To whom it may concern

Dash patted around the dark storage closet for those extra work books and pink erasers Mrs Davenport wanted, sneezing as plumes of dust invaded his breathing space.

"Got em." His black coat rustling as he sauntered back to class, he thought about where he was going to sit that day at lunch. Would he play it cool and disappear for an hour, leaving Marshall to assume that he found someplace or something better to eat? Or would he sit nonchalantly beside him in the cafeteria, and hope that the butterflies would pass?

His thoughts were interrupted by an unfamiliar voice as he reentered the classroom.

"Fabulo-so!"

Dash scanned the room and met the adoring eyes of a new student.

"Well there's hope for me after all!" A black-haired kid wearing a long purple scarf jumped up and circled Dash, eating up every detail of his coat, shirt and jeans before crouching down and investigating the mismatched shoe laces. "Such flair!"

Dash found himself temporarily amused by the new kid's gall, but as he felt the nimble hands mess with his shoes, he kicked back and snarled at him. "Look kid - show's over. The circus act's on the other side of town."

Later, at lunch, Dash decided to sit next to Marshall. Marshall was sitting next to a few of his 'normal' friends. Simon hadn't been in school the past two days. Dash reminded himself to visit him after school to see if he was feeling any better. Puking neon yellow usually wasn't a good sign.

As usual, Marshall ignored him. It had been a long time since he'd lost interest.

But Dash just sat there anyway, hoping that his presence would stir his curiosity.

A warm hand tapped him on the shoulder from behind. Dash turned.

"Is it eat time?"

"Huh?" This kid was even weirder than Marshall.

"Can I sit here?' without waiting for a reply, the mystery kid sat down, straddling the bench to face him. 'I didn't mean to offend you earlier. I'm an exchange student, and I was pretty bummed about being chosen for this town - I mean, nobody seems very interesting here. That is, until I saw you."

Marshall leaned across a wide-mouthed Dash to answer. "I'm guessing you haven't been here very long. Eerie's about as interesting as they come. You've just gotta look for it."

The kid glared at Marshall, making him gulp nervously. He flashed his eyes at Dash, and took his hand. Dash recoiled from his hot grip, but he held on to him tight.

"Let's get out of this place, Blue."

Marshall followed Dash's gaze as he was pulled out of the cafeteria, and with a confused frown, mouthed the word 'Blue?' to him. Before Dash could react, he was out of sight.

This is in response to yarol_2075 's post The Weirdness of Time.

Wow. I noticed so many new things rewatching it this time around, I guess cus I was actually looking out for any details that might give me clues about the timeline. The cat looking through the window (or just perched on it?) outside the dog pound, for example. Maybe I'm getting a bit overzealous here but I paused where Marshall was writing in his journal in 'ATM with a Heart of Gold' (at 22:30) and could make out these words (if anyone can make out the other words please let me know!)

      ...This place is nothing like NJ. ... This place is so backwards (?) no ..., homeless people, no ___ or museums on every corner. The ____ shop has pretty good root beer floats though. I've gotta start school tomorrow. Oh boy here I go. I'll check(?) back later.

I rewatched the first few eps and remembered reading that the last episode was actually meant to have been shown earlier on..so I checked wikipedia, and listed them according to when they were produced (as opposed to when they were aired). I also added if they were in school during the episode to give us any idea of a linear timeline.

Thought I'd take a break from writing 6-parters and dabble in drabbles. The second and third ones are part of longer stories I'm working on :>