A young brunette girl sat on the swings by herself, tears streaming down her chubby 8-year-old cheeks. Today, yet again, none of the other kids had wanted to play with her. They'd chased her away from the monkey bars when she'd tried to join them, shouting that "Lucy Caboosey's too fat to play-she might break the bars!"
Just thinking about it brought on a fresh round of tears. It was because of this that she didn't notice a tiny brunette approaching her cautiously. "Why are you crying?"
Lucy's head snapped up, startled. A girl, probably her age or a little younger, stood in front of her. There was no malice in her eyes, which was unusual, but Lucy knew better than to let her guard down. "None of your beeswax."
The shorter girl was undeterred. "Is it because those mean kids over there won't play with you? They won't play with me either, but that's their loss. They don't seem very nice, anyway, and they're certainly not worth crying over."
Lucy blinked. She couldn't tell if the girl had paused once throughout all of that. When the words finally registered, though, she couldn't help the small smile that spread across her face. "I, yeah, I mean. Yeah. They were teasing me before. I guess I should be used to it by now, though."
The smaller girl shrugged. "I'm always bullied too, because I have two gay dads. I don't think anyone really gets used to it. I just think about achieving my dreams, and that makes it easier. Do you have any dreams?"
Lucy's eyes went wide at hearing that the girl had two gay dads, but her daddy wasn't there so she didn't have to be mean. But then she thought about the girl's question, and shook her head. "No. I just want to have friends."
The smaller girl's face lit up, and for some reason it made Lucy smile too. "Well that's easy! I'll be your friend." She stuck out her hand. "My name's Rachel Berry, and I'm your new best friend."
Lucy's eyes watered, but she refused to look like a total crybaby in front of her new friend. She grabbed Rachel's hand. "I'm Lucy Fabray. It's nice to meet you."
Rachel sat on the swing next to Lucy, their hands remaining clasped.
By sunset, they were inseparable.