Steph sniffed and rubbed her nose on her sleeve. Normally she could handle the shoves she got (it's not her fault people were jerks all the time, she had to make it right) but this one was especially brutal. She stood up shakily, fighting tears the entire time. Steph looked down at her knee and her lip wobbled. She didn't regret it, of course not, but it hurt, and she didn't trust herself to say anything lest she start crying.
And she can't have that.
She doesn't need to add fuel to the fire, her being the smallest kid here in Brooklyn, not to mention that she's asthmatic, along with every other health problem possible (let's just be thankful she didn't have hemophilia, or she'd have passed long ago) on top of that.
"Y' okay?"
Steph started, head jerking up, hands balling into fists. She may be six, but she wasn't stupid (alright, maybe her mother would say otherwise, but back to the point). She turned around, ready to fight, and looked behind her.
It was a girl, same age as her, maybe a year older. She had dark curly hair, some in the cap on her head, and a blue shirt on. She had brown shorts on with holes in them, and brown boots, scuffed with dirt. She smiled toothily, and Steph felt a little self conscious, with her too- big red striped shirt and black shoes.
"Y' okay? I saw them older boys beat y' up, and I got these from my momma."
She held her right hand out, uncovering a wad of gauze in her hand.
Steph's fists unclenched, as well as her jaw.
The girl looked at her, gauging her response. "Well? What do y' say?"
Steph nodded, head bobbing up and down. "Yes, yes please."
The girl brightened and came closer to Steph. "Can y' walk?"
Steph furrowed her brow. Of course she could walk, what kind of dumb question was that? She was about to vocalize her indignation, when she looked back down at her knee.
Oh.
"Don't think so. Not by myself."
She nodded. "Okay. I'm gonna get y' cleaned up real good." The girl moved to her left, put her arm around her middle, and looked up at Steph from under her hat. "Y' ready? We're jus' gonna go to that bench over there, see it?"
"Yeah," Steph swallowed.
"Cool."
The two girls hobbled over to the bench, the dark haired girl smiling, the blonde fighting tears.
She heard her sniffling and frowned. "Aw, come on now, don't cry. See, we're here now."
They disentangled themselves and Steph sat down lightly, careful not to get a splinter on top of her other injuries.
The girl got to her knees and unwound the gauze. "So what's y'r name? I'm Rebecca Barnes, but e'erybody calls me Bucky."
Bucky looked up at her, a large grin displayed on her face.
Steph rubbed her nose once more, then opened her mouth to answer. "I-I'm Stephanie Rogers," she looked at Bucky with a small smile. "You can call me Steph, if you wanna."
Bucky nodded, and tied off the bandage. "Y' bet I will, Steph." She stood up and rubbed her hands on her pants, then sat down right next to her. "Y' know why, Steph?"
Steph shook her her head.
"'Cause we're gonna be best friends."
Steph turned to her, hope lighting in her eyes. "Really? You mean it, Bucky?"
Bucky nodded, and Steph came to the conclusion that she was constantly smiling. "Course I do, y' punk. We're gonna stick together," Bucky thread her arm through Steph's, "'Cause I'm gonna stick with y' 'til the end of the line."
Yay it's so cute I'm dying. Comment!