Prompt: Cosima as a kid with Cosima and Kira meeting.
Pendulum
"Okay, sweetie, are you ready for your first day?"
Cosima looked up at her mom through a pair of glasses too big for her face. After a moment's hesitation, she nodded.
Her mother, sensing her daughter's nervousness, knelt before her and placed a hand on either shoulder. "Cosima. I want you to listen very closely, okay?" She waited for Cosima's nod. "I know kindergarten seems scary now. There are going to be big kids in school with you. It's a lot different from what you're used to. But you know what?" Cosima shook her little head. "You," she tapped the girl on the nose, "are going to be fine. You're smart and fun and kind, and all of the boys and girls in there are going to be scrambling to be your friend. Okay?"
Cosima grinned brightly. "Okay, Mom."
She took her mother's hand and they walked through the large double doors of Cosima's new elementary school.
As soon as they reached the classroom, and Cosima's teacher greeted them with a warm "hello", Cosima cast her mom a glance and said, "Okay, you can go now."
Her mom laughed and leaned to down to give her a kiss on the forehead. "Alright, darling. I'm going. Have a good day."
Cosima waved quickly and rushed off to a table covered with variously shaped wooden blocks. All of the other girls were on the other side of the room, playing with dolls and dress-up clothes, but Cosima wasn't going to let that stop her from building some totally awesome block structures.
By the time lunch rolled around, Cosima realized that making friends wasn't necessarily as easy as her mom had made it sound. It might have had something to do with the fact that she'd stomped on one boy's foot and kicked another in the shin when they told her that building blocks were "boy toys", and none of her classmates appreciated her running up and showing them a caterpillar she'd found on the playground. But still.
It came time for recess, and she was left to sit on the swings by herself. Her fingers curled around the squeaky metal chains. She drifted back and forth, a child-sized pendulum. Her toes dragged over the pebbles that littered the ground below the swing set.
She looked up at the sound of footsteps crunching on the stones. A girl with a pretty, round face and light brown, wavy hair stood with her hands clasped in front of her. "Hi. Can I swing next to you?"
Cosima was taken aback by the question. How was she going to stop her from swinging next to her? "Yeah, if you want to."
"Thanks." She sat down on the swing and pushed off gently. "I'm Kira."
"Cosima."
"Cosima? That's a funny name."
"I know. My mom says she picked it because it's unique."
Kira giggled. "I like it, though. It's fun to say. Cosima. Co-sim-a."
Cosima closed one eye and peered at Kira through one of the holes in the chain on her swing. When Kira saw this, without questioning it, she did the same. Kira beamed at her, and Cosima followed suit.
"Hey, Kira?" She shuffled her feet and kicked at the rocks piled beneath her shoes. "Are we... friends?"
Kira, still studying her through the hole in the swing's chain, paused and seemed to contemplate the question. After a moment, she responded, as if it were the simplest thing in the world, "Of course we are."
"Oh." Cosima returned her eye to the hole in the chain. It seemed to make communication between them more candid. It centered them in a world that no one else could see. "Why do you like me? Nobody else here does." She felt her lips droop.
Kira reached out her hand and grabbed a hold of Cosima's swing so that they swayed toward and away from each other. She shrugged. "Because you let me swing with you, and not just next to you."
Cosima nodded. Made sense.
She stuck her hand into the large pocket of her sweatshirt and pulled out a box of animal crackers. She opened it carefully and offered one to her new friend. "Here, you can have the monkey."