It took all but two seconds before Ken nominated someone else to do the job he agreed to do only a few moments before. He handed the papers over to a short girl with a Dutch boy haircut, who'd only recently got out of the hospital after an extended stay just a few days prior. "Bro!" Ken said enthusiastically, smiling as he grabbed her unopened applesauce then opened it and used his finger as a spoon and started eating it. "Man, you're the best!"

He gave the girl an air high five, never actually looking at her while he stood over the crowd, obnoxiously trying to find Catsy while trying not to be obvious.

The girl looked like she would fall over as Ken's best friend ran over and grabbed the stack of papers from her and Ken could hear him apologize for his behavior. Ken side-eyed him as he watched Pierce start passing out the papers.

"Hey, did ya make sure ya got ya own research paper?"

Ken turned to Pierce and laughed. "Nah, I already have someone who's going to do the assignment for me. I don't need it." Pierce handed him the paper anyways then smirked as he obviously saw someone behind him.

With her arms crossed and eyes narrowed, Catsy stood behind the celebrity with an eyebrow raised and a look of disgust. "Mister Sun, you should really be doing your own work." There was a darkness in her tone that she used only with him.

Ken felt himself feeling tiny, and with his ego, that was a hard thing to do. His shoulders sunk a bit though he tried to puff out his chest but watched as Catsy asked for half the papers and smiled sweetly at Pierce then continued to work as she gave him a look that suggested that she couldn't be more disappointed with him.

The short girl with the Dutch boy haircut swung back and forth next to Ken. He still hadn't even noticed she was there. "I didn't mind... I could've done it." Her face was completely red, and she was twiddling her thumbs together.

It was summertime, but she was wearing a sweater and he'd only just noticed the back brace and the brace for her wrists. It was only then that it hit him why Pierce had run over to grab the stuff that he handed over so easily to the person next to him.

"Hey, Brace Girl, don't even worry about it." He cheesed as he looked at his watch. "I'll buy you lunch after this." The girl's eyes widened and looked like she could hug him but winced when she moved forward. She was clearly in pain.

Bending over, he patted his back then said in a low voice, "I'll carry you today... though you'll owe me one day." The girl giggled and without a word, latched onto him. He looked around him and saw at the corner of his eye, a paparazzi member camera ready but looked away immediately. He didn't need anyone questioning his motives.

Catsy and Pierce never returned to his side. She must really be mad at me this time. He was sure that his best friend did this on purpose. Pierce was a good guy, sure, but it was obvious that he had a crush on Ken's self-proclaimed girlfriend. While he knew that Pierce would never do anything to cause their friendship any harm, but I know what I'd do... it's hard to believe that anyone can't be that selfish.

Pierce had met Catsy before Ken. It wasn't surprising as the young French boy had always been the more accommodating of the two, always introducing himself to newer students and making a point to make others feel comfortable. Ken didn't think he had it in himself to do what Pierce did so naturally.

"So like yaas! I was totally for sure couldn't believe it!" Ken's thought were interrupted with the girl on his back rambling about one subject to another. He looked around and tried to make sure that there weren't any more paparazzi hiding in plain sight and stopped and took a knee for a moment after making sure the coast was clear. Usually Pierce kept an eye out for him; Ken never realized how much pressure he had to be under doing that for him.

The girl on his back was getting heavy, and he didn't have the heart to say 'get off' especially after how he treated her earlier.

"So..." the girl whispered loudly as she held onto his neck now, still hadn't taken a moment to let him relax. "Is your mom doing better?"

He shivered at the question. No one was aware that his mother was in the hospital outside of a few employees and Pierce. He hadn't even told Catsy nor the board members of the company that his mother was CEO of. "What do you mean?" He asked gingerly, going into actor mode, immediately.

He could feel the girl's warm breath on his neck. "I used to see you come to the hospital often when I was in there. You never came with cameras and always looked somber so I assumed you were coming to see family."

Ken breathed a sigh of relief. "You're still in pretty bad shape; why are you out suddenly?" He rubbed his neck as he attempted to change the subject.

"Do you know the legend of this very island that we live in?"

Ken's eyes widened as he let out a soft smile. Guess she can change subjects too... He thought about the question and looked at the ceiling, only now realizing that they weren't anywhere near the class and their guide. "I know of it. Why?"

She giggled as if he said something funny. Ken felt his face heat up as he turned away, pouting, not liking that she laughed at him.

"Well, it says that everyone here is living in another person's dream and there's no true free will. We are doing things according to the destiny preassigned to us by the specter of this Island."

There was silence for a moment. This girl had been talking since they met. It was exhausting trying to listen when he had blocked out her voice thirty seconds after she began talking.

"What do you think about that?"

Ken stood up and punched through the air, a whistling sound made that made the girl flinch. "I make my own destiny." He clenched his teeth. "No one else can do that for you. Shit... if they did..." he bit his lip slightly. "They'd be some messed up fucks."

The girl winced at his curse word. "I thought they said in interviews that you don't curse."

He looked at her and blinked twice. "You believe that shit?" She tightened her grip on him as he stood back up, looking left and right and trying to hear the rest of the class.

After about thirty seconds of indecision, Ken decided to just make a move forward. The girl began talking about all her friends and about his last movie and how it inspired her. He couldn't say he was listening, but he at least attempted to appear as if he was. He would nod his head, say a few 'hmm' and a few 'awws' and if her tone seemed right, he would even add, 'wow! That's crazy!' He made a living in making people believe in something so it didn't make him feel too guilty.

"What kind of person do you want to be when you grow up? Or have you already reached your dream, being as you're so successful?"

What kind of person do I want to be? That wasn't the same as asking what his dream was, and only two people ever asked him that same question. Mis'o'chi and my mom. Seeing a sign that led to a stairs and had a hamburger sign, Ken quickly made a left and his brisk walk became faster and longer strides until he finally found a table and had her sit down. "Shit... I don't know. Why do you wanna know?"

It took her a moment to sit herself comfortably to where she could look and smile while peering into his eyes. "Yanno... you just kinda, I don't know, I mean you seem like a good guy, and I like people and wanna know all's about everyone I meet."

Ken sat with one elbow on the table with his head resting on his shoulder awkwardly. He knew the answer, but it wasn't something he trusted to talk about with some random girl that he didn't even know. "So... is that basically your answer, Brace Girl?"

Brace Girl nodded excitedly. Apparently, she didn't care how stupid she looked. He chuckled to himself. "I want to be like you."

Brace Girl's eyes widened then started watering. "Really?!" Her lips trembled as she looked around and covered his face with her hands. "No one ever said that to me."

Ken didn't really know how to react so he did what he saw people do to pets when they looked upset. He pat her head and said, "Who's a good girl?" He sounded like he was between talking to a puppy who learned fetch and a baby who just learned to be potty trained.

Pierce would've been so much better at this. Catsy wouldn't have said something that probably made the girl cry. He looked around until he saw Melanie and Mis'o'chi. The prior looked over and waved her hands wide in the air then jumped on top of the table in front of her (which, thankfully had no one sitting there) and screamed at the top of her lungs, "Whacha do to make her cry!" The tall blonde girl jumped from the table to the next like an American football player seeing its target.

Ken could hear chairs falling, tables crashing, people screaming, and worst of all, he felt himself unable to move. He'd never been so afraid in his life. She was flipping, kicking, and jumping through the tables, knocking over people who told her to stop what she was doing then suddenly without warning...

She was clotheslined by Mis'o'chi, the smaller teenager. Melanie fell so hard that Ken was sure that people in other countries heard the Big Bang.

Without letup, the tall, athletic girl jumped to her feet without using her hands. "Ken Freaking Sun, what did you do to her, you jerk?!" Melanie was Pierce's first cousin, one of the few people in school who'd known Ken his entire life though he couldn't say he was especially close to her.

When they were young, she would always tattletale on him even if he didn't actually do anything. She would sometimes tell stories to make sure Pierce didn't get in trouble because she knew their families would believe the tales.

"I didn't..."

"Melanie, calm down." Mis'o'chi interrupted. She didn't look at Ken, and suddenly he wondered if Brace Girl felt as awkward as he does at that very moment. "Chérie, ça va?"

Sweetheart, are you okay, Ken found himself mentally translating her French.

Mis'o'chi kept speaking in the French dialect, asking questions and getting to the bottom of the situation. Melanie, meanwhile, was mean mugging and speaking French at the top of her lungs, using every sort of curse word known to man. That was one thing that he and Melanie had in common: their potty mouth. Ken began to let his mind wander, wishing he could just leave the situation but judging by Melanie's death grip on his left arm, that wasn't going to be the case.

"Nyanko is just fine. She was just really happy." Mis'o'chi looked over at Ken and smiled. He was taken aback for a moment and just knew it was a set up. His face turned brilliant red as he looked away. He could almost feel Mis'o'chi put her hands to her waist. "Why didn't you just say you didn't do anything to her?"

Ken made a 'Tt' sound with his teeth. "No one would've believed me."

Mis'o'chi raised an eyebrow and laughed to herself. "Well, you are a jerk, but..." she paused. The two of them didn't talk very often. She and Catsy weren't exactly friends, and they weren't in the same grade. "But more like a brat, not a bully. I've never seen you hurt anyone."

Before Ken could respond, Nyanko quickly stepped in between the two. "Why would you want to be like me?"

Mis'o'chi turned her head slightly like a bird questioning where the water was coming from in a fountain. Obviously not realizing the question was for Ken, she responded, "Well, it's cute that you can express yourself so easily in front of others... I mean, I could never cry in front of even Melanie, let alone Ken Sun..." Ken expected her to smile again, but her face seemed nonchalant. Her voice seemed so genuine but her physical reaction didn't fit the tone.

He scratched the nape of his neck and sighed. "I would love to understand your love for humans?" It came out more like a question and an odd one at that as he was sure that they were all one and the same in nature. "I can't do like you or Mis'o'chi and trust that people have a good nature when I see something bad."

Mis'o'chi nodded as if she completely understood while Melanie slapped him in the back and fell out laughing. "A douchebag like you... worried about trusting people. Yah! No... no one believes that."

Nyanko stood still for a moment and almost seemed in disbelief. She looked at him then at Mis'o'chi and giggled. "You're both more honest than I would've guessed."

As if on cue, Pierce came walking up with the rest of the class. As they went right, he went left while looking around. "I thought Catsy would be with you..." Ken said as he gave him their signature handshake.

Melanie joined in just for the fun of it while Mis'o'chi looked like she thought it was weird.

"She had some business to take care of that she forgot to look at earlier."

There was a bang then suddenly! The lights went out.

Something was going on...