Sorry this is so very long! But it's good I swear.

Kid Ryley

Five year old Ryder jumped up and down his front porch. Yesterday he had gone to his best friends house after wanting too the entire school year and now they had the chance to play all summer without any of the other kids to bother them and tease them for being friends. But now they had all the time to play almost every day for the rest of the summer. His best friends house wasn't very big. It looked like a shoe box with a bathroom and two bedrooms on the first floor.

His best friend was going to sleepover tonight and tomorrow night. Maybe a third if her Mommy said it was okay. Only Marley had to sleep in his older sisters bedrooms, which was fine with him since he would still see her in the morning.

"Mommy! When is she coming!?" Ryder called for his mommy. "Mommy? Mommy!"

Mrs. Lynn came outside in her blue nightgown and pink robe, her eye covering mask lifted right above her eyebrow. "Ryder, it's four in the morning. She won't be over here until nine, honey."

"But mommy! She's my bestest friend!" Ryder whined. "She has to come over, right now!"

"While your in your Batman jammies?" Mrs. Lynn laughed. Ryder looked down and saw himself in his PJ's still. "She'll be over here later. Now go back to bed and I'll wake you up around seven. That'll give you time to eat and get ready for your play date."

Ryder sighed as he took his Mommy's hand and was led back inside of the house and back to his room. Ryder pretended to sleep until he was sure his Mommy was gone and then proceeded to sit up and sneak downstairs to watch TV.

Hours later after breakfast and watching TV for a while Ryder was sitting on the couch in the AC room when the doorbell rang. "I got it, Mommy!" Ryder yelled as he ran to the front door in the other room. Ryder turned the doorknob and opened it, finding his best friend standing there. "Hi Marley!"

"Hi Ryder!" Marley greeted. Marley had on a pink dress with her long brown hair tied in a braid and her sneakers. She turned around to a car and waved, "Bye Mommy!"

"Your Mommy dropped you off? I thought your Daddy was going too." Ryder commented.

"Daddy had to go out early this morning. He left a note for Mommy this morning on the counter." Marley said.

"What'd it say!?" Ryder got excited. "I like notes! Mommy writes me a note for lunch every day of the year!"

"I know," Marley giggled. Ryder then noticed that Marley stopped and had a frown on her face, then she picked it back up with a grin. "We switch lunches everyday. Daddy always made me a note for the lunch Mommy made me. And the note said something like ' I can't do this.' So that must of meant that he couldn't drop me off. Mommy was said at first but then she said we'd could go on without Daddy."

"Wow your smart! Your smarter than most other five year old kids in our class!"

"Thank you." Marley smiled. "Daddy told me last night that tomorrow night, which is tonight, that we could go get ice cream."

"Lucky!" Ryder yelled in smiles. "Maybe your Daddy will pick you up." Ryder smiled.

"I hope so." Marley said. "Ryder i have to go potty."

"Come on it!"

-X-X-X-X-

Marley walked inside and saw how big Ryder's house was. Five times bigger than her home. "Wow Ryder, your house is bigger than mine! Are you rich?"

"I don't think so?" Ryder questioned. "Follow me!"

Marley followed him further into the house and looked on all the walls. Ryder's family had a picture on every wall of them in their matching clothes. She saw his entire family in a photo near the end of the hallway. It was a picture of Ryder, his Mommy, his Daddy, his three older sisters; Susan, Karen and Jessica (Ryder had said Susan and Karen were both 16 and Jessica was eleven) and his Mommy was holding his baby brother Brandon. The family was dressed nice in their nice clothes.

"Where's Brandon?" Marley asked.

"Sleeping still. That's all he does. Sleep, eats and poops in his diapers." Ryder said. Marley began to laughed when he finished that. "What? He's true."

"Nothing... I didn't know Brandon was a poopyhead!"

"Hey!" Ryder turned and faced Marley. "Brandon is not a poopyhead!"

Marley frowned. "I'm sorry."

Ryder grinned. "Karen is a poopyhead!"

They both laughed.

"Here's the bathroom. I'll go find us snacks in the kitchen!" Ryder smiled.

In the kitchen Ryder pulled out a box of crackers. Ritz, as they were Marley's favorites, and went to the fridge to get cheese and apple juice boxes. He turned around and saw his two older sisters walk into the room. Susan and Karen grabbed the plate of crackers and start leaving.

"Those are my crackers!" Ryder yelled as he ran over. "My crackers! Those are for Marley and me!"

"Oh, for you and your little girlfriend?" Karen teased him. "Susie, Ryder has a girlfriend!"

"Aww, my baby brother has a girlfriend!"

"Stop it!" Ryder yelled.

But they didn't stop. "Ryder and Marley sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love, then comes marriage, then they come with the baby carriage!"

"Stop it!" Ryder yelled. "Marley is not my girlfriend!"

"Whatever. Here's the crackers." Susan handed him the plate back. "It's hot out. If Marley has her swim suite, you should go swimming."

His sisters left. Ryder finished making the food then went to the bathroom to find Marley.

-X-X-X-X-X-

Marley was still in the bathroom, but was crying over the sink. The knock scared her and she turned the faucet off. Marley wiped her face with her hands then went to the bathroom door. Ryder stood there with a grin. "Hi..were you crying?"

"I bit my tongue." Marley lied. "It hurted rally bad, but I'm okay now." She said as she picked up her play bag. "What's for a snack?"

"Cheese and crackers! And then we can go swimming after lunch!"

"Mommy says we have to wait a while before we swim." Marley told him.

Ryder paused for a moment, then grinned. "I'll ask Mommy to make us lunch! That way we can go swimming now and eat later."

"Okay." Marley smiled. "I love PB and J sandwiches."

"I'll ask Mommy while you change!" Ryder said. He then ran from the hallway and upstairs to his Mommy and Daddy's bedroom. His Mommy was finishing brushing her hair at her vanity stand. "Mommy!"

"Yes Ryder?" Mrs. Lynn turned around to face her son.

"Can you make Marley and I PB and J's for lunch a while? Marley and I are going to go swimming."

"Is Daddy in the yard?"

"I don't know."

"I'll make sure he's out there with you kids. And I'll make the lunch for you and your girlfriend. "

"She is not my girlfriend!" Ryder whined in annoyance as he went down the hall to put his trunks on.

-X-X-X-X-X-

"Cannonball!" Ryder yelled as he jumped into the pool. Marley and him couldn't go too far in the deep end, but far enough so that their feet was barley touching. Ryder had these long noodle shape floats as well as ducky floats to grab and float with too. "Let's race Marley."

"No, I don't want to swim." Marley said. "When's lunch?"

"I don't know!" Ryder said.

"I want my lunch! Now!" Marley yelled.

"Someone's a cranky-panky." Ryder commented. "Come on Marley, let's make a whirl pool!"

"No!" Marley yelled, stomping her foot. "I wanna go home!"

"Why?" Ryder asked her.

"I wanna go home!" Marley cried again. "I wanna go home to my Mommy!"

"But why?" Ryder didn't understand why his best friend wanted to leave now. She just arrived a while ago. "Do you wanna play something else?"

By now Marley was close to tears. "I just wanna go home!"

Ryder swam over and got out of the pool. "Marley...please don't go. I don't want you to go. Why do you wanna go home?"

"I'm not telling you! Your not my friend!" Marley cried. "You said it yourself! You don't wanna be friends with me!"

"Marley your my best friend!" Ryder exclaimed in shock. "Your my best friend."

"No! You said it yourself! I'm not your girl friend. We're not friends, fine!" Marley yelled. "You've been saying it all morning and I just ignored it. Now we're not friends anymore, Ryder!" She had tears down her face. "You don't wanna be my friend, and Daddy doesn't want to be friends with Mommy or me either!"

Ryder stood there confused. "Your Daddy doesn't want to be friends with you or your Mommy?"

"No!" Marley cried. "Mommy said that Daddy doesn't want to be our friend anymore and that Daddy wasn't going to come back! I want my Daddy to come home! That's why I'm sleepover here for a few nights so that Mommy and figure things out since Daddy left."

Ryder felt terrible for his best friend. She was still his best friend, whether she said it or not, and he wanted to make her happy. "You can have my Daddy. Karen can have your Daddy."

"I want my own Daddy!" Marley cried. "I'll be the only kid in school without a Daddy."

"I think those two kids at school have a Dad that left them...Jake and his older brother...and I think that older kid in fifth grade, with Jake's brother, also had no Daddy growing up."

Marley stopped crying. "Really?"

"Yeah, you know that reading buddy program we have? The fifth grade kids read to us? That Finn Hudson guy is mine and he said his Daddy wasn't around either. And Jake told me his Daddy wasn't around for him and his brother and sister either."

"So...I'm not alone?" Marley gave a hopeful grin.

"Nope. And your my best friend...my sisters just meant a girl who kisses a lot on the lips to their special guy. At least that what Jessica told me."

Marley smiled. She wasn't the only kid in school with no Daddy now, and Ryder was her best friend. "Okay, we're friends again."

-X-X-X-X-X-

A few nights later after dinner while waiting for her Mommy to pick her up, Ryder and Marley watched her favorite Disney movie; Sleeping Beauty. For the past few days, to make her feel better, Ryder did everything Marley wanted to do. He didn't mind it though.

"I love this movie!" Marley smiled.

"I like when Phillip slays the dragon head!" Ryder said.

"Oh, my favorite part is coming up!" Marley grinned as she jumped in her seat. "He's going to wake her up."

"Ew! Kissing!" Ryder made a disgusting face.

Marley turned to face him. She poked his shoulder and when he turned to face her, she leaned in and kissed his lips. She giggled when she pulled out and returned to the movie in time to watch the kiss.

"Ew!" Ryder yelled.

"Now we're boyfriend and girlfriend!" Marley giggled.

Aww do did you see what I did here? Ducky! and also making Marley's father absent (sadness).

Thank you, KlaineForeverLover07 for the review.

Day 3 Hint: Art.