A/N: This is my first Twilight fanfiction, so please be gentle. :) At the moment I think this will only be about five chapters, but you never know. It could change into more. We'll see. Basically, the whole story is about Quil finding reason why Claire shouldn't have a boyfriend. I hope you all enjoy! Please R&R. :)
Chapter One
Cooties
He wasn't quite sure what had occurred that his little Claire felt she needed a boy in her life. All he remembered was her hopping in his truck and announcing something he hadn't expected to hear for another ten years.
"Guess what, Quil?" Claire shouted excitedly, climbing into the back of his truck. In a rush she stripped her backpack off and threw it on the seat next to her.
"You learned how to fly?" Quil asked, a grin spreading across his face.
Claire giggled. "No! I got a boyfriend!"
The grin was replaced with a thin line of shock.
"A what?" He asked perplexed.
According to all of the other women in his life, Claire wasn't supposed to take any likings to boys whatsoever until high school. His Claire was definitely not in high school. He would certainly have remembered that.
"A boyfriend! His name's Derek and he's super cute."
Quil couldn't help that his brain stopped functioning. He felt protective and territorial and so lost. He didn't necessarily think of Claire that way, but he sure did think of her like a little sister. And little sisters were not allowed to have boyfriends until they were in college!
"A boyfriend? Claire! You're only six!"
"So." Claire crinkled her nose and grabbed a hold of her right light brown braid. "Caitlin is eight and she's already had six boyfriends!"
The seriousness in her little face almost gave him a heart attack.
"Caitlin shouldn't be having boyfriends!"
"But she does."
Quil had decided a long time ago that arguing with a child was useless. They never caved and would fight to the death. And with that cute little face he usually found himself surrendering in the first five minutes. Claire was right even if she was wrong. It was a rule Quil had always and would always obey.
"Well she shouldn't. And you really shouldn't."
"Why not?"
Quil floundered trying to come up with a response that would ring true to a six year olds ear.
"Because boys have cooties!"
Did she believe in that? Did anyone still believe in that?
Claire threw her delicate head back and laughed. She promptly fell back against her seat and Quil couldn't help but worry that she might hit her head against the window.
"Oh, Quil," she managed to push out during her laughter. "You're so funny!"
Apparently she did not believe that boys had cooties.
Claire was smiling uncontrollably as she buckled her seat belt. He watched in the rear view mirror as she gave a sigh and laid her hands in her lap.
"So you're not buying the whole cooties deal?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"They're not real, Quil."
"Oh really?" Quil couldn't wait for this explanation and quickly started the car and smoothly pulled out of Claire's school parking lot.
"Yes."
"How do you know?"
"Because you're the one who told me boys had cooties. On the first day of kindergarten, remember?"
Quil nodded.
Claire continued on, "Embry and Jake laughed about it all day long. For the longest time I couldn't figure out why, but I guessed it's because you lied and it's just funny when people lie."
"It's not funny. Lying is bad, Claire."
"Then why did you lie to me?" She asked, cocking her head to the side.
"I didn't!"
"Cooties aren't real. Just like the monster under my bed!"
"Well, this is news to me, kiddo. I thought cooties were real. I remember when I was in first grade and I spent every single day chasing this girl around the playground during recess. One day I finally decided to ask her why she kept running from me. Do you know what she told me?"
Claire shook her head.
"That I had cooties. And I asked her how I got them and she said I couldn't help it. Boys were just born with cooties."
"So that girl lied?"
"I guess so, because if you're telling me that cooties don't exist then they don't exist because-."
"It's Claire's world and we just live in it."
Quil nodded. Claire's mother said that was conceited. Quil didn't think so. He thought the same way and he wasn't conceited.
"And in Claire's world today Derek's coming over and we're going to play outside!"
Quil bit back a groan. He had to get rid of this Derek guy.
Derek kid, Quil. Derek kid. As in Derek is a six year old boy.
Yeah, yeah, yeah . . .