Can you hear me?

8 -year-old James ran down the road. "C'mon, Kendall!"

They ran up to the big tree in the middle of the long stretch of grass on the corner of the neighbourhood. James grabbed onto one of the branches and swung himself up onto it. Kendall stood on the sidewalk, watching him.

James climbed up higher. "Aren't you coming?" he asked, looking down.

Kendall shook his head, making a face. "I don't like heights."

James shrugged. "Suit yourself." He climbed onto the higher branches that were hanging above the sidewalk. He looked back down at Kendall, who was now almost directly below him. "So, did you meet that new kid that moved in three doors down from my place?" he asked.

Kendall shook his head. "I just heard that his name is Logan. My mom called down to see them on Friday after she dropped me to school."

James nodded. "So did my mom! You know, Logan is going to be coming to our school on Monday. My mom said he's going to be in our class! She said we should make an effort to be nice to him."

Kendall sighed. "But he mightn't be nice to us. He might be mean, or something. Like you were in Kindergarten!"

James stuck his tongue out at him. "My mom said he was nice, but he was really shy." He reached out to take the branch next to him, and then he slipped.

"AHH!"

He fell out of the tree, screeching. He was surprised that when he hit the ground, although he heard a cracking sound, he wasn't hurt. Then he realised he was lying on top of something. A groaning something.

"Kendall? Sorry I fell on you! You ok?" He got up, and was surprised when Kendall didn't. "Kendall? Kenny?"

James turned Kendall over so he was lying on his back. His eyelids fluttered. "Jamie, my head . . ."

"What about it?"

"It hurts . . ." he moaned, before his eyes shut and he went limp.

"Kendall!" James shook him, but got no response. "Kendall! What's wrong with you? Wake up! KENDAAAALLLL!"

He started to cry. Why wasn't his best friend moving?

"Kenny, can you hear me?"

Still nothing.

"Kendall, please . . ." he sobbed.

"Hey, you alright?" James turned around. There was a boy standing there, with short spiky black hair.

"He's not moving!" James wailed. "And I don't know why!"

"He might have a concussion."

"A what?" James was confused.

"A concussion. It's when someone hits their head and they get dizzy. Or they get knocked out; you know, like they're sleeping or something."

"Oh. How do you know that?"

The boy smiled proudly. "I'm gonna be a doctor."

"Well then, I'll definitely be calling to you when I'm sick."

James gasped. He wasn't the one who said!

He looked down. Kendall was grinning up at him. "Hey, Jamie. Why do you look like you were crying?"

"Because I was!" James sniffed. "You're an idiot, you know that? But, this guy says you fell asleep for a second or something. Are you ok now?"

Kendall sat up. "My head still hurts." Then he looked up. "Hey, who are you?"

That was when James realised that he didn't know who the dark-haired boy was either.

The boy looked at the ground. "I'm Logan," he said shyly.

"Cool!" Kendall stood up. "I'm Kendall. He's James."

Logan nodded, smiling. "Do you . . . wanna be friends?"

"Definitely!" James replied, grinning.

Logan smiled. He had two friends in this town already! Things were going well.