Cassie has to giggle in amusement at the cascade of powdered sugar that falls down the front of the boy's shirt, pointing. "You're all dusty now, look. They're good, huh? They're probably better than anything I've ever tried!"

Then she scowls, all youthful stubbornness. "I never give up. I'll be the best learner ever, just you watch." She's so indignant that for a minute she thinks he's laughing at her, until she makes the connection. "Ohhhh, that's not what I meant jeez." But she's grinning all the same, so unused to laughing with another kid her age -- or, at least, close to it.

The question about her name gets a grimace. "It's a constellation. My whole family is named after constellations. It's really dumb."