So here we are! A few months later and I have another drabble for you. Sorry for any ...confusment. That's not a word, is it? Ah well, you get my point.
Another big thanks to Crimson Vixen!
Disclaimer: Air Gear is copywrited to Oh!Great. Who is not me.
Best Friend
The boy sniffed. He buried his nose into his arms, looking dolefully across his knees at the other kids on the playground. A gaggle of girls held a mock footrace, collapsing in a fit of giggles at the finish line; some boys played tag on the playground, thwacking each other hard on the back instead of playing nicely; the girls dressed up in cute little dresses shrieked in protest of the sniggering boys pursuing them. The child wished he could join them, huddled in his sheltered corner. He had no one to play tag, have races with or chase after, so he sat alone, watching the others in their mirth. Often he wished it wasn't so; he was lonely.
Out of the corner of his eye, through his mop of tangled blonde hair, the child caught sight of another ring of peers. However, they were not consumed by such innocent joy as the others. There were smiles upon the boys' faces, to be sure, but they were not so benign. He watched, apathetic as the new boy faced the others around him, outnumbered, yet wearing the biggest grin of them all. He was nothing special, with his shock of dark, unkept hair under a hat, but all the kids in his class flocked to him, trying to make friends. The child in his corner was an exception; he stayed put, thinking how nice it would be to be close to someone who seemed so friendly.
Despite the fact that the new student seemed to be winning whatever it was he was fighting, one of the bigger boys suddenly shoved him, knocking him over. His hat fell off. Instead of running to a teacher, like any other might, the dark-haired boy got up and ran to the other, shouting something into his face. Apparently the leader did not like this, and his friends gathered closer.
The cap lay ignored in the dirt.
Before any of the children could do any more, a teacher strolled by, amiably asking why the "young gentlemen needed to be so close to as to count the number of hair on their new buddy's head". This effectively split them up, and the troop moved off, as did the teacher, leaving the boy with the dark hair alone in the yard. Staring off into space, he stood solitary a few moments, then turned to walk away.
The hidden spectator's eyes were still on the abandoned touque; on the new boy; on the hat once more. The blonde child may have been lonely, but he held a sense of justice like any good mother teaches their baby, and could not let this instance slide. Without even thinking, he scrambled to his feet, snatched the woolen hat off the ground, and ran after its owner.
"Umm..." his hesitation attracted the new boy's attention, and he turned. "You... um, you forgot... your..." What had been so simple an action before now seemed silly as his shyness stole his words. He offered the cream coloured touque, discoloured from its aquaintance with the earth. The other boy looked at it, accepted the proffered accessory, and said,
"Are you in my class?"
The blonde nodded silently, and would have been bothered by the fact he had gone unnoticed by the other if it didn't happen so often. Suddenly, there was a pressure on his head, and he looked up, surprised.
The hat was gone from the new boy's hands - it was on his own head. The dark-haired boy grinned.
"Wanna play with me?" Shocked, confounded, he was even more startled when the other child laughed and grabbed his hand, pulling him towards the playground. After a few hesitant steps, he finally understood what had happened. A timid smile danced across his face, and he touched the hat on his head.
He didn't think he would feel very lonely anymore.