"Mommy, can I please go out and play?" A small girl asked her mom.

"Okay, Sadie. But only if you're back before lunch." Sadie's mom said. Sadie giggled and ran outside to play. Sadie went over to her neighbor's house to see if her best friend could play with her. Sadie strained to reach the doorbell on her neighbor's house. A little boy answered the door.

The boy sighed. "What do you want, Sadie?" he asked.

"Hi Noah! Do you want to play?" Sadie asked.

Noah, who was holding a book, entitled 'How to Hotwire North American Motor Vehicles,' groaned. "Sadie, you come over every single day. Every day. Can't you just leave me alone for once?"

Sadie looked sad. "B-but don't cha get lonely?"

Noah laughed. "Are you forgetting that I have eight siblings? It sounds like you're the lonely one. Now go play somewhere else!" Noah slammed the door in Sadie's face.

"N-Noah!" Sadie cried. She ran home crying and ran to her room. Her mother went to check on her.

"Sadie, what's wrong?" she asked.

"N-Noah is m-mean!" Sadie cried. "I don't have friends!" Her mother smiled.

"Sadie, did you know that there's a new family moving next door?"

"R-really?" Sadie cried.

"Yep. And I hear they have a girl your age."

"I wanna meet her!" Sadie yelled with glee.

"Let me get my purse. Then we can go." Sadie's mom left and Sadie ran to her front door.

"Why do mommies always take their purses with them?" Sadie said to herself. Just then her mother appeared and led her to the house next door. Sadie was bobbing up and down with excitement. She was going to have a new best friend!

A woman opened the door. "Hello?"

Sadie's mom smiled. "Hi, I'm Angela Mitchell, and this is my daughter, Sadie." Sadie waved. "We're your new neighbors."

The woman smiled. "How nice of you to stop by! Come in, come in," She said. The house was mainly full of boxes, but there was a small folding table and chairs. Sadie, her mother, and the woman sat down.

"Sorry for the mess," the woman said, laughing. "I'm Jessie Walters."

The mothers started talking and Sadie sat, bored. Soon a little girl walked out of one of the rooms.

"Mommy, have you seen Polly?" the girl asked. She walked over to her mother but she froze when she saw Sadie. "Who's that?" the girl asked.

"Katie, this is Mrs. Mitchell and her daughter, Sadie."

Katie waved at Sadie's mom. "Hi, Mrs. Mitchell. I'm Katie." Katie's mom looked at her.

"What about Sadie?"

Katie scowled. "I don't like her." Sadie's mouth hung open. Without thinking, she ran outside, straight to Noah's house. Sadie started pounding on his door.

"Shut up! I'm coming!" Noah shouted. He opened the door. "Jeeze, Sadie, where's the fire?" he asked sarcastically.

"N- Noah, I- I went to the neighbor's house with Mommy and I wanted to make a new friend that didn't hate me like you do but then she said that she didn't want to be my friend so I ran here even though you don't like me either." Sadie said in one breath.

"Uh, well-" Noah started. He was cut off when Sadie hugged Noah and started bawling.

"No one likes me!" Sadie cried.

"That's not true…. That girl just doesn't know you well… Don't cry…. Sadie, if it makes you fell any better, I'm sorry for slamming the door in you face." Noah said.

"R-really?" Sadie said, smiling through her tears.

Noah smiled. "Yeah. I'm sorry. If you want, I can help earn that girl's friendship," Noah offered.

"Yay! I'm going to have a new friend!"

Noah knocked on Katie's door. Mrs. Walters answered the door.

"Hi, I'm Noah. Me and my family live two doors away from you. My mom said that I should meet neighbors. It boosts self – esteem or something."

"Wow, that's a lot of talk from a little kid," Mrs. Walters said, laughing. Noah laughed too. "Come in. My husband's at work, but my daughter should be in the back yard playing with Polly."

"Polly?" Noah asked. "Is Polly her sister or something?"

Mrs. Walters laughed again, this time slightly harder. "N- No," she said, choking on her laughter. She took a few moments to catch her breath. "Polly's our puppy,"

"Oh," Noah said. He followed Mrs. Walters to the backyard.

Meanwhile, Sadie was hiding behind the porch, just within hearing distance of the door. When she heard Noah's footsteps going to the back yard, she ran to the fence leading to the back yard, struggled jumping the fence, and hid behind a bush.

"Katie, there's someone who wants to meet you," Mrs. Walters said.

"Is it that neighbor girl again? Tell her I don't want to play." Katie said, throwing a ball to her pug puppy. The puppy happily retrieved the dog for her master.

"Hey, I'm not a girl…" Noah laughed. Katie, who currently had her back to Noah, slowly turned around.

"Oh, hi. My name's Katie. This is my dog, Polly." Katie said, smiling.

Noah nodded. "I'm Noah. I live a few houses down." He smiled. "Nice to meet someone with sanity here…."

Katie giggled. "You mean that weird girl that came to my house earlier?"

"Hey now, she's a good person if you give her a chance,"

"Aw, and I thought that I could forget about her…" Katie whined.

"Seriously, I think you two came off on the wrong foot. Did you give her much of a chance?" Noah asked.

Katie was silent. She shook her head. "I guess not."

Meanwhile, Katie's mother was watching – and listening – to this from the screen door.

"Wow, I didn't know that a five-year-old's vocabulary could be so mature,"

Now back to our little tykes. Sadie was still behind the bush.

'Yes!' she thought. 'Noah's talking to her. Now maybe she'll give me a chance!' she squealed, but quickly covered her mouth and giggled softly.

"So come on, Katie, let's go give that Sadie girl a chance," Noah said, holding out his hand to Katie. She hesitated at first, but then she grabbed his hand and smiled.

"Yeah!" She squealed. Katie ran ahead, dragging Noah behind her. He couldn't help but smile. Now that Katie was willing to befriend another girl, Sadie would be bugging him a lot less….

Two Months Later

"Noah… Please don't move…" Katie whined.

"Yeah, Noah, you helped me and Katie become BFFFLs," Sadie cried.

Noah smiled, but he had a sad look in his eyes. With his help, Katie and Sadie were inseparable. Even Polly couldn't compete with Sadie for Katie's friendship. Dogs, after all, were man's best friend, but, Katie wasn't a man. Now Noah was moving, and Katie and Sadie couldn't bear the news.

"It's okay, girls. You still have each other," Noah said.

"But who will you have?" Sadie cried.

"Yeah, you won't know anyone in your new town." Katie whined.

"Are you forgetting that I have eight siblings?" Noah said, smiling towards Sadie. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go. Katie, look after Sadie for me. And Sadie, don't bug the new neighbors. They might sue or something."

Sadie giggled, but her eyes were tearing up. "Bye, Noah. I'll always remember you!"

That, of course, wasn't the case.

Katie and Sadie always knew that someone, other than themselves, helped their friend ship start. But they eventually forgot, not even recognizing the person responsible when they arrived at Camp Wawanakwa…