Chapter Text
Second grade. Autumn. It’s recess and I’m sitting alone outside, on the little concrete curb surrounding the playground. I’m moving the bark around with my feet, making a little mountain out of the wood chips. I hear footsteps behind me and crane my neck back. There’s a boy standing behind me, leaning down with his hands on his knees. He has blond hair, light freckles, and bright blue eyes. He grins at me. He has a missing tooth already. I haven’t lost any of mine yet. He tells me his name is Stu, and asks if he can sit next to me. I tell him yes, and that my name is Billy. He asks why the teacher calls me William and not Billy. I tell him that William is my full name, and that I haven’t told her yet that I like Billy more. He nods, going silent for a moment before getting on his knees in the bark and scooping more onto my pile with his hands. Stu looks at me and smiles, asking if it’s okay to help. I smile as well and nod, nudging more bark closer with my feet. After a few minutes of building up my little bark pile into a larger bark pile he looks at me and asks if we can be friends. I tell him that we can. He grins, but it fades as the bell to go inside rings. He frowns and I tell him we can make the pile bigger later. He smiles again and nods before getting up and brushing off his pants, before grabbing my hand and helping me up. We go back to class together.
It’s lunchtime and we’re sitting at the table together. It’s sticky. Stu pulls some things out of a plastic lunchbox. I watch. I look down at my lunch, which was just a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in a paper bag. I feel strange (I’d later realize this feeling was inadequacy and jealousy). Stu looks at me and holds out a pack of fruit snacks. I take it. He asks why I don't have very much to eat. I explain we’re poor. He utters a quiet “Oh” and then goes silent for a moment, thinking. Then he says that he’s rich, and that maybe he could get his mom to make extra lunches for me. My stomach flutters. He’d do that for me? Really? (I come to remember this years later, and wonder what else he would do for me…) He says yes, and I thank him and tell him I would be very happy if that happened. He grins, eyes crinkling in a cute way that spurred me to smile back. He scoots a bit closer to me and I accept the movement in silence, and we both start eating.
After lunch, we return to our pile of playground bark and continue making it larger. We chat idly, I can't recall what about now. But either way it was pleasant. I enjoyed talking to him the first day we met and have since.