by Jenika Snow
When I sat beside her, I saw her eyes widen even farther.
“Hi,” I said, smiling, hoping she wouldn’t be scared to be here anymore. “I’m Felix.”
She didn’t say anything right away and instead looked down at the art supplies I’d brought with me.
I couldn’t understand what I felt, but I knew I wanted her to be my friend. I wanted us to be best friends.
“Maggie,” she said softly. She looked up then, her blue eyes pretty but still scared.
“Wanna be friends?” I smiled. I hoped she wouldn’t laugh at the missing front tooth I had. I’d just lost it and put it under my pillow for the tooth fairy. I’d gotten a whole dollar for it.
She shrugged and looked down at the table again.
“You can think about it, but I’m really nice, and I won’t let anyone be mean to you.” She looked up again and smiled. It wasn’t a big one, but it was a smile just for me. “Hey, you’re missing a tooth, too.” I pointed to my missing tooth. She stopped smiling, and I felt bad for saying something. “See?” I smiled wider, pointing out the big gap between my teeth. “I lost mine a couple days ago. I got a lot from the tooth fairy.” She didn’t say anything. “How much did you get?”
She shook her head. “The tooth fairy doesn’t come to my house.”
“Why not?”
She didn’t say anything for a long time. “The tooth fairy doesn’t like coming to my house because it’s dirty and my mom and dad fight a lot. She’s never come to my house, not even when my big brother lost teeth.”
I didn’t like that at all.
She glanced at me again, and the way she seemed so scared had something inside of me hurting.
I tried to think of what I could do to make her feel better, and then I looked down at the paper and watercolors in front of me.
I grabbed my brush, dipped it in the cup of water the teacher had put on the table, and picked the color I wanted. I knew she watched me. I could feel her eyes on me, and I liked that.
When I was finished, I stared at my picture before handing it to her. Maggie reached out and took it, and for long seconds just stared at it.
“This is for me?” she asked.
I nodded, feeling proud of myself. What I did know was I was keeping Maggie as mine.
Maggie
He’d drawn a pink heart on the paper. Although it was a little crooked, it was perfect.
He’d made it. Just for me.
I’d never had anyone do anything nice like this for me.
What he wouldn’t know was how much a heart on the paper meant to me.
“You and I will be the best of friends,” Felix said.
I wanted to be his friend, but I didn’t fit in here. My clothes were old, used, and I didn’t have nice things like the other girls in the class. Even Felix looked nice, with clothes that didn’t have stains on them, or shoes with holes in the side.
“Why would you want to be my friend?” I asked.
He looked at me funny then. “Why wouldn’t I want to be your friend?”
I shrugged. “No one ever wants to be my friend.” Back at my old school I was called mean things: dirty, poor, ugly. And then Felix reached out and placed his hand over mine. I looked up and stared into his green eyes. They reminded me of grass in the summer.
“I’m gonna be your best friend, Maggie.”
I liked how he said my name.
“I’m never letting you go.”
And for some reason I really believed him.
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About the Author
Find Jenika at:
@jenikasnow
jenikasnow
www.JenikaSnow.com
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