The water was palatable enough, but bland and vaguely chemical, as if it had been drawn from the river and strained of all life.“I have so many thin...gs to show you.” As she moved beside me, I realised that there was a bounce to her, a kind of coiled energy that I had never seen before. Her eyes were wide as she talked, almost gleeful with excitement.“I’m at your pleasure.”She grinned ⁠— grinned! ⁠— and took my arm in hers, leading me towards one of the buttresses. “While I don’t recall the. He left the house, thankfully without getting caught. He knew he would later pay for leaving without saying goodbye, but for now he pushed it out of his mind as he made his way to Cindy’s, wearing a stupid silly grin.The afternoon was hot and muggy, broken up at times by a breeze that blew softly. It didn’t change the discomfort of the summer’s mugginess, but it was refreshing, a brief respite to the day. To Henry, it mattered not. He had been looking forward to meeting up with Cindy since last. We trade chores.” He finished cooking and slipped the four over-easy eggs into two plates. “Fruit, toast, and bacon are on the counter,” he said with a nod toward them.Sam and I carried our breakfast plates and hot mugs of coffee to the dining table. We sat next to each other along the side. The cutlery and napkins were lined up in the middle of the table.“You guys are so lucky,” a familiar girl said to us with a cheeky grin. “I’ll never be able to have my boyfriend for a sleepover.”Sam nodded. Shealso thought it was lucky that he went to a private school known for itstolerance and with students from an educated upper-class in a town alsobelieved to be tolerant. But she was aware things were much rougher thanAlly let on. She didn't want to push him, however, so she shifted thetopic a little. "We could start calling you something different. T.K. andJim both change what they were called at about your age. They gave youthat name, you know." Yeah, they liked Greece." Ally knew his.