Disclaimer: I do not own Ferris Bueller or any of the involved characters; I only own my OC Raelyn.

6. Statuesque

"The fact you have never been to a professional baseball game hurts me deeply, Rae," Ferris told me as we settled into our seats at Wrigley Field. I snorted and rolled my eyes as I squinted my eyes into the sun.

"You were gonna take me but then you got the flu and vomited all over your bedroom floor, remember? You had the suckiest fifteenth birthday in the history of fifteen birthdays," I reminded him, chuckling at one of the only times he'd been truly sick. Ferris pulled a face at the memory and sniffed indignantly, obviously not willing to admit that he was the reason I had yet to attend a professional baseball game.

I was seated at Cameron's right, holding a bag of popcorn that was probably going to serve as my lunch since pancreas was––surprise, surprise––not that filling. As I munched on the snack, I glanced over at the dark haired boy beside me, watching as his eyes flit over the field attentively; he was one of the biggest sports fans I'd had ever met. I didn't watch the games often, but when I did, Cameron would waste no time in giving my house a call to talk about it live with me.

"I can't believe we got tickets that last minute," Cameron commented.

"Well, more tickets sold, more money––that is one of the only applicable uses for math," I mentioned. Cam laughed and watched as the next player came up to bat; we'd come in late, but after a brief glance at the scoreboard (which read nothing to nothing), we were ready to go. The one thing I was honestly most excited about was the fact that Cameron seemed like he was actually having fun. What with the first half of the day absolutely destroying him emotionally, I would have expected him to sulk through the entire day, but, to my surprise… he was smiling. "Want some popcorn to go with your hotdog?"

"Oo, yes," he hummed happily, shoving his hand into the bag I held. I laughed as some of the popped kernels fell around my feet, his eagerness for food apparent as he shoved a handful of popcorn into his mouth. He looked at me all puffy cheeked with his eyebrows furrowing. "Whaa?" I laughed more at how distorted his voice was and just shook my head in response to his question, wrapping my arms around his in a hug.

As the inning wore on, the four of us continuously made comments that blended into the crowd. Cam and I decided to see who could outdo the other in the most enthusiastic cheering, a competition that both amused and annoyed those sitting around us. One old guy thought it was absolutely hilarious and laughed whenever one or both of us would jump up, clapping as hard as we could. At one point one of the balls soared towards our section of the stadium and as everyone threw their hands up to see if they could catch it, Ferris––miraculously––snatched it out of the air. As the crowd cheered and people congratulated him, Cam and I were staring at him in shock and awe, watching as he held up the ball victoriously and then shook his hand out wincing slightly.

"Wooooooooo!" Cameron called out as we sat back down again. I laughed in disbelief as Ferris tossed me the ball.

"Keep it," he told me with a smile before he went back to wincing. I shook my head with a grin, tossing the ball between both of my hands. Ferris flexed his fingers. "I think I broke my thumb."

"He-eyyy, batter, batter, batter, batter, swing, battah!" Cameron called out loudly through a mouthful of hot dog. He nodded to me and Ferris. "C'mon!" Sloane rolled her eyes and went back to doodling on some paper she'd had in her pocket. I snorted at her disinterest and joined in the boys' antics.

"He-eyyy, batter, batter, batter, batter, swing battah!" we all called out. Cameron dropped his head back slightly and squinted his eyes shut as he continued to chant,

"Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy, sa-wing battah!"

"You're a riot, Cam. I love ya for that," I told him truthfully as we all began picking at our snacks again. He smiled at me and nudged my side with his elbow.

"Same goes for you, Rae."

"Hey, do you realize if we played by the rules, we'd be in gym right now?" Ferris asked as Cam shoved some chips into his mouth. They both shared a rather boyish chuckle before they continued to stuff their faces. I rolled my eyes at how desperate they seemed for food and went back to playing with the ball Ferris had caught.

As the game wore on and Cam and Ferris continued their vocal berratings of different players and shoveled food into their mouths, I thought over what we could possibly do next. There was an entire city laid out before us, an infinite number of choices, and we just had to pick one. Then, in my head, I felt my inner Ferris kick in. All of the options.

"Hey, Ferris!" I threw a couple pieces of popcorn at his head, catching his attention when one of the popped kernels hit him in the eye.

"Ow! What? Are you trying to blind me? Is that your ulterior motive for coming today?"

"No, I just have an idea of where we should go next," I commented proudly, tossing the ball into the air before snatching it back up. His brows creased and he placed a hand over the right half of his chest.

"Be still my heart! Tell me this idea, for I know my protégé will make me proud!"

OOOO

Turns out my idea went over well and after leaving the stadium, we went to the Art Institute of Chicago. We all trotted up the steps and I eagerly threw the door open to let my friends file inside. It seemed like we got there just about the same time as a school field trip, so, Ferris being Ferris, had the brilliant idea of following them for a bit. He grabbed onto one of the second graders' hands and then took hold of Sloane's, who grabbed Cam's, who grabbed mine. I felt a small hand take my free one and I looked down to see a little girl giggling at the fact a bunch of teenagers were infiltrating their class. I winked and gave a hushed 'shh' which made the little girl and her friends laugh.

Of course, after wandering through the museum exhibits with the kids for a minute or two, we had to depart before their teacher caught us and got us thrown out. Soon we were wandering through the rooms of paintings, taking proper amounts of time to appreciate famous pieces of art, canvases spattered with paint, and statues that towered over us on pedestals. Sloane and Ferris disappeared at one point, leaving Cameron and I to wander about by ourselves. He stopped in front of a large painting depicting men, women, and children all on a shady lakeside. After I took in the whole of what I could take in, I turned to look at Cam, and noticed his pretty blue eyes were trained intently on the piece of art in front of us; I followed his almost worried looking gaze and found he was staring at the image of a small little girl in a white sundress. There was a crease between his brows that I didn't quite understand, so a gently touched his wrist, shocking him out of the trance that I let him stay in for a minute or two.

"You okay?" I asked. He cleared his throat and nodded.

"Yeah, just appreciating the, uh… the… the brushstrokes that the painter used. All of the… stippling," he told me with a couple of nods that made me chuckle. I tilted my head towards the next exhibit.

"C'mon, I wanna show you something." I led him into the next room, where a beautiful Grecian statue sat on a pedestal in the center of the room. Her face was serene and when she had arms, they would have most likely delicately crossed across her body, holding the impossibly real looking swaths of cloth that were pooled around her feet. I had seen it a month or so back when I had to take my brother to the museum for a class project; what better way to spend a day off than with a group of rowdy middle schoolers? I stopped beside it and faced Cam with a silly smile on my face. I crossed on arm over my chest and the other over my stomach, tilting my head to the side and softening my face in order to mimic the way the statue looked. "What do you think?"

I glanced over at Cameron with a smile creeping back up my face and found that he was just staring at me with a soft gaze.

"You look perfect," he told me. Laughing, I dropped my arms and nodded up at the statue.

"Nah. She's an ancient Grecian beauty, I'm just… well, look at me." I held out my arms out in order to present myself to him. "I'm an ordinary teenage girl, Cam." Cameron gave a short laugh and shook his head almost as though I had said something utterly ridiculous.

"No, you're not an ordinary teenage girl. You're more beautiful than any stupid statue that's made of marble. Besides, you've got arms, she doesn't, so that's a distinct advantage you've got there. You're beautiful, Rae," he told me seriously and truthfully, a gentle smile on his lips. Blushing, I laughed awkwardly and rubbed at the back of my neck, casting my gaze towards the floor.

"Th-thank you." He shrugged and shoved both hands back into his pockets, giving a goofy looking smile.

"Only saying what's, uh… what's true…"

Cam smiled a bit wider and nodded for me to follow him, which I did happily, glancing up at the statue one last time with my own lips pulled up into a grin. We began walking around the galleries again, looking at paintings, sculptures, sheets of stained glass, and taking turns mimicking what we saw. Eventually our feet started to hurt, so we darted out into the courtyard and sat at one of the tables to take a rest. The wind was gentle and took its chance to ruffle its fingers through Cameron's hair playfully; the rich brown strands fluttered against his forehead and were tossed into his eyes, causing him to raise a hand to brush them away. It was a good thing he did, too, because if he hadn't, I would have. I leaned my head back and stretched out my legs, shutting my eyes against the warm sunlight. As much as I knew I should be hating how good it felt to be out of the confines of the school grounds… I couldn't bring myself to feel that way. There I was, with Cam, at the best art museum we'd ever been to, enjoying the weather without a care in the world, joking about how weird some modern painters were. It couldn't be better.

"Let's take a splash around," Cameron suddenly said. Reality seemed to snap back into my head, causing me to open my eyes and gape at my friend. He was bent over at the waist, pulling off his shoes and socks; he then began to roll up the legs of his khaki pants, cuffing them just below the knee. He looked up with a cheeky smile, nodding to the pool of water in the center of the courtyard. "C'mon."

"The… you want to…?" I stuttered out, pointing to the edge of the pool. He nodded and we both took a moment to look at the water, which appeared to be a vivid cobalt thanks to the way the interior had been painted. "Cam… we'll get thrown out. Like… not even thrown out, we'd probably be taken to museum security and then we'll have our asses busted and get arrested and then grounded––"

"You're starting to sound like me, and that's my job. So, take off your shoes," he leaned forward and tugged at the laces of my Cons, pulling the left one off, "and your socks, and have some fun." Cameron grinned and pulled off one of my socks, something that made an irrepressible smile arise to my face.

"And now you're starting to sound like me. Have we fallen into some science fiction movie that enables mind swaps?" I joked, working on my other shoe before tugging up my jeans.

"No, but you've managed to convince me to have fun somehow, even if I take it in gradual steps." Cam rose to his feet and jumped up onto the edge of the pool, smiling down at me; grinning, I jumped up next to him and held out my hand. He grasped it and we both jumped in after counting to three. The water was icy cold and made us both call out in shock. But after that initial shock, we began to laugh, sloshing through the water with our hands clasped together for balance. The pool bottom was enameled and slippery, making it feel as though we were walking on ice. A few others in the courtyard shouted at us to get out but went back to their lunches, some gossiped to each other, and others smiled and watched on like they were witnessing a scene out of some cheesy romance movie. We both wove between the two statues in the center of the pool, nearly slipping again as people watched.

"Oh my god!" I squealed with laughter as I fell forward into Cam's chest. Chuckling, he spun us around and sprayed water up around us in droplets. He nodded back towards the table we had been sitting earlier.

"C'mon, there's fountain in the south courtyard."

After jumping out of the mid-calf deep pool and snatching up our shoes, we took off at a run towards the south courtyard. We left watery footprints in our wake as we laughed and giggled like we were in elementary school again. The upturn of my lips and the pounding of my heart was all caused by the true amounts of fun Cameron had seemed to have been having since we left the restaurant. There was a boyish sort of grin on his face that was utterly irreplaceable. I knew that by tomorrow it would be replaced by the concerned downturn of his lips or the fleeting smiles I was graced with. But at that moment… running across flagstone with numbed, wet feet, it didn't matter. We were having fun.

The second fountain was surrounded by trees in stone planters and was square like the other one we'd just gallivanted through. Twenty-something jets of water gently bubbled out of the water, making soft splashing sounds in the currently empty courtyard; a massive statue sat at the end, weather worn and imposing. Cam, still grinning, dropped his shoes and then placed both hands on his hips, surveying what was laid out before us.

"Alright, now, I've got an idea," he told me, looping an arm over my shoulders. "A race."

"I'd be down with that," I agreed, dropping my shoes beside his. "Rules?" Cam hunkered down, hunching his shoulders so he was at my height level. He sniffed and flicked a thumb over his nose, narrowing his eyes as he splayed a hand out before us.

"Alrighty then, the rules," he said in a voice laced with a New Yorker accent. I smothered my laughter and tried to pull a serious face that matched his. "No foul play, that will result in immediate elimination, alright? You slip, you slip, there's no stopping. And, uh… first one to the other end of the pool wins. Sound good, little lady?" I nodded and bumped his hip with mine.

"Sounds good."

"On your mark… get set… run!"

We both lept into the pool with a kerthunking sort of splash, again calling out at the cold temperature of the water. The two of us soon realized that trying to run normally just wasn't going to do it, so Cam took to quoting our gym teacher.

"High knees, high knees!" he called out. Cam flung out his arms and did as he'd instructed, thrusting his knees up high to let his feet clear the water. I laughed and tried to do the same, soon realizing that anyone who was watching might have thought we were absolutely insane. We stayed neck-in-neck for most of the race, but Cameron, with his insanely long legs, managed to pick up the slack at the end and get himself two steps ahead and won. He threw both arms into the hair and let out a whoop of victory. Rolling my eyes, I plopped myself down to sit on the edge of the pool and caught what breath I'd lost.

"Oh, great victor, what would you like your prize to be?" I asked, tilting my head to the side. Placing both hands on his hips, Cam thought about it, eyes cast up into the leafy trees that ruffled in the breeze. Then, with another smile, he held out his hand to me and caught my gaze.

"A dance." I felt my brows shoot upwards in surprise.

"A dance?"

"Yeah. A dance. Like a waltz or something," he said. Laughing, I took his hand and stood back up, giving him a look.

"Neither of us know how to waltz," I reminded him.

"Well, that's the beauty of improvisation, Rae," Cam said as he bowed. Laughing gently, I gave a mock curtsy and placed my free hand on his shoulder; he put his free hand on the curve of my waist and began to hum something that might have been a waltz of his own creation. Or, actually, maybe it was the one from that Sondheim show that the school did the year prior. Then we began to move in the semblance of a waltz, sloshing through water and tripping over our own feet. We laughed again as we slowly twirled, the backs of our legs dampening as we got too close to some of the water jets.

Cameron was smiling as we reached the other end of the pool, having traveled as we danced. When we stopped, Cam lifted my hand and gave it a kiss, his eyes twinkling with something akin to mischief. I felt a blush rise to my cheeks and glanced sheepishly down at my feet, which were pink from the temperature of the water. We both hopped out of the fountain with damp pants and soaking feet and sat down to tug on our shoes. Our hour at the museum was up and we were on to the next adventure… which would probably be our last for the day, seeing as we needed to brave traffic in order to get home on time.

We began our walk to find Sloane and Ferris, chatting idly as we did so. I felt Cameron's pinky brush against my own, his other fingers soon stretching out to take mine; as they interlocked, I smiled down at my feet with a feeling of girlish happiness, glancing up at him to see he was doing the same, his eyes locked on his feet with a smile on his face.

Afterword: So… I've never been to the Chicago Institute of Art. So I went off pictures :) Hope you all enjoyed the chapter!
REVIEW REPLIES!

Liliana Celeste: I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I had a lot of fun writing the Museum scene, which I hit some writers block on and then finally got an idea for. Thanks again!

Guest:Sorry about not putting the translations up. But what this is what they would be: Parlez-vous français?=do you speak french? Oui en peu= yes, a little.

FurryHats: Hope you enjoyed the chapter and I'm glad you've been enjoying. Thanks again!

cynthiatophklepinger: Things got real cute in this chapter, methinks XD I hope you keep on reading and keep on enjoying! Thanks again!

Boston Rider: Ah, I wish I could go to the Chicago Art Institute; when I was writing this all I could see in my head was the Boston MFA, so I had to google image the museum XD I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks again!

Elder Schraderham: Glad you've been enjoying it and hope you stick around for more! Thanks again!

And thank you to those who have added this to their favorites/alerts, it means a lot!

Hope you all enjoyed and sorry for the late updates; my life got real crazy… again… and I got major writers block for a bit. But I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks again!

~Mary