picking teams

chapter 9: janis

helllooooo and happy halloween!! welcome to FINALLY CADNIS YAY and a little halloween "date" :)

tw for
depression kinda
discussion of child abuse
discussion of homophobia
discussion of outing
discussion of death
discussion of divorce
alrighty enough discussing but as always if i've missed anything please let me know so i can add it to the list :)

enjoy!

—————

Janis sighs as she raps on the Herons' front door, shifting her heavy backpack to the other shoulder and folding her jacket over her stomach to keep out the chill.

Cady pulls the door open, seeming almost surprised to see her there. "Shit, hey. Did we have a session today?"

"Yeah," Janis says. "You okay?"

Cady looks like hell. She's in sweatpants and a ratty old t-shirt that probably belonged to one of her parents at some point, along with the never-matching socks she always has on. Her hair is clearly unbrushed and hasn't been washed in a while, tied in a careless knot on top of her head. And, on top of it all, she looks exhausted. Like she hasn't left her bed in the week since homecoming but somehow hasn't slept at all at the same time.

"Not really," Cady admits shyly. "Come in, we should get to work."

Janis steps inside, politely removing her boots before following Cady up the stairs to her bedroom like normal.

"Sorry about the mess," Cady says sheepishly. "I forgot you were coming or I would've cleaned up."

Janis has to hold back a gasp when she steps in. She's seen worse, and god knows her own room has been messier. But for Cady, this is terrible. There's tissues all over the ground, her bed is rumpled and unmade, and there's a half-eaten pint of ice cream resting on her nightstand with a spoon still sticking out of it, dripping melty goodness all over the wooden surface.

"My desk might be the best place," Cady continues shyly. Janis shakes her head.

"No way. We're not doing this today," she says.

"We're not?"

"Absolutely not," Janis says. "Go take a shower and get dressed."

"What?" Cady asks, a shocked laugh bubbling out of her. Janis snatches the robe and towel off the hook hanging in her closet and shoves them at her. Cady takes them wordlessly and pads off to the bathroom.

Janis tends to the room in the meantime. She picks up the ice cream (vanilla, which Cady went on a very long rant about a few sessions ago. Janis will never call it a boring flavor ever again) and takes it down to the kitchen, putting it back in the freezer and the spoon in the sink.

She wipes up the ring of vanilla residue on the nightstand just so it won't damage the wood, and lazily folds Cady's blanket back so that the bed is almost made. Janis would ordinarily do more, the way her gut is practically screaming at her to do, but she knows how embarrassing it can feel to have someone clean up after you, especially after a rough patch. Hopefully Cady will be feeling well enough after today to do it herself.

Janis shoves some tissues aside and flops down onto Cady's bed, staring at the ceiling. Cady's room is cute, but the Plastic side of her is ever encroaching like some kind of virus, infecting every aspect of her life. Her sheets are pink now, and there's a lot more selfies of Cady and the Plastics on her bulletin board than there used to be.

Cady comes back in after a while, clean and detangled curls wrapped up in the towel and her cheeks and ears flushed pink from the warmth. Janis feels her heart seize a bit, seeing her crush so... domestic.

"What am I getting dressed for, mystery chick?" Cady asks as she roots through her dresser for some clean undergarments and socks.

"Just dress warm and wear good shoes," Janis replies. She grabs her backpack back off the ground and leaves Cady to change with some privacy, shutting the door with a wink.

Cady comes downstairs about five minutes later, clad in a North Shore High Cheer t-shirt covered with a cozy cardigan, some jeans, and her usual white converse. She's clipping the top half of her hair back out of her face when she meets Janis at the bottom of the stairs. "Hi."

"Hi," Janis echoes. "Let's go."

"Go whereeeee?" Cady whines, grabbing her keys and phone.

"It's a surprise. You'll find out," Janis smirks. Cady locks her front door behind them and trudges along with her back to Janis' house.

"Why did I need to wear good shoes to your house?" Cady asks in confusion.

"This is just the first stop, Caddy," Janis chuckles. "You're about to meet the reason I never let you come over."

"What?"

Janis unlocks and opens the front door, barely taking a step inside and hollering, "TV!"

"What?!" Stevie yells back.

"Come here!"

Cady looks at her in confusion, until Stevie comes partway down the stairs to see what she wants. Cady lets out a quiet, "Aww!"

"Caddy, this is my sister, Stevie. Stevie, this is Caddy," Janis says.

Stevie comes the rest of the way down the stairs, offering a hand for Cady to shake. "Stevie Ramona Sarkisian. Pleasure."

Cady giggles a bit and takes the offered hand, giving it a gentle shake. "Cadence Jane Heron. Nice to meet you, too."

"What are your intentions with my sister?"

"Stevie!" Janis yelps, thwacking the back of her head.

"Ow! I'm just checking!" Stevie huffs, massaging her sore head.

"You're weird," Janis sighs. "C'mere."

Stevie raises an eyebrow, but heads over to her big sister. Janis bends down to whisper something in her ear, and her eyes light up. "Yeah, yeah!"

"Go get dressed, then," Janis says, shoving her sister back towards the stairs. Stevie barrels up to her room to change out of her taco pajamas. "Sorry about that. She's an oddball."

"It's fine," Cady grins. "She's cute."

"Don't let her hear you say that," Janis smirks, leaning against the wall to wait. Cady joins her. "I don't think you'd live to see another day."

Janis can tell from the look in Cady's eye that she doesn't totally doubt that. But, Cady smiles before she asks, "How old is she?"

"She's nine. Her birthday was in August," Janis replies. "She's kinda like you. Freaky genius for her age."

"Hey now," Cady giggles. "This freaky genius is helping you pass math."

"Never said I wasn't grateful," Janis smirks in reply. "TV, hurry up!"

"Why do you call her TV?"

"When she was a baby she didn't know how to say S's. So she called herself TV instead of Stevie. And she's always been a little ham, so it fit," Janis says.

"That's really cute," Cady says. There's something almost... melancholy, in her eyes, but Janis gets a feeling now isn't the time to ask about it.

Stevie comes running back down the stairs before she gets a chance to, anyway, stumbling over her shoes at the end and almost falling.

She makes her way over to them, but Cady's eyes are immediately on the cat that followed her downstairs. "Oh my god!" she squeals in a pitch so high Janis can barely hear her. "Who is thiiiiiis?"

Janis laughs as Cady chases the cat down the hall and lies on the ground, reaching a hand out for her to sniff. Surprisingly, the cat accepts the offer and lets Cady pick her up for scritches and love.

"That's Re-uh." Janis stutters. "Reba."

"No it's not," Stevie snorts. "Her name is Refried Beans."

Cady looks up at Janis in shock before she bursts into hysterical laughter. "Refried Beans?"

"Don't you diss the beans," Janis huffs, blushing and looking away.

"I would never. Hello Beans," Cady says. Janis and her sister both gape at her. "What?"

"She hates people," Stevie says, almost in awe. "She won't let any of us pick her up."

"Really?" Cady asks, looking at the cat curled up in her arms, head resting on her shoulder and purring contently in her ear. "Hm."

"Can we go now?" Stevie begs, wrapping her arms around her big sister and blinking up at her.

"Yeah. Cads, you ready?"

"Mmhmm," Cady hums. "Bye Refried Beans. Go easy on your family, they're good people."

Stevie and Janis both blink at her again as Beans lets Cady gently rest her back on the ground. Cady brushes some stray fur off her sweater before following after them.

"Where are we going?" she asks as Janis leads them to her dad's car.

"It's a surprise!" Stevie squeals eagerly. She climbs into her spot in the back while Cady gets shotgun. "But it's the best, you're gonna love it."

"If you say so, Stevie," Cady chuckles. Stevie nods eagerly. "Then I suppose I can live with a surprise."

"Good," Janis says, turning the engine over. "Buckle up."

—-

Janis watches Cady as much as she can while she drives, looking back and forth between her and the road. Cady looks wistfully out the window for most of the drive, and chats with an eager Stevie. Janis smiles a bit seeing her crush and her baby sister getting along so well.

When they get closer, Janis realizes she might not be able to keep this a surprise for much longer. So, she locks eyes with Stevie in the backseat, and nods towards Cady while she isn't looking. Stevie nods eagerly, excited at the idea of helping with the surprise, and scoots into the seat directly behind Cady. As soon as she's buckled again, she leans forward to cover Cady's eyes.

"Wh- hey!" Cady yelps as her world suddenly goes dark.

"We gotta keep it a surprise," Janis explains.

"Fine," Cady grumbles, pouting adorably. "But if this turns out to be some sister... murdering duo, I'm gonna be very upset."

"Maybe we should start doing that, Janny," Stevie says.

"Nah, you're not strong enough to kill people yet," Janis says. "Maybe when you're ten."

"I could poison people!" Stevie says, aghast.

"You guys talking about this so casually is really not making me any more comfortable," Cady grumbles.

"Well, we're here, so you'll be able to run in a second," Janis says, pulling into a spot in the field that's been transformed into a parking lot. "Promise to keep your eyes closed for a sec?"

"Sure," Cady agrees with a giggle. True to her word, she keeps her eyes tightly closed while Janis and Stevie climb out.

Janis opens her door for her and gently grabs her hands to help guide her out of the car. Stevie bounces eagerly behind them, the child in her making a quite rare appearance. Janis smiles at her sister and nods, so Stevie calls, "Open your eyes!"

Cady does, looking around to see where Janis has dragged her. "Aww! A pumpkin patch?"

"Yeah. Our, er... never mind. But we come here every year," Janis says sheepishly. "You wanna go in?"

Stevie leaves no room for debate, grabbing Cady and Janis' hands and running towards the gate. "Come on!"

"Jesus, Steve!" Janis yelps. "Slow down!"

Stevie doesn't slow down until they're at the gates.

"Oh, I didn't bring any money, I'm sor-" Cady begins. Janis shrugs.

"It's free entry. Anything else we can just consider payment for all the tutoring sessions," she says. "Alright, Steve, rules?"

"Don't get kidnapped, scream if I do get kidnapped, and come find you if I want to buy anything," Stevie recites immediately. Janis nods, so Stevie goes running off to play on her own.

"What do you want to do?" Janis asks, turning to Cady. "They have... everything."

Cady looks around for a moment, looking at all the signs directing them to various activities. "Petting zoo?"

"Sold," Janis says, gently taking Cady's hand and leading them that way. "Nobody from school ever comes here, by the way," she says as they walk. "Too far away. So you don't have to worry about being seen with me or anything."

"I don't-" Cady begins. Janis raises a knowing eyebrow. "It's not you. Things would just be so much worse for the both of us if anyone saw us acting like friends."

"Acting?"

"No, I'm not-" Cady sighs. "I'm really fucking this up, aren't I?"

"No, I'm messing with you," Janis chuckles. "I get why we have to act like we don't know each other. I just wanted you to know you don't have to out here."

"Thanks," Cady says gratefully. "And thanks for bringing me here."

"No problem," Janis grins, gently bumping their shoulders together. "What animal first?"

"Sheep!" Cady squeals as soon as she sees one, running off in that direction and answering Janis' question in quite possibly the most adorable fashion she possibly could've.

Janis runs after her and finds her pressed against the fence to the sheep and goat pen. She's bending so far over it to try to pet them that Janis is worried she'll fall in. She looks to a machine nearby and sees that it's only fifty cents for a whole handful of food, which will probably help Cady's odds of not landing in sheep shit.

"Cads," she calls when she has the feed pellets in her hands. Cady straightens and turns around to see her with a pitiful pout on her face.

"Why aren't they coming over?"

"Because you need some of this," Janis chuckles. She gently gives Cady about half of the food and shows her how to offer it to them.

"Oh," Cady says when she's suddenly swarmed by the sheep and goats. "You guys know what's up, huh? I thought I was losing my touch."

"Your touch?"

"Yeah," Cady chuckles. "I dunno why I said that, it's dumb."

"You could never be dumb," Janis says quietly. Cady looks at her for a moment.

"I used to think I could talk to animals," she begins. "When I was really little. I thought I could understand them. They could understand me. I know it's not true, now, but I always kinda... had a way with them. Gazelles used to follow me, an elephant brought me her sick baby once. One of the lions trusted me enough to let me play with her cubs. I dunno why, but I've always just kinda had a gift with animals."

"No wonder Beanie liked you, then," Janis says. "Does it still work in America?"

"Usually," Cady chuckles. "Every once in a while I see a deer out my window and stuff, I think they follow me around too. I guess these guys are just too used to food for my magic to work."

"Probably," Janis agrees with a laugh. "You're kinda like a Disney princess, then."

"A princess?"

"Please tell me you've seen Disney movies," Janis begs.

"What's Disney?" Cady asks, tilting her head. Janis almost collapses.

"We have to have a movie night," she insists. "You can't not know Disney movies. I have to show them to you."

"I'd really like that," Cady agrees softly. "Oh, wait, is Disney the one with the... uh... the... Scottish one with the bears?"

"Merida?" Janis chuckles. "I think she's technically Pixar, but she counts. She's in Brave."

"Damian always calls me Merida," Cady says. "At practice. Because of my hair, I think."

"Makes sense," Janis chuckles, looking at Cady's fluffy red curls. "And I guess you have to be pretty brave to let Damian chuck you in the air a bunch."

"No, he's great," Cady says immediately. "He's so nice. Every time I get nervous he talks me through what we're doing and tells me how to make it easier on both of us and stuff. And he's never dropped me, even though I'm friends with your mortal enemies. So I trust him."

"That does sound like Damian," Janis chuckles. "He's a good guy."

"He's in good company," Cady replies quietly, gently nudging her with an elbow. Janis feels her cheeks grow warm and looks down at the sheep eating from her hand. Cady gently pats its wooly head. "Can we go see the bunnies?"

"Yeah," Janis says, the word barely squeaking out of her mouth before she coughs to clear her throat. "Yeah."

She follows Cady to the rabbit enclosure and climbs over the fence after her. Janis gets to see firsthand what Cady was talking about earlier as a rabbit hops over and settles in Cady's lap.

"Hello," she coos, gently stroking down the rabbit's back. "What's your name? You look like a... Frisbee."

"Frisbee?!" Janis laughs.

"Yeah," Cady says decisively. "Why not?"

"Caddy, do you know what a frisbee is?"

"No," Cady says. "Oh god, is it a bad thing?" She looks down at the bunny on her lap. "I'm so sorry."

"No, it's nothing like that, but... frisbees are made to be... thrown," Janis says, trying to hold back her laughter. "It's, like, a disc thingy so it goes a really long way if you throw it. People use them as dog toys and stuff."

"No!" Cady gasps in horror, protectively holding the bunny closer.

"I'm sorry to be the one to tell you," Janis chuckles. "It is a cute name, though."

"It suits her," Cady says. "But no throwing."

"Of course not," Janis says, gently scooping up her own bunny and resting it on her lap. "They're so soft."

"I wonder what conditioner they use," Cady mumbles absently. Janis bursts out laughing, accidentally startling her bunny away.

"Carrot juice?"

"Could be," Cady hums. "Would that work?"

"I dunno," Janis shrugs with a chuckle. "Probably not. I think having fur instead of hair definitely helps them."

"Probably," Cady agrees. "Do you want to see any animals?"

"They have baby ones inside," Janis offers. "If you want."

"Yes please," Cady says immediately. "Bye Frisbee. Have a good day."

Janis grins as Cady gently pets her bunny a few more times before carefully moving her off her lap and standing up. Janis helps her back out of the pen and towards the nearby tent, where the baby animals are held in their special pens.

They're allowed in these ones, so Cady clambers over the fence into the baby goat pen. Once again, one immediately comes trotting over to greet her.

"Hi," Cady says, offering a hand for it to smell before she gently pats its little head. "Oh my god, you're so cute."

An employee walking by casually mentions that they're allowed to hold the animals, so Cady immediately scoops the baby goat into her arms and stands.

The goat stares at her for a moment, seeming confused by the fact it's suddenly off the ground. When it puts the pieces together, it releases a truly remarkable bleat.

Cady looks at Janis with wide eyes and her lips in a thin line before she bursts out laughing. "What was that?"

"Had to let everyone know the great Cady Heron is holding him," Janis laughs.

"He's a lot heavier than he looks," Cady grunts. The goat bleats again. "Okay, okay, I'll put you down. There you go."

"He is pretty cute," Janis says. Cady nods.

"You want to go do something else?"

"If you want to," Janis shrugs. "I've seen everything at one point or another. Today's about you."

"Well, I wanna do what you want to do," Cady says, crossing her arms over her chest and pouting like a petulant toddler. Janis chuckles as she helps Cady back out of the goat pen and starts leading them back towards the main area. Suddenly, an idea hits her.

"You ever been on a zipline?"

—-

"Are you sure this is safe?" Cady asks anxiously as she climbs onto her swing. Janis climbs onto the one next to her and prepares to slide down the long rope.

"Not in the slightest," Janis says, picking her feet up and going down. "Come on, Cads!"

Cady warily copies her motion, setting her own swing down the zipline. She clings to the rope in the middle, but she does start laughing about halfway down. Janis climbs off her own when she reaches the bottom and waits for Cady to join her.

"That was fun!" Cady chirps happily when Janis helps her down.

"You wanna go again?"

"Yeah," Cady agrees immediately, heading to get back into the line.

They make it about halfway up when Stevie comes running up to them. "Janny!"

"What's up, Steve?" Janis asks.

"Can we get pumpkins?" Stevie asks eagerly.

"Yeah, sure. Got your eye on one?"

"Yeah! We gotta go now or someone else will take it, it's perfect!" Stevie insists, grabbing her sister's hand and trying to haul her towards the pumpkins. Janis holds her ground and looks at Cady. Cady laughs and starts walking off.

"We can come back here, let's go see the pumpkins," she says, waiting for Janis to join them.

"Yes!" Stevie squeals, running off again. "Janny, come on! You're so slow!"

"Watch your mouth, kid, I'm paying for this pumpkin," Janis calls. "Go grab it, we'll be there in a second."

Stevie runs the rest of the way back to the main building, with bins and bins of pumpkins in front of it.

"What's the point of the pumpkins?" Cady asks when they make it.

"Halloween used to be, like, about the harvest or something," Janis shrugs. "I don't really know. It's just a fall thing. But Stevie and I always carve some every year."

"Carve them?"

"Have you never- oh," Janis realizes. "Do you want to try it? It's fun. Here."

She Googles some photos of carved pumpkins and shows them to Cady so she can get an idea of what it's about.

"They're cute," Cady says, scrolling through the search results. "Can I really?"

"Yeah, the pumpkins are pretty cheap," Janis says. "Come on, let's go pick some."

Cady smiles as Janis takes her hand and jogs her over to the pumpkins. She wanders off to look as Stevie waddles over with the one she wants held securely in her arms.

"Did you check it?" Janis asks, grabbing a wheelbarrow so she doesn't have to carry it all the way back to the car. "No smushy bits or bugs or anything?"

"Nope!" Stevie chirps happily. Janis nods and gestures to the wheelbarrow, so Stevie gently puts it inside. "Is Cady your girlfriend?"

"What? No!" Janis says immediately.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! Of course I'm sure, we're just friends," Janis says.

"But are you really sure?"

"Yes! Give it a rest," Janis pleads.

Stevie is quiet for a moment. "Do you want her to be your girlfriend?"

"Yes," Janis admits softly. "But she doesn't like girls, so it's not gonna happen. And you can't tell her."

"She likes you."

"Not like that," Janis huffs.

"Yes she does," Stevie retaliates. "She was staring at you the whole time you were walking over here. And before when I came to find you. And-"

"Enough, Stevie, please," Janis begs. "Just keep this to yourself, okay?"

"Fine," Stevie pouts. "I think she's lost."

Janis looks up to find Cady standing in amongst the bins of pumpkins, turning around and aimlessly looking between them. Janis suddenly remembers she didn't tell her what she should be looking for. Whoops.

"Need help?" she offers. Cady jumps and turns quickly, but she relaxes when she sees Janis.

"They all look the same, I don't... really know how to pick one," she says, wringing her hands anxiously.

"Yeah, it can be kind of overwhelming," Janis chuckles. "It might help if you think of a design you'd want to carve first. Then you can pick a pumpkin with a good shape for whatever you want to do."

Cady thinks for a moment, twisting her lips from side to side as she mulls over possible designs. "Could I carve a lion?"

"Yeah, that would actually be pretty sick," Janis nods. "So, a sorta... round and squatty one would probably be best for something like that. Not too tall and skinny."

Cady looks until she finds one matching that description and heads over to it. "Like this?"

"Yeah, that should work. Now you just have to make sure it's a good one," Janis says. "Like, make sure there's no weird rotten bits or bugs living in it or too much dirt crusted on."

"Eww," Cady shudders. She grunts as she picks up the pumpkin to examine it and tumbles backwards onto her bum. "Whoa! It's heavy."

"They are heavier than they look," Janis chuckles, offering a hand to help her up. Cady takes it to pull herself into a sit and turns the pumpkin all around. "Looks good."

Stevie approaches with the wheelbarrow, so Janis helpfully removes the pumpkin from Cady's lap and deposits it in. Cady does a quick sort of backflip thing to stand, dusting the straw from her jeans.

"Whoa! How did you do that?" Stevie asks in awe.

"I'm a cheerleader. I've had lots of practice," Cady grins. "You have to learn fun ways to get up so people can't tell when you fall down."

"Wow," Stevie says, suddenly seeming totally starstruck by their company. "Can you teach me?"

"I can probably teach you some stuff, sure," Cady nods. She laughs as Stevie grabs their hands and starts trying to haul them off towards the trampoline area.

"Steve, we haven't even bought the pumpkins yet," Janis chuckles, snatching her sister beneath the shoulders so she can't run. Stevie goes limp as she remembers this information.

"Oh."

"Now you pick one!" Cady says, gently poking Janis' arm.

"Fine, fine," Janis says. She's had her eye on a design she's wanted to try since last Halloween, so she looks around for a more oval shaped pumpkin. An expert assessment reveals it to be a quality one, so she carefully adds it to the wheelbarrow. She looks to her sister. "Can you manage to get this in that barn thing without running anyone, anything, or yourself over?"

"Yes," Stevie huffs. She takes the handles and starts pushing it in that direction. Cady and Janis start walking after her.

"She's run herself over?" Cady whispers to Janis.

"More than once," Janis mutters back.

"I can hear you!" Stevie yells. Cady giggles under her breath and looks at Janis.

"She's a lot like you," she says.

"I'm not sure that's a good thing."

"No, it is! You're great," Cady says. "I can tell you... she really looks up to you, is all."

"Thanks," Janis says, feeling the burn of a blush on her cheeks. Cady smiles and continues walking into the barn to buy their pumpkins.

"Tiny pumpkin," Cady gasps. Janis follows her to the display of small pumpkins and decorative squashes for sale just outside the building. "It's so cute!"

"So get it," Janis says.

"No, you already paid for... a lot of stuff today," Cady says, carefully putting it back. Janis grabs it before she can put it down and hands it back to her.

"And I'll pay for more. You've never had pumpkins before. Little tiny ones are the best," she shrugs. "It's, like, a dollar, it's not a big deal."

"Really?" Cady asks shyly. Janis nods and gestures for her to take it. Cady carefully cradles the tiny pumpkin in her hands and heads up to Stevie at the counter.

The pumpkin patch is largely family run and has been for generations, and uses the honor system to price their pumpkins. Janis could easily just lie and get them cheaper, but she won't. Never has and never will.

Cady and Stevie both watch eagerly as Janis pays for their pumpkins. Janis puts the little one into her pocket while Cady helps Stevie reverse the wheelbarrow out of the shop so they can drop off the larger ones at the car.

"God, this is heavy!" she groans as she gets it down the small step. "How did you manage getting that in there yourself?"

"I dunno," Stevie shrugs.

"You'd probably be a better cheerleader than me," Cady giggles. "Ow."

"Maybe leave it to the professional, then," Janis chuckles. Cady nods and happily lets Stevie handle getting it to the car. Janis unlocks the trunk and takes the pumpkins Cady carefully passes to her.

"Alrighty. Happy?" Janis asks, looking between Stevie and Cady. They both nod eagerly. "Good. Back to it, then."

"Cady, come on, there's a trampoline this way!" Stevie says immediately. Cady squeaks a bit as she grabs her hand and starts practically sprinting in that direction.

"Steve, go easy on her! It's her day off," Janis chuckles. "You're lucky she's nice."

"No, she's so sweet," Cady says, panting a bit to catch her breath now that Stevie has slowed down to a reasonable speed.

"Don't say that. Goes to her ego," Janis snorts.

"Hey!" Stevie huffs.

"You know it's true," Janis replies. "Go jump."

"Are you coming?" Cady asks, trying to walk backwards into the fenced in bouncing area.

"Nah, you guys have fun. I gotta get pictures of something for my dad," Janis says. Cady pouts the slightest bit, but eagerly kicks off her shoes and heads up onto the inflatable cushion thing. Trampoline is a bit of a stretch. It looks more like a giant pillow, or a balloon of some sort.

Stevie immediately starts jumping up and down. She is nine, after all. Janis is just glad she's getting some energy out. Cady clambers her way up onto the thing and takes a few tentative bounces.

"Will you do some cheerleading tricks? Pleeeeease?" Stevie begs. Cady smiles as Stevie hugs her tightly around the waist. Maybe Janis should take advantage of her sister's childish charm. Could come in handy someday.

"What should I do?"

"I dunno! Something cool!" Stevie says eagerly, standing back and bouncing up and down.

"Alright. Tell me if I'm about to run over a child, okay?" Cady grins. Stevie laughs and nods. Cady does a few basic stretches, rolling her shoulders and wrists out and jumping up and down a couple times. Janis guesses she needs a better feel for the bounce, or something. Not that she's been staring at her every move, or anything. Of course not.

Stevie's jaw drops almost as soon as Cady begins. Janis' quickly follows. She doesn't know any of the technical terms for what Cady's doing, but she recalls Damian describing Cady's tumbling as being like one of those wind up toys, and thinks that's a rather apt metaphor.

"Whoa!" Stevie cheers as Cady comes to a stop at the other end of the long trampoline. "That was so cool!"

"Thank you," Cady giggles sweetly.

"Can you teach me?!"

"A couple things, probably," Cady nods. "But nothing too crazy. I think your sister would kill me if I let you break your neck."

"Aw," Stevie pouts. Cady grins and ruffles her dark hair.

"It takes a long time! I've been practicing since I was really little, you can't expect to do a perfect back handspring in one day. But you'll catch up in no time."

"How long did it take you?"

"Mmm... about four years, I think," Cady says. "From the very very beginning. But I was also tumbling on mud. That makes it tricky."

"Oh. How do you start?" Stevie asks.

Janis watches as Cady coaches her little sister through the very beginnings of tumbling. Stevie eagerly follows along. Janis smiles seeing her so excited. And she trusts Cady to keep her sister safe.

By the time they both get too tired to keep going, Stevie has almost mastered a roundoff. She seems even more pleased with herself when Cady tells her how long it took her to get a roundoff properly.

"Nicely done, kid," Janis says when her sister comes up to her after they slide down off the trampoline.

"Very nice," Cady says, panting a bit. "There's my workout for the day. Hoo, man."

"You good?" Janis chuckles.

"Yeah," Cady grins back. "Do they have... like, water, anywhere, though?"

"I'll do you one better. Come on," Janis says, taking her hand and leading her towards yet another barn. This one has all the food for sale. Despite all the fun fall activities they offer, Janis thinks this is her favorite part of the pumpkin patch. Fall just isn't fall until she eats her weight in pumpkin muffins, caramel apples, homemade mashed potatoes, and apple cider.

"Ooh," Cady says as soon as they walk in. "It smells so good in here!"

"All the food," Janis chuckles. "Come on."

"It all costs money," Cady says anxiously.

"Restaurants tend to be like that, yeah," Janis says. "Caddy, seriously, don't worry about it. I didn't bring you here expecting you to pay for anything." Totally not a date. "Today's supposed to be fun. Get what you want, I promise it's fine."

"Are you sure? Regina always-"

"Regina is full of shit," Janis spits. "I can afford one day out and not expect you to pay me back, okay?"

Cady nods sheepishly. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," Janis shrugs. "Now come on. You're not leaving until you've tried a caramel apple."

"Cady, can we sit together?" Stevie asks.

"Yeah, of course," Cady says. Stevie squeals and runs to find them a table.

"Maybe bringing her was a mistake," Janis chuckles. "Sorry she's a little clingy."

"She's totally fine," Cady says. "She's so sweet. I have a new best friend."

"Hey!" Janis whines.

"Two new best friends," Cady amends with a chuckle. "Whoa, that's a big menu."

"Yeah," Janis chuckles. "Anything with chicken is pretty good. And the mashed potatoes are fantastic. And the noodles. Everything else isn't really worth it."

"Noted," Cady says. Janis orders the usual mashed potatoes with noodles for herself and Stevie to split, since the orders are way larger than they have any right to be. Cady gets the same thing and helps her carry it all back over to the table Stevie found.

"So you've known Cady for two and a half hours and she's already taken my place, hm?" Janis says when she sees the empty chair reserved for Cady next to her sister. Janis slides into the other one across from them and rests the food down.

"No. She's much less annoying," Stevie says. "Not my fault your friends are better than mine."

"Hey, go easy on your sister," Cady giggles. "She's a really good person, you know."

"Yeah, but she's my sister," Stevie says. "It's, like, against the law for me to act like I love her."

"Oh, is that right?" Cady asks. "Well, I'll have you know it's against Cady laws to give your sister such a hard time."

Stevie ponders this for a moment. She clearly wants to be in Cady's good books, but her sibling instincts can't allow her to forgo all of her good-natured taunting.

"I like you sometimes," Stevie concludes.

"Yeah, you've got your moments," Janis agrees. "Now eat, Papa will be mad if I don't feed you something half decent."

Cady shrugs, happy to have done... something for the two of them. Even if it is likely to only last a few minutes. "Whoa! This is delicious!"

"I told you," Janis chuckles. "Best part of the whole place."

Cady doesn't respond. She just continues wolfing down her potatoes and noodles. Janis doesn't blame her. She picks up her own fork and goes to town on her half of the order she and Stevie got. Stevie whines, "Hey, slow down, I need some too!"

"Snooze you lose, dork," Janis says. Stevie grabs her own fork and starts the war for their portion. "Maybe next year we get our own."

"Definitely," Stevie says. "Did you get some for Dad?"

"No, remind me to before we leave. If we get it now it'll be cold by the time he gets it."

"Mm. Good thinking," Stevie says.

"What does your dad do?" Cady asks.

"He's a lawyer," Stevie and Janis say at the same time.

"Divorce attorney. Specializes in, er... unusual ones," Janis explains further.

"Unusual?"

"Celebrities," Janis says. "Minor ones, anyway. Divorces people usually want to keep private. Or pretty gnarly ones where one or both of the people need extra protection for whatever reason."

"That's really cool. What about your mom?" Cady asks, taking another bite of her food. Janis and Stevie both deflate a bit and look away.

"She's... not around," Janis explains softly.

"Oh, I'm sorry-" Cady frantically starts to say.

"It's okay, Cads," Janis says. "We just... don't really like to talk about it."

"Okay. Yeah. Sorry."

The mood is a bit awkward for a while, nobody being quite sure what to say. Everyone finishes quietly, and Cady takes all their trash to throw away.

"What now?" Stevie asks when she comes back.

"You wanna go get us ciders to go?" Janis replies. Stevie nods eagerly, happily taking Janis' debit card and running back to the food counter. "Nothing else! Just that, I'm broke!"

"Yeah, yeah!" Stevie yells back.

"That was probably a mistake," Janis sighs. "Anyway. What do you think you wanna do next?"

"I don't know," Cady says. "Zipline again?"

"Sure," Janis chuckles. "Hey, she actually listened."

Stevie comes carefully walking back over with a drink tray and hands it to her sister. Janis hands one cup to her and another to Cady, keeping the last for herself. Cady takes a sip of the warm drink. "Mmm!"

"Apple cider," Janis chuckles.

"Warm," Cady says happily, cradling it between her hands.

"Good?" Janis asks. Cady nods eagerly with a smile. "Good. Come on."

"Can I go again?" Stevie asks.

"Yeah. Meet back here at... seven," Janis says, checking the time on her phone. "And don't get kidnapped."

"Okay!" Stevie says, taking her drink and running back to the more child-oriented activities.

Cady follows Janis as she starts walking back in the direction of the beloved zipline, drink held securely in her hands as she takes slow sips so she won't burn her tongue. "Oh, we probably shouldn't go on until our drinks are gone."

"Yeah, probably not," Janis agrees with a chuckle. "Don't see that ending very well."

"Corn maze? What's that?" Cady asks, pointing to the sign nearby.

"A maze. Made out of corn," Janis says. "You wanna try?"

"Um... okay," Cady agrees. Janis leads her a bit towards it until they find a large scarecrow holding a sign that says, 'Enter if you dare'. "Is it scary?"

"Eh... maybe," Janis shrugs. "It's for families, though, so it can't be too bad."

"Okay," Cady says nervously. They walk side by side for a while, somehow already lost despite only going in a straight line. "So tell me about you."

"Me?" Janis asks.

"Yeah. We're friends?" Cady asks. Janis nods eagerly. "I don't... know enough about you. I want to know more."

"Okay. Um..." Janis hums. "What do you want to know?"

"Ummmm... what's... what's your favorite color?"

"Probably purple," Janis says. "Kinda juvenile, I guess, but I've always liked it. What about you?"

"Yellow," Cady says softly. "Makes me happy."

"That makes sense," Janis nods. "Yellow's a good color."

"It is!" Cady says eagerly. How can two words be so cute? "Okay, another question... what's your... middle name?"

"My middle name?" Janis chuckles. "Why?"

"I dunno, I just think they're interesting to know. It's, like, a pretty normal thing, in America, anyway. But not a lot of people know their friends' middle names," Cady explains.

"You sure you're not just trying to steal my identity or something?"

"Yes! I'm sure, I don't want your social security number or anything. And you don't have to tell me, I was just wondering."

"I'm kidding. It's Ophelia," Janis says. "My mom was big on Shakespeare and my dad picked both of our first names."

"Janis Ophelia," Cady says softly. "They're good names."

"He named both of us after singers, no they're not," Janis snorts.

"He did?"

"Yeah," Janis replies. She points to herself and says, "Janis Joplin. And Stevie Wonder."

"Oh. That's cool," Cady says. "I dunno what my parents were thinking."

"Yeah, I didn't know Cady was a nickname," Janis says. Cady reaches to run a hand over the corn stalks they walk past as they go along.

"Yeah. My parents were never really, like, musical, though, so I don't know why they named me Cadence," she replies. "And they never called me it. I was seven when I learned my full name."

"Weird," Janis chuckles. "I like Cadence, though. It's pretty."

"Thank you," Cady says. "I kind of like my middle name better, but I don't mind Cadence much."

"Your middle name is Jane, right?"

"Yeah. Like Jane Goodall," Cady explains. "My parents were real creative."

"Sounds like it, Cady Jane," Janis chuckles. "My turn?"

"Sure," Cady agrees with a giggle as they round a few corners.

"What's... your favorite animal?"

"Lions," Cady says immediately. "They were always my favorite in Kenya. They're so... I don't even know how to explain it. They're independent, but... they're group oriented at the same time. And they're funny. And good listeners. Their kisses hurt though. They'll take your skin off if you let them."

"...Good to know," Janis nods slowly.

"Sorry. Carried away."

"No, I like it. You tell good stories," Janis says. She puts her free hand in her pocket since her fingers are starting to get chilly. The tiny pumpkin is still there. "They're a bit gruesome, maybe, but they're interesting."

"Really?" Cady asks shyly. Janis nods. "It's just that Regina always tells me nobody wants to hear about Africa and that it's gross I slept and ate in dirt for thirteen years."

"I state again, Regina is full of shit."

Cady nods again. "Man, dead end!"

"Must be a left back there, then," Janis sighs, retracing their steps and going the correct way this time. She looks over at Cady when she's suddenly quiet, and finds her looking intently at the ground with a pensive look on her face. She pulls the mini pumpkin from her pocket and passes it to her. "Pumpkin for your thoughts?"

Cady laughs and takes the little gourd, holding it in one hand and her half-empty apple cider cup in the other. "I'm not sure you'll want to hear them."

"I always do," Janis murmurs.

"What did Regina do to you?" Cady asks. Janis freezes mid-step. Out of all the questions Cady could have asked, Janis was not expecting that.

"Uh... we don't need to talk about it," she says quickly.

"Why not? She already told me what happened, why won't you?"

"She has, has she?" Janis huffs, poking her tongue into her cheek. "You should know Regina George is a liar."

"Why do you hate her so much?! I know you guys have... some history, but she's my friend," Cady insists.

Janis is silent for a long time, neither of them moving. Everything in Janis is screaming at her to get out of this conversation, but they're lost in the middle of a corn maze. Janis would rather not become fertilizer for next year's crop.

"What did she tell you?" she decides to begin with, bracing herself internally for whatever Cady says.

"That you... used to be best friends," Cady says in confusion. "And then she could only have six people at her thirteenth birthday party so she couldn't invite you and you got upset. Which I understand, I feel like you should always invite your best friend to your birthday party-"

Janis snorts derisively. "Yeah. Under normal circumstances, yeah."

"N-normal circumstances?" Cady asks.

"Are you really sure you want to know the truth? It's... heavy," Janis asks. "Not that I don't trust you, I just... don't like to be a downer."

"Of course I want to know. I thought I did know," Cady says. Janis sighs and starts walking again, a bit ahead of Cady so she doesn't have to look at her. Cady has to sort of power walk to keep up with her, but Janis can't bring herself to care right now.

"Part of what Regina said was true, we were friends. Best friends. From preschool until eighth grade," Janis begins. "But... she had way more than six people at her party. She didn't invite me because she thought I was a lesbian."

"She what?! Oh my god, Janis," Cady gasps in horror.

"And she wasn't really wrong."

"O-oh," Cady stutters a bit. "Not oh in a bad way! I just-"

"Caddy. Listening time," Janis says. Cady nods eagerly and clamps her lips shut. "I always went to school early because my art teacher let me have coffee with her and helped me with whatever projects I was working on. But she was late one morning, so I was sketching outside. Regina came up with some other girls and said she couldn't invite me because it was a pool party and she obviously couldn't have a lesbian at her pool party because girls would be there in their bathing suits."

She doesn't dare turn around to see how Cady's looking at her. She can already feel the pity in her eyes burning through the back of her skull.

"And she just asked me... in, like... I can't even describe the look on her face. The tone of her voice. What are you?" Janis says, choking out the end slightly as the memories come flooding back. "And what-what was I supposed to say? I was twelve. I couldn't think, after that, everyone was laughing already. Staring at me. So... I said I was a space alien with four butts."

Janis hears Cady let out the faintest chuckle at that, imagining her quickly biting her lip to stop. Janis smiles in spite of herself.

"And by the end of that day someone had Sharpied space dyke onto my locker," she says, fiddling with the plastic lid of her cider cup. "I could... kind of manage for a while. Usually things like that kinda blow over after a bit, but... this didn't. Everyone knew who I was. Everyone called me a dyke if they had the chance. I got shoved into lockers and stuff. Beat up in the bathrooms and hallways. And eventually it got so bad my parents had to pull me out of school for the rest of that year."

Janis sighs, bracing herself for the next part.

"And the worst part is she... wasn't wrong," she sighs. "She said all that because I told her I had a crush on her about a month before. She planned everything. She planned ruining my life and smiled through the whole thing."

Janis jumps when a tiny, chilly hand suddenly slips into hers and pulls her back the slightest bit.

"Caddy, are you crying? This is supposed to be my sob story," Janis says, chuckling in spite of it all. "What's the matter?"

"I'm so sorry," Cady sobs a bit. "My friends... are terrible people. I should never have-"

"No, Cads, you didn't know," Janis says. "If they treat you well that's all that's important. My history is... history. It's in the past. Just... be careful with them, okay?"

"No, I can't... I can't be friends with them after this," Cady chokes. "I can't be friends with people who would... do that to you. To anyone, but... not you, especially."

"That's your choice to make," Janis says. "But... leaving won't be easy either. Regina would probably ruin you, too, if she found out what you know."

"I can't move on from this, I can't go back to normal," Cady says desperately. Janis thinks for a long moment.

"I can think of another option."

"What?" Cady sniffles, wiping her nose on her sleeve. It's cute, in a disgusting sort of way. Janis wants so badly to wipe her tears away, but she feels that's probably a weird move. Especially since Cady knows for a fact she likes girls now.

"We could have a little... revenge party. I've wanted to get back at her for years, but now I have an inside man," Janis says.

"Ooh," Cady says, a dark gleam in her eye. "Yeah, okay."

"You think you can pretend you still like them?" Janis asks. "For revenge's sake?"

"Definitely," Cady nods.

"Then we'll get planning soon. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I cry a lot," Cady chuckles, wiping her eyes. "We can keep going now."

"I cry a lot too," Janis replies. She walks directly next to Cady now that most of the story is done. They come to a fork in the road. "Which way?"

"Um..." Cady peeks down both paths. "Left."

"Works for me," Janis shrugs, following Cady that way.

"Can I ask something else?" Cady asks sheepishly after about twenty feet of nothing. "You totally don't have to answer if you don't want to, but-"

"Caddy," Janis interrupts with a laugh. "Just ask. I'll tell you if it's not something I'm cool with."

"Are you a lesbian?"

Janis trills her lips a bit in surprise as she mulls it over. "...No."

"But you... like girls?"

"I do," Janis agrees. "I guess I just... never felt... like lesbian fit me. I have had crushes and been attracted to guys before. It's just not something I ever really see myself acting on. And I never really felt a huge need to label what I feel. I like girls and guys, I'll probably only date girls, and I'm just... me. But that's a lot to explain, so when people ask I usually just say I'm queer."

"That makes sense," Cady nods. "Where did this fog come from?"

"That," Janis chuckles. She points to the fog machine tucked a ways back into the corn stalks, puffing out smoke that swirls around their ankles. "Probably means we're going the right way."

"Oh, good," Cady says happily. That happiness quickly turns, as a worker in a zombie costume leaps out in front of them. Cady and Janis both scream in fright and jump. Janis blinks as Cady is suddenly in her arms for protection.

"Hey," she says nonchalantly as the zombie moves on. It's dark, shadowed by the tall corn, but Janis thinks she spies the slightest hint of a blush on Cady's cheeks. "You good?"

"No," Cady whines, burying her head in Janis' shoulder. "That was scary."

"Do you want to go back? We can just turn around," Janis asks. She feels a bit guilty, now. "No monsters back that way."

"No, I'm okay," Cady says, carefully climbing back down and shaking herself a bit. "We should be close to the end, surely. Don't want to waste effort going all the way back."

"If you're sure," Janis says, starting to walk again with a shrug.

"But will you hold my hand?" Cady asks desperately. When Janis turns to see her, she has her hands held over her mouth, like she can't believe she just asked that.

"Sure. Come on," Janis chuckles, gently taking her hand and leading her forward. Cady walks a bit slower, more anxiously, but they press on.

All the other jumpscares after that are pretty quick. The zombies and vampires and werewolves and other monsters just leap out for a moment before shrinking back amongst the corn. Cady jumps every time, and is eventually just sort of cowering behind Janis and being dragged along. Neither of them complain.

Eventually, blessedly, they make it to the exit. "We did it!"

"And I am never doing it ever again!" Cady concludes. Janis laughs as she starts walking very briskly away from the corn maze. She jogs a bit to catch up with her and heads to a trash can to throw their cups away.

"I don't blame you. I think that's the fastest I've ever gotten through it, though, so nicely done," Janis chuckles.

"It's the Kenya," Cady explains with a giggle. "Anyway. Your turn to pick."

"There's a hayride going soon. Those are pretty chill," Janis says.

"Sounds fun," Cady nods. She trustingly takes Janis' hand and follows her to the pickup point for the hayride. "Whoa."

They have to step back a bit as the very large tractor comes rumbling up to them and loops around before it stops to let the previous group off. Cady and Janis wait patiently before heading to one of the now empty trailers being hauled behind it. Janis climbs in first so she can help Cady up, since Cady's about half the size of the trailer and the step comes up past her knee, but Cady manages to wiggle her way in like a little monkey and happily plops herself on the hay bale right next to Janis.

Janis turns around and pokes her legs through the gap in the wooden planks. She folds her arms on top and rests her chin down, breathing in the cool autumn air and taking a moment to appreciate how beautiful everything looks in the dusk.

Cady does the same, so Janis sneakily looks over at her. Cady's nose and cheeks are a rosy pink from the chill, now that the sun is too far set to keep them warm. She's so cute. Cady kicks her legs contently next to her and stares out at the massive fields ahead of them while they wait for all the other people to climb on the ride.

Janis sighs a bit as they get going. Her feet brush against the stalks of corn they putter past, so she carefully pokes out a leg to hit more.

"Pumpkin for your thoughts?" Cady murmurs after a bit. Janis looks at her and sees her offering the tiny pumpkin back, echoing what Janis did earlier.

"It's nothing," Janis mumbles, taking the pumpkin and giving it a slight squeeze. "I'm just... thinking about my mom. She used to take us here every year. This was her favorite part."

"Oh." Cady says.

"She left," Janis continues, staring pointedly at her legs. She can see goosebumps beneath her swirly tights, but she can't tell if they're from the chilly air or from their topic of conversation. "Because of me."

"Oh, Janis," Cady gasps. "I'm sure it wasn't-"

"It was," Janis says. "She left after everything with Regina went down. She was... so mad, at first, because she thought Regina was just making things up to ruin my reputation. Her reputation. But I told them it was true, what Regina said. And then she... changed. She tried to put me into conversion therapies and stuff. Fix me. She wasn't even religious or anything, she just couldn't have an invert for a daughter. I don't even think anyone's used that term in, like, fifty years. At least."

Cady is quiet, looking at her with interested but sad eyes. Encouraging Janis to continue if she wants to, but understanding if she doesn't. Janis doesn't know why she's telling Cady all this. But nothing in her tells her to stop.

"My dad stopped her," Janis mumbles. "So she left. She filed for divorce and tried to take Stevie. But the court said they had to split custody fifty-fifty until the divorce finalized. For both of us. So my dad would take us to meet her halfway somewhere. She and Stevie would... do normal stuff. And she just pretended like I wasn't there. And she told Stevie it was my fault she left, so Stevie didn't... exactly like me, for a while. She blamed me for splitting up the family. Which she was right to do. I did split us up.

"One time my dad had work early, so he couldn't stay until she picked us up. So my mom just took Stevie and left me on the sidewalk. I was fourteen," Janis continues. She grits her teeth when she feels her voice waver. Sniffles in a way she hopes Cady doesn't notice. "Which was actually a good thing, because it gave my dad enough of an argument for full custody of us without visitations. So that was the last time either of us saw her. And then when Steve got a little older he told her what actually happened, so that helped our relationship. But my mom kept fighting the divorce when she lost Stevie. My dad only managed to get everything finalized this summer."

Cady is quiet again. Janis doesn't jump when she feels the hand this time. Cady gently squeezes her hand and rests her head on her shoulder. Janis tenses, because she's touching me. But she relaxes when she leans into how right it feels. Rests her head on top of Cady's and allows herself to let a few tears slip through. Lets herself grieve for the briefest of moments.

"Your mom is bullshit," Cady whispers after a long time. Janis laughs in shock. "It's true. Even if she didn't agree, she should've supported you after what you had already been through. I don't understand how someone can just... look at... their child, their family, and say... I don't want to love you anymore because of who you are. That'll never make sense to me."

"Me either," Janis sighs. "And the stupidest thing is I still miss her."

"That's not stupid," Cady says, squeezing her hand again. Janis looks down at their hands. She smiles faintly seeing the little freckled one in her own, their fingers laced together. She focuses on the chipped blue nail polish adorning Cady's fingertips as Cady absentmindedly traces around Janis' knuckle with her thumb. "She's your mom. You have every right to miss her."

"It's been two years since I've even heard her voice," Janis says. "And I don't want to hear it again, but sometimes I just... think of it, and I'm suddenly thirteen again and can't understand why she doesn't love me anymore. Why she isn't here."

"I understand," Cady says softly.

"You do?"

"I mean, not... exactly," Cady sighs. "Obviously. You've met my mom."

"But you've lost someone," Janis realizes quietly. Cady purses her lips and nods. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't-"

"My brother died," Cady blurts. "When I was ten."

"Oh. I'm sorry," Janis says. "Do you want to talk about him?"

"...His name was Caleb," Cady begins with a sigh. "Our parents really like the letter C, I guess. Anyway. He was ten years older than me. I was the annoying baby sister who followed him everywhere and copied his every move trying to be just like him."

"You must've been cute about it, though," Janis replies softly.

"I like to think so," Cady chuckles. "He never cared. I think he liked being a celebrity. Even if it was to a toddler. He was the one who came up with the idea of giving me gymnastics 'lessons'. He was worried about me getting hurt climbing trees or running around by myself in Kenya, so he told my parents to figure out a way for me to get my wiggles out safely."

"He sounds great."

"He was. The best," Cady agrees with a soft sniffle. "He's always been my hero." Janis pouts a bit when she hears her voice break at the end of the sentence. "He moved to England when I was eight. He loved Kenya, but he said he missed actual buildings and... being around humans. He wanted to help people as much as he wanted to help animals. So he became a firefighter."

"That's amazing," Janis whispers. She waits for Cady to continue, if she wants to.

"They said he saved a whole family. Almost by himself. The day he died," Cady says. "They had little twins, but the parents only had time to save one of the babies or they wouldn't have been able to get out. The house was about to collapse, but he went back in and found the other. He just managed to hand it to his co-worker before the roof caved in. And he... he never woke up. He was brain dead by the time they pulled him out of the rubble. But they kept him on life support long enough for us to fly out and say goodbye."

"Jesus," Janis whispers. "I'm so sorry."

"My parents don't even mention him anymore," Cady sniffs. "It's like he never existed. There's no pictures. Nothing. They just pretend I've always been an only child."

"People grieve in weird ways," Janis says. "I'm sorry, Cady."

Cady shrugs. "It's fine, I guess. I like to think he's still with me. But that's... I get what you mean about hearing someone's voice and being back in your old self. I get that all the time."

"It's a blessing and a curse," Janis says. Cady nods beneath her. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Cady whispers. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Janis agrees.

"We should probably clean up a bit when we get back, I don't think Stevie would let me make it home if she sees you've been crying," Cady says. Janis laughs and nods.

"Probably for the best."

"Thanks for bringing me here," Cady whispers. "I had a lot of fun."

"Good," Janis whispers, squeezing her hand. "I just wanted to cheer you up a little."

"I needed it," Cady chuckles. "Can't believe I've been wallowing over a guy for a week."

"Hey, wallowing is totally reasonable," Janis insists. "A week actually isn't that long. Given the circumstances."

"I don't know how I ever thought she was my friend," Cady sighs with a shake of her head. "Like, she probably doesn't even like him anymore! She just took him because she knows I like him."

"Probably. It's a Regina thing to do," Janis says. "But you still like him. It's okay to be upset that things didn't work out the way you hoped."

"Maybe I could break them up," Cady says eagerly. Janis pouts as she suddenly removes her head from her shoulder. "Do something as part of our revenge thingy!"

Or maybe you could open your eyes and realize there's someone who actually wants you right here, Janis thinks, trying not to be bitter. "Yeah. It would help, if we did something to mess with Regina's reputation. That's one of the only things she has going for her."

"We should start scheming soon," Cady says.

"You doing anything after this?"

"No," Cady says.

"Then tonight may just be our night."

"Our night," Cady confirms. Janis smiles at her, and Cady smiles back. Kiss her. No. Don't kiss her. That's weird. ...But maybe kiss her.

Someday.

————-

It's dark by the time they're driving back home. Stevie insisted on getting copious amounts of kettle corn and caramel apples, but forgot to remind Janis about getting another helping of the mashed potatoes and noodles for their dad. Cady, luckily, remembered, so Stevie is asleep in the backseat holding a to-go box and surrounded by a frankly ridiculous amount of bags.

Cady happily munches on her very own bag of kettle corn in the passenger seat, looking out the window at the darkened landscapes scrawling by.

"Kettle corn good?" Janis asks after a long silence. Not necessarily an awkward silence, just... a silence. Janis interrupts it nonetheless.

"Yeah! I've never had sweet popcorn before, it's good!" Cady says. "You want some?"

"Sure," Janis grins. She takes the handful Cady offers her and immediately scarfs it down. "Thanks."

"Thank you," Cady says. "For dragging me out of my house. I needed something like this."

"So did I," Janis admits. "It's nice getting to know you outside of tutoring."

"Yeah, it is," Cady agrees. "Maybe we'll do it again sometime soon."

"Maybe?"

"We'll definitely do it again sometime soon," Cady amends with a giggle.

"Good," Janis chuckles. "In the immortal words of Max Mayfield, there's more to life than stupid boys."

"Who's Max Mayfield?"

"Oh my god!" Janis gasps in horror. "You haven't even seen Stranger Things?"

"No," Cady says. "I'm strange enough already."

Janis laughs harder than is probably appropriate. "That's fair. But we're gonna have, like, a movie and TV show month. Not just a night. A whole month to show you everything you need to know. And you're not allowed to leave until you've watched it all."

"We do have a pretty long winter break coming up in a couple months," Cady giggles. "I definitely need to watch some stuff. I feel like I don't even speak the same language as everyone else at school. So many references just go over my head."

"We'll get you caught up. Movie tutoring," Janis says. Cady laughs. Her laugh is so sweet, and bright. Hearing it makes Janis totally understand the whole 'a fairy getting their wings' thing. "Damian and I are the masters of movies."

"Then you'll have to teach me your wise ways, sensei," Cady responds with another giggle.

"I will. I'll start my lesson plans first thing tomorrow."

"Can't wait," Cady says.

"Do you have, like, a curfew or anything? I should probably get Steve home first since she's zonked, but I can take you home right after if you want," Janis says.

"I don't have a curfew. As long as I'm not at a party," Cady says. "And my parents are out of town, anyway, as long as I'm safe they won't mind. As long as you won't mind either."

"Nah, this'll be fun," Janis says. "Pumpkin carving and revenge party planning. Gorging ourselves on caramel apples. Sounds like a great night."

"It really does."

-

Before too long, they pull into Janis' driveway. Janis opens her door and heads to the back before quickly realizing the situation is not easily manageable. "Cads, would you mind carrying in the food? I think I'm gonna have to carry in a certain someone."

"Sure," Cady says. She gently pries the box out of Stevie's limp hands and grabs the rest of the bags. Janis undoes Stevie's seatbelt and pulls her little sister out of the car and into her arms.

"I can feel you smiling," Janis murmurs to her sister as she unlocks the front door.

"You haven't put me down," Stevie retaliates with a yawn.

"Con artist."

"Knowing victim."

Janis rolls her eyes as she crosses the threshold, calling a greeting to their father in Italian. "Papa, siamo a casa!"

"Divano!" a voice calls. They switch back to English after that.

"I brought a friend, can she stay over for a while?" Janis calls. Her dad comes down the hall to greet them. Janis tries not to cringe in embarrassment when she sees his Spongebob pajama pants and literal bunny slippers. He had to pick his dorkiest pajamas to wear tonight.

"Which friend?"

"Cady. She's from school," Janis says, using Stevie to gesture to the walking pile of food next to her.

"If her parents are okay with it, I don't see why not. Nice to meet you, er..." her dad says, since he can't see Cady's face.

Janis reaches out a hand and takes one of the bags off the top. Cady smiles and manages to wiggle one of the others up onto her elbow so he has a hand available to shake. "I'm Cady Heron. Nice to meet you, sir."

"Nice to meet you too, Cady. Let me take some of that," Janis' father chuckles. Cady happily lets him take some of the food.

"I'm gonna put Steve to bed. Papa, nothing embarrassing, please," Janis begs, trying not to seem too earnest.

"I would never," her dad gasps, feigning hurt. "Cady, would you like to see some of Janis' favorite baby pictures?"

"Oh, you bet!" Cady says eagerly.

"You just met, stop conspiring against me already!" Janis sighs.

"Did Janis tell you she used to-" her dad begins again.

"Papa!"

"Alright, alright," her dad chuckles. He kisses Stevie on the forehead. "Dormi bene, meraviglia."

"Buona notte, Papa," Stevie yawns. "Bye Cady."

"Bye. Sweet dreams," Cady replies softly, waving as Janis starts up the stairs. Stevie gives a weak wave back.

'Putting to bed' was a loose expression. Stevie gives an 'oof' as Janis tosses her unceremoniously into her bed. "Goodnight."

"I like Cady," Stevie whispers as Janis throws the duvet over her face.

"I like her too, kid," Janis sighs sadly. "I like her too."

"She likes you," Stevie whispers conspiratorially.

"Get whatever plan you're scheming out of your head," Janis snorts. "Alright, the littlest matchmaker, go to bed."

"I need Bobo," Stevie whines, gesturing vaguely to the corner of her room.

"Get your own damn elephant," Janis replies.

"Ugh!" Stevie groans, throwing the covers off and stalking over to get her stuffed elephant.

"Yeah, sorry, your highness," Janis huffs. "Now goodnight."

"I'm not kidding," Stevie says as she sits in her bed and pulls off her shoes.

"About what?"

"Cady," Stevie insists. "She likes you."

"She's straight," Janis replies. "Look, it's complicated-"

"Why? You like her, she likes you, it seems simple to me," Stevie huffs, flopping back against her many pillows. "And I'm nine!"

"And I'm sixteen," Janis says. "You can wish all you want, but you're not getting another sister just yet."

"But why-"

"Because she likes someone else!" Janis says, trying not to yell and alert their company downstairs. "There's a lot of reasons it can't happen, and either of us wishing hard enough won't change anything, so just give it a rest, okay? She doesn't like girls, she's friends with the girl who ruined my life, and-and... I might be in love, but it's not... it's not gonna happen."

"If you say so."

"One more word out of you and one of those Strawberry Shortcake pillows is bringing you down."

"Goodnight!" Stevie chirps innocently, settling in with her blanket and stuffed animal. Janis rolls her eyes as she flips the light off.

"Goodnight, dork."

She braces herself as she heads downstairs. What stories has her dad told Cady, what photos has he already shown? What infinitesimally small chance has he already dashed?

Surprisingly, nothing. Just her dad standing alone in the kitchen with his box of food. "Where's-"

"She's in the basement. I figured you would rather do whatever you're planning down there than in that room of yours," her father replies. Janis sighs with a flustered smile. "So. This Cady."

"Hm? Yeah, what-what about her?" Janis asks, massaging the back of her neck.

"I've never heard of her before."

"Yeah, she's new. From... Africa."

"And she's got on a cheer team t-shirt," her dad grins.

"Yes... she's... on the squad," Janis replies.

"Seem to recall you talking about a certain cheerleader who's new this year that you seemed mighty interested in." The grin has shifted to a smirk. Janis' eyes go wide.

"No, no, what did you do?!"

"Nothing!" her dad defends immediately. "Just sent her down to the basement after we got the food where it goes." Janis sighs in relief. "After discussing what potty training you was like."

"Papa!"

"I'm kidding," her dad chuckles. "Go downstairs, you got a limited amount of time here. It's a school night."

"Tomorrow's Sunday," Janis replies in confusion.

"Really?" her dad asks. He steps closer to the calendar to check. "Mio dio."

"Losing your marbles, old man," Janis grins. "Bye!"

She runs down the stairs into the basement to find Cady. Cady's in the corner Janis has transformed into her studio, staring interestedly at the wall.

"Hey."

"Nothing!" Cady says immediately. "I wasn't doing- I didn't touch anything."

"I mean, you can if you want. You seem like someone who keeps their hands clean."

"Yeah, I-I am," Cady says. "These are really nice. Where did you get them?"

"Me," Janis replies, plopping down on the couch and reaching for the remote. "How do you feel about-"

"You did these?!" Cady asks in shock.

"Yeah," Janis replies. "I, er... dabble in painting."

"They're really good," Cady says. "You're so talented."

"Thanks," Janis squeaks. "Just a hobby."

"Seriously! Have you shown them anywhere?" Cady asks, sitting down next to her and staring at her with eagerness practically glowing in her green eyes.

"Um, no," Janis says.

"You should," Cady says. "Really. I've never seen anything like them. You should share them."

"I don't know," Janis replies, rubbing her sweaty palms on her shirt. "It's just... something I got into during... everything. I don't know if I want people to see them."

"It's your call. Obviously. But I really think you should," Cady says. "Anyway. Planning?"

"And pumpkins," Janis nods.

"Oh yeah," Cady agrees with a giggle. "You'll have to teach me how to do that, though. I'm clueless."

"Oh, how the tables have tabled," Janis says. She frowns. "That's not right."

"Indeed it isn't," Cady laughs.

"I'm tired," Janis laughs back, shaking her head to snap herself out of it.

"It's only nine thirty," Cady retaliates. "Thought you were a real party animal."

"Never," Janis says. "And I spent a lot of today lugging a certain someone through a corn maze."

"Mm, that must have been tiring," Cady says with a nod. "Maybe you should talk to Damian for some pointers. He's got experience."

"I'll get right on that," Janis chuckles. "Sure he'd love that."

"Why?" Cady asks innocently with a tilt of her head.

"Uh... no reason. I left your pumpkin in the car, I'll... uh... be right back," Janis says, standing and backing up towards the staircase. "You can look around, uhm, if you want."

She bolts up the staircase before she can hear Cady's response. She runs past her father, who just smirks at her around a mouthful of potato.

"Not a word," Janis grumbles, pointing crankily at him. She takes a moment to breathe as she steps back onto the porch. "Oh, Dame's gonna have a field day with this."

She grabs Cady's pumpkin out of the trunk and heads back inside, rushing just the slightest bit. It is freezing. But maybe it just means her own pumpkin will last a bit longer. It'll definitely make it until tomorrow, at least.

"She is pretty," her dad says as she roots through the kitchen drawers for the pumpkin carving kit.

"That's creepy when you say it," Janis replies, shoving her way through another drawer and creating a loud enough jangling sound that it drowns out his teasing. "Bye. Again."

"Six inches minimum!"

"These knives are going into your skull someday!"

"Quite a greeting," Cady responds, turning around to see her from the couch.

"Oh! No, no, not you!" Janis says frantically. "I was talking to my dad."

"Touching," Cady giggles. Janis smiles back as she makes her way back in front of the couch. "I didn't know you were Italian, by the way."

"Oh, yeah. Half. My dad grew up there and my mom met him studying abroad in college. We try not to lean too much into the stereotypes but we do eat inordinate amounts of pasta in this house."

"That's cool," Cady grins, leaning against the back of the couch and resting her head on her hand. Janis tosses a box of trash bags next to her and gently plonks Cady's pumpkin on the ground. She takes the remote in exchange, flipping through the various streaming services until she finds the right one.

"Here," she says, handing it to Cady and grabbing back her trash bags. "Look through until you find a movie called... uh... I dunno, something about Charlie Brown and a great pumpkin."

"Okay," Cady says, holding the remote in her hand and slowly scrolling through all the options. "That's a lot of movies."

"Just wait," Janis chuckles. "Welcome to your first night of America classes, please take your seat."

"I'm sat," Cady giggles. "What are you doing?"

"Prepping."

"To kill me? What's with the trash bags?"

"Do you have some childhood trauma you wanna share with the class? Why does everything I do make you assume I'm about to murder you?"

"You took me out of my house without warning or telling me where we're going, took me to a relatively out of the way location, then got me into a corn maze alone with no witnesses, and now you're covering your basement in garbage bags."

"Okay, well, when you put it that way," Janis sighs with a laugh. "To be fair, you survived, like, ninety-nine percent of that."

"So far."

"Yeah, keep pushing your luck," Janis says. "Look, the only one getting murdered tonight is your pumpkin, okay?"

"No!" Cady gasps, protectively scooping it into her lap.

"Cads, when I said you could get a pumpkin to carve, what were you imagining was involved?"

"I'm attached," Cady defends, resting her cheek on her precious pumpkin.

"Do you just want to paint it instead?" Janis asks.

"...No, you're right. I got it to carve it. And I want the experience at least once."

"Then... sit," Janis says, fluffing out the last trash bag and laying it over the floor. She grabs the remote and presses play on Charlie Brown to have in the background. Cady slides to the ground with her pumpkin, looking at Janis expectantly. "You wanted a lion, right?"

"Um... yeah," Cady confirms with a nod. Janis grabs her phone and starts searching for lion pumpkin carving stencils.

"Here. The black part is what you'll carve out, so focus on the white part. And you might wanna stick to something more simple for the first one," she says, offering it to Cady. "Just see which one strikes your fancy."

Cady scrolls. And scrolls, and scrolls, and... scrolls. "What if none of them do?"

"Really?" Janis chuckles. "Then... hm."

She heads to her studio corner and finds a few scrap pieces of paper she can use for a sketch. She grabs it and a Sharpie and returns to Cady on the ground.

"Describe to me your vision for this masterpiece," she hums like a haughty artiste.

"Oh, um... I dunno, really," Cady says, looking intently at Janis' hand holding the marker. "I guess... a cuter face, more than scary? And then... a really big mane. But not too many little details. I have very little control of my hands."

Janis starts drawing as Cady speaks, sketching out what she thinks is a cute lion face. A few thicker squiggly lines can pass as a mane. She stretches the mane as wide as she can, thinning it out a bit as she gets towards the edges. "How's that?"

"How did you do that?" Cady asks in awe, looking at the doodle.

"Do what?"

"That! You just... and then... lion," Cady says. "That was, like, ten seconds!"

"I drew it?" Janis chuckles. "What do you think?"

"It's perfect!" Cady says. "I don't understand how you just... wow."

"Good wow?"

"Amazing wow," Cady breathes.

"Why are you so fascinated that I can draw?" Janis chuckles. "You could probably do the same thing."

"No way," Cady insists with a shake of her head. Janis smirks, passing over the marker and another blank sheet of paper.

"Try."

"What?"

"Try it," Janis says, continuing to hold the marker out to her. "Draw me your best lion. I bet you can."

"You're gonna laugh," Cady whines, taking the marker and removing the cap again. "Don't look."

"Alright, I won't. You cool if I take a knife to your pumpkin in the meantime?"

"Be gentle with him. But yes."

"I'll be as gently homicidal as I can be," Janis nods with a laugh. Cady turns her back and hunches in on herself so Janis can't watch her draw. Janis grabs the biggest knife and gets to work cutting the top off of her pumpkin so Cady can hollow it out.

"Here," Cady mumbles, holding out the paper and adamantly refusing to look Janis in the eye. Janis puts down the knife and takes the drawing back to see. She takes a look. A little circle with a basic face (but properly shaped nose) and a cute little smile, and a series of squiggly lines surrounding it. Janis tries not to laugh, but she can't quite hold it back. "Hey! Don't laugh!"

"Hey, no," Janis says through her laughter. Cady whines and buries her face in the couch cushion. "This is good, it's cute!"

"No it's not," Cady whines again, muffled by the cushion.

"Yes it is, Cads! I've just had more practice, come on," Janis pleads. "It's really good."

"You're a liar," Cady humphs, removing her face from the cushion but crossing her arms over her chest and pouting.

"No, really! It's cute," Janis says. "Now come on, Grumpy, let's carve this pumpkin."

"What do I do?" Cady asks, any offense forgotten.

Janis pulls the 'lid' off the pumpkin and gestures to it. "Rip its guts out."

"Beg pardon?"

Janis plonks a large plastic bowl next to her. "Pull out all the goopy bits and seeds."

"With my hands?" Cady asks.

"God given tools," Janis nods.

"Er... okay," Cady says with a grimace. She takes off her cardigan so her sleeves won't get pumpkin-y and reaches a hand in. She squeals as soon as she makes contact. "Ew!"

"Come on, it's part of it!" Janis laughs as Cady pulls her hand right back out of the pumpkin and tries to shake it clean. "You can do it."

Cady hums anxiously and tentatively reaches back in. This time she actually grabs a handful of the pumpkin guts and pulls it out. Janis watches curiously as she squishes it and gives it a hesitant sniff. Almost like a child, exploring something new. "It kinda feels good."

"It'll make your skin nice and smooth," Janis says. Cady plops the handful into the bowl and reaches back in.

"So what's this movie?" Cady asks, looking up at the screen. Janis presses play and turns the volume down to a not-distracting level. Background noise, but won't interrupt their conversation.

"Charlie Brown. It's a classic," Janis says. "It's against the law to carve pumpkins without watching The Great Pumpkin."

Cady watches, adorably focused on the screen as she hollows out her pumpkin. Janis tries not to stare as she tosses the remote back onto the couch. How is she so cute?

Janis looks around her basement for something less creepy to stare at. She locks onto her plastic kid easel her dad bought her in kindergarten. Humble beginnings. Her eyebrows raise as she remembers the chalkboard on the other side. Useful.

Cady turns to look at her when she leaps up to drag it over and roots through a drawer for some chalk. All she can find is sidewalk chalk, but it'll have to do.

Janis erases a crudely done drawing of a duck and a 'Stevie was here' done in a child's writing to make room for their planning. "Okay, Cads, how well can you multitask?"

"I have untreated ADHD."

"Noted," Janis nods. "And same. Okay, so... for this to work, we have to knock Regina off her throne. She's not gonna give it up willingly. And she can't know what we're up to, or the whole thing will be ruined."

"Okay," Cady nods. "How do we do that?"

"Wreck her reputation."

"Wreck-putation," Cady agrees. "Wait."

"Now who's tired?" Janis teases. "So... we can break this into bits. Attack one front of her popularity at a time."

"Okay," Cady says again. "How do we break it down?"

Janis mulls this over, tapping the chalk against her chin. "We have to do something to get everyone at school to stop... worshipping her."

"That makes sense. But they won't go easy. She's a malevolent dictator," Cady says. "Maybe... maybe if we go for the other branches first they'll kinda... desert. Or at least some will, and that'll make it easier."

"That's a really good point," Janis nods. She writes, 'DISBAND ARMY' in all capital letters on the chalkboard, but leaves room above it for the steps that should come first. "So... to do this, we have to get them to stop 'loving' her. But how do we do that? What do people see in her?"

"She's got a great body," Cady says absently, grimacing slightly at another handful of pumpkin. Janis stares at her for a moment. "What? It's true. All the boys ever talk about is her... I dunno, hips or whatever."

"That's true," Janis nods. She adds, 'MAKE NOT HOT' to the list. "What else?"

"People like gossiping. If we get them to gossip about her..." Cady says.

"You're too good at this," Janis grins. "But what would they be able to talk about that isn't good?"

"... I don't know." Cady says. Stumped.

"I think... this might be your ticket to Aaron," Janis realizes. "All the school could talk about was when she cheated on him. And what's to say she won't do it again?"

Cady looks up with an eager glint in her eye. "You're right. And Gretchen and Karen know, like, all her secrets. I can see if I can get something out of them we can use."

"Tits," Janis says, trying not to cackle maniacally. She allows herself a quiet one as she writes, 'PROPAGANDA' down on the board. "This is a good baseline thing, I think."

"So... what do we do now?" Cady asks.

"Right now, take this and scrape the rest of the stringy stuff off the sides," Janis says, handing Cady a spatula. Cady gets right to work, and Janis has to actively not stare at her biceps. "Well, making her not hot is first on the list. Might be a good place to start. Do you have any ideas?"

"No," Cady sighs. "I'll think about it. Let you know if I come up with something."

"Yeah, we got time. I'll think too," Janis nods. She walks up behind Cady and flops down onto the couch. "Looks good."

"Can I carve it now?" Cady asks eagerly, turning to look at her. Janis shoots her a smile and nods.

"Yeah, I think so," she says. She peeks at Cady's handiwork inside and nods again. "Now you get the drawing onto it."

"...How do I do that?"

"I'll help," Janis chuckles. She shows Cady how to paste the drawing onto the pumpkin and mark out the design. Cady seems confused as she removes the paper to reveal the faint marks. Janis traces over it with the marker to make it easier to see. "There. Now carve it. It's easier if you go slow and kinda saw it."

Cady carefully picks up the tiny knife, and immediately drops it. "Whoops."

"Jeez," Janis jumps before laughing. "Remind me not to give you actual knives."

"Happily," Cady grumbles. "I'm so klutzy."

"Really? That seems dangerous for a cheerleader," Janis chuckles. She doesn't need to, but she stays seated on the ground next to her and watches Cady work. The movie is still faintly playing in the background, having moved onto another Charlie Brown Halloween feature. Janis half-focuses on it, but she's seen it so many times she doesn't really need to.

"That's part of why I started. My parents hoped it would... I dunno, give me more control of my muscles, or something," Cady says with a precious giggle. "But it didn't work. I trip over my feet all the time."

"Then how do you do all those... flippy thingies so well?"

"Luck," Cady says. "But I don't really know. My parents always say I walk better on my hands than my feet."

"You can walk on your hands?" Janis asks, almost in awe.

"Yeah," Cady nods. "I spent a whole day upside down once. But now I get kinda dizzy if I do it too long."

"I always wanted to be able to do stuff like that. I managed a handstand in elementary school but I couldn't hold it long enough," Janis sighs.

"It's tricky. And you're tall, that makes it hard, too," Cady says.

"Am I tall or are you just... not?"

"Hey! I'm not short!" Cady humphs. "You're gonna mess me up."

"How short are you?" Janis teases.

"Hey!"

"Kidding," Janis defends, suddenly remembering Cady does have a knife, albeit a dull one. "But seriously."

"I'm five foot three," Cady says. Janis raises a suspicious eyebrow. "Fine, five two." Janis continues looking. "Oh my god, fine, I'm five feet even!"

Janis bites her lip. So tiny. "Caddy, I hate to break it to you, but... you're short."

"I know," Cady pouts. "But you're a giant, so you're biased."

"I'm only five ten!" Janis defends.

"I'm only five ten," Cady mocks crankily under her breath.

"Hey now," Janis chuckles. "Not my fault I hit that growth spurt freshman year."

Cady just humphs and carves her pumpkin a bit more aggressively. Janis laughs and watches her quietly. Cady sticks her tongue out when she's focusing. It's almost unreasonably adorable.

"There!" Cady chirps contently when she's decided she's finished. "I did it!"

"Yeah, that looks great!" Janis says. "Good job. Perfect timing, too, the movie's done."

"Yay," Cady says, giving a happy little wiggle as she admires her handiwork. "I like it."

"Me too," Janis says with a soft smile. "You did a great job."

"Thanks," Cady says. She stretches out her muscles, clearly stiff from spending so much time on the floor. "I should probably get home."

"Yeah, I'll drive you. It's late," Janis says.

"You don't have to do that."

"I'm going to," Janis says immediately. "You can't stop me."

"Okay, okay," Cady giggles. "Thanks."

"You don't have to thank me. You actually getting murdered would be a real downer on this fine day we've had," Janis chuckles. "Got everything?"

Cady feels around her pockets as she pulls her sweater back on. She nods to herself as she feels she has everything she came with and bends to pick up her pumpkin. Janis takes a candle from the carving kit and puts it in her own pocket.

"Alright, let's go," Janis says. Cady nods happily and follows her up the stairs. "Papa, I'm gonna drive Cady home, I'll be back soon."

"Okay, drive safe," her dad nods. "It's dark. Use your headlights properly."

"I will!" Janis huffs.

"Bye Mr. Sarkisian, it was really nice to meet you," Cady says politely. "Thanks for letting me stay for a while. Your home is really nice."

"Thank you, Cady. You're welcome any time," her dad says, looking at Janis almost in disbelief. Janis shrugs from her spot behind Cady so she can't see. "Have a nice night."

"You too!" Cady chirps, heading out Janis' front door. Janis' father nods at her with an approving smile as she follows her.

—————

"Back home and not murdered," Janis says as she pulls into Cady's driveway. "So... good day?"

"Acceptable," Cady hums haughtily, unable to keep up her ruse for more than a second before bursting into adorable giggles. "It was. A really good day. Thank you."

"Anytime," Janis murmurs. "Come on, I'll walk you up."

Cady climbs out of the car and grabs her jack o' lantern from the backseat. "Oh, I should leave it on the porch!"

"That is where people usually put them," Janis agrees with a chuckle. Cady picks the perfect spot on her front porch and gently plonks the pumpkin down.

"Good?"

"Perfect," Janis nods. "Oh, here."

"What's this?" Cady asks as she takes the little tea light. It's a fake candle, but Janis feels that's probably for the best. Cady with a knife was dangerous enough, fire can wait.

"Tea light. Flip the switch on the bottom," Janis says. Cady does, watching the false flame flicker. "Now put it inside."

"Okay," Cady says, clearly confused but trusting Janis not to lead her astray. She gasps when she sees the design she's carved all lit up. "Whoa! That's so cool!"

"I told you," Janis laughs. "Goodnight, Cads."

"Goodnight, Jay," Cady responds softly. Janis tries not to gasp as she wraps her in a tight hug. "Thank you. Today was great."

"More to life than stupid boys," Janis whispers back, giving her a squeeze. She waits for Cady to unlock the door and gives a little salute just before she closes it on the other side. Cady waves back with a smile and flips the porch light on.

Janis sighs a bit as she heads back to the car.

One of them definitely fell in love in October, at least.

————

yes i did give cady another dead older sibling for literally no reason other than i felt like it thank you for asking :) sorry not sorry

here's the (rough) translations for the italian but please bear in mind i used google translate so be gentle with me if they're not super accurate lol

siamo a casa- we're home
divano- couch
dormi bene, meraviglia- sleep well, wonder
buona notte- goodnight
mio dio- my god

anyway!! i hope you enjoyed and have a happy halloween :)

lots of love,
ezzy