Night has completely fallen, leaving behind a dark blanket over Portland. After dinner, Sunshine drives to the park, scanning the area upon arrival. They're here to meet their— homeless friend— and, yeah. This'll be fun. Maybe. Hopefully they don't get robbed.

Nolan and Andrew follow behind as she leads the way down the sidewalk. "Let's try it," the ginger quips as they enter the park, huge Christmas tree flashing blue and red lights back at them.

"Does anyone see her?" Nolan asks, tucking his hands deeper into his black leather jacket. He's considerably less moody, but still annoying to deal with.

"I think—" She squints, eyeing a figure next to the tree. "I think that's her over there." Sunshine makes a face.

"I think you're right." Nolan charges ahead and dramatically clears his throat. "Excuse me. Miss," he calls. "Hi. You made it."

"Hey," she nods, shrugging the green jacket over her head. "Did you guys bring me anything to eat?"

Nolan hands her the brown bag and she checks inside, dimples pointing through her smile after. "Thanks," she says warmly, zipping open her backpack to stuff the food inside.

"Yeah. Totally," Nolan replies.

"You guys sure that you wanna go?"

"Yes," all three say in unison.

"Definitely," Sunshine adds.

"There's a place where I've seen a couple of 'em hangin' out— I've never talked to one of them. I don't think you should talk to them, but..." She shrugs. "I'll take ya there."

Nolan wants to chat with one of these entities, apparently. Hah. As if.

"Yeah, please," he calmly agrees, but Sunshine figures he's pissing his pants because they're actually going to a hot spot. At least, if Greeny is right and not just lying to them.

Too late now. Sunshine actually has no idea where they're going, since they've veered away from the park and on to one of the side roads, but— y'know. They're wandering, so maybe that'll be interesting enough for her viewers if things don't happen to check out.

They stride near an overpass and Greeny gasps softly, brushing against Sunshine's jacket and tugging her close. "Woah," she breathes nervously.

"What— you just freaked out—" Sunshine tries to splutter in an annoyed voice, but is promptly cut off.

"There's one right there," Greeny says, completely serious.

Wait, what?

"What?" Nolan snaps, glaring at Greeny and peering over her shoulder at the opposite end of the shielded overpass. There's what appears to be an older kid standing there, completely dressed in black. Nolan ducks down below Greeny's height. "Shhh!"

"Settle down." Sunshine rolls her eyes at Nolan's theatrics. This is big— if it is a BEK.

"Oh my god," Greeny laughs when she twists her head back to look, "those are scary."

Sunshine slowly turns and looks at the kid, heart skipping in her chest. They're standing completely still, staring at the wall with rounded black eyes. Holy shit. Holy shit.

"Yep," Nolan says. "That's a— that's a—" He glances back over at it. "Okay, so, uh, game plan. What's goin' on..?"

"I think we should talk to her." The idea is just as stupid as it sounds when it blubbers out of Sunshine's mouth.

"We should talk— okay." Nolan shakes his head sarcastically. "All right, well— yeah. Go have fun, we'll be back here, tell us how it goes, yeah?"

Greeny eyes them. "Wait, it's for real, though?"

Nolan nods and tries to explain their little film crew thing going on as they inch closer to the BEK. It turns away, legs crooked, pulling itself forward limply. "She's going somewhere," he grunts. They don't stop moving. "I guess we're following her."

Bells toll in the distance as the group nears the BEK, who continues walking in the other direction, past the store fronts.

"I don't think we should get that close," Greeny nervously mumbles.

"It's okay, guys," Andrew smiles, "I've got the Andy-cam, we're covered."

Sunshine presses her brows together and looks at the ginger incredulously. "Did you just call your own camera the Andy-cam?"

"Andy stands for Andrew—"

"Shh!" Greeny shushes, standing closer to Nolan. Her voice drops a few levels. "I just heard of people not coming back," she explains. "Like, rumors that they get snatched or somethin'."

"Okay, well, that's just great—" he tries.

"Well, you have cameras," Greeny continues optimistically.

Nolan makes a face, as if he doesn't really believe what he's saying— or he could be saying it sarcastically. Sometimes Sunshine can't tell the difference. "Yeah, we should be fine. Of course, the cameras."

The BEK crosses past a wall and Sunshine perks at the familiar tug in her gut. She moves her legs forward and rounds the corner, squinting at the awkward and distorted way it begins to walk. The BEK pauses near the tram stop and slowly inches its head to the side, blinking black eyes at the group.

"Oh," Nolan breathes, anxiously pressing next to the wall. He frowns. "Okay, so. I have an idea."

Sunshine turns to him, but doesn't keep her eyes off of the BEK. "What?" she mutters.

He determinedly looks at them. "When she hits the Max, let's jump her."

Silence. All Sunshine can think is— Really? The tram?

"What?" Greeny asks. Yeah, Sunshine too.

"Where's she gonna take us? She's on a Max. I mean, it could work—"

"Shh," Sunshine snaps.

"Try and corner her?" he goes on, glaring at the entity that's swaying under the cover of the trees. "It's just a thought."

Greeny considers. "That's not a bad idea. You can just ask her questions."

The bells on the tram ring, signaling the arrival of the Max trolley. It rolls forward, spluttering as it slows to a stop.

"Well, it's now or never, I guess," Greeny shrugs.

"It's your call, Sunshine," Nolan prompts.

She sighs and grudgingly steps forward, nearing the BEK. They watch as it slowly enters the tram and quickly do the same, boarding through the sliding doors. Andrew, Nolan, Sunshine, and Greeny squeeze together on a seat, all eyeing each other and the BEK across from them.

"It's freaking me out," Sunshine mutters. "I'm already freaked out about the public transportation thing," she says, glaring at Nolan, "and now this?"

"I feel weird inside," Nolan says, staring at the BEK. It's standing, arm slung around the handle.

"Go talk to her," Greeny urges.

"I don't want to. Bad idea," he mumbles. After another minute of staring, Nolan shakes out of his trance, "Okay, I don't wanna look at her anymore. We shouldn't have come. We should go back. Let's go back home." He shrugs, narrowing his eyes, beginning to freak the hell out. Sunshine stares at the camera, annoyed. "I don't wanna be here, let's go."

"We came all this way," Greeny reasons, "I think you should talk to her."

Nolan widens his eyes sarcastically at her, nodding. "Okay," he says, "go on."

"I'm not even here to do that."

"Okay, well." He scrunches his nose and nervously looks out of the window. "We'll keep our opinions to ourselves." Nolan bites the inside of his cheek, shrugging his shoulders in. "We'll— we'll just wait it out, 'kay?'

"It'll be fun," Sunshine says.

The BEK looks at them, twists around, and lumbers off of the tram.

"She's getting off, she's getting off!" Greeny sprints after the entity, everyone else quickly following behind. Two older teenagers standing off to the side look at Sunshine and exchange a glance.

"Hey, hey!" the taller one says, stopping Sunshine in her tracks. She grits her teeth and wheels around. Come on, they have to follow the BEK! "Sunshine!"

"Um," she says, not knowing exactly what to do with this situation. She's never been noticed in public before. "No, I think you have the— wrong girl—"

"No, Sunshine," he insists, "from YouTube?"

"No, no, no," Nolan quickly says, pointing at her, "this isn't Sunshine, this is LaVern." She raises her brows and grunts when he hesitantly pulls an arm around her, shrugging her close. "My, uh, girl. My girl LaVern."

She stares forward. Really?

"No, this is Sunshine," he goes on, not convinced. The tram doors close beside them.

"No, no no," Nolan tries again, "I'm John LaVern, we gotta go— uh— to a party—"

"Wait, party?" the other teen giggles, following them past the corner. "What?"

"Guys, come on," Nolan laughs, but it's edged with desperation and annoyance. "Give us a break, one time, please." They whip around and look up and down the next block, but BEK and Greeny are gone.

"Where'd they go?" Sunshine mutters. "She— she's gone.."

"Damnit!" Nolan curses, furiously pacing back and forth through the street.

Oh, god. Greeny's gone. She's gone, probably abducted, all because they'd been stopped by fans— No. If wasn't their fault. They didn't know, even if there were cameras and... eugh. She stressfully wipes a hand down her face. Shit.

"It's fine, it's fine," Nolan loudly says, but is really only trying to soothe his own nerves. "Okay, we find the girl, we—"

"We should maybe go back to Tom Waters?" Sunshine says to the camera, frowning. "Show him what we have? I mean, I don't know what to do."

"This sucks," Nolan growls.

The two fans seem to realize this isn't the best time and cautiously walk away.

"Did anybody see where she went?"

Sunshine's too nervous to humor Nolan and his usual antics. "I think we should go back to Tom Waters," she repeats, throwing her arms out. What else is there to do?

"Like—" Nolan shakes his head disapprovingly. "All right."

"Show him what we have! I mean, it's worth it, I think." She sighs and leads the way down the block. "Come on."

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"Oh my god," Nolan drawls when they're back in the car, on the road to Tom Waters's house. "I can't believe we actually saw one."

"And we got the footage of it," Andrew chimes in from the back seat.

"I mean—" Sunshine raises her hand and it drops. "I'm a little worried about the girl, but— she'll turn up, won't she? I mean..." Her phone begins to ring. Oh, fucking hell. It's Kat.

"I don't know," Nolan mumbles.

"It's my mom. It's my mom!" Sunshine shoves the phone in his hands. "Talk to her."

"What?"

"Talk to her!"

"Wha—"

"Answer the phone!"

"I'm never forgiving you for this," Nolan sighs, answering and lifting the phone to his ear, hand shaking. "Hello?"

Sunshine listens intently over the roar of the road under the tires.

"Hey, Mrs— what? No, I'm with her right now." Nolan looks curiously at Sunshine. What's her mom saying? "She's driving." A pause. "Yeah. Uh-huh. Okay, yes, I understand— wait, listen, listen, listen—"

Oh, great. Here it comes.

"I understand where you're coming from, okay? I'm on your side—" Traitor! "I just— okay, look, we're really close, okay? I think we actually— oh! Oh, come on. That's a little— that's a little harsh."

What's happening over there? Ugh!

Nolan sighs. "All right. Okay. All right." He ends the call and plops the phone in Sunshine's lap.

"What'd she say?" Sunshine demands.

"Well, Sunshine—" Nolan straightens dramatically, probably ready to complain about having to lie about where they're actually going. "Your mother's not happy."

"Well— duh," she snaps.

"She says if— if we don't come home right now, she is..." A sigh. "Taking you off of your YouTube channel and she's gonna kill you, probably."

"She's not gonna kill me, okay?"

Nolan looks at her seriously. "Well, I think she might actually take the YouTube down."

Sunshine shakes her head. No, her mom wouldn't do that. She doesn't believe it.

"You know what that means? No more videos."

"I know!" she stresses. Why does Kat have to make everything so fucking complicated when this whole thing is already crazy? "I know what it means, okay?"

"Now, if you wanna do this, I'm with you," he says. "Okay? But— there are actual consequences that follow from this. It's your call."

Andrew pinches his lips together. "Your mom is pretty upset though."

Sunshine continues driving, thinking. They don't have time for this, and if this is the price... well. Fuck it. "We'll go home when I think that we've got it, okay? But I— but I think the— okay, just. We're doing it."

"Okay." Nolan shrugs and leans back.

This is gonna be fun.

ok sorry!!! for the two or three day wait i've been feeling kinda mentally crappy but had some motivation to continue so ye. vv fun chapter i laughed when nolan pretended sunshine was someone else. okay yeah thanks for reading!