PROLOGUE // THEN
The air was sticky and humid, yet oddly pleasant, as the bright stringy rays of sunshine peeked gently from out of within the clouds and shone ever so naturally across the horizon, reflecting gracefully across the metal components of the massive colorful playground as an array of children laughed, squealed and chattered aimlessly without a care beneath the beautiful stretch of blue above their imaginative heads.
A short and stout little girl clambered around the plastic steps to the twin slides, heaving her chubby little legs with slight difficulty as her small hands fisted at the sides of her frock as sudden spurts of gentle wind blew about, threatening to cause her sunny frock to billow about her willowy frame.
She heaved a breath as she smiled victoriously to herself, standing before the seat of the slide as she stared down at the cheerful red plastic. She contemplated whether to take the red one or the yellow one to her journey back down into the pit of woodchips with her feet steadily placed atop the ground several feet beneath her, which was also where the two girls she wanted to impress stood happily. The two girls had never passed a day without sliding down the swirly red slide; the slide that she had yet to conquer.
She stood on the very tips of her nimble toes and peered down at the two girls who were dressed in pretty pastel dresses, and she quickly swallowed her second thoughts and sudden fears as their boisterous laughter wafted through the sticky air, landing tauntingly against the delicate curves of her ear.
Then, she sat herself down on the red slide, earning a few sudden looks from her classmates for no one had ever dared go before the adventurous twins. Her hands gripped the plastic hills of the slide and she inhaled audibly as her heart thud, thud, and thudded beneath her small chest. And suddenly, as if an unknown force had merely tapped her on the back, her small frame went flying down the red swirly slide, and she could have sworn that her life had flashed before her eyes.
A mixture of laughter and squeals and screams and cries rippled from her voice box and sounded from beneath her lips, earning the attention of nearly half the playground at that moment. The sticky air rushed up her nose and she immediately parted her lips, mindlessly swallowing deep breaths of air for she could barely keep up with properly inhaling through her small nose.
As the multitude of brown woodchips came into her line of vision, her heart rate slowed down but the squeals continued erupting from her mouth, and she breathlessly landed on the woodchip-blanketed ground with an audible oof and a helpless groan as her arms splayed out on either side of her with the right side of her face planted into the ground, and most humiliating of all; her knees squished beneath her as the back of her frock rose upwards, unwillingly showing off her pink panties plastered with a pattern of smiley faces.
As her teacher ceased grading the kids' vocabulary quizzes and scrambled off of the green metal park bench to assist her, one of the twins let out a snort of amusement; followed by the other; followed by her friend; followed by his friend; followed by her friend; followed by nearly half of the playground. She frowned despite herself as she gripped her teacher's hand, ignoring the concerned questions which flew from beneath her pink lips, resulting in a cycle of dizzying nods.
She brushed the woodchips from off of her scraped and stubby knees before brushing the pads of her chubby fingers across her right cheek, running them over the indents of the chips atop her pink skin. The little girl who merely wanted impress two older girls shakily made her way around the playground, avoiding her classmates' cheeky grins and pointed stares, pretending as if everything were normal.
She did feel a bit of regret for hurting herself rather than having everything go according to plan and impressing the older twins, and while the embarrassment and humiliation was clearly evident through her hidden green eyes, she smiled and giggled quietly to herself as she jumped, perching atop a swing and gripping the metal chains, staring into oblivion with a smile etched atop her moist lips.
"What're ya laughing at?" an unrecognizable voice asked from a close proximity beside her, snapping her out of her reverie.
She turned to face the owner of the voice. There, to the left swing right beside her, sat a boy with unblinking brown eyes and an oddly-shaped head of ruffled blond hair. He smiled, revealing a toothy grin, before giving her a steady look, seeing that she wasn't responding.
"Hello?" he asked, playfully waving a hand in front of her face as she finally blinked.
"Hi," she replied timidly, squirming slightly beneath his unwavering gaze as she avoided his eyes, watching the glittery stars of her velcro tennis shoes shimmer brilliantly beneath the stifling sunlight as she kicked her feet back and forth, to and fro, sending her above the ground, slowly but surely.
"What happened to your knees?" the boy inquired, tilting his head to the side, his gaze fixated upon the pinks and red and purples gracing her stubby knees.
She cowered after his question, halting her swinging and drawing her knees awkwardly beneath the graceful cloth of her frock. She avoided his gaze, pursing her lips and finding it odd that he hadn't seen the events from a few moments ago, when she served as the comedic entertainment before her classmates.
"I fell," she replied softly, feeling a blush nip at the tips of her cheeks as the boy from beside her let out a burst of laughter.
"Oh," he breathed. "That was you who fell off of the slide?"
She lifted her head, raising her eyebrows and giving him a calculating look before nodding without bothering to voice a response.
The corners of his eyes crinkled cutely as a mischievous and amused expression painted itself atop his features within mere moments, "Nice underpants,"
She felt her jaw fall slack as she gaped at him, her eyes wide as he fell into a fit of laughter, his small hands clutching at the metal chains on either side of the swing for support. She frowned as she continued to laugh, finding herself unable to move and walk away from him.
After a passing moment, he breathed in, willing himself to stop laughing as he caught sight of the frown scarring against her lips. He let out a cough, "Sorry,"
She shook her head, her curls of rich brown bouncing along with her every movement. He waited with baited breath, waiting for her to say something.
"You're a butt,"
He nearly choked on his own spit, "I'm a butt?"
She nodded seriously, "Yes, you are."
"You're the one with smiley faces on your butt, you... you buttface!"
She gasped, taking his silly phrase as an incredible insult against her seven year old mind, "That is so mean!"
"You called me a butt!" the boy angrily retaliated.
"Fine!" she huffed. "You're not a butt, you're..." she glanced up at his oddly shaped head, "You're an egg!"
"I'm a what?!"
"You're an egg," she annunciated, smiling smugly.
"What," he spluttered. "What does that have to do with anything?!"
"Your head is shaped like an egg!" she blurted, annoyed that he hadn't caught on.
"That doesn't make me an egg!" he snapped.
She threw her head back, groaning out loud in annoyance, "You're an egghead, you egghead!"
He blinked at her before letting out a hoot of contagious laughter, his smile wide and his laughter infectious as he nearly doubled over.
She stared after him, not expecting the response she was getting right then. But before anything else could happen, she herself let out a few chortled laughs before joining in with his laughter, their voices harmonizing and flowing through the sticky wind in a melodic manner.
And as they laughed and properly dubbed themselves as friends with their silly little nicknames through a quick ceremony of daffodils and daisies, the outlandish adventures of Butfface and Egghead truly began.
- - -
hi friends!
so, the comments i got on the description bit were absolutely amazing and wonderful and everything in between, and i'm completely blown away by your kindness and support because i honestly did not expect the stories on this account to get many reads or votes or anything for that matter, and i just want to hug each and every one of you for all you do for me, thank you ^.^
anyways, i hope this little prologue is sufficient enough! this story will be around 8 to 10 chapters and will be told through a series of flashbacks; it'll make a lot more sense once i get the first chapter up, so bear with me
dedicated to moira for being the kindest, loveliest and most wonderful person i've ever had the luck of coming across; you mean a lot to me, always remember that <3
thank you for reading!
much love; f