First grade was an entirely new zoo for the kids and their red-string-obsessed parents.

   Patrick spotted his arch-enemy as soon as he entered the classroom. His expression visibly soured.

   Arian was too busy aligning his pencils and eraser on his desk to take notice of his bow-tied enemy.

   "Arian Patel," Patrick greeted him despite his urge to complain about their class arrangement.

   The brown-toned boy with his hair neatly brushed back looked up.

   "Oh, Patrick! We're in the same class again," Arian looked around and saw the empty seat beside him, "You can sit next to me."

   Unlike Patrick, he had never really held a grudge nor did he feel the need to constantly compete. He was simply exceeding his parents' expectations.

   Arian Patel grew up with two houses and visited each house interchangeably with his older sister of two years. Starting this year, Arian and his sister would be attending separate schools and only seeing each other during special events, including their birthdays. Arian stayed in the bigger house with his father and closer to the grade school of his mother's choosing.

   It wouldn't be until Arian was fifteen to realize that his parents were unlike his best friend's parents.

   Patrick took the seat just as Louis entered the room.

   "Lou!" Arian waved for him.

   Arian glanced at Patrick and then pursed his lips, regretting it immediately.

   Amber and Fia went in together while Indy, Bri, and Beth left them for their class across the hallway.

   "Louis," Amber wrapped her arm around the boy. "Is your brother here too?"

   Louis shook his head and mumbled, "No. He left with Mom before summer ended."

   He slinked away from Amber to sit behind Arian.

   "Mornin' Ari."

   "You okay?" Arian asked, noticing Louis's glum face.

   "Yeah," Louis answered.

   Their conversation was soon drowned out by Alfonso's entrance.

   Fia curled her upper lip and instructed Amber to hide somewhere safe lest Fia's fist flew her way.

   Amber hid behind Patrick.

   Fia stomped her way towards Alfonso who didn't react as he usually would've.

   "Good morning, Fia," the boy greeted and smiled at her instead.

   She didn't return the gesture, and her upper lip curled even more. Her hands clenched into tighter fists, ready to exchange physical blows with Indy's bully.

   "What's the matter with Alfonso?" Patrick whispered to Amber, who was still cowering behind him.

   "Dunno," she replied.

   "Are they gonna fight?" Louis asked.

   "Maybe. Indy said they don't like each other."

   Arian examined Alfonso intently. Something about Alfonso's non-combative stance said otherwise.

   "Ooh," a boy started to drum his desk, "Alfonso and Fia, sitting on a tree..."

   The class currently already there started to sing along with him except for the four watching Fia intently.

   "My red string came last night," Alfonso had a huge grin on his face. "And just now, Fia-"

   "It's Sofia to you," she interrupted him.

   He scratched the back of his head.

   "I really really like you," he said, ignoring her.

   "I don't care."

   "And I just saw our strings connect."

   "Well, you saw wrong," she snapped. "Mine hasn't appeared."

   "But it's right there," Alfonso shook his wrist and grabbed hers. "See these!"

   Fia started at his grubby hand.

   "If you don't let go, I'll punch you," she told him.

   He immediately let her go.

   "You can't see it?" He asked.

   "Nope."

   He looked at his wrist then back at hers. Before his eyes, their red strings unraveled apart, severing any ties they had. He stared at it for quite some time until the teacher entered excitedly.

   "What's your name," the teacher tapped Alfonso on the shoulder.

   "A-Alfonso Rojas," Alfonso slowly answered.

   The entire day, Alfonso wondered if he'd seen it at all or if his brain had made it up as a way to make peace with Fia. However, he couldn't wrap his mind around it and went back to having a cat-and-dog relationship with Fia before the end of the week.

   When asked by Amber, Fia answered the same thing. No, she hadn't seen the red string that was supposedly connected to Alfonso. She hadn't even seen a glimmer of it.

   Amber had to eventually accept it since Fia, not once, hesitated with her answer. For Amber, the red string was an undeniable existence. Once you see it, you can't unsee it. She couldn't imagine lying about not seeing it either.

   Then again, her experience with Tobias was different seeing as Alfonso and Fia didn't get along from the start.

   Fia couldn't understand why the other kids kept asking her about the truth when all she'd ever said was just that.

   "Do you think he saw it right?" Beth asked her.

   "I really couldn't see the string, Beth," Fia told her.

   Beth patted her on the back and said, "I believe you."

   Beth did believe Fia. Like Amber, she didn't think there would be a reason to lie about it. She could never deny the existence of the red string, and as much as Fia often doubted it, she also couldn't see Fia denying it.

   On Regina's tenth birthday at the end of the year, the topic of Fia's red string came up again when Alfonso blurted out seeing it again.

   "There! It's connected!" He shouted for all to hear.

   "Stop it!" Fia smacked him across the shoulders.

   "I'm not lying!" He shouted at her. "It really is connected."

   She turned to her wrist and frowned, seeing nothing like before.

   "You really can't see it?" Regina asked, brow raised and carefully examining her sister.

   Shayne and Maybelle were there, faces Fia had seen many times over. They looked equally curious.

   "I really can't!"

   "Then... does he just have a crush on you?"

   Alfonso paled then blushed.

   "I'm really not lying though," Alfonso grumbled. "I really CAN see it."

   "Can you really really not see it?" Indy pulled Fia aside, hoping Fia would be honest if no one was around to hear.

   "I really can't," Fia said again followed by a long and heavy sigh. "How many times do I have to say it?"

   Indy let go of the breath she held.

   Her eyes repeatedly fell on her pinky. She had hoped that Fia was like her, but honestly, even she couldn't figure out why she'd lied about it.

   "Okay," she said instead to Fia.

   Bri didn't ask again like the other two. She believed Fia right away when she first heard.

   "I can really see it," Alfonso was heard repeating over and over again until his mom whisked him home.

   He stayed at home for a month after, missing school, before ultimately deciding to be homeschooled. The shadows of the red strings connecting appeared whenever he saw Fia. It made him crazy that Fia couldn't see what he could, not only once but all the other times it reappeared.

   "Poor Alfonso," Beth found herself saying one day, "he likes you so much that he wants to be connected."

   Fia didn't hide her disgust.

   "He was a bully. Why would I like him?"

   "I thought he liked Indy. Indy's mom said before that boys will be mean to you if they like you," Bri reminded them.

   Fia remembered it too. "Oh yeah."

   "I don't want my huth- hus-" Beth couldn't remember the word 'husband' "my lover to be mean to me."

   "Me too!"

   For the first time, she and Fia agreed on the same thing.

   "I think, I want someone like Dad," Bri smiled.

   "I like my dad too," said Beth. "What about you, Indy?"

   Indy looked down at her pinky. "I want what my mommy and daddy have."

   "True love," Fia dreamily looked to the ceiling of her house. "I want that too."

   "Maybe, your red string will come this year still," Beth patted Fia on the hand. "Happy seventh birthday, Fia."

   "Happy birthday," Bri and Indy said together.

   "Well, I have you guys, anyway," Fia cheered herself up, detaching herself from the red strings once more like she often did.

   Bri had a simple celebration like she always did despite her requests.

   Just after, Joanna's invitations came in.

   Her seventh birthday was the biggest of the year, even bigger than Indy's later. She had all the girls, Patrick, and Arian without issue, and Louis's illusive brother.

   "Do you like it, Beth?" Joanna asked her as soon as Beth entered the house.

   "Yeah! This looks so cool!" She said, touching the streamers coming down from the walls.

   "This is really pretty," Bri commented.

   She'd tagged along with Fia, who was dropped off by her parents since it was a working day.

   "Welcome to my party, Fia!" Joanna smiled at the both of them."

   "Thanks for inviting us," Fia said.

   "Of course!" Joanna linked her arms around Beth. "Beth's friends are my friends!"

   "There's more over there!"

   She pulled Fia with the other hand and led them to the actual party area.

   "Come along too, Brianna!"

   "Girls, this is Lyall, Louis's brother," Joanna introduced kids who didn't know each other before.

   The parents who came appreciated the inclusivity of the party and made mental notes always to invite Joanna Reyes.

   Though Indy came late, she was welcomed happily by Joanna, who had previously been too busy entertaining her guests as per her mom's order.

   "Perfect!" Joanna clapped as soon as all her guests arrived. "Time to cut my cake, Mom!"

   Beth's birthday followed unceremoniously in comparison and was further forgotten when Indy's birthday came up. Mona had seen how big the Reyes's party was and vowed to never under-decorate for Indy, her only child. And thus, they all turned seven.