"Ma, can I go outside?"

"Sure hun, just be sure to come in before the street lights turn on. You know how our neighborhood is at night."

"Thanks Ma."

The young boy known as Jeremy quickly made his way to the door of his apartment. He had his hand on the doorknob and was about to leave until his mother called out to him.

"Aren't you forgetting something dear?"

The boy already knew what his mother wanted as he ran back to his mother's room. He quickly gave a hug along with a kiss on the cheek.

"You're never to old to love your mother, remember that."

"I will."

After the brief words of wisdom, the boy left out of his apartment and went on to the outside world that he was used too.

He was met with the usual sight of his neighborhood as he walked down the side walk. Growing up, he began to familiarize himself with his surroundings

The markets that were buzzing with customers with different needs and wants.

He could smell the chicken being fried.

The variety of diffrent faces walking down the street with diffrent goals in mind.

He always wondered where they were going.

And the group of boys that were walking towards him...

Wait, he remembers those boys.

"Well, if ain't the runt of the litter. I take it your brothers ain't here with ya are they? That was some dirty scrapping you did the other day." The biggest boy said as he cracked his knuckles which brought Jeremy out of his thoughts.

"You making it sound like I need em but I don't. Why don't you just run along before you get hurt... Still aching from the beatdown I gave you huh?"

"Ohhh big talk from such a little boy. Lets see if you can back it up!" He said as he swung at Jeremy who dodged it with little effort.

"You gotta be quicker than that pancakes." He taunted as he prepared himself.

The boy threw out another punch which connected with air again. The boy's pumches were too slow and predictable for the Jeremy who bob and weaveed everything that was thrown at him. The friends of the boy were laughing at the display as he continued to swing and miss the quick footed boy.

"Need me to slow down for ya donut breath? I'm not even tired yet."

"There's no need for that." The boy said as he signaled for the rest of his friends to join in. Their laughing ceased as they walked towards the boy. It seems that Jeremy was outnumbered, odds he certainly wasn't use too.

"Woah... I thought this was a one on one? Scared to fight fair?"

"Now it's a three on one and considering how much you were talking, I figured this would be a bit more interesting. Any last words?" The boy said as him and his friends prepared for the fight that was about to commence.

Jeremy learned from his brothers to not fight a losing fight. There was only one thing to do from here.

"Yeah... Eat my dust!" He said as he quickly turned around and sprinted away. The boys gave chase as they ran after him.

Jeremy was full throttle as he traversed the busy sidewalk with the hooligans lagging behind him. There was no way he was gonna survive a one on three so he hoped that he could lose them by running away.

"You're dead meat when we catch you Twinkle toes!" The big boy shouted.

"You would be thinking of meat huh fatty!" He shouted back.

It took a while but he found an alleyway which he quickly cut into.

He was a bit suprised to see who was in his way.

"Lena!?" He said as he came to a screeching halt. Out of all the people to run into today, he was lucky to run into her.

"Hey Jeremy. Whats u-"

"Can't talk. Running from fat boy and friends. See ya." He said as he prepared to sprint full speed but stopped after he felt a hand on his arm.

"Why don't you hide in that box? I'm sure you'll fit." She said as she pointed towards an empty box.

"I don't think that's gonna wor-"

"I think he cut through here!"

"Well, first for everything." He said as he crawled into the box which Lena sealed.

The boys finally turned into the alleyway only to be met with a box and a girl who was sitting beside the box.

"Hi there." Lena greeted.

The boys laughed a bit from her accent but focused on the task at hand.

"Have you seen a pipsqueak that ran through here? We needed to ask him a few question."

"Oh, he ran that way." She said as she pointed off towards the park.

The boys wasted no time as they quickly made their way over towards the park and began to search for him. As the coast began to clear, Jeremy ripped himself out of the box.

"You didn't have to tape it to convince them, those guys are bout as smart as rocks."

"You can't be too careful. Now, why were they chasing you love?"

"Because I- wait 'love'!? Whats that suppose to mean?!"

"It's used in London as term of endearment or friendship. Its kind of my way of saying 'friend' or 'buddy'."

"Uhhh that's weird." He said which gave Lena a sad look.

"Oh. Sorry about that. I just won't use around you then if you want."

Jeremy wiped his brow after hearing that. He thought that it meant that she loved him or something...

"So yeah. They were chasing me because they're jealous of me. I was so totally aweome that they wanted to beat me up cause of it. So I ran away from them and here we are." He said as he left out the real reason they were chasing him.

"Oh well alright."

"Oh! Thanks for the help. I'll pay you back anoth-"

"You don't have too."

"What? Why not?"

"We're friends silly. I'm supposed to help you no matter what."

Friends. It's been two years since they met and he still wasn't used to someone that'll lookout for him. He quickly left that thought as he asked her a question.

"My turn, what you doing in this alleyway anyway?"

"I'm playing pretend!" She said as her eyes began to sparkle.

"Pre... tend?"

"Yeah! It's when you use your imagination and play around with it."

Lena was unaware of how fried Jeremy's brain was. He still had some ways to go with words while Lena was becoming a bit of an expert.

"Here, I'll show you." She said as she took his hand and lead him towards the ripped box.

"I was pretending that I was queen of this alley and this box l here was my throne." She said as she climbed on top of the box and stood tall. She took time to get in character as she took on the role of a queen.

"My name is Lena Oxton and I'm the queen of this alley! What brings you forth mortal?" She said which got snickers out of Jeremy. It was hard to take her seriously, especially with her accent.

"You're a queen but your standing on a box."

"No! I'm standing on my throne. I see that you are not taking your queen seriously. I will now punish you for your untrue words by tickles."

Jeremy was not ready for it. He was extremely ticklish.

"Woah woah woah. Anything but that."

"Too late. Your queen has spoken and her word is rule." She said as she hopped off the box and walked towards him menacingly.

He acted on impulse this time.

"You're gonna have to catch me first!" He said as he sprinted away from her.

"No one escapes my tickles!" She said as she gave chase.

This chase reminded them of their chase two years ago when they first met. The memory was still fresh in both of their minds as Jeremy continued to run with Lena right on his tail.

Jeremy rounded a corner and checked behind him only to find his pursuer was missing.

"Guess I was too fast for her."

"Gotcha!"

Jeremy jumped a few feet off the ground after he heard that. He turned to see a smiling Lena flexing her fingers.

"How did yo- Ha Ha Ha!" The fits of laughter were upon Jeremy as Lena enforced her punishment. She assulted at all angles and he was helpless. All he could do was hope that she stopped as he hit floor with her on top of him.

"Surrender and I might show mercy." She said as her assult increased in intensity.

"N-Ha Ha!- Never! I'm too to- Ho Ho!- tough for you- Oh Ho Ho!- punishment!" He said as tears begin to spill out.

"Very well. I shall show you mercy on this day mortal." She said as she stopped her actions. Jeremy was still recovering a bit fromnthe contact as he wiped away his tears.

"Ha Ha told you I was tough. How did you even catch up to me anyway?"

"I'm pretty fast too you know. So, are you going to join me in pretend or face my tickles again." She said as she flexed her fingers again with a mischievous smile.

"I'll join. Please don't punish me." He said as the two began to start their game of pretend. Lena was pretending to be a queen while Jeremy was pretending to be a baseball player. The two enjoyed their time together playing their roles until it was time to part ways.

Days like these have been very common for Jeremy. Before Lena, every kid on the block didn't like him because of many reasons so they didn't take too kindly to him.

Some would even go as far as to hurt him.

He doesn't have to worry about that anymore because someone finally has his back.

Finally, a kid that doesn't want to hurt him.

"Hey Lena." He called out before they departed.

"Hmm?"

"You can call me 'love' or whatever if you want."

She smiled and walked away. A small gesture that left a big impact on him.

Seeing that smile really warmed Jeremy's heart. That smile reminded him of his Ma's smile.

He made himself a small promise that day. He promised to protect that smile she had at all cost.

No matter what.

My guys, sorry fo the poor joke but I couldn't help it. Hopefully this uodat can count as a sorry kinda.