Role-play:

He had been hunting his prey for an age, watching her as she went about her routine. Now, silently and still unseen in his hiding place, he watched her hanging up laundry and felt the bloodlust rising in him. He shifted, gathering himself, waiting until her back was turned as she bent to pick up something out of her basket before he leapt out for the kill...

'Owwwwww!' shrieked Ashley, nearly startling Mrs Lucas out of her skin. Rushing over to the home corner, she found the dainty little blonde girl in tears, clutching her arm, a huddle of wide eyed pre-schoolers nearby and the likely cause of all the uproar on his own to one side, looking distinctly uncomfortable with the fuss. 'What on earth is going on over here?' she asked, hands on her hips, waiting for someone to explain. 'Rum bited Ashley on tha arm!' answered David, his small face looking solemn. 'He hided in the dress ups and jumped out on her!' added Mary Margaret, from her hiding place halfway behind him. 'It that true, Cameron?' Mrs Lucas asked the solitary little figure in front of her. 'Yes, Granny. I was trying to eat her.' he mumbled, staring at the floor from underneath a hat, one foot scuffing the floor in front of him. Mrs Lucas, known by all the children as 'Granny', was stunned. 'Why on earth would you want do that?' she said blankly, moving to check that no real harm had been done to the little girl. A red mark was forming, but no lasting damage seemed to have been done. 'I'm being a cannable, Granny. So I have to eat people!' he explained, sounding aggrieved.

Granny sighed. Cameron Francis Gold was a very bright boy, from a difficult home. The other children at the nursery, with all the natural instincts of small children to root out anything different from them, either feared or teased him which meant that he was often left to play on his own. Which, in turn, mean that he usually ended up in trouble somehow. Although quite where he'd found out about cannibals, and why he thought one would wear some kind of cowboy hat was a mystery to Granny.

'Oh Cameron, you know the rules. Go and sit in the thinking corner for 5 minutes while I look after Ashley.' She guided the little boy over to the seats in the corner, before returning to the still sobbing girl.

Cameron sat and sulked. He saw Regina smile nastily at him, pulling faces from across the room. He knowing that if he did the same, Granny would see and he would be in even more trouble. It wasn't fair. No one would ever play with him, so he had to play on his own, which always got him into trouble. He didn't like most of the other kids at pre-school anyway. They weren't as clever as him; they couldn't even say his name properly. They all called him 'Rum', and now even Cameron thought of himself that way. He most especially didn't like Regina. They had been friends when she started at pre-school, but now she was mean to him, and made fun of him. On the other hand, Regina was mean to everyone, especially Mary Margaret. She said when Mary Margaret started at pre-school, she took the place of Regina's friend Daniel, so now he couldn't come back. Regina always tried to get Mary Margaret in trouble, but it didn't usually work, whatever happened to Mary Margaret, David always found out and helped her.

Rum quite liked David and Mary Margaret. When he played with David and Mary Margaret, sometimes Emma and August and Ruby and Archie would play too. Rum didn't mind them much. And sometimes David stopped the other kids from teasing him. He said it wasn't fair. David was always fair, but sometimes it meant he broke the rules. David said that some things were more important than rules. Rum wasn't sure. Rum thought rules were really important. Rules made sure that everyone knew what was going to happen. Knowing what was going to happen kept you safe. Rum didn't always know what was going to happen at home, so he always liked to know what was going to happen when he played.

He knew he made up the best games to play, but people would only play them with him when they had run out of other options. They said he kept making up new rules so he always won. He didn't make up new rules; the others just didn't listen properly when he told them to begin with.

It felt like he had been sitting in the corner for hundreds of years. When he started to look around for Granny to see if his 'thinking' time was over, Rum was abruptly knocked off his chair and onto the floor, someone else landing flat on top of him before scrambling off. He sat up cautiously, looking at the newcomer to his dark corner. A short blonde wig was perched haphazardly on top of a long, curly brown ponytail. Big, bright blue eyes looked right back at him. The mouth underneath smiled at him, revealing a missing tooth. Her red jumper was torn, and one of her shoes was missing. She was even tinier than he was, and he knew he was too little and skinny. Rum felt his mouth start to smile back cautiously in response.

Rum knew about Belle French. She was smart too. She could read really well already, she was good, and kind, and she was really brave. Once, she kicked Victor Whale so hard between the legs when he tried to make her play 'Doctors' with him that he had have an ice pack and miss out on outdoor play. Ruby and Mary Margaret and Emma had been really pleased about that.

'Why are you wearing that on your head?' he asked, confused. 'I'm a sassin' she announced, 'this is my disguise.'

'Girls can't be sassins,' he said, 'sassins are all boys.'

'I can too be a sassin if I want to be!' she said, pulling away from him, her face clouding. 'Nobody tells me what I play but me!'

Rum swallowed nervously when he saw her getting angry. He liked her smile. It made him feel nice inside. People didn't smile at him much. 'I'm sorry,' he said 'I s'pose girls can be sassins if they really want to'. He offered her a piece of the biscuit he had saved in his pocket from morning snack time.

Belle smiled at him again, taking the biscuit and sitting down right beside him. His tummy was dancing around, and his arm tingled nicely where it was pressed against hers. 'Why are you in the thinking corner?' she asked, leaning against him.

'I bited Ashley on the arm' he confessed. 'I was being a cannable.'

'Why?' she asked. Rum was confused. Belle was pretty, and good, she wasn't in trouble all the time like him and she had lots of friends to go and play with. Why was she still here with him?

'Just 'cause' he said cautiously, unwilling to take the risk that this wasn't a trick, and that the other kids weren't waiting for her to tell them so they could tease him about it later.

'You're silly!' she laughed, and Rum giggled too. They smiled at each other again. Belle had laughed and smiled because of him. He felt kind of dizzy at the thought. 'Who else were you playing with?' she asked. 'No one' he said, trying to shrug like he didn't care, 'no one wanted to play it with me.'

'I'll play it with you!' Belle said. 'You be the cannable, and I'll be the sassin. We can play together!' she stood and held out her hand to him. 'Come on!'

Rum looked at the hand she held out to him in awe. Belle smiled at him again. Suddenly he didn't feel so small and lonely anymore.