I met him on the first day of Pre-Kindergarten, on that fateful day I met my best friend in the world.
"Puuku!- Wake up Sweetie!"
Mommah said melodically to me as she skipped up the stairs to my room.
"Puku! It's time to wake up, today is your first day of pre-k! You're going to make so many new friends!"
Mom opened the door gently, as in her young age had energy and patience. Her eyes widened in shock, but was quickly relaxed once again from recanting her shock.
"Should have known you would already be up, silly Puku~"
"Mommah!"
I yelled as I ran towards my mother's warm embrace. Detaching, mom started toward my bedroom door, expecting I would follow. I scuttled after her and grabbed her hand, walking and swinging arms as we went down the stairs. She went into her closet and held up a jumper with long dog ears in front of me.
"Puppy Suit, yah! That's great!"
Mom's head bobbed down for a second then she looked back up at me a little concerned.
"Puku... It's a rabbit."
"No way, that's a puppy. I like it to be a puppy any way!"
I love love loved it!
Soon enough, I was ready to go and we were off- to school!
Hand in hand with my mother, she led me to my class room and we stopped just inside the open class room. I swung my head in awe, so many kids and it looked exciting! I was so nervous. Suddenly I felt mom hold me, I turned to complete the hug, cheek to cheek. There was a warm feeling running down my face, I jerked a little to see what happened. Mom had dribbles of salty tears in her eyes. Knowing that I saw, she quickly rubbed them away.
"hah, It will fine dear! I will see you after school, okay?" Gave me a kiss on the forehead and left...
I felt a little confused, but I soon shook it off my mind.
Turning my head I began my search for a new friend. Everyone was already playing with one another. Peering and peering, I see a boy with overalls and bawl cut hair do sitting alone at a small round table, it seemed as if he was eating a snack. I took it upon myself to go meet him, sitting in the short pink stool next to him.
"Hey, you... What are you eating?"
I said calmly. He kinda glanced at me and looked down at the table with a cookie gripped in his hands while keeping it in his mouth, as if it was some kind of excuse not to answer.
"... Heeeey- Does that cookie have your tongue? What's your name, want to be my friend?"
He lifted his head stiffly and starred at me for a second. He just kind of slid the cookie, unbitten, out of his mouth, leaving it in an 'o' shape.
"..I'm Ken...You... Want to be friends... wiff me?"
There was a gap between a front and side tooth, where he had lost a tooth, giving him a lisp.
I say
"yah! Friends are great! ... What are you eating?"
Ken answers softly
"A Little Prince Cookie... D-... Do you want one?"
My mouth widened into a huge grin as I took the cookie.
"Wow, thanks cookies are great!"
Who would have known that a cookie would be what began our friendship. Over a few years we grew to be insuperable, especially since it turned out we lived a few houses apart.
One afternoon in the 1st grade, Ken walked over to my house to play.
"Hey Ken, how're you doing? What's up?"
I yelled to him from my front door. He ran towards me tripping over his self a little. Standing right in front of me I observe his stature, he is a little shorter than me.
"I couldn't see you back there, heh."
At this time Ken didn't have any glasses, but I always felt concerned about his vision getting worse. I knew after all, my vision wasn't great either and I was going to be getting glasses soon. I had always envied the color of his eyes, they were such a light and beautiful shade of green. I never felt my eye color was any special, just a brown-green hazel, So I loved seeing his.
"Puu~ku. Guess what? I went to the supermarket with my mom and got to play the capsule machine!"
I looked at him in astonishment and wonder.
"Wha'd you get, Ken?"
He smiled at me while saying
"I don't know yet I wanted it to be a surprise until I came to show you!"
-"Let's open it then!"
He popped it open and tore the plastic wrapping to reveal the prize. Disappointment appeared on his face.
"Aww... It's just a ring and it's pink too... My mom says boys don't like rings and that they are for girls."
With it in his small hand, he glared at the plastic ring. Then he looked at me as if he had an Idea, like a light bulb went off.
"Puku! Puku! You're a girl..., right?"
I nodded with a blank look.
"I want you to have it, so if we were to ever be away from each other, you can remember me!"
He dropped it into my hands. The ring had a dull luster as it was plastic and where a stone would be, was the letter 'B', not that I had any clue as to what the heck B would stand for.
"Oh.. Thanks Ken. "
I smiled brightly at my ring and unknowingly put it on my left ring finger, somehow it felt natural. I flared my fingers stretched out wide, looking at the full visage of it. It was great.
Ken's mom noticed I had started wearing glasses and decided to get Ken checked out, as he was showing signs of weak vision. When I saw his car come home from the doctor I went straight over to see what happened.
Ken got out of his car to greet me, he seemed a little embarrassed. I stared at him in shock.
"Ken, you got glasses! ...B-but why such ugly coke bottles?"
I couldn't really tell with the circles in the coke bottles, but it seemed like he stared at me for a second. Redness flushed all over his face and tears began to flowing in bubbles off of his face. He ran into his house and slammed the front door behind him.
I felt guilty and looked up at his mom.
"I'm sorry Mrs. Ken's Mom, I didn't mean to make him cry."
"He's fine, just go on in and talk to him."
I went on in and talked with him about it.
"Ken... Ken, I'm sorry. Don't Cry."
I then hear a muffled voice nearby.
"...I'm not crying..."~
I gave him a second to bring himself together and he explained...
"Well, it turns out... My eyes are really, really bad. They told me I need extra layers on my lenses, so I could see best I can."
I was sad, I knew that meant I would not be able to see Kens pretty green eyes and more. I felt bad for him too, his mom is very sheltering and lacks fashion sense, she already had Ken wearing 'less than fashionable' clothes. He didn't really notice because that's how he'd dressed forever.
We were geeks [whatever you'd call it], we didn't do what normal kids did, like sports or popular culture. I liked my technology and video games, Ken would play right beside me. His dad... I don't know much about him, but Ken had told me that he is pretty strict and that it didn't matter since his Dad had been deported with the Army. I never really understood why, but Ken always shook and looked as if he was about to cry whenever we spoke of his father, so I didn't ask.
Right after Ken got his glasses, people began to bully him. I always tried to defend him, had gone and alerted authority. They never believed me. Ken decided he never wanted to tell his mom, because he didn't want to worry her, begging me not to tell her myself. He told me if his parents were to know he had been bullied, he would be taken out of school or they would move with his dad.
It all only got so much worse in middle school, which was physical and High School, physical and demoralizing...
I remember many nights crying to myself out of worry. I would think to myself, what if they do something awful to him.
I, myself once was accidentally punched in the gut trying to protect him. It really hurt, but I gave me a feeling as to what Ken was going through. I fell to the ground, holding my stomach.
"Hey you, why'd you get in the way, now you're hurt you stupid bunny girl."
This is what the bully told me, but I couldn't really hear it, as if my ears began filling up, with blood pressure.
Ken fell to his knees next to me, which were already skinned and bruised from the previous day. Blood ran from his nose, down his lip, from where they punched his face.
He held my shoulders,
"Puku...~ Puku! Why did you get in the way?!-"
Crying, another kid kicked his side hard, his frail body smashing against the lockers.
"K-ken!~..."
I began to gush tears.
I stumbled, trying to go help him and a kid pull me back by my hair.
Two other kids dragged Ken into the men's bathroom with a broken glass bottle.
I tried braking free, but the one kid kept yanking my hair back.
"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEE!-"
It was Ken, I had no clue as to what was going on.
Suddenly, a night patrol officer came rushing towards us. The kid who had my hair suddenly called the other kids.
"It's the cops, come on!"
The other two kids came running out, and they all made a run for it. Without a second thought I rushed into the men's restroom to get Ken. Blood everywhere. I stared at him for a second in disbelief, he was awake but severely lacked energy. I felt ill, as if I would throw up. Everything was getting dark. I passed out.
Blur.
Fuzziness.
I felt chilly. I began groping around, there was linen. I made my eyes open, disorientation took effect.
"Huuh.. Whu...what is this..?"
Suddenly conscientiousness aroused me and I remembered what had happened.
"Ken!?"
I hear a voice.
"His condition is not good, but he will live."
It was a doctor, I guessed we were in a hospital.
"Wh-where is he, is he alright? What's wrong?!"
I was crying again. They never told me what was wrong and neither did Ken. Ken told me he could never tell me, that it was too embarrassing.
I decided right then, Ken may leave me, but I can't let this continue as it stands.
I continued to try and protect him as best as I could. I was seriously thinking of a way I could inform his mother.
It wasn't too soon after my own parents had decided to move abroad, for work. I said to them that I was not going to move with them. It is hard to explain, but my parents had already sold our house. I had been Saving my money for college, but I was already glued on my Idea to rent an apartment to stay nearby. My parents were pretty lenient and allowed me to do this.
However, much to my dismay the only apartment I could stay at was just barely out of the school district I was in. I had to change Schools. It felt like nothing was working out for me, but I was still close enough to see Ken. No, I can't protect him from another school! It bothered me all that night before going to the new school.