Firsts

Austin sat alone on a bench, swinging his legs and shyly sipping his juice. His first day at kindergarten was terrible so far, just like he thought it would be. The thing that made it especially terrible was that there were a lot of big kids. They were intimidating, and to top it off, he hadn't made any friends. At all. All the other kids were playing tag on the playground while he sat on a secluded bench off to the side, watching them. For some reason, he just didn't fit in.

To make his day even worse, a bully came out of nowhere and slapped the juice box out of his hands, making it spill all over his jeans, before laughing at him, pointing, and running away. Yep, kindergarten was just fantastic. Austin could feel tears coming. Even though he tried to ward it off by blinking really fast, the tears still spilled out, rolling down his cheeks.

"Hey, don't cry." Austin looked up. A kid his age with red hair stood before him, smiling sweetly. "I know, the big kids are meanies. Don't let them get to you though. They just don't have anything better to do."

The redhead turned around suddenly and shucked off his pants, turning back around and holding it out to Austin with a big grin on his face. "Here, you can wear my pants."

Austin sniffled a little before taking the pants from the other kid. "I can have them...?"

"Yep!" the kid responded cheerfully, taking a seat next to Austin. "I'm Dez, by the way."

Austin rubbed his nose and stared at Dez curiously. "I'm Austin."

"Hi Austin! You took my pants, so that means we're best friends now, okay?"

Austin wiped away the last of his tears, his lips curling up to make a small smile. "Really? We're best friends? ...Promise?"

Dez stuck out his pinky. "Pinky promise."

Austin giggled before hooking his pinky around Dez's. "Pinky promise."

The two sat in a comfortable silence as Austin changed his pants. Once he settled down, Austin blurted out, "I like your hair." Realizing what he just said, the blonde put a hand over his mouth and looked away.

"Well, thank you, I like your hair too." Dez laughed, playfully ruffling Austin's hair, making his cheeks turn a bright shade of pink.