of the game, but he was interrupted by his phone ringing. It took her a minute to realize what song it was. “Milkshakes” by Kelis began to play loudly from his pocket. He reached around inside of it as he danced. He pulled out his cell and Henrietta began to laugh. The girl managed to cup her hand over her mouth when he picked up the phone. She giggled behind her hand slightly. He hung up and then Henri grinned at Van. “I love your ringtone. It’s a good song to dance to.”

All of a sudden, Van’s arm flew out across her to point out the window. She followed his finger to see a woman in a striped dress. Henri smiled and blushed slightly as he pulled his arm back. He said he now had a million points. Part of the girl wanted to argue with the point system, but she couldn’t make herself do it. Looking at him, she just couldn’t. If he wanted to win, that was fine with her.

Glancing out the window, she saw a man in a striped shirt with glasses, Henrietta pointed out the window at him. “Look, that’s two things similar to Waldo.” Turning to Van, she smiled slightly. “What is that? Like 100 points?” She looked back at the man. He was probably in his late 30’s and was already starting to bald. The brunette felt bad for him. Henri felt her hair twitch slightly. What would I do without my hair? I would hate not having it. She began to think that it would be like part of her was missing. Her writhing hair had protected her in the past.

"I know right? I like that it's highly inappropriate for most situations--like if I went to a horror movie and forgot to turn my phone off. You'd be reminded of sex and food while a monster is ripping some dude's face off. It's a wonderful ringtone." Van patted his pocket and silently mused what Etta's ringtone would be on his phone if she ever got a cell phone. Hmmm...maybe some Sinatra? I'm not sure. He peered at the girl through gray eyes as he thought about it.

When Henri found an even more perfect Waldo Van smiled. "Good eye man. I'd ask for more points than that...let's go with a hundred million, those are some sick glasses...."

The rest of their several bus rides passed in a similar fashion and once they got off their final bus neither could be claimed the victor because their scores were tied. Van clambered down the bus stairs first and led the way to a side street that led to a junkyard. The pair stopped in front of a tall fence with 'do not enter' signs posted all along it. "What I wanted to show you is in there. Now all we have to do is get over the fence. I'll go first and then I can help you over." Van was excited now, and it showed in his smile and the sudden burst of energy that propelled him over the fence (along with his stretched out limbs). He waited impatiently for Etta to scramble over as well. It was getting close to sunrise and he wanted to be in position before the night gave way to early morning.

The couple had ended up tying, whether that was accurate or not didn't matter to either person, so it seemed. After they had walked off the bus, she noticed they were outside a junkyard. Henri watched as the boy stretched over the fence. It looked like she was suppose to climb, but she wasn't sure how that would work out in a dress. Glancing around, she found the lock on the fence. Picking it up her right hand, she bent her head closer. About 20 strands of hair moved in unison toward the part of the lock that had a grip around the gate to keep it shut. Closing her eyes, her hair lashed out at the lock.

The girl was afraid to open her eyes and see the results of her effort. Opening her left eye, she looked at the lock. She had cut straight through it. Henrietta's eyes got big in suprise and then she looked at the boy. "I didn't actually think it would work. I was curious if I could..." Still looking at Van, she blinked a few times and then dropped the lock. Pushing slightly on the gate, it cracked open a few inches. She looked around to make sure no one had seen and then she went inside the gate.

Once she was inside, she pushed it shut behind her and took a few deep breaths. Have I just broken into a junkyard? Leaning against the fence, she sighed. What if they got caught? It would be all her fault. Why didn't she think about things more? Henri looked apologetically at the boy. "I'm sorry. Maybe we should go before someone notices. I don't want to get you in trouble or anything." She fidgeted as she looked back out the fence.

Van watched with fascination as his date cut open a lock with her hair. "Holy crap that was--" He started once she'd gotten inside the fence but stopped as soon as he heard the apologies she was making. He walked over to where she was standing and apparently freaking out. "Whoa, whoa, whoa kid. Clam yourself. No apologies, remember?" He paused, placed a hand on her shoulder and then sighed a little. "If you want to leave, we can, but let me say that I've been here a million times and not once have I gotten caught. This place is off the map, forgotten." Gray eyes surveyed the piled of tires and the mounds of scrap metal that covered most of the field.

He could wait for her to respond, they still had a few minutes before they needed to be on The Hill.

The junkyard was mostly filled with old school equipment, but the pair cold only see the tires and the scrap metal and dirty snow from their vantage point. Van had found this one night about a year ago and had been coming to The Hill to think, smoke, drink and sometimes to scream his problems away. The problems always came back but so far his father hadn't found out about his new spot.

Thy boy began to say something to her, but he ended up stopping. It had started with a 'holy crap', so it may have been that he was impressed. Henri felt herself blush at the thought of impressing the young man.Van walked over and placed his hand on her shoulder. He told her they could leave if she wanted to, but he'd never been caught. Henrietta look up at him. I trust him. We wouldn't be here if he thought we'd get caught.

After thinking about it a minute, the girl stopped freaking out and took Van's hand. "What did you want to show me?" She gave him a smile, but part of her was still scared she had just done something very bad. Part of the girl now thought she was a criminal. Glancing over her shoulder to look at the fence one last time, she took a deep breath. "It'd better be pretty cool for me to have broken into a junkyard for," she joked. The brunette laughed a little and then looked at all of the tires laying about.

The girl tried to think of what could be so cool in a junkyard. Well, there ARE a lot of tires. Maybe climbing them is awesome. Henrietta tilted her head slightly in thought. Actually, you could probably see a lot from up there. Of course, there was always the off chance that there could be a horrible tire avalanche. That would be a horrible, rubbery way to go. She almost thought smelly too, but Henri wasn't sure if that was only they were burning.

"Oh, I think it'll be worth it." He smiled down at the girl then she took his hand and they began walking. I could be friends with her. The realization struck the boy and almost made him falter in his step. It was strange, that something like that would halt him in his tracks--but at the same time he'd never really been all that good in the friend department...and ever since his mother died he'd cared even less about other people and maintaining regular, healthy relationships. He wanted a healthy, regular relationship with Etta. Weird. That is so weird.

Soon the tires and scrap thinned out, revealing rusted playground equipment and large heaps that were plastic slides on their sides. There was ice and frost covering the mounds of long forgotten childhood, making the whole place glow and sparkle in the dim city lights. Van loved this place, it made him feel relaxed and impervious, like nothing could ever harm him. Soon they started their ascent up the sloping hill. On top of it there was a swing set that was still in good condition and miraculously standing upright. There were three swings but only two of them had full seats--the third was cracked down the middle.

"Welcome to The Hill." Van said, his tone slightly dreamy. From on top of the snowy hill there was a good view of Liberty Island and the lights there. In the water of the harbor you could see the lights of the city reflected, making the dirty water appear multifaceted like some kind of liquid gem. He didn't drop her hand until they were in front of the swings and he sat down on one. It was cold beneath him, but the boy barely noticed, he was trying to gauge the girl's reaction. Moment of truth, make it or break it. Will you be my friend, Etta?

Van led Henrietta by the hand to their destination. The brunette glanced around at all of the abandoned playground equipment. There was so much frost on everything. Everything looked so shiny and beautiful. Henri had never thought of a junkyard as being anything except junk until that moment. It was weird how a person could make you view things differently. It seemed that since she had started hanging out with Van, she had tried more and done more than she ever had. It was nice to have someone who could make her spread her horizons.

The boy released her hand and sat down on one of the swings. Henrietta sat on the other swing that wasn’t cracked. Looking at Van, she smiled. “It’s all so sparkly and pretty. I’ve never seen anything like this before.” She pushed her feet against the ground to make the swing move back and forth. Glancing at the boy again, she pumped her legs slightly. “Have you been coming here for a long time then? I probably would if I knew about it. It must be nice to have somewhere that people don’t come to.”

Henrietta had never been on a date before, but she was pretty sure this was the best one someone could possibly have. She hoped that he was having fun too. A wild guess said he was enjoying it because he had brought her to the place.

'Sparkly' and 'pretty' were not words Van would have used to describe The Hill. The Hill was powerful and serene and other more manly words the teenage mutant could not think of in that moment. It wasn't some fairyland that glittered in the early morning light. It was shiny. Shiny held no frill with it. While he didn't appreciate Etta's adjective choice, Van did appreciate her appreciation of the spot. Good spots were hard to find--most people settled for mediocre spots which was a travesty in itself. Why settle when you can go for the gold? Or in this case, plastic.

"I found this place almost a year ago." His gaze drifted across the view and then back to the girl. There was a mock-serious look on his face. "If you tell anyone about this place, I'll kill you." He let his accent creep in, making the tone heavier and more intense. A smile broke his features after a moment. "But seriously...It is kinda a secret." The phrase hung there, full of openness that Van hadn't expected from himself. It was almost a raw feeling and he did not like it one bit.

They sat there (swung there actually) on The Hill and watched the sunrise in silence, but it wasn't an uncomfortable one. They were each thinking--the boy about what he was doing, bringing an almost stranger to one of his best spots and the girl...thinking about whatever it was that girl's like Henrietta thought about. When the reds and purples of the dawn started to fade, so did they. The faded out to a sleepy bus and then another and another and another until finally they arrived back at the illustrious Sister School. Their bus rides had also been fairly quiet, the companionable silence broken only by tired mumblings and a few laughs.

Van got off the bus to walk Etta to her...gate. He'd catch another bus down the street and then get back to Williamsburg just in time for breakfast. It was slightly awkward, walking the girl to the tall iron gate and looking down at her. What was he supposed to do now? Leaning up against the metal so as to project a cool, Fonzie image he said: "Well, I guess you're free to go now. Thanks for letting me whisk you away...last night." He laughed slightly at the time at which he was returning his friend/date. And there had been a lot of whisking. Whisking to a show...whisking across town. It was good fun, this whisking.

Um...right.

The couple were now standing at the gates to the Mansion. Henrietta looked at Van. She had had a lot of fun. What should I do? I don't know if he likes me, likes me...or just likes me. Thinking this made her feel like a little kid because that's how they had always expressed crushes in elementary school. It was the only way she could think of putting it though. Did he just want to be friends? Did he want to go out again? Oh, god. What do you do when you kiss someone?! Am I supposed to kiss him?

She continued to look at the boy for a minute. Red-faced, she glanced towards the large building that she was now living in. She found herself wondering if Twyla or any of the other students could see them. It wasn't too bright out yet, so probably not. Henri stepped a little closer to Van and looked up at him. "So, I had a lot of fun. You sure know how to show a girl a good time. Where as I did like all the stuff we did, I'd have to say you were my favorite part." It felt like something was fluttering around in her stomach. Did I swallow a butterfly or something? Well, technically, it was butterflies, but not the kind she was thinking of.