She walked down the street, picking dandelions and blowing the fuzz into the wind, watching the seeds float off to a new home, and dropping the bare stems in the grass as she meandered down the sidewalk. The weather was beautiful outside. There was a plus side to your senses being heightened. Everything was twice as pungent, twice as sharp, twice as gorgeous. She smiled as she looked up to the sun without feeling a searing pain. Only a warm glow.
She looked out of the corner of her eye. There he was again. He was speaking with his father, and it didn't look good. They were yelling now, and his dad didn't look very happy. She flinched as she watched his father shove him with a bit too much force and her chest ached as she saw him stumble back without a fight. She understood the concept of being a completely different person in front of your parents, but it still baffled her to see his confident façade crumble so easily when struck with the influence of his father's presence.
His father was whispering now. She strained her hearing to pick up the rant he was trying to hold down to an unintelligible murmur.
"I can't believe you were this irresponsible. Now there is no doubt as to what will happen next time the moon is full. God you are so reckless. Pull it together!"
His father was gone now. She saw him alone and took the chance to approach him. He looked broken, head hanging down. She hated seeing him like this.
She entered her friend's backyard and looked about to find him. She had to sneak in, because first grade girls weren't supposed to be friends with first grade boys. It was a rule. Boys had cooties and if her friends knew she was best friends with a boy, then they would think she was infected. She didn't believe in that, but they did so she had to be careful.
He was nowhere to be seen in the large yard. She smiled. Was he hiding and waiting for her to find him? Maybe with a water balloon or water gun possibly. He was going to spray her down and run away laughing and she would chase after him and tackle him to the ground like they did so often. Or he might jump out from behind a tree at any moment and hit her arm yelling "tag you're it!" Her stomach filled with giddy excitement at the possibility of a fun game.
She looked everywhere, but couldn't find him on the ground level. That was strange. He was always here to play with her after school. Unless he was in the house. Then it dawned on her. She hadn't checked the tree house. She smiled as she thought of another fun game they could play. Maybe he was waiting for her to board the spaceship where they would then take off to mars or sail to England as pirates ruling the seas, or maybe even run their own zoo complete with Dragons and Unicorns: Dragons for him and Unicorns for her.
She heard crying. Her smile faded. She didn't like it when people cried. She didn't really know what to do. She almost went back down the ladder, but then she thought: what if it was her friend? She had to find out. It was. She saw him in the corner, knees up and arms across hiding his face, his black hair peeking out from between his elbows.
"Tyler?" she called softly and carefully. He picked his head up to look at her and quickly wiped the tears away from his face and wiped his hands on his worn and tattered jeans. She crawled into the tree house and sat next to him.
"Are you okay?" He looked away, trying to compose himself so that he could smile and say yes. It was too hard though, because he knew that even if he said yes, she would probably put her hands on her hips and say 'That's a lie Tyler Lockwood.' He would deny it and she would say 'everything is okay? Then why were you crying huh?' and he would end up telling her anyways. Instead he stayed quiet.
"Is it your dad again?" she asked quietly. He nodded in silence. She averted her eyes and shifted awkwardly trying to figure out what she could do to make him feel better. She remembered something and her face lit up. She dug into her pocket searching for it.
"Hey," she said, "I found some of these in my house. You want one?" she asked holding out a handful of Hershey's kisses to him. He looked at them and then at her.
"Chocolate always makes me feel better," she offered.
"Are you sure?" he asked. She nodded eagerly, happy to know she helped at least a little bit. He took one and gave her a small smile. She beamed at the reaction. They sat eating the chocolate candies in silence. When they were finished she spoke.
"You want to play pirates to day?" she asked. He grinned.
"Okay."
"Let's go maitee!" she crowed grabbing him by the wrist and pulling him up to his feet. Things always got better when they played.
He felt her gentle hand on his shoulder. He instinctively placed his hand on top of hers, turning his head ever so slightly to acknowledge her presence. He knew it was her. She never did let him get away with sadness.
"Tyler?" He turned to face her in response, trying to force a smile, but knowing that even if he did succeed she would be able to see through it.
"Is everything okay?" he didn't answer.
"You want to take a walk?" he nodded, smiling slightly. She knew him so well. Sometimes he thought she knew him better than he knew himself.
They walked towards the woods and she became her bubbly self; talking about unimportant things to pass the time and make him feel better. They made a pit stop in one of the convenience stores and she bought a few things. They then continued on their walk. It wasn't till they were in the depths of the woods that she addressed the problem.
"Was it your dad again?" she asked, even though he knew she knew the answer. It had been the same ever since he could remember. But as was customary he nodded.
"You want to talk about it?"
"You want to talk about it?" he looked at her quizzically. She'd never wanted to talk about it before. She never asked. What was different now? He shook his head firmly.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes." He stated firmly. He grabbed the basketball from the sidewalk and dribbled it a few times.
"You know keeping things in won't fix anything." She said matter of factly in that way that told him she was always right accompanied by the classic stance with hands on her hips. Even if they were in third grade, he always felt that she was still a lot smarter and a lot older than him in some ways. He hated that.
"So?" he said, not being able to come with anything better, "I don't want to talk about it Caroline!"
"Fine," she said exasperated. He shot the ball up. It hit the rim and bounced off in the other direction. She ran to rebound it and shot it up hitting the backboard but not making it.
"You want to go inside and get some water?" she nodded. Before they went inside she handed him a chocolate kiss.
"I know you like them." She said. He grinned. "Besides,' she said, "it's tradition." He opened the door for her and let her in the kitchen, carrying the basketball under one arm.
"Tyler?" she called to him, bringing him back into focus.
"It's nothing."
"It's obviously something if it's bothering you this much."
"It's nothing," he insisted.
"Tyler," she said, her eyes close to his and searching for answers, "you can tell me."
"I know, but- my dad- he's – I can't tell you. Or anyone." He locked her eyes with his trying to will her to understand. The flicker in her gaze told him she caught his unspoken message.
"Well, if you change your mind, I'm here for ," she said, a sly smile slipping into place, "tradition." He looked down at her open outstretched hand that was filled with chocolate kisses. A genuine smile crossed his lips followed closely by a genuine laugh.
'Thanks," he said taking one.
"I thought you might need them," she said popping a chocolate into her mouth. What would he do without her?