2.8 | Miles Away

25 | twenty-five

A/N

So I've a question. It's totally unrelated to this book but it's really important to this universe, so just humour me: How many of you actually ship Callum x Scout? If you're answering this, thank you very much in advance for your feedback!

x Noelle

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2 5

the one with the fallout

RIVERTON'S WINTER CARNIVAL was like none other. Of course, there were far bigger events throughout the year. But most activities in Caverly happened during summer, so the winter carnival was a highly-anticipated one.

"—but you can't call it a Winter Carnival when it barely has anything winter-related," Brielle said beside me. She'd tagged along to 'see what the fuss is all about', though I knew that this was her way of showing her support for Miles's efforts.

Carson, who generally avoided Caverly events, had followed. And he'd brought along his friend Enzo Fernandez, who seemed just as bored as Brielle was.

"If you want a successful Carnival, you have to go big," she continued. "A prize wheel from sponsors, a great bar with cheap beer, an ice rink—"

"Bri, it's not even snowing," Carson cut in.

"Then make it snow," she insisted, slipping her arm through his. "They should come up with something better than this, which is anything but—"

"Isn't this great?" A shriek made us turn, only to see Flo headed towards us in a whirl of pink and white balloons. She also had a stuffed blue unicorn under one arm. "Best day ever!"

Brielle stared at her, aghast. "Are you high?"

"And what the living fuck is that?" Enzo asked, pointing to the stuffed toy.

"This?" She shoved the blue unicorn at me. "Oh, I won it. First prize and all."

"Where?" I asked. "My Little Pony express?"

"I don't know—some stall. Point is, I won without even having to play the game. I just told the dude I was from Ursa and he gave it to me. And his number! Which I gave in exchange for a snowcone, because I thought it was money." Flo giggled as she tied a pink balloon to my braid. I didn't even think about stopping her,  because we were too busy trying to keep the rest of the balloons from floating away. "And yeah, I'm totally high. Who isn't?"

"The rest of us?" said Carson.

"That's because none of you know how to appreciate this—"

"What?" Brielle asked. "The travesty that is this Carnival?"

"School spirit! I don't care what your boyfriend says about those hazings," she said to me. "Riverton—best school ever!"

"Yesterday, when you weren't high as a freaking kite, you said that Riverton and its stupid frats could go rot in hell," I pointed out. "Also, I'm from Linville. And we're the better school."

Enzo stepped up beside me with a smug look. "Agreed."

Flo turned to the other two, and Carson shrugged. "Hey, don't look at us. I didn't go to college, and Brielle went to Cambridge. She's got us all beat."