Felix
Six years old
The first time I saw you I knew you were mine.
When she walked into the room, everything around me disappeared. It felt as if was just the two of us.
She was the prettiest girl I’d ever seen, even though her clothes seemed a little too baggy, had stains on them, and holes, too”
Yeah, she was the prettiest girl in the whole world.
I didn’t even know her name because the teacher hadn’t introduced her to the class yet, but I didn’t care.
I knew I wanted to be her friend.
I knew I wanted her to always be near me.
“Class, this is Maggie. She’s come all the way to Ohio from Colorado.” The teacher touched Maggie’s shoulder and smiled at us. “I want you all to make Maggie feel welcome.”
I followed Maggie with my gaze as she went to the other side of the room, and finally sat down behind an empty desk. The other kids ignored her, busy working on their paintings.
Her hair was the color of the sun, in two pigtails. I couldn’t stop staring at her. I didn’t want to. She glanced up at me then, her eyes so big, so blue, they reminded me of the ocean we had just learned about. I hated that she looked sad, that no one was sitting beside her, talking to her.
I had to fix that.
Grabbing my paper and watercolors, I walked over to where she sat. The other kids looked up at me, but I was only focusing on Maggie.
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.