Jack and Emma are precocious Upper Schoolers.

"Your friends are gone again."

Emma looked up from her sandwich into Jack Kasikova's amused face and promptly looked back down again, blushing furiously.  "Yeah," she said lamely.

"They're Eleventh-Years, right? What are you going to do without them next year?"

"I don't know," Emma answered.  "I'll be the last Journalism Student after they're gone."

She looked up at him again only to find his eyes on her.  She took a bite out of her sandwich to avoid having to say anything.

"Mind if I sit with you?"

Emma tried to say "Sure," but no sound came out.  She ended up gesturing somewhat brusquely at the ground and Jack sat slowly, indulgently, stretching out his long legs like a cat.  Against the gentle slope of the hill in front of the Upper School, they looked even longer.  Emma tried not to stare.

Jack didn't appear to have brought a lunch with him; now, Emma felt self-conscious about her sandwich.  She took one final bite and wrapped it up, mentally preparing herself for the conversation Jack was sure to initiate.

"Oh, don't put that away because of me," Jack said.  He smiled appeasingly.  "I'm just not eating this week.  It's an assignment for the Psych Students.  An experiment of sorts."  He leaned towards Emma just a fraction.  "In fact, if you want to help me, you should eat that sandwich right in front of me, slowly, and monitor my reactions."

"Not hitting on Country girls again, are we, Jack?"

Emma spun around, half-embarrassed and half-relieved, to see a thin blonde girl bouncing towards her.  Everything about her was hard and angular, from her pointy nose and chin to her spiky pigtails.  She leaned down, crooked a finger under Jack's chin, and kissed him full on the mouth before plopping down on the ground right next to him, facing Emma.  Emma was quite taken aback and must have looked alarmed, because the girl started laughing – a loud, discordant sound – and said "What, you've never seen a kiss before?"

Emma had never seen a kiss before – at least, not on Upper School grounds.  Every Student in Carr City was much too focused on his or her Studies in order to worry about things like kissing.  But this girl already didn't seem to fit the mold of Carr City Student – brash and nonchalant, she had a slightly dangerous air about her.  Emma didn't like it.

Jack sighed and gestured between the two girls.  "Moxie, this is Emma.  Emma, Moxie."

"Charmed," Moxie said, holding out her hand.  Emma took it and shook, saying, "That's an unusual name."

"Well, it's Amanda really.  Amanda Moxheim.  I just go by Moxie."  She grinned cheekily.

"Moxie is…an old family friend," Jack told Emma.  For some reason, Emma couldn't imagine the families of these two very different people getting along.

"And Emma is that Journalism Student I was telling you about."

Emma barely had time to register that Jack had been talking about her before Moxie said, with what seemed like genuine enthusiasm, "Ooh, Journalism.  What's it like to be the last of a dying breed?"

Emma blinked somewhat owlishly, not knowing what to say.

"I'm in Cosmetics myself," Moxie announced proudly.  "It's loads of fun, and it's in really high demand, what with all this new surgical technology floating around."  She winked at Emma.  "Not that you would know anything about being in demand, would you?"

When Emma again didn't say anything, Moxie turned to Jack.  "Does she talk?"

"Moxie, why don't you go now," Jack said.  It wasn't a question.  Unfazed, Moxie looked between Emma and Jack and nodded.  "Sure.  I'll see you after School."

She bounced off.  Jack looked at Emma and sighed.  "I'm sorry for her."

"I don't like her," Emma blurted out.

Jack smiled.  "Most girls don't.  You could have been a little more social."

Emma shrugged.  "I don't really have much to say."

"How can that be true?  You're studying Journalism."

"Okay.  I don't have much to say to her."

Jack leaned back casually.  "She grows on you."

Emma snorted.  "Easy for you to say.  You're dating her."

Jack sat up abruptly.  "No." he said emphatically.

"No?"

Jack looked right at Emma.  "Moxie and I have known each other for many years.  Everyone expects us to get married, which is why, naturally, we've never been attracted to each other in the slightest."

Emma felt a small pang of relief, closely chased by embarrassment.  She struggled to keep her face neutral.  "But she kissed you."

Jack shrugged.  "It's something people do."

"Not in Farm Country, they don't."

Jack grinned.  "Did your parents not kiss you enough as a child?"

"I don't have Daddy issues, if that's what you're suggesting, Mr. Psychology."

Jack closed his eyes and smiled serenely, tipping his head back.  "Then you need to spend more time in the City.  You look like you could use some kissing."

Emma flushed scarlet, glad that Jack's eyes were closed.

"Moxie and I are going to the Harbor after School.  Do you want to come?"

Emma suddenly felt as though someone had lit a pleasant fire in her belly.  "The Harbor?"  She tried to prevent the excitement from creeping into her voice, to no avail.  The Harbor was an enigma; a place of color and music on the opposite end of the City from Farm Country.  She had never been there, only heard stories and rumors from Joe and Hal.  "Yeah…I would love to."

She looked up into Jack's smirking face and tried desperately to quell her impulse to laugh out loud with excitement.  He wanted me somewhere! He wanted me to go somewhere with him!

"But I'd have to tell Schnell," Emma said, deflating somewhat.  "He won't be too happy."

There was a long pause.

Finally, Jack asked, "Who's Schnell?"

Emma ducked her head, hearing the edge in his voice.  "He's my neighbor…" she said.  "He sort of…took it upon himself to look after me at School."

"Oh, Schnell," Jack said.  "Byron Schnell?" His voice was laced with distaste.

"Yes," Emma said, embarrassed.

"Isn't he a Twelfth-Year?"

"Yes."

"So then isn't he Interning?"

Emma blushed a little at Jack's questions.  "He still comes back to ride the bus with me home," she said softly.

Jack stiffened.  "You don't need to tell him where you're going," he said.  "He sounds overprotective to me."

Emma didn't know enough to confidently call the hardness in Jack's voice jealousy, but she had a hunch. "I…we'll see," she said.

"But you're definitely coming."  It wasn't a question.

Emma looked straight into Jack's eyes.  "Yes," she said.

Jack grinned, a leering, predatory grin that showed all of his teeth.  "Excellent," he hissed.