𝙄𝙣 𝙁𝙖𝙞𝙧 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝙔𝙤𝙧𝙠...

Over Time

More tears pricked down Peter's face at their hurtful words. He dropped the broken crayon from his hand. The bottom piece rolled away from the table down to the floor, until it was stopped by a shoe. He looked up to who the shoe was attached to, only to find a girl. She looked about his age and was very pretty. Her eyes wide, cheeks rosy and plump, and her curls were a bit unruly. Her brown complexion contrasted to his.

She picked up the broken piece and went closer to him. "They're wrong you know. You're not a loser for crying. But you are a loser for not standing up to them," she told him as she placed the crayon on top of his table. "I'm Michelle," she said as she placed out a hand. Reluctantly, he shook it. "Peter."

She inspected the broken crayon and the coloring book. And that's when she got an idea. From her backpack, she grabbed a new box of crayons. She went back to sit down next to him, handing Peter an unbroken blue crayon. "Here, use mine," she said smiling brightly at him.

Peter's tears had finally stopped, and from then on Michelle and Peter grew into being the best of friends.

***

13 years old

Michelle Jones walked down the halls of SouthEast Middle School alone. Her hand gripped onto a book, and she carried her backpack full of the things she emptied from her locker. It was the last day before summer vacation, and kids were already on a riot. The other students fled around her, ready to escape to the doors of freedom. Her shoulder being shoved every now and then by the speeding tweens.

Somewhere along the way, Michelle and Peter were distancing apart. It started when her once bright smile got replaced by a firm frown, and Peter no longer became the sad one. Her life became a bit too bleak over the past few years; and to add on, Peter was starting to get a bit more noticeable among the eyes of their peers. He even made a new friend that was more like him: Ned Leeds. By the end of that school year, there was no more Peter and Michelle. At least not for a while.

The girl came to accept her new position as the school's outcast. She watched her former companion grow further from her, but there was no resentment towards him. In fact, Michelle was proud at how the once lonesome boy slowly turned into a more outgoing person. If only she could do the same. Besides, it was her fault the friendship started to end anyways. Michelle should've just let him in on what was going on in her life, but her pride stopped her. She didn't want him to worry, so she said nothing.

She still trudged down the hall, not wanting to walk any faster. Her eyes were practically glued to the book she was reading, too fascinated by the words to realize she had accidentally bumped into something. Actually, someone. The only reason she did notice is because the book fell from her grasp. Michelle sighed, bending down to grab it, when another pair of hands brushed over hers as if you pick the book up as well.

"Sorry," the mysterious interloper apologized hastily. She looked up to find a pair of familiar eyes. "It's okay," Michelle grabbed the book, quickly standing up. She was about to walk away when Peter called out for her, "Michelle, wait!!!" Reluctantly, the girl turned around. "Do you need something, loser?" Peter didn't understand why there was such hostility in her words, but he didn't mind it. "I've been looking for you all day," he revealed.

"Well congrats! You found me, want a medal?" Her sarcastic reply was followed with another attempt at leaving. But she was stopped yet again by Peter, who reached out to take hold of her wrist. "Michelle," he whined, "I just wanted to ask you something. Why are you running away from me?" Michelle swiveled around to face him. "Has the thought occurred to you that maybe I'm busy," she queried a bit irritated.