Crybaby wraps a thin braid of black hair around her finger as she listens to Angelita, "After the other girls get here, we'll try to head out. I'll catch them up on the way, alright?"
The black braid falls from Crybaby's hands and lands in front of the embroidered heart patch on her school uniform. She signs, "That's all fine with me, but are you sure Magnolia is going to be on board with sneaking out?"
"She has to be. It's already planned," Angelita says, smirking playfully. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out her keys, opening the door to her dorm room. "If Maggie's really not okay with sneaking out, I'm sure Celeste and I can convince her."
Crybaby shrugs and sits down on Angelita's bed. Silk, white bedsheet, littered with tiny pictures of Hello Kitty cover the mattress. Crybaby looks up from the sheets to see Angelita closing the door.
"You're gonna make them knock?" Crybaby signs. "Are we even going to be here for that long?"
"If you want to wear your uniform to the park, go ahead. I'm not changing with the door open." Angelita smiles, tossing a hoodie onto the bed next to Crybaby.
"You have a bathroom." Crybaby signs. She gestures to the bathroom door.
"I can't lay out my clothes on the counter!" Angelita laughs, "I need room to plan my-" A knock on the door interrupts her.
"I'll get it." Crybaby signs. She stands up, making her way to the door. On the other side was Fleur, wearing a grey hoodie with the text "K-12 Sleep Away" across the front. Peeking out from under the hoodie was the pink of her school uniform, which appears more like a skirt, when paired with the grey hoodie.
"Hey, I hope I'm not too late," Fleur says. Crybaby can already tell she's in for a ramble. "I wasn't sure what to wear, since Angelita insisted on not telling us what we're doing. I decided to-"
"Fleur!" Angelita interrupts, approaching the door. Now wearing black jeans and a matching "K-12 Sleep Away" hoodie, but in black, she invites Fleur into the dorm room. The matching attire assures Fleur she is dressed appropriately, for whatever they're doing tonight.
Walking back into the room, Angelita says, "You can sit on my bed with Crybaby, if you want. Just don't touch my roommate's stuff." She gestures to the right side of the room. "Maggie and Celeste still aren't here, but it's getting kinda late, so we might just leave without them."
"We can't do that! That's mean!" Fleur protests. "I can stay here and wait for them, while you two go. We'll catch up."
"Good suggestion, but you don't even know where to catch up at." Angelita points out. "We'll just wait a bit longer. They probably won't be long."
"No, we're gonna take a while," A head announces, peaking through the doorway.
"You should definitely just go without us." Says a second head.
"Finally!" Angelita cheers, running over to the door. "You two better like your outfits cause we've gotta go now." Motioning for Crybaby and Fleur to walk back out the door, she continues, "We've gotta go now. It's already almost midnight."
"Wait, we're leaving?" Magnolia questions, "It's fifty minutes after curfew."
"Who cares?" Angelita teases, "We won't get caught and we'll have fun. You have nothing to worry about."
"Fine," Magnolia says, "but if you get me in trouble, you're never allowed to make the plans again."
"It's not even a school night!" Angelita protests, "We will be fine!"
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After driving in the dark for about twenty minutes, Angelita finally parks her car. "We're here!" She announces with a smile.
"A park?" Celeste questions. "You're making us break curfew, just to play on monkey bars?"
"No," Angelita says, ready to surprise them all with the actual plan. "We're going to have a picnic!"
Fleur's face suddenly looks worried. "In the dark?"
"It sounds fun." signs Crybaby.
"Thank you!" Angelita says, gesturing to Crybaby. "I knew you'd think it was a good idea."
"Well, "good ideas" aren't always worth breaking curfew, but fun ideas are." Crybaby signs. She was always one for doing things that seemed like fun, even if she could get in trouble for them.
"Okay," Angelita starts, "Since you're on board, help me set up the picnic blanket. Everyone else," She turns and makes a dramatically sad face, "Help by unpacking the food from the car." They all groan jokingly, unbuckling their seat belts, and getting outside the car to help.
Angelita and Crybaby make their way into the grass field, while the other girls start digging through the trunk of Angelita's car.
"So, Crybaby," Angelita says, unfolding the picnic blanket, "You aren't talking much tonight." Crybaby gives her a questioning look as Angelita lays the blanket in the grass, sitting down on it.
"What do you mean "tonight"?" Crybaby jokes, before taking a seat on the blanket. She continues to sign, "I have Situational Mutism, Angelita. I don't "talk" very often."
"I know. I know. You just.." she stops for a second, trying to find wording. "You've been signing less around the others and haven't spoken to me when it's just been us." She continues, "It just feels off."
"Well, tonight feels kind of off." Crybaby signs.
"What do you mean?"
"It feels like.." Crybaby starts, "Like something is going to happen. Something important. I don't know what, but it's weirding me out."
"Well, if something important does happen, it'll probably just be some cool memories with your friends." Angelita reassures her.
"Thanks," Crybaby signs, "That's probably it."
Angelita smiles, looking towards the car. "Why are they taking so long?"
"Maybe they're eating in the car?" Crybaby suggests jokingly.
"They better not be," Angelita says, standing back up. "Guys?" She yells, "I didn't set up this blanket for nothing."
"We're coming!" Magnolia yells from the car. "We'd be faster if you helped us carry the food!" She has two containers of fruit under her left arm and two containers holding cakes and cookies under her right arm.
"There's three of you!" Angelita teases, "Make it work!"
"Five people would still be nice!" Magnolia argues back.
"Crybaby and I were on blanket duty!" She laughs.
"Well, it didn't take super long to lay down a blanket." Crybaby signs. "I didn't even help with that".
"Okay, here's a million containers of fruit and cookies!" Magnolia says, tossing them onto the blanket. "You're welcome."
"Thank you, Maggie." Angelita says with a grin. "And thank you, Fleur and Celeste, for carrying food, without complaining."
"I still don't understand why we're here at night," says Fleur, "We can have a picnic whenever."
"Exactly!" Angelita cheers, "And, it just so happens that right now is "whenever"."
Magnolia is already halfway through a container of strawberries. Meanwhile, Crybaby and Celeste start sharing a container of chocolate chip cookies.
"Wait," Crybaby signs to Angelita, "Someone's sitting over there." She glances over to the swings of the nearby playground. Angelita looks over, making Crybaby bury her face in her hands.
"Oh shit," Angelita says, catching the rest of the groups attention. They all follow her eyes to the swings.
"Who is that?" Magnolia asks.
"I don't know," Angelita starts, "But I'm about to find out." She stands up from the picnic blanket and starts walking over towards the swings.
"Wait!" Fleur calls out at one of those whisper-yell volumes, "Some people carry knives!"
"So do I!" Angelita points out. She reaches into the pocket of her jeans, pulling out a black butterfly knife. She holds the knife out as she continues walking towards the swings. "Hey!" she yells, "Who are you?"
The figure gets up from a swing and starts walking towards Angelita. They are still covered by shadows, but she can start to make out curly hair and a denim jacket, covered in patches.
"Angelita," Magnolia yells in another whisper-yell, "Getting me murdered is worse than making me break curfew!"
"You're still worried about curfew?" Questions Celeste.
"Guys!" Angelita yells back to the group, "Stop yelling! You're making me way less intimidating!" She points her knife towards the figure, who is now visible under the shine of a nearby streetlight. Angelita can now tell that they're a teen boy. But not just any teen boy.
"Ben?" Angelita questions, lowering her knife, and dropping her arm to her side. "Are you kidding me? I was ready to stab a guy, and it's just you!"
"Sorry, Angelita." He says, "I didn't realize how creepy I looked."
"Are you serious?" Magnolia yells, standing up from the blanket. "You didn't realize that sitting in the dark, watching a group of girls, then walking towards said group of girls would be creepy?" She waves her hands around in speechlessness.
Crybaby, who has kept her hands over her face the whole time, finally moves them down, looking over at Angelita and Ben.
"So," Celeste starts, "You've terrified us, now introduce us."
"Yeah, please tell us who this guy is." Adds Fleur.
"Alright, I was getting to it." Angelita says. "Everybody, this- Wait." she pauses and points to Crybaby. "Drumroll, please."
Crybaby smiles and starts hitting the ground in rhythm, prompting Fleur and Celeste to join in.
Angelita starts again, "This is Ben!"
"Hello everyone!" Ben smiles, "I'm sorry I scared you."
"Alright, Ben," Magnolia says, sitting back down on the blanket, "What are you even doing here?"
"Well, I switched school's recently, so I don't really know anyone yet. I didn't want to spend the night with my new roommate, so I decided to come here." He gestures to the park behind him. "I assumed it would be empty." He smirks at Angelita.
"Well, you crashed our party and scared us." Magnolia says coldly.
"I wasn't scared," Angelita smiles. She turns to Ben, narrowing her eyes. "But you should've been."
"I only came over cause I thought I recognized you! I should've realized it was dangerous either way!" Ben says.
"It's more dangerous if it's me, though." Says Angelina proudly.
"Yeah, it's been so long, I forgot why I used to call you "Knives"."
"Okay," Fleur interrupts, "How do you two know each other?"
"Yeah, please explain." Adds Celeste.
"We used to go to school together." Angelita smiles. "We were best friends for pretty much our whole childhood."
"Then I moved and she went to a boarding school." Adds Ben.
"Sleep away school." Angelita corrects.
"Same thing." He teases.
"Okay," interrupts Magnolia, "so is he crashing the picnic now or?"
"Well, since you seem like you want him to stay, so badly," Angelita teases, "Ben is staying!" She turns to look at Ben. "If you want to."
"That depends on what you're doing." He says.
"Well, they don't know what we're doing, but I do." Angelita smirks. "We were having a picnic, but you kinda killed the vibe, so I think it's time for the next activity!"
"Which is?" Asks Celeste.
"Skateboarding!" Angelita announces.
"Literally none of use can skateboard." Celeste points out.
"And half of us are wearing dresses." Adds Fleur.
"Okay, so it's more like "learning how to skateboard"," Angelita starts, "but, it'll still be fun." She encourages the group. "As for the dresses: that's your own fault." She teases.
"You didn't give us a dress code!" Celeste yells.
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As the night went on, the big group slowly broke off into smaller groups. Magnolia and Fleur were near the car, having both opted out of learning to skateboard. Celeste was by the swings with Ben. They had both agreed to skateboarding, but ended up sitting on the boards, doing way more talking instead. Celeste was trying to pry as much information out of Ben as she could manage.
Crybaby and Angelita had ended up being the only ones actually trying to skateboard. Crybaby had gotten the hang of not falling off, while Angelita was ready to give up.
"So, Angelita.." Crybaby mumbles.
"Are we about to have another deep conversation? Cause there's actually a one-per-night limit." Angelita teases.
"No no, not a deep one.." Crybaby trails off again. She glances towards the swings, watching Celeste and Ben talk.
"Do you want to go swing?" Angelita asks.
"Okay," Crybaby starts. She takes a deep breath. "I'm just gonna say it, instead of being weird about it." She pauses again, taking another deep breath. "Ben.. is kind of cute."
"You think Ben is cute?" Angelita asks, glancing behind her to see Ben at the swings, then looking back at Crybaby. "That's what you're being all awkward about?"
"Well, yeah," Crybaby says, blushing. "You're childhood friends. I didn't know if that was a weird thing to say."
"It's not weird! Ben's an attractive guy. I'd find it weirder if you didn't think he was cute." Angelita affirms.
Crybaby is still blushing.
"Wait," Angelita realizes, "Do you want to ask him out?"
"I don't know!" Crybaby panics. "I don't even think I could ask him out. Does he know sign language?"
"Not a word." Angelita says flatly.
"Well, what do I do then?" Crybaby asks, waving her arms in frustration.
"Maybe write?" Angelita suggests. "I'm ninety-nine per cent sure he can read."
"Hey guys!" Magnolia yells from the car, "Lets go! It's almost 2am!"
"Shit," Angelita says. "That's later than I thought this was going to take. I guess your new boyfriend showing up messed with my plans." She teases, smirking at Crybaby.
"Shut up." She signs, rolling her eyes. "Let's go."