It was well into the evening in Royal Woods, and in one house, Jordan and her friends Mollie, Kat, Sadie and Joy were in the middle of a pillow fight in her house- one of the festivities as part of the sleepover she had invited them to. The girls were laughing as the fun continued, having already played some truth or dare which saw some pretty revealing secrets be revealed. As one of the pillows started to spew feathers, however, Jordan knew that it was time things calmed down.

"Alright, girls," she spoke up, getting them to stop swinging pillows, "let's call that it for this before things get too messy."

"Yeah, I wouldn't want to be you if it did," Sadie remarked. "Remember how mad Kat's mom got when we went too far at her sleepover?"

"That was a tough week," the raven haired girl shuddered. "I haven't seen that many weeds since, thank goodness."

"So, what are we going to do next?" Joy asked the hostess, setting her pillow down on her air mattress.

"Well, we've still got some time before the movie comes on TV," she explained. "Is there anything you guys want to do before then?"

The girls sans Mollie were quick to look at each other and yell in response, "MAKEOVERS!"

The brunette merely rolled her eyes. "Don't we do that every time?" She joked.

"Yeah, but we only hold these things twice a month," Joy argued, "and I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't tend to get one any other time."

"Nope," Kat agreed, while Sadie said, "me neither."

"Come on, Mollie, it'll be fun!" Jordan insisted, a smirk coming to her lips. "Besides, I have your favourite shade of boysenberry nail polish. The glittery kind, too."

A small blush came to Mollie's lips. "Well… I might as well if you girls are."

They all giggled at her stubbornness. "Alright, give me a second while I grab my kit," Jordan told her friends, before walking over to her closet. Opening the door, she saw a blue makeup kit on the upper shelf, but as she reached up and pulled it down, something else fell from on top of it. "Huh?" Putting the makeup on her bed, she reached down and saw a small tin box. "What's this?"

"Looks like an old drawing kit," Joy suggested, seeing how the box had a picture of multiple coloured pencils on it.

Giving it a little rattle, Jordan shook her head. "I don't think that's what's in there, though."

"Well, open it and see!" Kat suggested, curious to see for herself. The others joined in with urging the girl to open it.

"Alright, alright! Heel, you animals!" she joked, sitting down on her bed. "Give me a second. Now, let's see." Grabbing at the lid, she struggled for a second to remove the lid from the case, which was stiff after not being opened for some time. It didn't take long, though, to get it off, and when she saw what it was, her eyes widened. "Oh, my!"

Putting the lid down on her lap, she pulled out a small, makeshift necklace, with glittered and glued macaroni decorating a piece of string that held the necklace together, and a small paper cutout flower at the bottom. It was clear from the size of it that it was for someone a few years younger than her.

"How cute!" Sadie gushed. "A macaroni necklace!"

"You kept that in a little tin case?" Joy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Honestly, I forgot I had this," Jordan responded. "I haven't seen this in years, I thought I threw it out."

"It must have been pretty special if you kept it in a case, though," Kat pointed out. "Who made it for you?"

She didn't answer after a few seconds, so when Mollie saw the blush growing on her cheeks, she quickly put it together. "It wouldn't happen to have been from a boy, would it? Say… a boy with white hair?"

The other three girls gasped at the suggestion, while Jordan simply blushed even more. "… maybe…"

"AWWWWW!" She heard the girls coo, making her cheeks heat up even more.

"That's so adorable!" Sadie sighed.

"I didn't even know you and Lincoln ever hung out that much," Joy added.

"Well, we didn't for long," she replied. "It was only for the first few weeks at kindergarten, before I got swapped into your class. I can't even remember why that happened, to be honest."

"Well, how did it happen?" Kat asked.

"It's a bit of a long story."

Mollie simply scoffed and said, "Jordan, we're gonna be painting nails. I think we can afford a story while we do."

Jordan smirked and put a hand on her hip. "Do you want the glittery boysenberry?"

"… yes, please."

Jordan rolled her eyes. "Alright, fine, I guess I can tell you. Well, as you know, before the second year of kindergarten, I'd just moved to Royal Woods after dad got his current job."


"Jordan! It's time to get up! You don't want to be late for your first day!" An eleven year old girl with brown hair braided into a ponytail, wearing a light blue T-shirt, faded pink shorts and pink sneakers, called as she knocked on a door. When there was no response, she pushed her way in and saw that the bed in the room was empty. The girl knew, however, that the room was not empty, so she smirked. "I guess she already went to school!" She spoke in a dramatic voice. "I better go so I'm not late!"

She made some fake stomping sounds before hiding behind the bed. A few seconds later, she heard a closet door open and saw a young, five year old girl, still in her pink pyjamas, walk up to the still open door and poke her head out. Seeing her opportunity, the older girl slowly got up from behind the bed, snuck up on the smaller girl, and planted her hands on her shoulders. "Gotcha!"

The younger girl screamed, turned around and started to struggle. "Let me go! I don't wanna go!"

The older girl allowed her to struggle for a few seconds, before kneeling down. "Jordan, stop struggling and look at me." Though she didn't want to, Jordan did stop struggling and looked up, letting the older girl see the sadness in her eyes. "Why don't you want to go to school? Don't you want to make loads of new friends?"

She shook her head vigorously. "No one's gonna want to be my friend, Jen!"

"Now, why would you say that?"

The little girl sniffled back the tears. "Because they'll all have their own friends. Why would they want to hang out with me?"

Giving a sympathetic smile, Jen said, "come here," then lifted Jordan up and sat down on the bed with the younger girl on her lap. "Just because you're new, doesn't mean you're worth any less than them. You're a really cool girl, and they're gonna see that and be eager to be friends with you."

"You don't know that." Feeling slightly sorry for her younger sister, Jen began to stroke her hair. "Don't you worry you're not gonna be popular?"

"Sure, a little, but I don't care if I'm popular or not. I don't need to be the centre of attention or anything. If I can just find one or two other kids who want to be my friend, then that's all I need, just like that's all you need."

"I don't know…"

She could see the little girl pouting, which she knew how to stop. "Tell you what- if you go brush your teeth now, and get changed, I'll braid your hair like mine."

This made little Jordan's eyes light up. "Really?!"

"Uh Huh! But, I'm gonna be timing you! If you want me to braid your hair for you, then you have about ten minutes, starting… now!" Jordan leapt off of Jen's lap and rushed off in the direction of the bathroom, making Jen smile victoriously. "Works every time." Jen got up from the bed and headed downstairs, where she saw her mom and dad sat in the kitchen, her father a black haired man with glasses wearing a purple button up shirt, brown trousers and black shoes, and her mother a brown haired woman in a yellow blouse with khaki trousers and grey sandals. While her father was reading the newspaper, her mother was making packed lunches for both Jen and Jordan. As she finished packing one lunch box, she looked over her shoulder, saw her elder daughter and smiled. "Morning, mom and dad."

"Morning, Jen!" Her mother replied. "You ready for your first day at a new school?"

"Yeah, I guess so. More so than Jordan, at least."

"Yeah, I could hear," her father joked with a chuckle, making his wife roll her eyes.

"She's worried she's not gonna make any friends."

Her mother put down the lunch box in her hands, and turned to her daughter. "She'll be fine, Jen. I think it's sweet you're looking out for your sister again, but once she gets there and the day goes on, she'll forget all about it." She then tapped at her chin. "If I remember correctly, you were the same as your sister."

"Well, I didn't exactly have many friends before then," Jen pointed out.

"Yeah, but when you're just starting at primary school, that tends to be the case," her father argued. "It might take her a little while, but she'll make some friends."

"I know, dad."

"JEN! WHERE ARE YOU?"

With a chuckle, Jen told her parents, "that's my cue," before making her way back upstairs.


After making sure that Jordan had cleaned her teeth properly, she braided her little sister's hair before leaving her to get changed in a white unicorn t-shirt, pink shorts and black shoes with white socks, even allowing her to wear her pink bow. After the two of them joined their parents for breakfast and grabbed their book bags, they decided to walk to the school, enjoying the sunny day as they walked hand in hand. When they arrived, Jordan stopped walking first as she saw just how many students were there. Jen was quick to notice, so she stopped walking and kneeled down in front of her sister.

"Don't be scared," she told her. "Once you're in there and talking with people, it won't seem so bad." The little girl's lip quivering made it clear that she didn't appreciate this. "Come on, now, don't cry. Tell you what. I'll walk with you to your first class, but you're on your own from there, okay?"

"…"

"Okay?"

"… okay."

With a small chuckle, Jen got to her feet again. "Come on." She took her hand again and led her into the school building, and although it was quite crowded, Jen was able to spot an old man with a grey moustache, wearing a navy blue suit jacket with a white shirt and a grey tie, plus khaki pants with a black belt, black dress shoes and socks, and a clipboard in his hand. "Excuse me, sir?"

"Yes?" He asked. "Can I help you?"

"We're new here, and we were wondering where our homerooms are."

"Ah, of course! One second." He looked through the papers on his clipboard. "You're… Jeniffer, correct?"

"Yeah, though I prefer Jen." She then gestured to the smaller girl hiding behind her leg. "And this is my sister, Jordan."

"Hi," she shyly whispered.

"Well, it's lovely to meet you, girls! I'm Principal Huggins. Now, Jen, you have Mr Thompson, and Jordan is with Ms Shrinivas. Her classroom is closer, so we'll head there first." The two girls nodded, before following the man through the school. Reaching their first destination, he knocked on a door then opened it, leading the girls into a cream walled classroom, which had numerous posters and toys that made it clear that it was a kindergarten classroom. Sat at the desk was a woman with medium length black hair and dark tan skin, wearing a green jacket over a light cream shirt, a red skirt and black shoes. "Ms Shrinivas, do you have a moment?"

"Of course, Principal Huggins," she responded, standing from her chair. Seeing the two girls stood behind him- particularly, the one hiding behind her big sister- she adopted a warm, caring smile. "And who might you be?"

"I'm Jen, and this is my sister Jordan," the older sister introduced. "We recently moved to this town, so it's our first day here."

"I see!" She crouched down so that she was at eye level with the little girl. "You don't have to be scared of me. I won't bite." Cautiously, Jordan stepped out from behind her big sister. "I see you have a unicorn on your shirt. Do you like unicorns?"

"… uh huh…"

The teacher gave a light giggle before adding, "I love unicorns. They're so magical." This got Jordan to smile a little. "Now, don't worry. I know school can be boring, but we're going to have fun today too. Okay?"

"Okay."

"You going to be okay now, Jordan?" Jen asked, to which the little girl nodded. Smiling, she kneeled down and gave her a hug. "Alright, I'm gonna go then. I'll come collect you after school so we can walk home, okay?"

"Okay, Jen."


"Good morning, class!" Ms Shrinivas announced, now stood in front of her full classroom.

"Good morning, Ms Shrinivas!" They responded.

"I hope you all had a wonderful summer break and are ready to learn some more! Time for the morning roll call." She grabbed a sheet of paper and called out the names written on it, ticking them off when one of the kids called "present" or "here" in response, until every name was ticked. "Okay. Before we get started, we have a new student with us today." She looked over at Jordan, who was sat at a table by herself and already looking nervous. "Jordan, would you like to introduce yourself?" The girl shrank in her seat as she felt the stares of the other kids directed at her. "It's okay. We're all friends here."

Though not certain if that was true, Jordan stood up from her seat and gave a small smile. "Uh… h-hi," she was able to squeak out. "I'm Jordan. I recently moved to Royal Woods with my mom, my dad, and my older sister." She opened her mouth to say more, but the staring had eventually worn down her reserve, so she simply said "… hi", before sitting down, shrinking a little bit when she heard giggles and titters from some of her 'classmates'.

"Well, I'm sure everyone will make you feel welcome, Jordan," Ms Shrinivas assured the girl, before facing the whole class. "We'll be starting the semester with some reading. There was a slight mix up that meant we don't have quite enough books, so for today only, I would like you to pair up."

The class began to get up and move around, pairing up. Deciding to be brave, Jordan walked up to the first girl she saw. "Hi, would you like to-" Unfortunately, she was ignored, so she tried again with another girl. "Hi, would you-" Again, she was ignored, so she tried once more. "Would you like to-"

Sadly, she was met with the same result a third time, so she frowned and sat back down. Ms Shrinivas saw this and frowned as well. Looking around the class, however, she saw that everyone else had paired up, and knew that there would be tears if she tried to split any of them. She counted the books that were piled on her desk, then took the top one and walked over to Jordan. "If you would like, I can sit and read with you," she offered.

Jordan appreciated the effort, so she gave a small smile and said, "thank you, but that's okay."

"Are you sure?"

The little girl nodded. "My sister Jen has taught me to read a bit. I'm not great, but I can handle some big words."

"I'm sure you can." She handed the book to the girl. "If you need any help, raise your hand and I will try to help you." Jordan nodded, then opened the front cover. Starting to walk away, the kindergarten teacher sighed. 'Hopefully, she will settle in with time.'


Those hopes, however, did not come true immediately. While Jordan seemed like a model student, participating when she could and getting on with her work, she had struggled with finding any friends. Whenever there was a pair or group activity, she found herself drawing the short stick of the odd number in the class each time, meaning she had to do them alone in spite of the teacher's attempts to help her. When recess came around, she merely followed the others as they ran out to the playground, each of them meeting up with their friends to play with the jump ropes, the tetherball, the hopscotch, or whatever they could get to first.

When she eventually got there, Jordan went straight for a bench and sat down on it, her back against the school wall. As she sat there, she tried to distract herself, looking at the flower bed next to her bench and trying to see if the clouds in the sky made any particular shapes. However, the sounds of the other kids chatting, laughing and just generally enjoying themselves made her sigh sadly, knowing that she couldn't be part of it.

'I knew it would be like this,' she thought sadly, her face drooping. 'Why couldn't I just stay at home and have mom teach me this stuff? Or-or just join Jen's class? I know she's a lot smarter than me, but she wouldn't leave me alone like this.' She felt a tear starting to brim in her eye. 'I… I want to go home…'

Wiping away the tear, she shook away this thought and looked around again. As she did, her eyes landed on a boy wearing an orange t-shirt, blue denim dungarees and white sneakers. What stuck out, however, were two things- firstly, he was the only person her age she had ever seen with hair that was pure white. The other thing she noticed was that he was sat by himself on the swing. Curious, she stood up and was about to walk over, when another boy- this one with black hair, wearing a red t-shirt, black shorts and black sneakers- walked over and pushed him off the swing, making him land on his knees.

"Hey! What was that for?" The white haired boy shouted, turning around to glare at the sneering bully.

"Haven't you heard?" He cockily replied. "The swing's aren't safe for the elderly!"

Jordan could hear the bully laughing, and though she couldn't quite tell, it looked like the white haired boy was shaking, which made her assume he was sobbing. She grew angry at this- it was bad enough having to be by yourself, but being picked on was worse. As she thought about what to do, she heard a bouncing sound, and saw a dodgeball gently bounce to her feet. Picking it up, she looked around and saw some kids beckoning for her to throw it back, but when she saw the bully again, she narrowed her eyes and began to march towards him. "HEY!" she yelled, and when the boy looked at her, she threw the ball, hitting him in the chest enough to startle him and make him fall onto his butt. "Leave him alone, you meanie!"

Things were silent for a moment, before the other kids began to point and laugh at the bully, making him tear and shout, "shut up!" When they didn't, he started crying and ran off, leaving Jordan to turn back to Lincoln.

"Are you okay?" She asked, the boy just stuck where he was as he looked up at her, his jaw lowered out of a lack of something to say. "Did he hurt you?"

His mind seemingly just waking up, he shook his head and got to his feet. "I'm okay," he replied. "Thank you for helping me."

She smiled and said, "no problem! That guy was a meanie!"

Lincoln, though appreciative of her efforts, frowned more and looked away. "He's not the only one."

Curious, she tilted her head. "Are there other kids who bully you?"

"Most of them do. They think I look weird because of my hair, and they like to make jokes about it."

"I don't think it looks weird."

He looked at her, and he saw her happy smile. "You… you don't?"

"Nope! I think it looks cool!"

While he had been lied to before about that, he could tell from her voice that she was telling the truth, so he matched her smile. "Thanks! I like your hair too. It looks really pretty."

"Aww, thank you!"

"Plus, your bow matches your pants!" She gave a happy giggle at his compliment, which made him laugh too. "Hey. You're the new girl, right?"

"Uh Huh! My name's Jordan."

"My name's Lincoln. Would you like to be my friend?"

Her eyes lit up. "I'd love to be your friend!" She held out her hand with her pinkie extended, convincing Lincoln to link his with hers for a pinkie promise. "So, what do you want to do?"

"Um… I'm not sure. Honestly, you're my first friend other than my sisters."

"How many sisters do you have?"

"Eight."

"WOAH! That's a lot of sisters!" He nodded, unfazed by her shocked expression. "So, what do you do when you play with your sisters?"

"Hmm…" After a moment of thinking, he exclaimed, "I know," then patted her on the shoulder. "Tag! You're it!"

She giggled as he ran off before giving chase after the boy, not knowing that not only was Ms Shrinivas watching with a happy smile, but from one of the classroom windows, so was her older sister.


"We started to sit together at lunch and in class, and a few days later, we made each other the macaroni necklaces," Jordan finished, having told the story while the girls all painted each other's nails. "I don't know if he kept his, but… he looked happy when he gave me this."

"That sounds so cute!" Kat gushed. "You sound like you really had fun together!"

"But, when you joined our class a few weeks later, you never told us about that," Mollie pointed out. "What happened?"

Jordan's reminiscent smile faded away at this, a frown taking its place. "I don't know. I don't even remember why I got moved into your class. I know he met Clyde not long after that, but I don't know how long after. All I remember was that you girls were so nice to me, and that me and Lincoln never had any classes that overlapped…" She felt her eyes growing misty as she dwelled on this. "Yet he was the first kid at school… who was actually nice to me."

Giving a small sniffle, she wiped away her tear. Joy was quick to pick up on this, so she stood up and sat next to her, with Mollie taking the other side. "What's wrong?" She asked.

"… I haven't been a very good friend to him… have I?" The girls were astonished by this, but she continued. "He was my first friend here, and he was so kind to me… but I haven't paid him back for that."

"Don't be silly," Mollie told her, rubbing her back.

"Yeah, I'm sure Lincoln never thought that," Sadie added. "He was probably just happy to know you."

"And it's not like you aren't friends now, is it?" Kat pointed out. "You always invite him to your parties, you always say hi to him at school- that's more than for most of the boys at our school."

Jordan couldn't help but give a small chuckle at this. "I guess you're right. Still… I kinda want to make it up to him. Make up for… lost time, I guess."

The girls continued to talk for a bit, not knowing that an older girl in a set of light blue pyjamas and purple slippers, with a brown braided ponytail, had been listening in for the last couple of minutes from behind the closed door. 'I always wondered why she didn't talk more about him,' she thought to herself. 'They looked so happy when I saw them playing together… guess things just changed for them.' Shaking these thoughts away, she knocked on the door. "Hey, girls! Movie starts in five!"

"Thanks, Jen!" She heard her sister call, before she headed downstairs.


At that same moment, in a house in Franklin Avenue, a certain white haired boy in orange pyjamas was searching his shelves. "HURRY UP, LINCOLN!" He heard his younger sister scream. "THE MOVIE'S GONNA START SOON!"

"ONE SECOND!" He yelled back, resuming his searching. "C'mon, where are you…" Opening one of his desk drawers, he found a small plush bunny with a purple polo shirt on. "There you are, Bun Bun! How did you get in there?" Picking it up, he prepared to close the drawer, he saw something that peaked his curiosity- a small, tin pencil case. Curious, he pulled it out and opened it, revealing a macaroni necklace which made him give a small smile. 'Feels like forever since I got this…' Thinking about how he received the item, his smile became a frown. 'I never did try hard enough to stay friends with Jordan after she switched classes. Wish I could make it up to her…' He placed the necklace in the case and put it back in the drawer, closing it before making his way out of the room, Bun Bun in hand. 'After all… she was my first friend.'