Phil and Mike walked to school that morning watching a boy drag his younger brother by the hand. "Come on, Jeff!" The older boy exclaimed as the younger tried to stop on the sidewalk.
"I don't want to go to school!" The younger boy whined, he looked about a year or two younger than Mike or Phil.
"We have to!" The older boy managed to get his brother to cooperate and they continued on their way.
"Hey, Phil?" Mike looked to his friend.
"Yeah?" The other boy asked.
"I promised Zack that I'd be his best friend for the day, and that he could hang out with us at recess." He said quietly.
"Zack? Really?" Phil asked.
"He's nice. Plus, he gave me candy." Mike smiled.
"Okay." Phil said, somewhat sourly.
"So, you can still come to my sleep over, right?"
"Yeah." Phil smiled.
"Good! It would be a lot more fun with you. Last time Zack and John were over, and Zack kept talking about unicorns and John kept putting my turtle in his pocket so he could steal it." Mike sighed.
"John tried to steal your turtle?" Phil blinked.
"Yeah, his mom won't let him have one so he kept trying to steal mine."
"Uh," Phil stood silent for a second, "wow?"
"Yeah." Mike shook his head, the two of them continuing on their way to school. They arrived, taking their normal seats.
The class started and Orton passed out a work sheet. "We'll be starting with math today," he set a paper on Mike's desk, then Phil's, "please take your time, we have twenty-five minutes to finish the five problems."
Phil struggled on the worksheet, biting his lip and studying the numbers. He heaved a sigh and figured out the first two. He leaned over to Mike to see he had drawn a chicken for one of the answers, "Um, Mike?"
"Yeah?" Mike looked up, almost finished.
"Why is there a chicken?" The boy asked.
"Because, two minus two is zero, and zeroes come from chickens. It's science." He explained, in a matter-of-fact tone.
"We're doing math." Phil raised an eyebrow.
"That's why I'll get an even better grade."
"Uh, right." Phil went back to writing. They finished their assignments and Orton collected them.
The boys sat back in their desks, Maria leaning up behind Mike, "Hey."
"Hey." Mike grinned, whispering back. Maria whispered something quietly to Mike and he burst out into giggles.
"What?" Phil glared at his friend.
"Nothing," Mike tried to hide his giggle, "I can't tell you."
"Tell me." Phil demanded.
Mike snickered, placing his head down on his desk, "I can't."
Phil rolled his eyes and sighed, "Whatever, I don't want to know your stupid girly secrets anyway." He crossed his arms.
When the bell rang for recess, the boys were accompanied by Zack, who clutched a stuffed toy unicorn. "So, what does your unicorn do?" Mike asked eagerly.
"Erm, well, her name is Muffins, and she makes things better by being kind." Zack smiled lightly.
"Does she have super-kick? Barbies have super-kick." Mike blinked.
"No they don't, throwing dolls at people isn't a 'super-kick'." Phil muttered, but his friend ignored him.
"No, she doesn't hurt people. She can heal them with her magical horn, though." The boy smiled, stroking the toy animal's fluffy mane.
"Can she stab people with the pointy thing?" Mike asked.
"N-no." Zack stuttered, clutching his toy closer.
"Can I pet her?" Phil asked, trying to keep Zack from being upset.
"Sure." The blonde boy smiled, holding out the plushie as Phil stroked it's rough carpet-like fur. Mike took this opportunity to snatch the toy from Zack's hands, running, making Zack shriek and chase after him, "Give Muffins back!"
"Fly!" Mike shouted, tossing the toy into the air. It fell into the dirt, Zack now running to his toy. Phil followed him, trying to comfort the boy.
"Muffins!" Zack sobbed, scooping up the unicorn, and brushing dirt out of it's fur, "You got her dirty!" He sobbed loudly.
"It's okay, Zack." Phil huffed, catching up to him.
"You're mean!" Zack glared at Mike, tears streaming down his face. The boy ran off clutching Muffins.
"Why did you steal his unicorn?" Phil asked.
"I was trying to help it by making it cooler." Mike rolled his eyes, "Duh. He shouldn't be so sad. I made it so it could fly."
"You also threw it into the dirt and made him cry."
"It's the price that had to be paid for awesomeness."
"That still wasn't very nice." Phil sighed.
"He'll forgive me. He always does." Mike said quietly.
The bell rang and the boys filed back into the classroom. Mike walked over to Zack as they were coming in, "I'm sorry for throwing Muffins."
"It's okay." Zack said. "She's okay."
"Next time, maybe she should learn to be cooler." Mike said.
Zack rolled his eyes, "Yeah." Mike walked to his desk next to Phil and sat down. The rest of the day slipped by relatively fast and, as usual, the friends walked home together.
They watched the same two boys who had bickering that morning walk home, the younger one holding his brother's hand, "Maaatt," he stretched out the name, "I'm tired, and hungry."
Phil and Mike stopped by Gabe's grave before heading home, to place dandelions on the recently dug-up soil. The boys said a quiet word, and went their separate ways for the evening.
A/N: No unicorns were harmed in the writing of this fanfic. Also, Maria's secret will come up later in the story, but that's all I can tell you for now. :P