CHAPTER 1-- How They Met

“Hey! There he is!”

William Giles looked up from his brown bag lunch, eyes wide as the group of bigger boys began towards him. He pushed his glasses further up on the bridge of his nose. His scrawny legs that didn’t quite touch the ground from his seat on the wooden bench, swung back and forth nervously.

“Hey! New kid!” They yelled, coming to surround the smaller boy.

“What?” he sputtered in his thick English accent, his hands twisting together, bracing himself.

“You the new kid in Mrs. Henderson’s class?” They asked, challengingly.

“Um . . . yes,” William answered, his last word squeaking out in the form of a question.

The group nodded in agreement. “Stand up!” one boy barked.

William warily did as he was told, his face scrunching up in uncertainty.

Grabbing him by the collar of his dress shirt, two of the boys yanked him away from his lunch he had been enjoying by himself.

“C’mon guys, please don’t!” William pleaded with his fellow second-graders half-heartedly, fairly certain no amount of begging was going to convince these guys of anything.

“You talk funny,” the biggest of them replied, pushing William out of the way and into the chest of another bully.

The largest of the group, clearly the leader, grabbed the bag William had been eating from, emptying it’s contents onto the ground. The peanut butter and jelly sandwich he smashed under his foot. They picked his apple up from the ground, throwing it across the playground to splatter on the pavement.

William made a move to rescue his food, but the boys braced his arms in their firm grips. “My mummy made that for me,” William spoke.

“Ohhhhhhh,” another boy drawled out, “your mommy, huh?”

Seeing William’s reaction to their teasing only made them less merciful. “Are you going to cry now? Cry for your mommy?” They taunted.

“No!” William denied, eyes watering as he stood helplessly.

“Hey! Let him go!” a voice commanded from behind them.

The boys turned around to see a little girl in purple overalls and long blonde pigtails standing a few feet away, her hands on her hips.

The bullies looked at William, “You didn’t tell us you had a girlfriend!”

“She’s not my girlfriend!” William yelped, horrified at the idea of the girl with cooties being of any consequence to him.

“I said let him go,” the little girl demanded, her tone and body language firm.

The boys threw William to the ground, fixing his tie and jacket, but not letting him wander far. Then turned on the girl, “What are you gonna do about it, Buffy?”

Little Buffy sauntered up to William’s harassers, a smile playing over her lips. “This!” she bellowed, kicking the group’s leader hard in the shin. The boy hopped around the playground, clutching his leg. The others looked on in utter shock. “Anyone else?” Buffy asked innocently, winding back her leg for another strike.

At her offer, the teasers scattered, running from the little girl with the powerful punt.

Buffy wandered over to the little boy, “Are you okay?” she asked gently, offering him her hand.

“No!” he stumbled to his feet on his own accord, wiping away the angry tears streaming down his face. “Why’d you have to go and do that! Are you bloody stupid or something!”

Buffy was taken aback. “I was just trying to help,” she retorted.

“Now they’ll think I need a girl to protect me,” he quarreled.

“I didn’t stand up for you as a girl,” she replied. “I did it as a friend.”

“Well, I don’t need any friends,” he spat, wiping more tears off his face with the back of his hand.

Buffy’s eyes quickly went from clear emerald to stormy hazel. She stomped her foot, “You know what! Fine! Let those bullies beat you up! And . . . And you DO talk funny!” She pivoted on her heel and stormed away.

“Well . . . Well . . .” William searched his mind for a comeback to holler at her retreating form. Deciding on one, he squared his shoulders, “You have stupid hair!”

TBC

A/N: This is a little idea I’ve been playing with. I’m not totally sure where I want to go from here, but I just wanted to put this first chapter out to get a little feedback. It’ll be alternating between present day and flashbacks throughout their childhoods. We’ll be in present day next chapter.





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