"We had to, Champ," Blaine's father said, leaning down to be eye-to-eye with his son. They had just moved to Lima after his job relocated him. His wife had died during childbirth, and now he was raising two boys as a single dad. "I promise that Lima is not that bad. In no time you'll make a lot of new friends." Blaine was sad that he'd had to say goodbye to his old friends:he'd always been shy and struggled to make new friends. His best friend Kurt had promised that they would always be best friends, but now here he was in a new town all alone.
"Here, Squirt, go out and explore the neighborhood while Dad and I finish unloading the truck," his sixteen-year-old brother said as he winked and tossed him a ball. Blaine caught it and headed down the street towards a park he had seen as they pulled up to his new neighborhood. He was sitting on the grass when a dog jumped on him and started licking his face. At first he was scared, but he couldn't help but laugh and giggle as his—dare he think it?—new friend tickled him with each lick. "Hey, buddy, wanna play fetch?" he said as he scratched the dog's head and then proceeded to play fetch with the pup.
"Puck! There you are!" A little blond boy came running towards them. "Thank you for finding my dog," he said, jumping on Blaine giving him a hug. "I'm Sam and this is Puck," he said,smiling.
"I'm Blaine and I didn't find him, he found me," Blaine said,laughing. He wasn't used to anyone running up to him and starting a conversation, let alone hugging him, but there was something about this boy he found comforting and nice. "You're so lucky to have him, it's like having a friend with you all the time," he said, realizing that his new canine friend already had an owner.
"He's the best, aren't you, Pucky Puck Puck?" Sam asked in a funny but cute puppy-like voice. "I've never seen you around, did you just move here? How old are you? Do you go to Berry Elementary? Do you like Star Wars? Ooh, do you like X-Men? Are you excited for Halloween? Who are you going as?"
"Whoa, that's a lot of questions," Blaine said, feeling a little overwhelmed. "Let's see. I'm six years old, we just moved here, I'm starting at Berry Elementary on Monday, I love Star Wars and X-Men, and I don't know who I'm going as for Halloween."
"Hey, I'm six too! I hope you'll be in my class! And since we both like X-Men and we're like best friends now, we should go as the X-Men!" Sam said, overly excited.
"I'm Wolverine!" they both screamed at the same time, and that was the start of a beautiful friendship.
