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Thea slips away from her nanny and runs as far as she can. She doesn't want to be at the stupid aquarium. Ollie and her dad are dead, her mom is running the company and organising that fundraiser for some children's charity and Thea is all alone. Raisa slips her cookies before dinner but Thea isn't allowed to play with her. It's not fair. Everyone has left her and she doesn't like Nancy. Nancy texts her boyfriend when she thinks Thea isn't looking but Thea is twelve, she isn't stupid.
There is a boy sitting by himself, pressed up against the glass of the underground aquarium. The light washes over him in a way that Thea thinks is cool and it doesn't take more than a minute to decide she's going to sit next to him. He jerks a little in surprise but smiles at her and points to all the different kind of fish. She knows what they all are but he's so excited and she likes the sound of his voice so she lets him think she doesn't know anything.
All the fish are pretty and Thea's not sure that she wants to swim the sharks like Stiles does. Tommy and Ollie did once but it was in a cage and Thea's not old enough anyway. The stingrays are kind of nice but they look funny. Stiles likes the clownfish and he knows a lot about them but everyone likes clown fish because of Finding Nemo and Thea doesn't like that movie. She likes turtles and the little tiny fish that swim under the sharks looking for scraps of food to eat. They kind of remind her of the sucker fish she had when she was little until she killed it by accident when she put bleach in the tank when she tried to help Raisa by cleaning it for her. Thea had cried for a while but Ollie had flushed Mr Pudgy down the toilet and gave him a proper fish funeral.
When Nancy finds them Thea is holding Stiles' hand and giggling as he tells her a random fact about sharks that she doesn't think can be true at all. Stiles insists he's telling the truth and Thea knows it's only because they are in public that Nancy doesn't drag her away forcefully. That doesn't mean Thea doesn't get lectured. Stiles looks like he's going to cry and he keeps biting his bottom lip. Thea decides she doesn't like Nancy at all and that she doesn't want Nancy to be her nanny anymore because Stiles is her new friend and she's making him upset.
Thea refuses to leave when Nancy tries to convince her to see the dolphins because dolphins are Ollie's favourite sea animal and Stiles is by himself and she won't leave him. Thea won't let him be alone even if it gets her in trouble later. It's not like her mom really pays much attention anyway. Raisa might get disappointed though and Thea doesn't want that because Raisa is nice and they make cookies and sometimes she even let's Thea stay up longer than she should. But then Thea decides that Raisa won't be angry for keeping Stiles company because Raisa always tells her that you should never be alone. Raisa is smart, way smarter than stupid Nancy.
It doesn't really matter much though because after a few minutes and Nancy threatening to call her mom (that threat hadn't worked since she was eight), Stiles' dad finds them. He doesn't even yell at Stiles, just hugs him. Thea wonders if Stiles ran away a lot and his dad was just used to it. Maybe he just got distracted a lot and wandered off, that would totally explain how Stiles went from talking about Sharks to sport to school and something called Lacrosse. Thea doesn't really mind that he is so random, he isn't stupid like all the other boys Thea knew.
Before Stiles and his dad leave Thea writes her number on Stiles' arm with a sharpie and signs her name along with a smiley face in her neatest writing. Stiles doesn't live in Starling City but that doesn't matter, Thea knows he's going to be her best friend for ever, even when they get totally old and turn thirty.