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Three: Thieves

On a sunny Saturday in October, Shun and his mother went to the best park in town. It had a massive jungle gym, a big tire swing, and a sandbox so large that Shun could build castles big enough to sit in.

But, as Shun's luck would have it, Dan Kuso was at the park as well. The two boys met each other's gazes as Shun entered the park. Shun sighed. Dan scowled.

Shun was tempted to leave the park. Dan was one of the worst kids in his class. He was funny and he was popular, but he and Shun did not get along whatsoever. And because Dan was popular, that meant he had friends. And because Dan didn't like Shun, that meant Shun had no friends.

School had been really lonely since Shun told Dan he didn't like Dan.

"Is he a classmate of yours?" asked his mom.

Shun shrugged and tugged his mom toward the tire swing. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Dan playing with his transformers.

"Shun?" asked his mom, lifting him onto the tire swing. "Are you okay, honey?"

Shun nodded. "Yeah." He wrapped his hands around the tire swing's chain, but he couldn't shake the slump in his shoulders.

"I know you haven't made friends yet," said his mom, stroking his hair. "But you will. I promise." She kissed his hair and started pushing him.

Shun flew through the air, feeling the way the air tugged through his clothes and through his hair. He closed his eyes and let the sun bear down on his face and warm him all the way to his toes.

Dan laughed in the background. Shun opened his eyes. He saw Dan running around the playground, waving his transformer.

Shun gritted his teeth. In an instant, he knew what he wanted to do. He leaped from the tire swing and flew through the air. Landed on the sand on all fours. Immediately, he was up and running. He ducked behind Dan and swung around where Dan wouldn't notice Shun.

Then, he grabbed the transformer, pushed Dan into the sand, and took off.

It took Dan a second to realize what had happened. Then, he shouted, "Hey!" and gave chase.

Shun tore through the playground, leaping over other kids and ducking around playground equipment. He headed for the monkey bars and leaped up onto the ladder rung. He climbed the last two rungs and grabbed the monkey bars themselves with one hand. Then he swung his legs up, climbed on top of the monkey bars, and scrambled to the centre.

Dan scowled up at him with his hands on his hips. "Get down! And gimme back my transformer."

Shun stuck his tongue out at him. "No," he said.

With a growl, Dan grabbed some rocks and started throwing them at Shun. Shun ducked around a few of the rocks, but one beamed him in the cheek. He yelped and grabbed at his cheek. The sudden movement made him wobble.

His eyes went wide just before he fell. Then he was plummeting.

Shun screamed. Braced for impact. But the hard ground never grabbed him. Instead, soft arms grabbed him and wrapped around him.

When Shun opened his eyes, he found himself looking at his mom. She smiled at him and set him down.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

Shun didn't answer. Instead, he turned and bolted for Dan, who was picking up his transformer. Shun tackled Dan into the rocks and drew back to punch him. Dan kicked one of his legs and threw sand at his face.

The two boys screamed and rolled through the dirt, yanking at each other's hair and shouting things neither one understood.

Shun's mom lifted him off Dan. Dan's mom hauled him away from Shun. The two boys kept trying to claw at each other, screaming and spitting.

"Why are you such a jerk?" asked Dan.

"Because you made everyone hate me!" shouted Shun. He felt the tears gathering in the corners of his eyes.

Dan stopped struggling. His mom set him down. "What?" he asked, in a tiny, shocked voice.

Shun slumped. Let his mom put him down. "You don't like me. So no one else likes me. I have no friends." His voice broke on the last two words.

"You said you didn't like me," said Dan. "So I just didn't talk to you."

Shun pouted. "I didn't like you because you got me in trouble."

Dan frowned. He stared down at his toy and then looked back at Shun. Then, he held out one hand and smiled at Shun.

"Truce?" he asked.

Shun sniffled and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. Then, he reached out and took Dan's. "Truce."

"So…," said Dan. He grinned. "Wanna play Transformers? I've got two more in my backpack."

Shun smiled. "Okay."

And the two took off across the park, this time together instead of alone.