February 14, 2009
Rio Santoloni had been lying on the floor of her preschool classroom for what seemed like HOURS to her. Rio looked at the clock, but since she couldn't tell time, she didn't know when it would be recess. Since she couldn't tell time, she used her logic to figure out if it was time for lunch. Nap time is always before lunch, Rio thought. Then when nap time is over, I get to eat my chocolate pudding and play with Kaila. Rio loved to play with Kaila and it was her favorite part of the day. Kaila loved to draw with chalk, and even though Rio didn't like it as much as Kaila, she still thought it was fun, because to Rio, anything with Kaila WAS fun.
The kids in Rio's preschool class were all lying quietly on their blankets, except for Rio. There were two kids on blankets in between her and Kaila, but Rio knew nobody could stop them from holding hands after naptime. Naptime is way too long, Rio thought as she twisted and turned on her blanket. To entertain herself, Rio made a bunny face at Kaila. Kaila was facing the other way, so she didn't see Rio. After ten seconds, Rio tried again to get Kaila's attention by making a kitty noise, and as she had wanted, Kaila noticed her. They tried to hide their giggles but it was too late. The teacher had noticed them, and was glaring at Rio and Kaila.
"Sorry," Kaila said, but Rio didn't say a word. The teacher gave Rio a stern look, but she didn't say anything. " Alright, class, it's lunch. Go get your lunches from your cubbies." The teacher said.
Rio skipped over to Kaila's cubby and grabbed her lunchbox before getting her own. She knew there would be yummy strawberries waiting for her but she didn't mind. She was feeling nervous because it was her first Valentine's Day as a "big girl" in Rio's opinion, and she was going to ask Kaila if she wanted to be Rio's Valentine.
Rio and Kaila had met on the first day of preschool, but their first meeting was less than great. It was a cold and rainy day, so the children were inside for recess. Rio was playing a game with the boys where giant monsters were attacking their Lego city, when she saw a girl, all by herself, arranging alphabet blocks to form words.
"Why is she by herself?" Rio asked her newfound friends.
"Because nobody likes her," a boy said.
"I'm going to ask her if she wants to play Lego with us," Rio said, but was stopped by a small blonde boy.
" If you ask her to play Lego with us, you can't play Lego with us." He told her.
"I don't care. You guys are mean." Rio replied.
Rio didn't know if the girl even wanted to play with her, but she was going to try anyway. She didn't know why nobody liked her. The girl looked like she was a nice person. The girl was staring at the alphabet blocks and arranging them from Z-A. Rio didn't know why anyone would arrange them from Z-A instead of A-Z, because Z-A was backwards, but she didn't really care. Rio had never actually seen someone do that for fun, so maybe that was why nobody liked her. Just maybe. Right when Rio was about to introduce herself to the girl, another girl with red braids approached her and messed up her alphabet block arrangement.
"Kaila the Baby!" Red Braid Girl taunted. Kaila looked really sad, so Rio decided to defend her.
"Don't call Kaila that! Or I'll tell everybody that you still wear diapers." Rio commanded.
When Red Braid Girl looked terrified, Rio knew she would never bully Kaila again. Rio didn't know why, but standing up for Kaila made her feel great. When Kaila smiled at her, it added to the greatness she already felt.
"Do you wanna play with the alphabet blocks with me?" Kaila asked. Rio would've liked to play Lego City instead of spelling things with blocks, but then she remembered that the boys told her she couldn't play with them anymore if she went over to Kaila.
"Okay," Rio agreed. "Wanna make a city?"
"No thanks," Kaila said. "Is your name Rio?" Before Rio could answer her question, Kaila grabbed three blocks and kept rearranging them until she finally spelled 'Rio'.
"That was really fast," Rio said, amazed. "I wanna try and spell your name." Rio took five blocks and positioned them to spell 'Kayla'.
"That isn't how you spell it," Kaila corrected. " It's K-A-I-L-A."
"Oh, sorry," Rio said, blushing. She had really wanted to excite Kaila, but Rio's failure to spell her name right wouldn't impress Kaila.
"Don't be disappointed," Kaila reassured Rio. "My name is pretty hard to spell. It's fine if you don't get it right your 1st time."
From that day on, Rio and Kaila spent as much time as they could together. The 5 and 4 year old girls were complete opposites, but they were still best friends. Kaila would teach Rio how to spell new things, and tell her facts about her favorite things. In return, Rio taught Kaila how to swing and ride her new tricycle. On the way home when Adeline was driving Rio home from school on her first day, Adeline asked Rio, "What did you learn?" and Rio said, "Well, I learned how to spell a few words but-" then she went off and started talking about her new best friend, a girl named Kaila.
The sun had just come out and was shining brightly and the temperature had gotten as high as 50 degrees Fahrenheit, unusually warm for February, so Rio, Kaila, and the other preschools could go play outside. As it was every time they went out to the play ground, Kaila and Rio were linking arms and Kaila was happily grinning at Rio, but this time, although she usually did, she didn't grin back. She was thinking about the sticky note she had folded into fourths and stuck in the pocket of her new skirt. It was a small sticky note Valentine for Kaila and Rio was very nervous about giving it to her.
"Do you like my shirt?" Kaila said as she gestured at her pink t-shirt with a flower on it. " I think the flower looks really beautiful, don't you think?" Rio had never really paid attention to clothes-including her own-but seeing Kaila's shirt and how happy it made Kaila made Rio grin.
"I think you're beautiful," Rio admitted. " I think you're more beautiful than the flower." The side of Rio's arm the was linked with Kaila's got sweaty as she got more and more nervous. "I've got somethin' for you."
"What?" Kaila curiously asked.
Rio unlinked her and Kaila's arms and handed her the sticky note. " Happy Valentine's Day, Kaila." Rio said as Kaila looked intently at the doodle. "I doodled a heart and a bird because you love birds."
"Cardinal," Kaila corrected, but it was just a habit of hers. She didn't pay much attention to the error while she stared at the doodle.
Rio wriggled before collecting the bravery to ask " Kaila, will you be my Valentine?"
The question had surprised Kaila, so she had to stop and process what Rio said. When she finally got it all down, she said softly, "Yes."
"Yes?" Rio asked, just to be sure.
" Of course!" Kaila said with a huge smile as she hugged Rio.
Kaila Baker was officially her one and only Valentine, but although Rio didn't exactly know if it did, she hoped it allowed her to do a thing she had desired to do since the beginning of recess. After she looked around and made sure no one was looking, Rio swiftly gave Kaila a kiss on the cheek.
" I wanted to kiss you 1st," Kaila said, giggling. When Rio turn around to watch a chipmunk collect acorns, Kaila surprised her with her own peck on the cheek.
Kaila and Rio spent the rest of their time outside drawing with chalk, but for little Rio was was somehow different from any other time they drew pictures. Maybe it was because Kaila was her Valentine now, or perhaps something else, but Rio definitely knew that this was the best day of her life.
How was it? I hope you all like it. I will continue with this story, but it took me 3 days to write this chapter. Three days! It might take a while to finish. I will also continue Rainbow Dash's secret, and I am starting a new story about Scootaloo in middle school. Enjoy!