Of Band-aids and Alcohol Wipes
A/N: Tina and Arthur, from the beginning...a series of oneshots, randoming in time and place, but I'll be sure to tell you in the beginning :)
SEPTEMBER 6TH, 1999 (Kindergarten)
A small girl with dark, shoulder length hair waltzed over to the vacant sandbox in the corner of the playground at McKinley Primary School. She set herself down on the bench and began sifting through the sand. It was the first day of kindergarten, and she already felt left out. Degraded for her unusually darker dresses and necklaces, the kids made fun of the bright blue strip of hair that surrounded her right cheek. She sighed and shifted herself so she was a bit more comfortable. Next thing she knew, a plateful of sand was on her new dress, and a spoonful in her mouth. "Haha!" she heard a cruel voice from her right.
She looked up, spitting sand out of her mouth. In front of her stood Noah Puckerman and Finn Hudson. Noah smirked, looking down, as if taunting her to punch him in the face. She merely blushed, wiping off her mouth and continued to brush off her dress. Noah snickered as he ran off to go torment Quinn Fabray. Finn shot the little girl an apologetic look before chasing after his friend. "Don't worry about them, they do that a lot," a voice came from behind her.
She spun on the spot to see a young boy standing there, hands shoved in the pockets of his pants. He had brownish hair that seemed to gleam in the sun. However, she was preoccupied when she saw his eyes. A clearish gray/blue color surrounded a small iris as he stared at her sympathetically.
She laughed. "I guessed that, who are they anyways?" she questioned.
"The one that kicked sand at you was Noah Puckerman, the other was Finn Hudson," he said, gesturing to the two boys who caused the havoc sitting on the bench grudgingly in a time-out.
"How do you know?" she asked.
He smiled bitterly. "Finn lives behind me, and Noah lives to my right."
"Oh."
The sound of the gentle breeze filled the gaps of their silence as they stood together on the edge of the playground. "I'm Arthur, by the way," the boy said suddenly, almost decapitating her with the hand he had thrust out. "Arthur Matthew Abrams, but you can call me Artie," he said proudly.
She took his hand and shook it. "Tina. Tina Alexandria Cohen-Chang," she said, a smile gracing her lips.
He laughed. "Nice to meet you," he said politely. His mom told him never to forget his manners.
She smiled back, "Same to you."
They slipped back into their silence before Artie suddenly tagged her shoulder. "You're it!" he said, a grin plastered across his face.
She laughed. "I run quickly," she reminded him as they chased each other around the play lot.
He threw his head back as he ran, almost forgetting where to run. In the blink of an eye, he lost his footing and went tumbling down the small flight of stairs that lead to the school. Tina stopped running and came to his aid. "Are you okay?" she asked frantically as he pulled himself into a sitting position, wincing with every movement.
"I'm fine," he groaned, leaning against the stairs.
She gently lifted up his pants leg to reveal a shallow cut on his knee. "Ouch," was all she managed to say.
He smiled genuinely, "I'm okay," he assured her, rolling his pants leg back down.
She smiled. "Good."
A deadly silence was cast over them once again as they sat by the edge of the stairs, staring the the blood seeping through Artie's pants. "You should really get that cleaned up," she said a few minutes later.
He shrugged his shoulders. "I guess..."
In an instance he pulled a small first aid kit out of his pocket, it was tiny, but had a few bandages which was just what he needed. Reaching into his other pocket, he found a spare alcohol wipe, warm, but usable. Gingerly, he opened it up, pulling his knee to him. He pressed the wipe to his knee, almost hitting his head off the stair rail as he threw his head back at the sting. Tina winced. "Here," was all she said before she took control.
She knelt before him, and took the wipe from his hand. Gently, she cleaned up his leg, getting all the spots where the blood had dripped down, before tending to the wound itself. She added a slight amount of pressure as she cleaned the dirt away from his cut and tried to ignore the look of pain that had flashed across his face. She continued to clean the cut before putting the wipe under her black, shiny, Mary Jane flats. Opening the band-aid package, she placed a band-aid over the abrasion before giving it a swift kiss for good luck. Artie turned a deep shade of purple as she cleaned up the wrappers, avoiding his eyes. When they finally got the nerve to look each other in the eye again, Artie stammered out, "T-thanks for the help..."
Tina merely smiled at him, patting his shoulder. "What are friends for?"
After this encounter, the recess bell rang and the kids ran inside to their original classrooms. Tina smiled as she watched Artie limp casually into the class on the other side of the hall, before returning to her own.
Artie smiled as he watched Tina enter the classroom across the hall, and he had known she was to be a good friend.
A/N: This one is kind of short, and I didn't really know how to end it, but I though it was kinda sweet overall. Reviews are very welcome, in fact, I'm like Tinkerbell, I need reviews to live ;)