Hal and Abin were on top of the world. Almost. He had managed to get Abin into the Ferris wheel and they were slowly approaching the top. The view was spectacular. At least, it was the best Hal' had ever experienced. The people were the size of Lego-people and the lights were blinking around everywhere, lighting up the whole area. Screams and laughter filled the air, especially when rides took the sudden drops. Excited yells arose when the riders were at the very top, right before plummeting to a heart-racing fall, something which Hal never wanted to experience. He'd rather enjoy the Ferris wheel. Abin calls him lame for that, but who's the winner here? Which is ridiculous since not-so-lame-Abin was terrified of heights and was holding onto Hal as if for dear life.

"You're cutting off my blood circulation," Hal said, lifting up his hand in which Abin's fingers and attached themselves to like a leech with no intention of getting off him until it's sucked up all his blood.

Abin grunted and loosened his grip, but refused to let go completely. He took a hesitant peek down, but pulled back immediately. Hal was struck by how much it reminded him of Cat.

"We're so high up! I'm freaking out!" Hal said with a giddy laugh. "You're worse than Cat. Why did you come along if you were so terrified of height?"

Abin took another quick peek down their carriage, rocking it slightly, which made him tremble all over. "You bullied me into it."

 Hal scoffed. "Bully you? All I said was, 'Abin, let's get on the big wheel' and you went, 'do we have to?' and then led us yourself to this ride."

Abin took a deep and shaky breath. "But then you're easy to give in to," he mumbled.

Hal felt himself go fifty shades redder. Why...how did Abin find it so easy to compliment him? He was just so naturally charming. He dropped cheesy lines with such ease and manages to make it look not-so-cheesy.

Hal shook his head, trying to get his words out of his mind. Hal leaned towards him. Abin glanced at him, a shaky smile pushing into his lips, then leaned towards Hal so that they were leaning on each other.

Hal had never been so disappointed that a ride had ended. They got out the ride, Abin stumbling after Hal. He quickly recovered now that he was on the ground.

"Now, my turn," he said. "Let's get on the roller coaster."

"What?" Hal froze. "No. No way. Not happening."

Abin's color had returned to normal and he no longer looked like a ghost. Which also meant he got his confidence back. "I got on that God-awful Ferris wheel for you. Now you get on the rollercoaster. I noticed the Death Trap was back up."

"I didn't force you to," Hal said, slowly backing away, "you can't force me."

"You'd be surprised."

"Abin!"

"You're getting on it whether you like it or not." He said firmly. Then his face melted into a sweet smile and he almost made the puppy dog eyes. "Please? Pretty please?" Hal was mortified.

Oh, the habits of my heart.

But it wasn't entirely him caving in. Abin had scooped him up and dragged him to the Death Trap rollercoaster and shoved him in, strapping him in faster than he could crawl out. To make it all worse, Lou was in the seat right behind them, with Delta. Hal gave the pair a scowl. Lou at first was surprised and concerned that a random guy was harassing Hal into riding the rollercoaster. Then it turned to an amused look.

"Hal, introduce me to this amazing friend of yours," Lou said, raising his eyebrows, giving Abin an impressed look.

Abin considered Lou. "And who are you?" Hal remembered that Abin had never met Lou and only heard of him.

"I would be your boyfriend's brother," Lou said poignantly.

Hal rolled his eyes. But Abin said, "Well, you're not."

Lou frowned. "But I am, mate."

"You're only Hal's brother, dude. He's...only my friend."

Lou gave Hal a fake sympathetic smile. "Tough luck, Hals. He friend zoned you." He shrugged. "Well, if you say so, buddy. But you must have something everyone else in the world doesn't. You managed to get Hal on a rollercoaster. The Death Trap, no less."

"You mean strength and willpower," Hal muttered under his breath.

Delta was shaking beside Lou with suppressed laughter and avoided locking eyes with Hal who was ready to claw at all three of their faces.

Lou let out a small chuckle. "So, you must be the mysterious Abin Joyson Hal always hangs out with."

Hal scowled. "I hang out with Delta and Cat. Abin's just...I don't know. We talk, that's it."

Abin and Lou grinned as if they were sharing some inside joke and Hal almost jumped out of his safety straps and attacked Lou.

"Hold on, Hals," Abin said, holding firmly onto the back of the seat in front of him, "this is going to get fun."

"I thought I'd never live to see this day," Lou said happily. Hal reached behind and smacked him right across his face. "Oh, feisty," Lou said, roaring with laughter.

"Shut up, Lou! I'm going to die!" Hal hollered.

Abin shrugged. "The chances aren't high."

"I thought you hated heights! It doesn't add up."

"In a rollercoaster, I don't have the time to worry about the height. I could only be wondering if today would be my last day."

Hal let out a frustrated squeak. The carriage stared to move. Hal held onto his seat for dear life. And that was all he could remember before the ride came to a stop and he crawled out, ready to throw up. He managed to find his footing, trembling all over. He could still remember the horror of having to go through that wretched drop. Rollercoasters should be banned. Abin's puppy eyes should be banned. Brothers teasing about boys should be banned. Friends ditching each other for the other's brother should be banned.

Abin let out an exhilarated 'whoo,' his eyes sparkling and his face all lit up. He didn't seem the slightest bit fazed. Hal decided to change that. Without warning he socked Abin hard across his jaw.

Abin let out a low groan, holding his jaw. "Ow. Ow. I deserved that," he said, swallowing hard, his adam's apple bobbing. "Boy, you have a strong punch." But not strong enough, Hal thought venomously.

"I hate you!" Hal hissed and turned around to storm away dramatically. But Abin grabbed his arm and pulled him back, turning Hal around to face her. The amount of manhandling Abin was doing with him was incredulous. He looked at Hal apologetically, his eyes soft.

"I'm sorry," he started, "I just wanted us to have the maximum amount of fun today. Didn't know you'd hate it so much." Hal raised his eyebrows and foldedhis arms. "Okay," Abin said, holding up his hands, "I knew you'd hate it. How about this? Ice cream's on me."

Before Hal could reply, his phone rang. Annoyed, he whipped it out and placed it to his ear without looking at the caller id.

"Hal, where are you?" Cat screeched from the other side. Hal flinched at the volume of her voice.

"I'm at the park with Abin," Hal snapped.

There was a pause on the other side, filled up by the hurried and panicked yells of girls and boys, yelling for this costume or that eyeshadow. "Was I interrupting something?" Cat asked slowly.

"No." Hal refused to blush.

"Huh," Cat said, and Hal couldn't help but notice the suspicion in her voice. "Well, come help me! One of my models are down and I want you to substitute."

"Uh, no chance. Nope. Good bye—" Abin snatched the phone from Hal's hand, his face lit up with interest. "Abin, give it back."

Abin ignored him and placed the phone next to his ear. "Hello? Catalina—no, it's Abin. Yeah, he's alright. He's right here." Abin raised his eyebrows at Hal. "Look, he'll come. Yeah, and model. Perfect, bye."

Hal stared at Abin in shock as he handed back his phone. "What did you do? Who do you think you are?"

"That's for you to decide," he said calmly. "I've told you before, Hals. You should help Cat with her designs."

Hal scowled at Abin, folding his arms. "I haven't got a single artistic bone in me."

"Oh, no, not designing. That would be disastrous." Abin gave him an impish grin. "I meant modelling."

Abin was practically dragging Hal away as they neared the tents set up for the contestants, behind the temporary ramp. "I will not allow this!" Hal yelled at him, tugging at his hand, trying to escape his strong grip. "Abin, let me go. I hate makeup—don't make me do this—"

"Don't make me carry you," Abin warned.

"You wouldn't dare."

"Oh, I would—" His steps faltered and his eyes darted to behind Hal, and his grip on his hand relaxed a little. He quickly rearranged his face into a smirk, but Hal had caught the brief look of alarm that came over him.

"What?"

Abin shook his head. "Nothing. Now yield, or you'll be forcing my hand," he said, like some sort of book character. When Hal continued to struggle against him, he tsked. "I warned you, Aldane."

He released Hals's hand, and on the instant, Hal bolted. He would like to boast that he managed to get at least twenty feet from Abin but he barely made six feet when Abin's arms wrapped around his waist and was hoisted onto his shoulder. "Let me go, you big oaf—no! no, no, nonono!"

Abin dropped Hal unceremoniously in front of Cat like a sack of potatoes. Cat took one look at Hal and yelled, "alright! Bring the blue one!"

Abin made no attempt at helping Hal who scrambled to his feet and launched himself at Abin. He easily side-stepped him, allowing Hal to once again crash into the floor. Hal groaned and rolled to his back. Abin's face loomed over him.

"I see the monster has been squelched." He gave Hal his hand. Hal grasped it and pulled as hard as he could, but Abin regained his composure after being forced into a mere stoop. Hal gaped at him.

"What are you, an ox?" Hal scrunched up his nose. "What do they do to you?"

Abin frowned. "Who?"

"The people, Abin. Those who take care of you."

"Nothing."

"Oh, so you crawled out of your mother's womb like this."

Abin shrugged. "Basically—" Cat shoved him out of the way, planting herself in front of Hal.

Hal raised his eyebrows at Cat. "You pushed him. Teach me."

Abin laughed and gave a small wave as Cat dragged Hal away. "I'll be in the audience." Hal was almost sad to see him go, despite the fact that he can be a real pain sometimes.

Cat shoved him into a chair, and two students of Evemore surrounded him immediately. One he recognized as Calio Dean from the eleventh year. The other introduced herself as Nicole Satore. "I'm in the ninth year," she explained as she lathered foundation into Hal's face as Calio lathered Hal's arms with lotion.

Calio frowned. "Don't you moisturize?" Hal nodded, bewildered, as the boy immediately moved to his hair. 

"Don't you have to—" Hal started.

"No time," Nicole explained, "gotta skip all procedures. Yours is a bit time consuming."

Calio grinned at him. "The Galaxy, aren't you?"

With that, the pair attacked Hal's face with brushes and powder and he did all he could to keep the makeup from getting into his mouth or any open spaces of his face as the two chirped away as they transformed him.

               Hal realized he was gripping the arms of his seat tightly only when Calio started to pry them off gently. He opened his eyes and saw Cat standing in front of him with a covered item.

Calio grinned. "In all truth and honesty, I did a pretty spectacular job, if I may be so modest," he said, to which Nicole scoffed, shaking her head as she helped Cat with uncovering the dress.

"Go help the others," Cat told Calio, "and bring a divider." Calio rolled his eyes and promptly left.

Cat and Nicole successfully brought out the dress and Hal was impressed by what he saw. It was a long, midnight blue gown with many layers that made it look a little big around the skirt, hues of blue, grey and purple peeked here and there. The whole item was sprinkled with glitter to resemble the stars, concentrating the most at the chest part, spreading and getting less 
concentrated as it moved down the gown.

Calio returned with a divider and Hal, Cat and Nicole shuffled inside it. Hal took off his clothes without waiting to be told to and with Nicole's help, Cat shimmied the gown onto Hal once he stepped into it so as to not damage the hair. Cat shielded Hal's hair as Nicole pulled up the zip on the back.

Cat pulled him into the open and called for Calio. The three scrutinized him, who was starting to feel self-conscious. Then Cat shrugged, apparently satisfied and said, "yeah, he's good to go."

They led him to the front of a mirror. Hal couldn't stop staring at his reflection. The boy in the mirror wasn't Hal. It was a whole new being. He was a creature of darkness. He was vast and beautiful. Mysterious. Cat stepped towards him and placed a silver ringlet on his hair. He was prince. No, a King. Empreor. Royalty. He was the Galaxy. 

Cat grinned at Hal's expression. "Glad you like it." She dropped her voice. "If I had known you'd ever model for me, I'd have chosen something more green and yellow, more to do with nature aesthetics." Cat winked.

Hal blinked at Cat's words, unsure of what she meant. "What do you mean?"

"You know what I meant." Cat gazed at Hal's reflection as they stood side by side. "Anyways. You're up last." Before Hal could ask why, Cat said, "because you have to. You're the main attraction."

Hal wanted to run away. And this time, Abin wasn't there to drag him back. Cat sensed this and took hold of Hal's wrist. "You need instructions," she said, "and we haven't got much time."

"But you're last," Hal said, his throat constricting. "And I'm last, too."

"So? They're almost done up there. We're up in, like, half-an-hour."

Hal made a noise that was somewhere between a squeak and a groan. He hoped that when Abin steps into his shower, he'd step into red hot water, and his earbuds will forever be tangled, and hs pillow will be warm on both sides.

Cat gave Hal's hand a quick squeeze and a reassuring smile that didn't seem too much genuine and swept out of the area with Calio, leaving Hal alone with Nicole. She took a deep breath. "Strut and pose," Nicole said, seemingly out of the blue.

"What?"

Nicole nodded. "Basics. We're not dealing with professionals, but yes, the judges, they are sort of experts. Agents, let's say," Nicole said, stepping in front of Hal, walking around with a light swagger as if she was on the catwalk. She paused and posed, her hands by her side. Hal nodded mutely. The costume was cold on his skin and it was putting him on the end of his nerves.

"You don't have to put so much effort into this," Nicole continued, "you're not doing this in the hopes of landing a future career as a model...except that you have to." She paused and looked Hal straight in his eyes. "You are what Catalina is using as the last attempt at garnering the agents' consideration. So, you'll have to put your mind into it, for Cat's sake."

Hal suppressed a sigh and nodded half-heartedly. "For Cat." He nodded again. "Yeah."

Nicole brightened at that. "Brilliant. Follow my lead."