"Patrick, are you ready for your first day of school?" Janine Jane said kindly to her five year old son, who nodded his head in response. His blond curls, identical to his mothers, bouncing.

"Do you have all of your stuff?" she asked, opening his backpack and quickly checking over everything in there.

"Yeah mum, I got my pencils, pens, colors and ruler and binder and paper and-" he was cut off by his mother laughing at him.

"What's so funny?" he questioned, his big blue eyes glimmering in confusion.

"Nothing, your just growing up so fast!" she said, patting him on the head fondly.

"I grow the same no matter what mum" Patrick said, he looked at her questioningly "Didn't you know that, the only time I get to grow more are on 'jump years'"

"Leap years sweetie, and I know" Janine said with another laugh, she couldn't wait till the teachers met her son, she expected they would enjoy teaching him.

"Howard! Come give Patrick a hug he's about to go to school!" she called to her husband, who came around and hugged his son.

"oh look there's the bus!" Patrick crowed, smiling at his parents he turned and ran out the door, getting on the bus.

"Okay class, please all sit in your desks where your name is" the teacher, whom Patrick now knew was named …he wondered what C standed for.

Each desk had a partner sitting beside them, beside him was a girls name, Patrick shook his head. He hated girls they were always whining and to top it all off, they had cooties!

That girls name was Teresa.

"Hi!" the girl said, Patrick studied her, he was good at that. She had brown hair and green eyes, green was his favourite color, but he wasn't going to tell her that.

"What?" Patrick asked her when she just sat there looking at him.

"Well, you are supposed to say 'Hi' back!" she stated, her voice made it sound like he was an idiot for not realizing that.

"Well, why did you say 'Hi' anyways?" he asked, if she thought he was stupid, she shouldn't have even talked to him!

"because my mom says I should say hi to who ever my partner is, even if it is a boy" Teresa said.

"Well, boys are way better than girls! Boys are strong and they don't cry all the time for nothing!" Patrick argued, he knew lots of girls, and all of them bugged him, his mother had set him up on lots and lots of play dates.

"Well I'm strong and I don't cry a lot" Teresa defended herself.

"Well you're the only girl then, and ALL boys are strong and don't cry" he stated, he was starting to think he wanted to be friends with this girl. And then he realized what he was thinking and shook his head, he couldn't be friends with a girl!

"my little brother is a boy, but he cries lots!" Teresa said smugly "so your wrong!"

"Well, that's because he's stupid like you!" Patrick said angrily, now that the girl thought he didn't like her, she wouldn't know he did like her!

"Your stupid!" Teresa said angrily. Patrick smiled at her and stuck out his tongue.

"Patrick, Teresa, please face the front!" the teacher called to them. They quickly turned around facing the front of the classroom.

"Mom! Guess what!" Patrick yelled as he entered the door to his house, his mom was just finishing cooking dinner.

"What Buddy?" she asked, smiling at him.

"I met a girl today, but she was kind of dumb" he stated, a frown crossing his features.

"Why was she dumb?" she asked, wondering about her son.

"Because she just is!" Patrick said with a defiant stomp of his foot.

"Well that's not a very good reason" his mother said, a hint of anger in her voice.

"I know, it's just…she has to be dumb because she's a girl" Patrick explained to his mother in a patient voice.

"I'm a girl!" his mother said with a laugh, Patrick considered this before answering.

"Well, you're a nice girl because you're my friend!" Patrick concluded.

"Well, why cant she be your friend too?" his mother asked. Patrick thought about the question, all of his reasons not were because she was a girl, but if his mom was a girl and she was nice, maybe Teresa could be nice too.

"Then she will be my friend too!" Patrick proclaimed happily, glad that his predicament had been solved.