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Peter tottled over to the the toy box. Aunt May had just dropped him off, but his friend Johnny wasn't there yet. They had planned on building a skyscraper today. They meant to do it yesterday, but Johnny's parents had picked Sue and him up early.
Peter wanted to grab all the blocks they would need before someone else did. He started putting them in a bucket he found nearby. Once he had his first load, he looked around to scope out a good building spot.
A couple of other kids were sitting by the TV, watching Sesame Street. He saw an empty place behind the couch and hoisted up his bucket. It was heavier than he had expected, but he made it there without falling over.
He dumped out his blocks and went back to get a second load. The door opened behind him and he turned, hoping Johnny had finally showed up. Instead he saw a woman holding hands with a girl he didn't recognize. She had her blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. The girl was looking around, not shy like a lot of kids were on their first day. Peter watched, curious to see where the girl would end up. Just then, the girl caught Peter staring. She waved at him and he couldn't help but blush. Aunt May always got on to him for staring, and now he felt silly. He waved back quickly before turning back to the toy box.
He had filled the bucket almost all the way when someone beside him said, "Hi."
He jumped and dropped the block he'd just picked up. "H-Hi."
"I'm Felicia. What's your name?" He looked over at her. She had on a pink top with a cat on the front.
"My name is Peter." He wasn't sure what else to say. Most of the kids didn't hang out with him very often. He and Johnny liked to build things that some of the other kids made fun of. Flash liked to kick them over and make everyone laugh.
"What are you doing?" Felicia asked. She picked up one of the blocks out of the bucket.
"We-me and Jonny, we're gonna build a skyscraper." He held out his hand and she put the brick into it.
"Johnny? Who's Johnny?"
"He's my best friend. He isn't here yet." He looked around. A couple more kids had showed up, but Johnny wasn't there yet. He grabbed a couple more bricks and walked towards his pile, struggling with the bucket.
He noticed the bucket grow lighter, then looked up to see Felicia helping him carry the bucket. They both got there quicker than he had before. He dumped the bucket on the small pile. He looked at it, trying to decide if he needed more.
"What skyscraper are you going to build?" Felicia asked. "My favorite is the Chrysler Building." She sat down cross-legged on the floor.
"I like that one, too," he said. "I don't know if we have the right pieces, though." He dug through, trying to figure out what building they could make. "I was gonna wait for Johnny—" The door opened again, but it was a different kid.
Peter walked over to Miss Carter, tugging on her pant leg. "Miss Carter, is Johnny coming today?" He was usually here by the time Mr. Rogers came on, and Mr. Rogers had already sung his welcome song.
Miss Carter knelt down. "Johnny's not going to be here today, Peter. His family had something to do together. He'll be back tomorrow, though. Why don't you play with Felicia today? She doesn't know anyone, and you can show her around."
Peter looked over at Felicia. She had followed him to see Miss Carter. "Oh, okay." He stood there, not sure what to do.
"Felicia, do you want Peter to show you to the kitchen for a snack?" Miss Carter asked her.
Felicia shook her head. "I'm all right. We were going to build a skyscraper." She took Peter's hand. He looked down. Her nails were painted pink and her fingers were locked with his. He looked back up at Miss Carter, who had a smile on her face.
He felt a little lost without Johnny, but Aunt May had been talking to him about going to school and making new friends, so he thought this would be a good time to practice. He walked with Felicia, still holding hands, to his pile of blocks. He tried to remember what other blocks were in the toy bucket.
"I think we need more blocks," he said. He picked up the bucket, but Felicia didn't let go of his hand. She followed him back to the toy box, where he dug through for something to make the top of the Chrysler building.
Felicia looked through the box, too, holding up things for him to say yes or no to. Once he had enough, she helped him carry the bucket back to their pile.
Building with Felicia was easy. All her block ideas were good. Usually Peter had to fight with Johnny about where to put things or which block to use. Pretty soon, they had half of the tower built.
Peter was deciding how much taller they should make it when he felt someone stand over him. He looked up to see Flash standing there with a couple other kids behind him.
"Thought you could hide from me? What are you using all the blocks for? We want to play Godzilla," Flash said.
"We aren't done yet. We're making the Chrysler building," Peter said. He got up to stand between Flash and the blocks.
"We?" Flash said. "Johnny isn't here to play your dork games." Just then, he noticed Felicia. "Who are you? You're new."
"Felicia," she said. She stared at Flash, but she wasn't smiling anymore.
"Felicia, you should come play with us. Peter is slow and boring," Flash said. Peter tried not to look over at her, telling himself he wouldn't care if she did leave to go play with Flash. Johnny would be back tomorrow anyway.
Instead, he heard Felicia say, "I like Peter. At least he isn't big, ugly, and mean like you."
Peter kept his face as still as he could so smiling didn't make Flash mad. He didn't do a very good job. Flash saw and shoved Peter backwards. He fell back into the skyscraper, the blocks falling around him. They were very sharp underneath him. Between the pain and the embarrassment, his lip started to tremble.
Felicia stood up in front of Peter and slapped Flash right across his cheek. As the little pink outline of her hand grew on his face, Flash's eyes welled up with tears. He ran off, the other kids following.
Felicia turned and offered Peter her hand. "Are you okay? That kid isn't very nice."
Peter let her pull him up to his feet. "No, he isn't. I'm okay. Those bricks just hurt to fall on." He sniffed a little, trying not to cry. Felicia only paused a second before wrapping her arms around him in a hug. His urge to cry went away.
"Let's go get a snack, and then we can build something else. What's your favorite building?" She pulled back to look at him.
Peter hadn't ever had a girl as friend before, but Felicia seemed determined to be the first one. He realized he liked the idea. "The Empire State Building," he said.
She nodded. "We can make a plan while we eat our snack." Felicia took his hand again and they set off for the kitchen.