Her red hair braided into two low pigtails that matched to color of the falling leaves, Eleanor Nash looked around the yard at the multitudes of running children and clutched her black Power Rangers lunchbox tighter to her chest. She looked up when she felt a soft push to her back and found her mother smiling down at her.
"Come on, Eleanor, let's go meet the principle."
The young girl shook her head, her hair whipping around her face to emphasize her point. Her mother looked a little mad and a little amused, and she didn't know what to make of it, but when her father started walking over to another adult, the redhead tagged along. She tried to smile at the imposing man, but for the rest of the adults' conversation, she found herself looking around again in wonder at all the other children, laughing and playing, worry free.
She was not ready for kindergarten. She knew because the day before, she had taken all of the paper clips out of her father's desk draw and tried to attach them to post-its, but just ended up scratching the color off of the notes and getting them stuck everywhere. As her parents talked about boring things like money, Eleanor wandered off toward the swings, where a boy was pushing a blonde girl up and down. When he saw the newcomer, the boy ran up to her and introduced himself.
"I'm Gavin!"
The redhead smiled, but looked past him to the girl with a pink ribbon in her hair. She was beautiful, Eleanor thought. Her ribbon matched the color of Kimberly the Pink Ranger's suit. Maybe they could be friends. The blonde girl jumped off the swing and asked Gavin why he stopped before she noticed the other girl.
"Hi, I'm Paige."
Eleanor scratched her arm nervously.
"What's your name?" Paige prompted.
"Eleanor."
"I like your hair. It's red."
"Thanks."
Paige looked up suddenly as her mother called to her.
"Gotta go. See ya later, Ellie!"
Watching the pink ribbon fly out behind her as Paige ran, Ellie thought that maybe she was ready for kindergarten after all.