Welcome to my AU series Tree!Tots. In this series, Evan and Connor are about seven years old. And if you are in the United States, that makes them in about second grade. Yes, I know that Evan and Connor's story didn't happen this way. This is all just a little bit of fun. I don't own the characters mentioned in this story but I do own these Tree!Tots. Thanks for reading!

"Boys and girls, we have a new student in our class."

Evan lifted his head from where he had been staring at his notebook, and looked up toward his teacher Mrs. Phillips. Standing in the front of the class next to his teacher, was a boy that Even had never seen before. He looked to be about his same age, only a bit taller then Evan, but the only difference, was that this new boy certainly didn't look like anyone Evan had ever seen before.

"This is Connor Murphy. Connor and his sister Zoe just moved here, and today is their first day of school. Can we all say hello to Connor please?"

The class let out a mumbled greeting before tuning out what else their teacher had to say; everyone except Evan that is. Connor wasn't like anyone else that Evan had seen at his school, and in fact like no one he had really seen in town either. Connor had long hair that just grazed his shoulders, and he was wearing a sweatshirt that looked two sizes too big on him. Evan wasn't sure why, but as Mrs. Miller continued to introduce Connor to the class, he was fascinated by watching the new boy twist and knot up the sleeves of his sweatshirt in his hands.

Although Evan couldn't see what shirt Connor was wearing, he knew it had to be black by the small sliver of fabric that hung on display near the bottom of his oversized sweatshirt. But somehow the thing that confused Evan the most was the fact that Connor had nail polish on his fingernails. Evan had never seen a boy with nail polish, and in fact all he wanted to do at that moment was ask him, why. And why some of his nails didn't have polish on them, and why other fingers looked like the polish had chipped away. Evan had so many questions, and he could barely contain his excitement by the question that his teacher asked next.

"Boys and girls, I have a very important job for someone in this class. Would someone like to be Connor's special buddy for the next few days, and show him around our school? It would be a great way for Connor to make a new friend."

Before Mrs. Phillip's had even finished her speech, Evan had his hand in the air, waving enthusiastically at his teacher. Although the idea of a new friend made him nervous, getting the chance to ask this stranger all his questions currently racing around in his head, made Evan feel so excited.

"Evan, I hoped you would raise your hand," she said kindly," Why don't you take a seat next to Evan. He will help you get settled in. Welcome to our class Connor."

With a gentle nudge, Connor was pushed toward the empty seat next to Evan. No one ever sat next to Evan in class, and he liked it that way, but for now, Evan would let Connor sit next to him. Once the boy was set in the small plastic blue chair, Evan waved his hand enthusiastically, and then held it out to the new boy.

"Hi Connor. I'm Evan Hansen."

Much to his surprise Connor didn't take Evan's hand right away, and instead stared back at him with a look that made Evan feel a little uneasy inside.

"You smell funny." Connor replied

Evan chuckled as he withdrew his hand from Connor's space.

"Yeah, it's some sunscreen my Mom makes me wear. But I don't know why she made me wear it today because it is so cloudy outside. But I guess that you can get burned without sun right? I don't know. I don't know why it smells so funny. I guess I kind of got used to it. Hey, now that we're friends, maybe you will get used to it too. Maybe I can share some with you tomorrow. Would you like that?"

Connor's face didn't move as the words spilled quickly from Evan's mouth, and the not so interesting facts about his sunscreen.

"We're not friends."

Evan's eyebrows knitted together, and his smile fell suddenly. Although he was used to people being unkind to him, he didn't know what he had done to Connor to make him mad.

"Well not yet right? I don't have a lot of friends at school, but I think you and I can be friends. We can get to know each other today, and then before you know it, we can play at each others house, and I'll show you the tree swing that I have in my backyard. It is so cool!"

"I told you. We're not friends. I don't need any friends Evan."

Evan turned around in his seat, so that he was now completely facing away from Connor and lowered his head down back toward his notebook.

"Oh. Okay. Well.. if…if you need anything, just ask me." Evan replied quietly

And just like that, Evan had lost another friend. It wasn't anything new for the young boy, but deep inside, he had a tiny glimmer of hope that maybe Connor would be different then all the other kids at his school. Just maybe.

"Evan?"

Evan lifted his eyes to look at his teacher who was now kneeling near his desk.

"Yes Mrs. Phillip's?"

"It's almost lunch time, and time for you to go see the nurse. We will meet you in the cafeteria okay?"

Evan nodded and hopped out of his chair. As he turned away from his desk, he stared straight ahead toward the door, and didn't see Connor watch him as he walked away from where the two boys had been sitting.

"Okay. Thank you Mrs. Phillip's."

Once he was outside of his classroom and the door shut, Evan promised to try and hold in his tears until he got to the nurse's office. The other kids in his class had seen him cry plenty of times, but Evan didn't feel like letting everyone else in the school see him cry today. Evan felt like the luckiest boy in the whole school sometimes to have his own Mom as the school nurse. Although he got teased about it at first, the kids had stopped bothering him about it for now, and had found someone else to pick on. Today was one of those days that Evan was glad that his Mom was there; she wouldn't care if he cried.