The first couple days had gone well for business, with the extra money generated by Gilbert and Ludwig's baking, Matthew was sure that he could buy the bear by the next week.
At first, Matthew had been unsure about Gilbert; why was he acting as though he and Matthew were friends? But after a while, Matthew just assumed that Gilbert was a very social person, and chose to go along with it.
Ludwig had been quiet at first, and even though he was younger than Alfred and Matthew, he was intimidating. Alfred had taken more to Gilbert, for they were both alike in ego and in loudness, and Matthew had taken much more to Ludwig, with whom he worked in companionable silence with. Ludwig eventually grew more comfortable around Matthew and they would talk excitedly about animals and books.
Gilbert didn't take to that nicely, and followed Matthew around like a puppy. He made every excuse to talk to him and to see him at his house. Matthew was surprised, but enjoyed the attention; he was used to being looked over by the other kids. Gilbert was funny though, and he made Matthew cry laughing with his crude jokes and loud ways.
At the end of the week they had split the money evenly, with five dollars for each boy, and Matthew immediately put it in his piggy bank. They had decided not to sell on Sundays so that they could have a break to play and relax.
Gilbert and Matthew were laying in the grass of the park, staring up at the clouds; they had just had a fun game of grounders with Alfred and the other kids on the play ground, but had decided to rest while Alfred kept playing.
"That one looks like a bird!" Gilbert said, pointing at a blobby cloud above them.
"You've said that about every cloud that we've seen." Matthew giggled.
Gilbert rolled onto his stomach to look at Matthew.
"I like birds because they're awesome like me, so everything should be a bird." He explained. He rolled back onto his back next to Matthew and took Matthews hand and made it point at the cloud.
"There's the beak, and those are the wings, and that's its awesome tail." He gestured to each part with his hand enclosing Matthew's.
Matthew shook his head, and flipped their hand positions so that he was guiding Gilbert's.
"No, its pancakes. See, there's the plate, and that's the stack and there's the syrup!" He said happily. Gilbert wasn't looking at the cloud but at Matthew, where he smiled softly at his happiness before he turned to see what Matthew was talking about.
"You're right." He said simply.
Matthew turned to him and smiled.
"I know."
Gilbert laughed at Matthew acting smug, and they fell back into their comfortable silence and wondered at the sky above them.
"Matthew! Matthew!" Gilbert was running at him and yelling excitedly.
Matthew didn't have time to react as Gilbert slammed into him and sent both of them flying onto Matthew's front lawn, barely avoiding knocking the entire stand over.
Gilbert sat up quickly and rubbed his forehead.
"You alright Mattie?" He asked worriedly, standing up so that he could help Matthew up.
Matthew grunted and sat up too.
"M'fine. What're you yelling about?" he asked as he took Gilbert's hand and stood.
"My other friends want to help us with our stand!"
Matthew just blinked stupidly.
"Other friends?"
Gilbert looked alarmed.
"You're my best friend though! No competition and you will be forever and ever an-"
Matthew clamped his hand over Gilbert's mouth to shut him up. It worked and Gilbert pushed away Matthew's hand and laughed loudly.
"So you know Francis and Antonio right? Francis said he was in your art class and Antonio said he was in your math's class."
"Yeah, I know them. They want to help?"
Gilbert smiled brightly.
"Yeah! They said they'll help and they don't need a cut of the money!"
Matthew was amazed that he had managed to get some of the popular kids to help him with his stand, usually it was Alfred who popular, and Matthew had gotten along better with the quieter children like Kiku Honda, a shy Japanese boy, and Heracles Karpusi, the laid back Greek kid.
"They said that they'll watch the stand for us on Friday so that you could come over to my house!"
Matthew was ecstatic. He hugged Gilbert happily, then pulled away and ran inside to tell Alfred.
Gilbert just stood and watched him run, and tried to calm his heart rate. This kid was going to be the end of him.
Gilbert knew that he couldn't have chosen a better way to go.