Summary: Danielle tells her new first-grade class something she shouldn't have.

A TRUE FRIEND

"I'm gonna win the race when we get outside," Kyle bragged to the class. We were cleaning up our tables for lunch and recess. At the beginning of the week, Kyle challenged all of us to a race. He thought he was fast.

"Stop being so mean, Kyle," Miranda spoke up. She didn't like it when Kyle bragged. Actually, she didn't really like Kyle at all.

"Class, that's enough. Finish cleaning and then line up for recess," Mrs. Johnson said. I liked Mrs. Johnson.

"Come on, Danielle. I bet you'll come in second," Kyle whispered to me as I finished putting away my notebook. Kyle was wrong. I was going to come in first. I raced with my brothers all the time. They said I was the fastest human they knew.

"Alright, I know you all are planning this race," Mrs. Johnson said before she walked us to the lunchroom. "I just want you all to know to be careful and safe while you're racing. Also remember that winning doesn't matter because in the end, what is it all about?"

"Having fun," the class chorused. Every time we played a game Mrs. Johnson reminded us it was about having fun. She didn't even keep score. The only winners were the people who had fun.

"Good, now let's go eat some lunch!" She smiled. She was my favorite teacher at Chapman Elementary School. She was very nice.

Lunch took a long time. I sat next to Kyle, who brought a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He also brought Oreos, so I traded five of my grapes for one. Mommy packed me a tuna sandwich today, which Rosalie didn't like because it smelt really bad. I didn't like the smell either, and I was only a human. Still, I really liked tuna. Especially when Mommy put cheese on it, like she did today.

"Did your mom write you another note?" Kyle asked me. I nodded. Mommy always wrote me a note.

"She says to have a great day, and we're going to have pizza for dinner!" I cheered. I loved pizza.

"Lucky," Kyle pouted. "We're having meatloaf."

"That's gross," I chuckled. "I get to eat whatever I want because my family is all-" I quickly covered my mouth. I almost gave the secret away.

"Is all what?" Kyle asked, and I could see the eyes of several other kids from my class looking at me.

"Older than me," I lied. Daddy didn't like it when I lied, but he said that if it was between lying and telling the secret, I had to lie. I wouldn't get in trouble if I lied to keep the secret. "Yeah," I recovered. "I'm the youngest, so I get to choose what we all eat." They seemed to believe me.

"How many brothers and sisters do you have, Danielle?" Hannah asked. I held up five fingers.

"Three brothers and two sisters," I counted. "Rosalie, Jasper, Emmett, Edward, and Alice. Rosalie and Jasper are twins – but they don't look the same like Liam and Lucas do – and Emmett and Alice are brother and sister too. We were all adopted."

"I think I am adopted," Francesca inserted. "I look nothing like my parents."

"But you look like your dad, Danielle," Kyle pointed out. "You can't be adopted if you look like your parents."

"Uh huh," I whined. "My biological mom died and then Carlisle and Esme adopted me. I used to live in Chicago," I argued.

"Sure you did," Kyle teased. He didn't believe me.

"I have different colored eyes than my dad," I stuck my tongue out. "His are yellow and mine are blue. So I have to be adopted."

"I guess that makes sense," Kyle finally believed me. I didn't give out the secret by saying my daddy had yellow eyes, did I?

Suddenly, one of the teachers in the lunchroom began to clap. We responded with our own clapping pattern, the one Mrs. Johnson taught us, and eventually they called our table to line up for recess. Kyle's mom gave him money to go buy an ice-cream, even though it was cold outside. My mom said no when I asked her this morning.

"Are you ready to race?" Kyle asked, his ice-cream already dripping. He should have gotten napkins.

"I'm ready to win," I teased. I almost beat Jasper and Emmett when I practiced yesterday. If I could beat them, I could beat another human. They were fast.

"Yeah right," Kyle scoffed. He was now wearing his ice-cream on his shirt. His mommy wouldn't be happy.

"I can't wait to see you lose, Kyle," Miranda spoke up. She was a few people in front of us in line. "Especially to a girl."

"Who says he's gonna lose to a girl?" Nick added from behind us. He was racing too. "We all know I'm the fastest kid in first grade."

"Well, I'm the fastest in the whole school!" Kyle retorted.

"We'll see about that," I smirked, and we began walking towards the hard top for recess.

"Keep it clean, munchkins," Kyle's older sister Christine said while we all lined up. She was in fourth grade, so she was the referee. "No pushing, no tripping, and no going out of bounds," she pointed at her brother. "The winner is the first person to high-five my hand without knocking me over. Does everyone get it?"

We all nodded. I doubled checked to make sure my shoes were tied, just like Emmett taught me. I did some jumping jacks to show my strength, like Jazzy said to do, and crouched down. I tried to remember what foot I should start off with, but I couldn't. I guessed.

"On your mark," Christine started. "Get set, go!" She called, and we were off. Kyle immediately pushed me to the ground as soon as we started, and I started crying. Of course, no one saw until the race was over, and Kyle ended up winning.

"Are you okay, Danielle?" Miranda asked. She had been watching. "You broke the rules, Kyle!" She yelled at him. "You're a cheater!"

Kyle ran back, and he was smiling. He held a hand out to help me up, but I pulled myself up instead. I didn't want his help.

"Sorry, Danielle," he apologized. "I couldn't lose to a girl in front of my sister. She'd never let me hear the end of it."

"I thought we were friends," I cried. "I don't want to be friends with someone who pushes me down," I walked away from him. Miranda stuck her tongue out and followed me.

"Kyle's a jerk," Miranda told me. "We'll be your friends now," she pointed to Makayla and Madison. I used to think they were mean, but Miranda was being nice to me now.

"You can't call people a jerk, that's a mean word," I told her, wiping the tears from my eyes. I wished my brothers were here to beat Kyle up. They said they'd do that to anyone who made me cry that wasn't them.

"It's only mean if it's not true," Miranda explained. It made sense. "I bet you're pretty fast, huh?"

"I almost beat my brothers yesterday, they're way faster than any human, so I thought if I could beat them, I could win the race," I explained, not realizing I had said too much. Miranda looked to Madison and Makayla and started laughing.

"Do you think your brothers are the fastest in the world?" She teased. Now Miranda was being mean to me. I knew in my head they were. Well, not Emmett and Jasper, because Edward was faster than them, but Edward was. Still, I couldn't say any of that without breaking the secret.

"They're the fastest in my world," I whispered. I wished they were here. I wanted to go home.

"Recess is over, Danielle, we have to go line up," Miranda said, and held out her hand. She was being nice again. I didn't know how to feel around her.

"When you see Kyle, don't talk to him," Madison coached. "You're not his friend anymore. You can't be friends with people who hurt you."

"Yeah," Makayla echoed. I nodded.

I got in line behind Miranda, Madison, and Makayla, and Kyle tried to talk to me. I did what Makayla said and ignored him. My leg still hurt from when I fell, and I ripped my tights. My mommy was going to be sad, and it was all Kyle's fault. I didn't want to be friends with him anymore.

Right before the walkers were dismissed, Kyle came up and gave me a card.

"I know you're mad at me," he explained, "so I made this for you during Art. I hope we can be friends again. You used to be really fun to hang out with."

I wanted to talk to Kyle really badly, but Miranda was watching me. She was on Bus 5, so she was the last to leave. I couldn't talk to Kyle without making Miranda mad, so I took the card and walked away.

"Hi sweetie," Mom smiled when I got in the car. "How was school?"

"It was okay," I said softly, playing with the card Kyle wrote me. I couldn't read that well, so I was hoping Edward would read it with me later. He would know what happened without me having to tell him, because his superpower was reading my mind.

"How did your race go?" Mommy asked. I wished she didn't bring it up.

"Kyle won," I told her. I didn't want to tell her he pushed me down. "I almost told the secret today, I'm sorry," I apologized. Mom looked at me through the mirror.

"What did you say?" She asked.

"I almost told Kyle that you don't eat and I told Miranda you were the fastest. They didn't believe me though, so the secret is still safe," I promised.

"Did you have to lie?" Mommy asked. I nodded.

"A little bit," I told her. She squeezed my knee, and it hurt. She thought it was her fault, though.

"I'm sorry, sweetie!" She immediately let go. "Let's go home, and I'll make you some hot chocolate, how about that? Maybe we can turn this day around," she said. I nodded. I would like that.

After my hot chocolate, I went upstairs to Edward's room and knocked on his door. He told me I could come in.

"You don't have to knock, sillyhead," he chuckled, pulling me to him and tickling me. I giggled, and almost dropped my card.

"Stop it!" I squealed. Finally, he did, and I handed him the card. "I need you to help me read this."

"What is it?" He asked, taking the card. "It better not be a love letter."

"Ew," I shook my head. "That's gross."

"Yeah," Edward chuckled. "It is." I showed Edward in my mind what happened, and he nodded. He understood everything. "I'm sorry that happened to you, bug."

"It's okay. I think the card is Kyle's apology. He was really sad when I told him I didn't want to be his friend anymore," I explained. Edward sighed.

"Friends are tough," he agreed. "I don't know if it's a good idea to be friends with Miranda, though," he grimaced.

"I don't either," I agreed. "But she was nice to me today."

"I'm glad, but Kyle has been nice to you for a while. He just made a sad choice today. Let's see what his card says," Edward began to read. "Dear Danielle. I am sorry I pushed you at recess. Friends shouldn't push friends. I hope we can be friends again. I promise to let you win next time."

"Ugh," I groaned, laying down on Edward's couch. Edward started laughing.

"What's the matter?" He asked.

"I don't want him to let me win!" I complained. That was no fun.

"So tell him you want a rematch, and if he pushes you down again, I'll crush him," Emmett added from the doorway.

"Emmett!" I laughed and ran over to him. He picked me up and spun me around.

"Careful," Edward warned.

"I bet I can beat you today," I squinted. "I bet Jazz will referee."

"I bet you're right," I grinned, but Emmett held up a finger, "About Jazz being referee. There's no chance you're going to win."

"Oh, it's on," I challenged, and wiggled out of Emmett's arms to run to Jasper's room.

Who needed friends when you had the best big brothers in the world?

A/N: Thank you to Adrianna for the suggestion. I took a little bit of a different path, but I hope you still enjoyed the chapter.