"Daddy, can I go outside please?"

"Of course darling, don't stay out for too long now, okay?"

"Yes sir, I love you."

The young girl, known as Lena, embraced her farther as she quickly ran outside of their apartment and into the world. A year has passed ever since they moved away from the United Kingdom to Massachusetts and Lena was still adapting to this country and its culture. She doesn't know much about the reason they moved but she certainly enjoyed the change of scenery.

She wandered the streets so many times that the neighborhood practically recognized her on sight. It was extremely rare for foreigners to move in on this side of Boston which gave Lena and her family even more attention, she didn't mind it though.

She always looked forward to going outside into the world. Their was just so many things to do; marvel at nature, run around and play, and make friends with new people.

Speaking of 'friends', she noticed some the kids were playing a game together. She hoped to make more friends today.

"Hello!" She said as she waved to some of the neighborhood kids. They just gave her weird looks and carried on with the game they were playing. This didn't stop her as she walked over there,

"Can I play with you guys?"

"No, we have enough players."

"Yeah, you can't play with us."

"Maybe later."

They responded in their usual manner. She has already heard this before.

"Oh... ok, I'll see you guys around." She said as she walked away from the group of kids who resumed their activities.

Another failed attempt.

It's been like this for a year. The kids really didn't hang out with her because she was different. She thought it would be like this forever... until she saw him again

She spotted a familiar boy with a red shirt and brown pants, along with a black cap on his head, doing something near an alleyway. It seems like he was looking for something. She started to move a bit more slowly and silently, as if to catch him by suprise.

This was her favorite part.

She was in striking distance and he still had his back towards her. The moment couldn't be more perfect. She raised her finger and-

"Hey Lena." The boy said without turning his back.

Phooey.

Her element of suprise was crushed before her as she crossed her arms and pouted.

"Aww, How did you know I was behind you?"

"You did this... gimme a sec." He said as he went to his hands for help. The boy wasn't that good at remembering numbers so he always relied on his fingers to help him out. After a bit of calculating, he came up with the answer.

"I don't know, but it's more than my fingers."

"Oh well, whatcha doing?" She asked.

The boy, known as Jeremy, finally turned around and Lena was met with an unfamiliar sight. She saw what looked like a bandage around his head, it was covered by the hat but a white line was still visible.

Curiosity was in her nature.

"What's that on your head?"

"What's wh- Ow!"

His question was cut off as Lena poked at the foreign object on his head. She quickly retracted her touch as she begged for his forgiveness.

"Oh! I'm so so sorry! Please don't hate me!" She said frantically. This confused Jeremy a bit, it was just a simple mistake. There really wasn't any reason to react like that.

"It's fine. I got this from an...accident." He said with a bit of hesitation. Lena didn't notice as she finally calmed down.

"Oh...ok then. So what were you doing before I got here?"

"I was looking for my ball. I dropped it somewhere and now it's missing. Guess I'll just have to wait till Santa gets me a new one next Christmas." He said with a sad tone.

Lena didn't like seeing her friend down in the dumps.

"Don't worry! We'll find it together!" She said with her head held high.

"Are you sure you wanna help? I've been out here for a long time looking for it." He said which was met with the bright smile from Lena.

"Of course I'll help. Your my best friend, remember?" She said as she joined him in the search.

The two searched high and low for Jeremy's prized possession. They've been looking for the ball for a while now and the sun was starting to set. It was only a matter of time before they both had to go home.

Fortunately, Lena laid her eyes on the prize as she saw a raggedy ball with losse stitches up on the window sill.

"Jeremy, I think I found your ball!" She said which caught his attention as he jumped out the trash can he was in to see what she was talking about.

"Really! Where is it?!"

Lena pointed towards the window sill which was followed by Jeremy nodding his head. They found what they were looking for, but how were they going to get it? The window sill had to be atleast twice their size.

"How do we get up there?" She asked. She turned to see Jeremy backing up a bit.

"Move out the way for a bit, I'm gonna jump and get it." He said but Lena stood her ground.

"You're already hurt. It's best if we find another way."

Scout reluctantly agreed. He knew the feat wouldn't hurt him but knowing her, she won't give up so easily.

The two looked around for another solution, there had to be someway to reach the ball without any risks involved. Then that's when Jeremy got an idea as he laid his eyes on a trash can.

"How about we use the trash can as a booster?"

"But isn't that bad?"

"What's bad?"

"If we do that, the trash will be all over the alley way."

"That's what the trash men is for. We'll be alright." He said as if it was the obvious thing in the world.

She was hesitant but decided to follow through with his plan as they prepared the can to boost them up to the sill. Now that the booster was prepared, the two kids worked their way up to the top of can and, with teamwork, Jeremy made his back into a stepping stool for Lena who grabbed their reward.

"Got it!" She said as they worked their way down from the can. Jeremy grabbed the ball from her hands as he started to toss it in the air. The two finally got what they were looking for.

"Thank you so much Lena, I would've been searching for a week if you didn't stop by and help, your really kind." He said which caused Lena to feel.. pretty good. She didn't know what it was but it was really nice to hear him say that. She rarely hears that from anybody except her parents.

"Your welcome Jeremy. Anytime for a friend."

Out of all the kids she's met, Jeremy has always stuck by her side. It's been a year since they met each other and he's never left her side.

He's always been there, no matter what.

"Well, I gotta get going. The street lights are coming on and my Ma will whip me if I'm not back in time." He said as he started to sprint back home.

"... Jeremy?"

Her voice stopped him in his tracks as he turned to face her at full attention. She was twirling her messy hair as she prepared her question.

"Can you..um... walk home with me if it's not too much trouble? I know it's really far bu-"

"Sure, you helped me find my ball and we can probably get some candy from one of the stores on the way so I'll walk with you."

He said as he began to follow her. The two children walked side by side as they traversed their neighborhood with shared energy and joy. It was never a dull moment when they were together.

"Are you sure you don't want to just go home? I don't want to be a bother or anything."

"It's fine...besides, what are friends for?"

Her response was smile, she hasn't smiled like this in while. It seems that she really did make a friend here.

She was thankful to have him around.

Yo my guys. Thanks for the support and the encouragement, didn't expect this story to be much but hey, I ain't complaining. So, I was just gonna do 5 straight to 10 years, but then I realized that's a total of four or five chapters. So I'm going to do one year gap since each chapter is usually a thousand words. But this still the "Fuck, I'm lazy so I'll update this book" book so the update schedule is gonna be completely random, but expect one if I haven't updated my other stuff. See y'all in 5e next one my guys.