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After Chip finished selling the bake sale goodies during the snack break, he didn’t know what to do with himself. He didn’t know what it was like to be a loser, until now. “What are my parents going to think…”
“I can’t believe that stupid 3rd place homeschooled kid beat me. He couldn’t even win at his own local bee. It’s not fair! He shouldn’t even be here! It’s all his fault, if he wasn’t here I wouldn’t have gotten distracted and would have won the bee! My parents are going to be so disappointed…” Chip thinks to himself as he sits on the floor outside of the gym.
Soon after the snack break *he* walks out of the gym with his juice box. This means he must’ve gotten his word wrong too.
“Hey Chip!” Leaf says happily sipping on his juice.
“Hello.” Chip responds unenthusiastically. He doesn’t know why this guy is talking to him. Doesn’t he realize what just happened on the stage? Chip is so embarrassed and he just comes up like nothing happened. As if it wasn’t his SISTER that distracted him.
Leaf is blissfully unaware of the awkward silence between him and Chip, but Chip definitely realizes.
“You’re not even a little bit upset you lost?” Chip says to Leaf whos giggling and sitting down next to him.
“Not really! I’m just glad I got to meet some new people!! I usually only see my parents and siblings all day!!” Leaf says sipping the last drops of the juice out.
Chip doesn’t understand Leaf at all. He doesn’t comprehend how he isn’t even a little bit upset that he lost. Wasn’t he gonna get yelled at when he gets home? He also doesn’t understand why Leaf isn’t making fun of him for getting *distracted* on stage. If any of the little league guys ever hear about this, his life would be over. He already gets picked on enough.
“Do you wanna be friends!” Leaf asks abruptly, breaking the silence outside the gym.
Chip still embarrassed, but glad Leaf chose to ignore it, isn’t exactly in a position to turn down a friend, no matter how strange he might be. Maybe Chip would get to see Marigold again… this newfound friendship might not be too bad. All the guys on his team make fun of him and he never really fit in with the boy scouts, so he decided to give Leaf a chance.
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After hanging out a few times the past couple weeks, they actually turn out to be pretty decent friends! Chip thinks Leaf is a little bit weird and immature at some times, but he’s glad to have a real friend who doesn’t make fun of him. If anything, he’s the one making fun of Leaf.