She quietly walked home, down the narrow sidewalk by a nearly dead street. She was supposed to wait in the house or on the porch when her mother was away at work, being in second grade, but it was beautiful outside. Plus she didn't want to sit around with her stepfather and watch TV or stare outside today.

"What's your name?" She looked over to see a tanned, braided boy walking beside her. She didn't even notice he was there until he spoke.

"…I don't know you." She replied in hardly a whisper and opened her small bag of Gummy Bears she got from the corner store that was down the street from her house.

"Tch, so?" He arched his brow and watched her eat the candy slowly.

"So I'm not supposed to talk to strangers." She replied, staring at her feet as she walked alongside him.

"Well I'm not a stranger, I'm Hiten, where'd you get the money for that?" He asked, pointing at her bag of gummies.

"My couch." She mumbled and glanced over at him. "Why are you following me home?"

"I'm not." He scoffed and she blinked. She had seen this boy before; he was in the grade below her at her new school.

"My name's Abi." She looked up to meet his gaze.

"Oh…" He looked to his feet now and remained silent until they were at her porch where they both stopped.

"Thank you for walking me home." She smiled sheepishly to him and fidgeted with her feet. She hadn't been able to make too many friends since she had moved here.

"I didn't walk you home…I was bored so I followed you." He rolled his eyes and avoided her gaze. She frowned a bit and he did the same when he glanced over to her.

"Well…thank you anyway." She pecked his cheek and ran up her steps and inside her front door, looking back once to wave before shutting the door. He stared blankly and waved back absent mindedly until she was in the house.

"….Abi." He whispered and smiled to himself smugly.