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The morning sun has barely kissed the sky when Ben begins the trek to the bus stop. He has his lunch in a paper bag, his backpack with notebooks and boxes of tissues stuffed inside, and his Darth Vader sneakers are doubly tied under the shoe’s tongue so all anyone else can see are barred laces.
“Remember to smile, Benny, show everyone that handsome smirk of yours!”
His mom reminded him this morning before he left that other kids gravitate to happy kids. As he walks down the long driveway and turns onto the dirt and gravel road, he flexes the muscles in his cheeks in an attempt to mimic the expression. Ben’s tight lipped smile falls when he hears the crunch of gravel in front of him in the dark. He is supposed to be the only kid at the stop. About 10 feet away there are two figures standing under his tree. Anxiety floods his limbs, everything in him says to run from the tall shadows. He isn’t sure what makes him call out, “H-hello?”
They both turn to look at him and he nearly bolts until- “Ben Solo? Hey bud!”
An entirely too cheerful man’s voice responds.
“It’s Obi and Satine, we have someone we want you to meet.”
Ben can breathe again. The Kenobi’s are the couple who own the peach orchard that touches his family’s property line. They’re friends with his parents but he’s only ever met them the time he and Poe jumped the fence to climb their trees and were caught ferreting away a shirt-full of unripe peaches. They are nice people.
Up close, Ben realizes Mrs. Satine is holding a kid in her arms. The little girl turns, eye level with Ben. She has her hair done up in three buns in a line down the back of her head. Satine rubs the little girl’s side, “This is Rey. Can you say ‘hi’ to Ben sweetie?”
Rey blinks at Ben, her small hand fisted in her mother’s shirt and the other waves at him. Satine sighs and Obi pats the little girl’s shoulder.
“We’re working on it. She doesn’t talk a whole lot but hopefully going to school might help.”
Ben nods and steps to Satine’s side to wave at Rey, “Hi, I’m Ben. How old are you?”
Rey takes a second and then she holds up a hand and one finger. Ben’s smile is small but effortless, he holds up both hands save for a thumb. “I’m nine, almost ten. I really like your buns.”
Rey taps Satine’s forearm and the woman lowers her to the ground. She stands at his side and looks up at him with a wide eyes. With his lanky frame, Ben is a little more than a head taller than her.
Dawn breaks and with it they hear the rumble of the school bus coming their way. Obi and Satine wave as the two children climb into the bus. Rey hesitates as she looks down the aisle.
“Hey,” Ben points over her shoulder to a seat near the back that is still empty, “you can sit with me and my friends.”
Rey scurries and presses herself up against the window with her bookbag in her lap. Ben settles in next to her, shoving his bag under his seat, his foot in the strap so it won’t go sliding across the walkway when the bus begins rolling.
“So, do you really not talk?”
Rey shrugs.
“You do know how to talk though, right?”
She nods her head, buns bobbing as she does.
“Do you know how to write? I love writing it’s my best subject. Mister Ackbar says I have beautiful cursive.”
She nods again, and Ben rummages through his bag before pulling out a handful of colored pens and a composition notebook.
“Will you talk to me by writing? You can use whatever color you want. My favorite is red but I have a bunch of those if you want to be red too.”
He holds up some pens to choose from and Rey is wide eyed looking at the colors and then back at Ben. When she gently takes a blue and reaches for the notebook, Ben is thrilled. She waits for the bus to make another stop before propping her feet up on the back of the next seat and using her lap as a desk.
She hands the notebook back and in big blocky lettering Rey has written: You are very nice. Do you like peechs?
Ben feels his ears redden a bit, “Thank you, I try to be nice all the time. And yeah I love peaches.”
Rey immediately unzips the bag on her lap, pulls out a metal lunchbox, and offers him the peach inside.
“Do you not want it? Here let me trade with you, my mom says you should always try to eat your fruits and veggies.” He takes the peach and places a ziplock baggie filled with grapes and apple slices in her hand. She locks it away in the tin lunchbox and zips her bag up again. She takes the notebook off his lap and writes: Thank you.
Ben’s best friend Poe is one of the last stops in their neighborhood.
“Hey! What gives? You’re sitting with a girl?”
“This is Rey, she’s new and her parents are the peach people. Come sit in front of us.”
Poe frowns, “What about Armie? He’s the one that turns around so he can talk with us.”
“He can sit with you can’t he?”
“No,” Poe throws down his bag in the seat with a thud before slumping down next to it, “you’re supposed to sit with me.”
Ben feels Rey shift next to him, ready to move.
“Hey,” He says quietly, only to her, “you don’t have to move. Give me a second he’s just a butt sometimes.”
Rey hugs her backpack to her chest and tightens her lips into a firm line. She relaxes back into the seat. Ben stands up and bends over the seat in front of him so he’s looking down at Poe, who has slid down so he’s almost pouting on the floor, his neck bending uncomfortably so he’s still looking forward.
“Poe you’re making her-”
“BEN SOLO! BOTTOMS BELONG IN SEATS. FIND YOURS.”
Ben flies back into his seat, face red from his scolding from the bus driver. “Sorry, Miss Maz!” He manages to speak above the morning chatter and her tanned face and large eyes nod at him in the rearview mirror that sees all.
Rey giggles beside him. Ben sees her real smile, a toothy smile. She is missing one of her top front teeth and her bottom baby teeth are all crooked. He can’t help but smile back.
“What’s so funny, huh?” Poe turns around in his seat to ask. He’s glaring at Rey who’s covering her mouth now to stifle the childish laughter still bubbling out of her. Poe looks at Ben and he shrugs, “I think she’s laughing over me getting hollered at.”
Rey pokes his bony, denim-clad knee and they both look at her. She pats her cheeks and tugs on her ears.
“What?” Poe squints.
“She doesn’t talk that’s what I was trying to tell you.”
“What do you mean she don’t talk?”
“I mean that. She doesn’t like talking.”
“Well, that’s dumb. If she’s not gonna talk why does she get to sit next to you?”
Rey is writing in the notebook again and Ben is quickly getting annoyed with Poe.
“Because I said so. She’s new here so just let her be.”
The bus stops again and Ben and Poe are still arguing when the skinny ginger boy slides into the seat beside Poe.
“Who’s the kid?”
Poe answers first. “That’s Rey. She’s the Kenobi’s kid and Ben’s girlfriend. She doesn’t talk so don’t ask her anything.”
Rey nudges Ben with the notebook and he flips to their page: yew terned red!
And another line written in her scrawl
He dos not liek me. Let me sit sumwere els.
Ben meets Rey’s hazel eyes and shakes his head. Poe rips the notebook from Ben’s hands and roughly turns the pages. “So she can talk!”
Ben’s long arms reach for the book. Armie barely leans out of the way quick enough to avoid getting headbutted by Poe as he flips in his seat, sliding to the ground as Ben’s fingers stretch for him.
“BOYS!” Maz screeches back at them.
Ben’s reaction is automatic and his butt finds the seat once more. Armie looks nervously from Ben to Rey to Poe. He forces a smile and extends his hand, “It’s nice to meet you, Rey.”
Ben could always count on Armie to keep the peace. Rey looks at his pale freckled hand and back up at him curiously. Armie frowns, then turns his hand so his palm is facing up, “Low five?” her eyes light up and Rey smacks his hand with all she’s got. Armie smiles, “She’s cool.”
Poe rises. He at least has the decency to look sheepish. Being called out by a little girl can’t feel good. Poe extends the notebook back to Ben but it’s snatched away by Rey. He redirects his attention to the little girl with the funny hair.
“Hey I’m sorry I was a jerk about—”
THWACK
Everyone is silent.
And then they’re not.
Armie and Ben both bust out laughing. Rey, who was filled with as much venom her skinny six-year-old body could muster, actually smacked Poe on the head with the notebook.
The bus comes to a screeching halt and the laughter dies. Everyone on the bus shuffles and they realize that, no, Maz was not running down the aisle ready to separate them all on their first day back to school, but they have actually arrived at their destination.
Ben lifts his leg and retrieves the backpack still hanging on by its strap then swings it over his shoulders. He and Rey follow Poe and Armie to the front of the bus and just before Poe steps off, the doors whoosh closed.
“H-hey!-”
“Quiet Dameron!”
Maz is looking at them all behind her coke-bottle frames, eyes disproportionate to her thin wrinkled face. Her finger taps on the steering wheel and she says nothing.
Ben feels Rey grip the hem of his shirt from behind, her small hands twisting in the new Polo his mom had ironed this morning. Maz locks on to Rey and Ben feels himself shift to remove her from the burning gaze. Maz looks back up at the boys, “How long have you all been riding this bus?”
“Almost 4 years, ma’am,” Armie answers for them quickly. His toe is tapping and Ben knows he’s worrying about the first tardy bell going off outside any minute now.
“Wrong! The answer is: Long enough! You know better than to rough-house inside a vehicle.”
“Yes ma’am, we won’t do it again.”
She gives Poe a once over, stopping to note his messy black hair, the orange band-aid on his chin, and the sideways smile Mr. Dameron had told them before could get them out of most anything if done right. The boys had practiced the man’s ‘smolder’ for days and the only one of them to get even close was Poe, which figures, considering it is his Dad that taught them.
“We both know that isn’t true. But you have to get to class, so next time I see you three cause any trouble you’re all sitting in separate seats up front with me.”
The bus doors open again and they all hesitate.
“You, little Kenobi. I want to speak with you.” Ben stiffens, unwilling to part with the small girl wrinkling the back of his shirt with her twisting fists.
The other two boys slowly start to make their way off the bus, waiting for Ben to join them. Ben shifts his weight from one foot to the other, “Ms. Maz, she doesn’t like talking and she really didn’t do anything wrong-”
“That’s not entirely true, I saw her bop Dameron on the head with that notebook of hers.”
Poe actually jumps back onto the bus to interject, “That was my fault! Don’t scare her over that it was nothin’.”
“Scare her? Boy- All of you boys get going to your classes and I’ll make sure Kenobi finds her teacher.”
Ben turns, Rey’s arm nearly wraps around him in her refusing to let go of his shirt. She certainly looks scared. Something pangs in his chest and he acts on impulse. Ben leans down and pulls her into his arms for a hug, his hands pressed flat against her shoulder blades while the side of her face barely brushes against his. Rey releases his shirt and then the embrace is over. Ben is smiling reassuringly, “I’ll see you here after school okay?”
Rey nods and offers him his notebook and pen. He takes the notebook.
“Keep the pen, it’s yours. And I’ll bring this back later for us.”
Ben allows himself to step off the bus and he hears Maz mention something to Rey about already making friends. The first bell goes off and all the boys break out into a sprint for their shared homeroom. They skid to a stop at the end of a line outside the door when Armie pants, “You know… you probably… have cooties now.”
——
As it turns out, Ben’s assigned seat has him right next to the window. So all day he gets the perfect view of the playground and his favorite swing and he’s able to doodle whatever he sees on the other side of the glass. Around eleven-thirty every day the first graders are released from the lunchroom to go play outside for a half hour. And one of those first graders is a skinny girl with her brown hair tied back into three buns.
After that first day, Rey sits with Ben every day on the bus as per his request. Poe doesn’t complain much, only in the afternoons when Armie insists on taking off his shoes to practice tying knots for scouts even though they smell. Rey’s writing improves. During the school day Ben draws and writes to Rey in their notebook so she can read it on the bus ride home. She talks to Armie and Poe through Ben and eventually it becomes the norm. She is one of them now because of Ben.
“I never even knew the Kenobis had a kid. Why didn’t you go to preschool or kindergarten, Rey?” Armie asks one day.
Rey props her legs up on the seat and starts writing. Ben reads over her shoulder, “‘I didn’t live here’. You didn’t live here? But they’ve lived here since before I was even born, Rey.”
Rey looks up at Ben and then turns back to the notebook. Ben follows along, “‘I lived… in a house… with other kids… and…’”
Ben’s eyebrows knit together and he mouths the words on the paper.
“And?” Poe asks.
Ben looks up at his friends, “Rey’s adopted.”
She’s looking up at them, perfectly content, unaware of how abnormal this is to them.
“Huh,” Poe says, “makes sense now why you always give your peaches to Ben. Who grows up on a peach orchard and doesn’t like peaches?”
Armie pipes in, “The Kenobis must have really wanted you. That’s really cool that your mom and dad chose you.”
Rey’s hazel eyes flick to Ben, who doesn’t say anything, to Poe and Armie, and she shrugs.
The conversation is dropped and they go on to talk about the new Power Rangers movie coming out.
——
The first time Ben hears Rey speak is one of the best bad days ever.
Ben is trying to come up with cursive numbers so his math notes can be as nice as his other notes and the bell for first-grade recess sounds. He watches through the window as Rey runs through the open doors— hand in hand with another kid. A boy. With short black hair and dark skin.
Ben feels his stomach drop. Rey is allowed to have friends besides him. It’s probably good that she has friends her age. Rey usually sits under the slide and reads a book from the library during recess. He’s never seen or paid attention to the little boy and now he’s holding her hand. Ben bites his fingernails, eyes following the two children as they run across the playground over to the swings.
He thinks he might actually get sick. Does she talk to him?
Ben sees it all happen. They both are kicking, gaining momentum on the swing when another little girl walks in front of them, just far enough away that they won’t hit her. Rey stops swinging her legs, still riding the swing as it reaches its peak. The girl grabs her ankle and Rey is falling off the swing.
Ben stands up. The crash from the metal chair tipping over shocks half of the class back awake and Mrs. Holdo shouts at him as he sprints out of the classroom. His sneakers squeak and he runs past a few teachers who yell at him to not run and demand to see his hallway pass. He shoves open the metal doors so hard one bounces against the concrete wall. Ben makes a beeline for the swings.
The boy is shouting, “STOP IT! ROSE, STOP IT YOU’RE HURTING HER!” The little girl is kicking Rey, who is curled into a ball on the ground, not making a sound. Ben sees red. He runs full force into the girl, shoving her so hard she goes flying into the boy and they both tumble onto the wood chips surrounding the swings.
“WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? WHAT DID SHE DO TO YOU?” Ben screams and the two younger children cower, the girl breaks down in tears.
“B-B-B-Ben?”
Ben turns around, his ears are still pounding but he’s trying to swallow his rage, as he drops to his knees next to Rey. Her lip is busted open and blood is trickling onto her white shirt. Ben holds her face in his hands and runs his fingers over her skull to feel for any bumps.
“Tell me what hurts, Rey.”
“Mmm-My el-elbows and-and-and my l-lip.”
Ben gently runs his fingers over her arms and she flinches. She’s covered in scrapes and splinters.
“B-B-B-B-Ben,” she whimpers and reaches for him. Ben scoops her up by the middle and she wraps her legs around his hips. He stands up and kicks wood chips at the girl wailing next to the boy. “Stop crying!” He nods at the boy, “Go find a teacher. I’m taking her to the nurse.” The young boy nods and scrabbles up and away for help.
Ben is breaking a sweat as he carries Rey through the school. One of the teachers from earlier cuts him off at the end of the hallway and asks him what he thinks he’s doing.
“I’m taking her to the nurse.”
“Nurse?! Is she hurt? Give her here—”
“NO!”
It isn’t Ben that screams this time. Rey is clutching onto his neck and shoulders, shivering even though it’s always 75 degrees inside the school. Ben holds her tighter and passes by the teacher without another glance.
——
“Where in the HELL were the teachers when this was going on!”
“That boy could have seriously hurt my daughter!”
“Your daughter?! That gremlin you raised yanked my little girl off a swingset! What if she had landed on her he-”
“GREMLIN!? MY DAUGHTER-”
Ben is sitting outside the Principal’s office waiting for his parents to arrive. Obi and Satine Kenobi have been in a screaming match with Hue and Thanya Tico for nearly half an hour. Miss Sally, the front desk clerk, is watching Ben, the girl: Rose, and the boy: Finn. Finn’s parents were called but were told not to come to the school, just that they need him as an eye witness.
The office door swings open and Ben’s mom and dad come storming in. Leia checks them in and, without a glance at Ben, disappears into the Principal’s office.
——
Ben is nearly asleep when the door finally opens again. Rose’s mother roughly grabs her by the arm and they leave the office in a huff. He can still hear his mother’s voice around the corner. Ben stands up to stretch his legs and notices Finn is no longer there, he must have been sent back to class. “B-B-Ben!”
He spins and sees Rey tapping her father’s arm, begging to be let down, and he looks shocked. Rey runs into Ben’s arms and he squeezes her in a hug, her face pressed into his chest.
“How is your lip doing?” Rey looks up at him and pokes the My Little Pony band-aid on her cheek.
“Sh-she said she c-c-couldn’t put a b-b-b-band-aid on mm-my lip.”
Ben can’t help his smile, “The cheek is pretty close.” Rey nods. Obi comes up behind Rey and puts a hand on her shoulder.
“Ben, it takes a big and brave man to ignore the rules to help someone and I can’t tell you how happy it makes me that you’ve been looking after Rey all this time.”
“Rey is the brave one, she didn’t cry, not once. She’s real tough,” He says, smiling down at his little fighter.
Satine and his parents join them. Ben attempts to pull away from Rey but she isn’t having it. He rests his hand on her shoulder and plays with a piece of hair that escaped one of her buns as she clings to him.
Han squats down next to Ben and Rey and pats him on the back.
“Now, I’m proud of you for helping your friend, Benny, and knowing it was an okay time to break the rules. But we know, we don’t put our hands on ladies do we?”
“No, sir.” Ben wants to say that a lady wouldn’t kick another lady but the point is probably moot.
“Okay, so, this weekend we’re going to work on your manners-” Ben’s mouth pops open in a frown, “over at the Kenobi’s. They’ve invited us to lunch on Saturday.”
Ben closes his mouth. And then opens it again, “…You mean, like, to practice setting tables or-”
Leia cuts in, “No, baby, your dad is just giving you a hard time. It’s a play date for you and Rey. And so we can catch up with our friends, here.”
Ben scowls at his dad, his cheeks turning red. Han smiles at him before smacking him on the back and ruffling his hair, making it stick up at all angles and getting a laugh out of Rey.
——
The next day at the bus stop, Rey hands Ben a piece of paper folded over a dozen times with “Ben” written in her blue ink. “I thought you were talking to me now. You have such a nice voice can you just say it?”
Rey shook her head, “I-I-I didn’t w-want to st-st-st-” She huffs and looks like she might cry.
“Hey, it’s okay! I’ll read it.”
Ben can tell Rey really tried to write nicely for him. All of her letters line up with the lines on the paper.
“‘Do you love me? Do you want to be my friend? You can hold my hand whenever you want. I think this is being in love. Check yes or no.’”
When he finishes reading the letter he looks up and— even in the early morning light— he can tell she’s blushing. He knows he must be as well. Ben takes his red pen out of his pocket, puts a check in one of the boxes, and then folds up the paper before handing it back to her. His smile is blinding as he watches her unfold it once more and then look up at him, the intensity of her gap-toothed smile matching his. Ben holds out his hand expectantly and she doesn’t hesitate to put her hand in his.
The bus rumbles as it makes its way down their road. “I love you, Rey,” he squeezes her hand and raises his eyebrows, “and I was already your friend.”
——
The Kenobi home is big and warm and smack dab in the middle of their orchard. Ben’s parents follow a dirt road all the way up to their driveway and as soon as the car is off, Ben out the door waving at his parents to please hurry up. Satine answers the door and welcomes the Solo’s only to have Rey sneak around and nab Ben’s hand; dragging him to her room.
“I guess Rey will give him the tour,” Satine laughs.
There isn’t a tour though, Rey pulls Ben straight through the house, into the backyard where a large wooden playhouse stands. She opens the door and tells him to sit down at a small plastic yellow table covered with a sheet and decorated with an assortment of real snacks on fake china. The playhouse has an air conditioner, a carpeted floor, and a ladder that leads up to a small second-floor covered in pillows and plush blankets. Ben has never seen such an ornate playhouse.
“D-D-Daddy helped me mmm-make cookies for uh-us.” Ben watches intently as Rey delicately places a chocolate chip cookie on plastic china for him.
“Thank you, Miss Rey,” Ben says, earning himself a big smile and another cookie. Rey walks around the table, setting up her plate and then pouring both of them a teacup full of water. Ben rises and pulls out Rey’s chair for her before quickly sitting down once more. They make polite conversation that they imagine their parents might have while sipping from their teacups, pinkies in the air.
“How are you enjoying the weather?”
“W-W-What did y-you learn in school th-th-this week?”
“Have you done your taxes?”
“T-T-Taxes? Why of c-c-course! Wait w-what are taxes?”
Ben finishes off his cookies and asks, “What else do you want to do?”
Rey gets up from her chair and runs back into the house, reemerging with a baby-doll swaddled in a blanket. She offers it to him and he takes the doll.
“We can play house! Y-Y-You can be daddy a-and I’ll b-b-be mommy.”
Ben holds the doll in the crook of his elbow and helps Rey put the dishes into the playhouse kitchen sink. Rey takes the doll back in her arms and tells Ben he needs to find a job. He says he’s a famous writer so he can stay home with Rey and their baby.
“One day, we’ll get married, Rey.”
“W-W-What do you mmm-mean?” She bounces the baby in her arms.
“We’ll be best friends forever. And we’ll have a house and be a mom and dad to our own babies and we’ll always be together.”
“Wh-Why don’t we get mm-married now?”
“We just have to wait. Only adults are allowed to be married. Plus, I have to get us rings and I’ve never been good at saving my birthday money.”
“That’s not f-f-fair. I w-w-wanna be best friends now!” Ben smiles and holds his hand out for her. Baby doll forgotten, she places it on the table and takes Ben’s hand. He shakes and squeezes her small palm, “You are my best friend, Rey.”
She sighs, “No, P-Poe is your best f-f-friend.”
“But I don’t want to marry Poe, I want to marry you and someday I will.”
Rey tugs his arm and he leans down, and she plants a big puckered kiss on his cheek, “Promise?”
Ben’s face is a million degrees when he says, “I promise.”