Dandelions

The toe of her purple sneaker tore at the sand angrily. She wished that she had super powers so she could burn a hole in it with her eyes. That way, she could push all those mean, stupid girls in her class into it.

She'd had the best show and tell ever - her tiara from the Little Miss Pretty Princess pageant she had won on June 24th. She remembered the day because it was the day before her birthday. She had worn her crown around so everyone would know that she had won, and that made her the princess on her special day. She wanted to feel like she did that day, so when the teacher announced the first show-and-tell of the year, Lauren knew she had to bring her tiara.

Everything was fine. She had done her pageant twirl, even though she didn't have her pretty dress on. She was having fun and all of her friends thought it was so cool. At least until Lucy Fabray and some of her friends called her names and said there were 'no such things as ugly princesses.'

Seeing Lucy laughing with her friends across the playground made Lauren kind of wanted to clobber her - it would've been a fair fight since they were the same size. The only thing stopping her was the trouble she'd get into if she did. Her mom had told her she wasn't allowed to hit anymore because she was tired of having to talk to other kids' parents. But her dad told her to always stick up for herself. Lauren was always confused about who to listen to. All she knew was that giving Lucy a black eye would've made her feel better.

Lauren felt a tug on one of her chestnut colored pigtails and it broke her concentration. Her head whipped around so fast that she caught the other pigtail cut the air and she saw two pointy, elf like ears and a strip of dark hair running away.

Noah Puckerman.

Lauren's tiny fists balls and a scowl overtook her face, her chubby cheeks flaring red. The only person she hated more than those stupid girls was Noah Puckerman. He was always annoying her with something, and he never called her by her name. It was always Zizes, like he was too stupid to understand that that wasn't her name or to remember something as easy as Lauren.

She started to stomp after him, even when he ran outside the playground gate. The rules said that they were not allowed to be outside the gate; it was 'out of bounds.' She did stop for a second, clinging to the fence pole as she watched him run into the big field. Following him would probably get her into so much trouble, but...but she couldn't let him get away. Not after he pulled her hair and made her madder than she was.

When she finally caught up to him, he was sitting indian style. Lauren stood over him, arms folded. "What's the big idea, Puckerman?"

He pulled a dandelion from the ground and held it out to her. Lauren made a face and shook her head. She didn't want his smelly weed. "Get real! You're lucky I can't hit you because my mom told me not to hit anyone."

Puck didn't give up. He stood up and surprised Lauren by putting the little yellow flower behind her ear. "It's not as pretty as your crown was but you still look nice."

Lauren frowned. She didn't know why he was being so nice to her. Especially when they were always fighting, and he was always pulling her hair and calling her by her last name. "No, it's not. But why'd you do that?"

Puck shrugged. "Those girls in class were mean to you and I didn't like it." He pointed to the dandelion. "I would give you a better flower but we would have to go to my house. My mom has really nice flowers in her garden. Want to come over sometime?"

"My mom doesn't let me go over anyone's house if she doesn't know their mom."

"Oh." Puck shoved his hands into his pockets and started looking around. He looked like her saying no to him made him sad. She didn't know why he wanted her to come over to his house but she did feel a little bad for making him feel bad.

"Maybe I could ask my mom anyway."

Puck's head came up. "Yeah? Really?"

Lauren just nodded.

Puck stepped towards her and leaned in to kiss her. It was so fast that Lauren didn't have to kiss him back. Her lips never even got puckered. The feeling of wanting to hit him was back but for a whole different reason.

"Gross! Don't kiss me!" screamed Lauren.

"Why not?"

" 'Cus you're a boy."

"Girls and boys can kiss if they like each other. And I like you."

Lauren shoved him, hard. He stumbled back a little then fell flat on his butt. "Well, I don't like you. So don't kiss me anymore."

Puck was leaning back, his arms behind him, looking like he was mad at her now. "Why don't you like me?"

Lauren just glared down at him. Her mother hadn't said she couldn't kick someone. She only said no hitting. And Lauren was thinking about kicking Puck very hard in his leg because he was being a such a pest. "You always bother me. You always call me Zizes and I don't like it."

Pushing himself up, Puck was standing in front of her again. "Fine. I'll call you Lauren then. I like it better. It's prettier."

He was surprising her and all she could say was, "Okay."

"So you like me now?"

Lauren didn't answer right away. "I guess so."

"Well, that means I can kiss you then 'cus we like each other."

He moved towards her again. Lauren stuck her arms up this time. "No. You can't. You have to be nice to me a lot before I'll let you kiss me again."

Puck's face scrunched up, and it looked like he was trying to think of something just as good as a kiss. "Okay. Wanna be my girlfriend so I can hold your hand?"

Lauren smiled. She'd never had a boyfriend and she didn't really know what having one meant. But she liked Noah calling her Lauren and giving her flowers. He could actually be a very nice boy if he wanted to be and she liked when he was nice to her. That was probably what a boyfriend was, someone who was nice to her. So she stuck out her hand and waited for him to take it. "Sure. I'll be your girlfriend."

They walked back to the playground holding hands and he told Lucy Fabray that Lauren was his girlfriend because she was the prettiest, coolest girl in the whole school. After Lucy stuck her tongue out at him and ran off with her friends, Lauren turned to Puck, who was grinning at her.

"Okay. You can kiss me but just this once."