“Ava Lou, congratulations on being the one to represent our class in the school spelling bee!” the overly chipper third-grade teacher said, patting her head.

The class gave a polite applause, and Ava saw Dylan Cruz shooting daggers in her direction. She didn’t think much of it until recess.

“Hey nerd, what are you reading?” she heard as she was trying to get to a bench.

A crowd of people came to surround them. Great. She hated getting too much attention from people.

“What’s wrong? Are you mute?” he snapped, and a chorus of ‘oohs’ rang through the crowd. How immature.

“I can speak just fine” she replied, trying to avoid eye contact with him, glancing anywhere except him.

His eyes narrowed in annoyance. “Oh really, then tell me how you got into the school spelling bee and I didn’t” he challenged. Is this really what he was angry about?

She shrugged. “I studied” she replied curtly. His enraged expression let her know she made a mistake. He snatched the book out of her hands and held it over her head. “Give it back” she said, her eyes wide and arms outstretched to reach for the book, but she couldn’t reach it due to her short stature. He and most of the class laughed.

Despite her protests, the book was thrown in the trash. She stared sadly into the can after everyone left. Carefully reaching into the car, she pulled out the slightly damaged book and sighed.

She spent the rest of recess sulking in the big stall of the girl’s bathroom.

~~~

When her mother came to pick her up later, she didn’t mention anything that happened that day. Unlike most kids her age, she didn’t feel obligated to tell her mother how she was feeling or how her day went. She didn’t even bother to greet her as she entered the car. She immediately took out the book she had been reading.

“What happened to it?” her mother asked, eyeing the messed up book through the rear-view mirror. There was no concern in her tone. She was just nosy and wanted to know how she messed up.

“I dropped it” she lied, glancing up briefly to see the woman’s lips quirk up slightly.

“Clumsy” she muttered. The rest of the ride was silent.

~~~

The next day, Ava rushed out before anyone else so she could avoid meeting anyone on the way out. She went to a bench in the corner of the yard, keeping her nose in her book.

“Is it any good?” a voice asked. She glanced up slightly to see a familiar tall kid with dirty blond hair. What was his name again? Finn or something?

“It’s alright, I guess” She muttered, shrugging. It wasn’t a lie. The book wasn’t particularly interesting, and the main character was kind of stupid. She returned her eyes to the pages, hoping he would go away now.

But he didn’t. “Do you like reading?” he asked. He looked sort of uncomfortable like he couldn’t figure out why he was carrying out this conversation. Finn, much like her, spent most of his time alone. He isn’t one to initiate conversations.

She put the book down and looked at Finn. She shrugged. “A little. But I mostly do it to pass time” she explained. And to avoid talking to people, she thought, but she didn’t say that.

She subconsciously eyes him warily and her grip on the book tightens. He seems to notice this.

“I’m won’t take it” he assures her.

“Tch. I never said you would” she muttered defensively. However, she felt her grip loosen. She looked at him again.

“Are you just gonna keep standing there, or…?” she asked, a small smile on her lips.

“Oh, um… can I…?” he asked, pointing to the spot next to her.

She shrugged. “I don’t own the seat,” she says, scooting over to let him sit. He began to take out his DS and she thought they were going to sit together in a comfortable - or possibly awkward - silence.

“Did you know Mozart composed his first song at age five?” he said randomly. This caught her off guard, and she raised an eyebrow at him. She played along.

“Did you know that England drinks up to 165 million cups of tea a day?” she returned.

And so for a while, they were each other's, only friends.