Once school was finally, and once and for all, dismissed, Joel and Rachel were the last to walk out the campus. He wrapped his arm around her waist, bringing her closer to himself as they kept walking on their mid-way home, which is Rachel’s place.

  Rachel noticed something… She hasn’t been to Joel’s house, he has only been to her house whenever they want to play a game of their own wonderland. Perhaps now’s the perfect time to go to his house.

  “Hey Joel..?” She softly called out to her friend.

“Hm?”

“How about we go to your house to play?”

“You have the paperdolls at home, so why not play at your house?” Joel responded with a smirk.

“We can play ‘Wonderland’ without the paper dolls, the map, and a few other toys I had at home though! Would that be alright with you?” Said Rachel with the hopes of going to his house for the first time ever.

Joel took a moment to think about it…

“Sure, why not?” He replied with a “yes,” wanting to see a grin on his best friend’s face.

  Rachel grinned as they stepped up to the front lawn of his house. The front door slowly opened by the boy’s hand on the doorknob, revealing the tidy insides of his parents’ house. The living room had his father sorting out papers from work, his mother wasn’t home yet, and the rest was healthily tidy.

  His father noticed that his own son has brought a girl home, “oh, is this the Rachel you’ve spoken of, Joel?”

“Yes dad…” He blushed with a small, shy smile, “we’re just gonna go play ‘Prince Darkness and Bright Bunny’ in my room.”

  “Ah, I remember that game. You played ‘Prince Darkness’ when you were only in middle school while your friend here played “Bright Bunny’ as well!” Joel’s father stated before a hearty laugh escaped him, “now go on while dad sorts out these papers.”

  Joel and Rachel quickly rushed to the bedroom where they’ll play their imaginary adventures as two characters for each.

~ Meanwhile in Wonderland ~

  Prince Darkness and Bright Bunny are sitting on a bench by themselves on a singular planet that has just grass alone, staring into outer space. Their hands were so close to holding each other, a shooting star flew afar, and the penguins on another planet were seen to be partying with just ice cream of different flavors like strawberry and chocolate.

 Prince Darkness cleared his throat, “So Bright Bunny, may I give you something?”

“Of course! What’s it gonna be?” She replied with a raised eyebrow.

  The prince took out a black rose straight from the pocket of his white, silk pants, and offered it to his bestest friend, Bright Bunny. She gladly accepts the offer of a black rose, only to tangle and tie around her left wrist, leaving confusion to wander.

“H-hey!” She exclaimed, trying to get the black rose off of her left wrist.

Prince Darkness chuckled with a blank stare, “no worries, it’s supposed to be like this.. Now that the rose has accepted you, you’re my lover now!” He laughs heartily as he waves his hand in a dismissive manner to her pain.

  Bright Bunny stopped resisting against the black rose wrapped around her left wrist, a bit too saddened that they’re no longer friends.. But at least they’re more than that.

~ In the Real World ~

  Rachel felt a pang of discomfort when there’s a part of their adventure where Bright Bunny got a black rose wrapped around her left wrist. Her eyes laid on the crayon drawing where it happened, noticing that something is… Wrong. It felt wrong. It’s so… Wrong.

  Aren’t Prince Darkness and Bright Bunny supposed to fight monsters, aren’t they supposed to be the heroes of her and Joel’s own version of Wonderland? Aren’t they supposed to be just friends rather than lovers?

“And then they become lovers from now on–” Joel then got interrupted when he was just in the middle of drawing the “happily ever after” part with crayons.

“Hey, not to be rude or anything but… aren’t Prince Darkness and Bright Bunny supposed to be heroes fighting bad guys? Instead of.. You know..” Said Rachel, concerned with where their adventures are going.

“Oh, they’re still heroes alright, it’s just that it’s now my turn to spice things up.” Joel smirked before licking his lips for a split second, mainly from the strange excitement he had felt when Bright Bunny had a black rose tangled around her wrist.

  Joel is her only friend, but something feels wrong about him when he decides to spice things up in that way for Prince Darkness and Bright Bunny.. Rachel couldn’t help but kept her thoughts and feelings to herself.

  After the adventure finished with a “happily ever after,” Joel insisted on bringing her home since it’s dangerous for girls around his age to walk alone during the evening.

  Once Rachel got home, she waved “goodbye” to her friend and headed inside her mother’s house. And yep, it turns out that her mother isn’t home but left a sticky note that says…

Mommy is out to work for the night shift and leftover dinner is in the fridge. Love mommy!

  The problem is that the mom’s daughter didn’t feel like eating that leftover dinner, she felt uneasy in her stomach. Romance is cheesy and all, but was it really romance to begin with?

  She’s not sure, although she is in high school and is supposed to understand what was happening. But that’s too bad because she lacks knowledge about reality.

  Instead of taking the food from the fridge and eat, she went straight to bed and hoped that maybe tomorrow, she’ll talk to him. Yeah, she’ll talk to him at the perfect time.