Balloon.
Smiling, a little 6 year old girl sucked on her lollypop and happily skipped down the path with a little red balloon in her hand. Laughing to herself, she skipped towards the park, as she usually did every day during the summer. The little girl was happy that it was finally summer vacation, 1st grade had been so hard! Now it was the summer and it was almost her birthday. She was going to be the happiest girl in the world. This little girl with the light brown hair and sparkling eyes was May Maple. She was going to the park as she usually did during the summer, as she lived about 2 blocks from it.
She was almost to the park when a sharp gust of wind blew at her back. The lollipop fell out of one of her hand, but the stubborn little May grabbed onto the string of her smiley balloon. Gripping it tightly, May slowly walked towards the park with her smiley balloon 'leading' the way. May finally arrived at the park and she immediately went over by the swings. She tied her balloon to one of the ropes on the swing, and then began swinging her feet. She was rising high in the air when another strong gust of wind blew. May, only being a little 8 year old, had not tied the knot very well on the balloon, and soon it was rising into the air.
May dug her feet into the ground and stopped the swing. Almost nervously, she looked up into the sky and saw her treasured balloon flying away.
" Balloon? Balloon, where are you going? Come back! Please! Come back!" she shouted as she looked up at the sky and holding her hands, as if waiting for the balloon to drop back into her hands. Her lips puckered, and tears began to brim her eyes as she saw her balloon fly away. She sank to the ground, and balled her hands into fists as she angrily wiped at the tears overflowing onto her cheeks.
" Balloon?" she cried out once more staring at the sky, not noticing the group of preteens just on the other side of the park.
On the other side of the playground, a gang of older kids, about 12 - 14, were standing around a water fountain. The two apparent leaders, apparent because everyone stood around them in a semi circle, were a boy and a girl. The girl had long red-maroon hair, down to about her waist in an arced kind of curl. She wore a black and red mini plaid skirt that was ripped at the bottom, and a black tank top with a silver circle necklace. She wore tough, leather like boots and she wore skull earnings.
The boy on the other hand, was not as edgy. He had some long, blue hair that came down barely to his shoulders. He wore normal jeans, that were a bit faded, possibly indicating a poor family. He had on a button down, blue collared shirt, with a white t-shirt underneath of it. He on his wrist was a beat up old silver watch , and he had his arm carelessly slung around the females shoulder as they both leaned against the water fountain. He may have been hanging around a group of bad boys and bikers, but he was definitely the 'softie' of the group.
The female looked over at the crying child and laughed. . " Hey, look at that little baby crying over there! Oh, doesn't it break little heart? Not!" she laughed, and the group laughed with her. Only the boy, whose arm had been around the female, was not laughing. He looked at the little girl, and muttered,
"Leave her alone, Jessie." he said. Yes, indeed these kids are the early versions of the Team Rocket we all know and hate. But James, though he was the softie of the group, did not let Jessie stomp all over him like he does in the future. He glared at his 'group' and walked over to the sobbing May.
" Hey there, don't cry. I'm James, can I help you?" James tried asking in a soothing voice.
May looked up at him with her big, blue, watery eyes. " M-m-my b-balloon flew a-a-away in the s-sky. And I wanted to p-play with it!!" she wailed. James looked down at the little girl and racked his brains to try and figure out how to get her to stop.
" There, there. Don't cry. How would you like it if I went and got you another balloon?" James asked. May stopped sniffling and looked up at him with big eyes.
" You'd do that for me?" she questioned. James smiled.
"Of course! But we better hurry before the store closes." he said. May wiped her eyes on her sleeve and then got up. With an 'ok' the 2 were off to the store. As they passed James's 'group', they laughed.
"Aww, look at James and his cute little girlfriend. Aren't they adorable?" they mocked. James ignored the teasing and hollered as he and May passed them "I'll catch up with you guys later! I have an errand I have to go do."
When they got to the dollar store, May's eyes got big and bright. She ran over to where the balloons were and immediately chose the red smiley balloon, almost identical to the one from before. May pointed to the balloon, and the salesman got the balloon down and began pumping it with helium. Then, with May's eyes watching carefully, he handed it to James. He looked down at the May; who was at the moment chattering away about how excited she was to get a new balloon, and chuckled.
" Cute little sister you've got young man." he said.
" Oh, no sir. She's not my sister, she's…." but he was interrupted when the man waved his hands toward the cash register to pay for the balloon. While they were walking over there, May was talking at hyper speed.
" Thanks so much James for doing this! It's gonna make me so happy! To think, today I get a new balloon and a new friend." she chirped. But she continued rambling on as 6 year olds often do. " But not a boyfriend, cause boys have cooties!" she said, wrinkling her nose.
James laughed as he dug out his wallet to pay. He handed the balloon to May and gave the money to the cash register person. Walking out of the store, he gave May his final instructions.
" Now, May, I don't want you to lose this balloon, so listen carefully." he said. May stopped talking and looked up at the blue haired boy and nodded solemnly.
" Now, here. To keep you from losing this balloon, I'm going to make it a bracelet. But you have to promise me that when you get home, you tie it up to your bed post so you don't lose it." he instructed.
May nodded. " Ok…" she said. " But James, will I ever get to see you again?" she asked. James grimaced, if he continued playing with May, he might not have any friends. He may be able to stand up to Jessie, but not the whole gang. " I'll try May. But I don't know if I can." James said slowly.
Tears sprang up in May's eyes but she nodded. " Ok. Bye James. Thanks for being my friend." she said, and she gave him a big hug and ran down the street.
When May got home, she told her parents all about her day: Losing her balloon, meeting James, James buying the balloon. When she was done, her parents smiled at their daughter.
" Sounds like you had an exciting day pumpkin." her dad said as he flipped open the newspaper. Her mom went into the kitchen to start making dinner.
" Yup!" she said nodding, " and if I ever see James again, we're going to get married! But not until I'm a lot bigger, cause right now he has cooties." Her father laughed and just muttered " I bet he does." I wonder what he's doing right now, May thought.
James slowly walked towards the playground with his hands in his pockets. When he got back to his 'group', he went over by Jessie. Noticing him, Jessie looked at him and smirked. " Have fun with your puny little girlfriend?" she mocked. James glared at her, and his only reply was:
" She'd make a better girlfriend then you."