After school, we wandered out together under a sky streaked with soft gold. The playground cast long shadows, and the air smelled like chalk dust and someone's forgotten peanut butter sandwich.
Max dashed past us, his construction paper cape fluttering behind him.
"BYE BEST FRIENDS! I'LL COME TO YOUR BIRTHDAY!"
I rolled my eyes. "Do you think he's ever quiet?"
"No. I think he even dreams in loud."
It started raining out of nowhere, like the sky just got bored and decided to dump a bucket on us.
One second I was staring at an ant trail by the swings, wondering if ants had schools too, and the next, the clouds turned all dark and moody. Water fell hard and fast, like the sky was mad at the ground.
A whistle shrieked from somewhere. "Back inside! Go, go, go!"
Everyone ran, yelling and slipping on the wet grass. I just stood there. I liked the rain. It felt quiet, like it was hugging the world even if no one else liked it.
"Hey! You'll get soaked, dummy!"
I turned.
Lena was stomping toward me, holding this ridiculously tiny umbrella with pink bunnies on it. It looked like something you'd use to shade a doll. But she had it over her head like it was serious business, her eyebrows squished together the same way my grandma's did when she baked.
"Get under," she said, pushing the umbrella closer to me like she was offering a slice of cake.
I blinked. "That's not going to help. It's too small."
"It's special," she said. "Now shut up and scoot."
So I did. We stood shoulder to shoulder under her pink bunny umbrella. My hair was getting all wet and weird, but for some reason, I didn't move.
She smelled like crayons and strawberries. Probably from lunch.
"You have a weird nose," she said.
I blinked. "What?"
"It does this squishy thing when you talk."
I frowned. "That's rude."
She grinned. "I know."
And then Max came running past us with a plastic bucket on his head, screaming, "I'M A RAIN ROBOT FROM PLANET PEE!"
Lena and I both burst out laughing. Real laughing. The kind that makes your belly hurt and your eyes all squinty.
For a second, I forgot it was even raining.
⟡ ✧ ⟡
As we got closer to the school gate, I noticed the row of waiting parents, some chatting on phones, others scanning the crowd.
Then a tall man in a pressed gray suit stepped out of a sleek black car.
"Daddy!" Lena shouted.
The man looked up instantly, his smile stretching wide. He ended his phone call mid-sentence and opened his arms.
Lena ran to him. He scooped her up easily, spinning her once before setting her back on the sidewalk.
"How was school, my little hurricane?" he asked, smoothing down her flyaway hair.
I watched from a few steps behind, feeling a strange tightness in my chest.
"It was good. Ash gave me a cookie and dropped my crayon. Max thinks we're married. Also, Clementine's still mad."
Mr. Carter laughed, a deep, rich sound that made people turn to listen. Then he noticed me.
"Hey there," he said warmly. "Friend of Lena's?"
I shifted. "Kind of."
Lena turned. "This is Ash. He's loud but he gave me his cookie."
Mr. Carter nodded with the serious importance of a king granting a favor.
"That's a good start."
They got into the car. Lena waved at me from the window, her face glowing in the sunset.
I stood there for a moment before starting my walk home.
No one was waiting at the gate for me.
My house was neat. Quiet. Not that expensive, maybe, but echoey.
No pancakes with faces. No hugs and greetings. Just silence.
Lena and I really became best friends after that day. She started walking me home every day, even when it wasn't raining. She said it was because I got lost too easily, which wasn't true, but I didn't correct her.
Other days, we'd talk about which clouds looked like dragons, or make up stories about the ants by the swings. She always made the ordinary feel like magic.
Every day felt like its own little world, one only we knew how to find.
She often visited my house too, and my grandmother adored her.
"She's got fire," Grandma would say, sipping tea as Lena danced around our living room in a cape made of pillowcases. "Good for you, Ash. Everyone needs a little fire."
Josh, barely three, was completely obsessed with her. Lena called him "Captain Crumb" because he always had cookie dust on his face, and he followed her everywhere. No one ever got to be Lena's sidekick unless she genuinely liked them.
She liked us.
That didn't mean we stopped fighting. One time, we argued over a glue stick before lunch. She said I was using too much. I said she smelled like applesauce. She kicked my shin. I called her a glitter goblin. The teacher separated us for the rest of the day, but it hardly mattered.
By snack time, she offered me half her sandwich: peanut butter and banana. I hated bananas. But I took it anyway.
"I'm Lena," she said through a mouthful, as if reintroducing herself.
I nodded, chewing in silence.
She looked at me for a long moment, then whispered, "Don't tell anyone, but I'm gonna marry you one day."
I choked on banana.
And that's how Lena Carter ruined lunch, and maybe my whole life.