Claire POV-

"Hey thats mine!" Claire yelled.

She ran over to the boy on the other side of the room, her little footsteps faster and faster as she approached.

He just stared at her, even dared to smile at her direction as she approached furiously.

"Now Claire, be nice" her father said as he ran over to her.

Still, she was surprisingly faster than him and reached the boy first, ignoring her father's warning.

"Give it back! I wasn't done" she said.

"You know, you're not supposed to have dresses when working with chemicals" the boy with the smart mouth replied.

Claire ran her little hands down her lilac dress and stared down at her bare legs and matching closed toed shoes that were neatly strapped around her white socks.

Of course she knew that! The thing was, those weren't real chemicals. She was about to say as much when the boy looked at the little plastic vial in her hand and took it from her.

"Hey!!!" she screamed

"Now children, you can both play with the science kit together. Its parent's day after all, don't you want to show your parents the teamwork skills we worked on this year?" her teacher replied as she kneeled before them.

Claire and the boy stared at each other with disgusted expressions, for once they both seemed to agree on something. They would most certainly not be working together.

During class, they sat on opposite ends of the room, but Claire always heard him arguing with the other kids like he knew as much as their teacher.

He even argued with Claire once before when she came back late from recess. She had seen a dead little bird by the benches outside the classroom and went to bury it by the grass. He had mocked her for caring for a little creature then, now she was certain the guy didn't have a heart.

"I was playing with it first, I'm showing my dad how to turn the liquid different colors but then he took my stuff" she replied before he could open that smart mouth of his.

"Son? Why would you be so disrespectful towards your classmate? have you no manners boy?" said a tall man that approached the little devil standing before her.

The boy looked up at the man with what could have been fear before he sighed and reluctantly returned the stolen items .

Claire wanted to smirk at the boy to drive him mad knowing she had won but as her luck would have it, Claire's dad had other plans.

"Now pumpkin, go on and invite him to play" her dad said with enough emphasis that she knew it was a command not an option.

She sighed at her father as the boy before her had to his and tugged her pigtail bow back in place.

"Do you wanna play with me? I already figured out all the combinations but we can mix it with the other set" Claire said as sweetly as she could, spoke with as much kindness as her mother always did with the customers in the bakery.

Her dad displayed his approval by patting her on the head, but she never took her eyes off her classmate.

He looked as if he would refuse, but his dad gave him a look and the boy gave her a weak forced smile before speaking up.

"Ok. The other kids took our table, lets go to the one by the back" he said as he began walking there without looking back to see if she would agree or follow.

As she walked away from her dad and the other man she heard them sit by the couches on the outskirts of the classroom.

"Stubborn kids am I right?" the man asked

"No wonder the other kids stay away. They are also isolated by their brains...those two are ahead of their time playing with science kits in first grade" her father answered with a laugh

"I always thought my son was the only one with that kind of drive. Thought it was because me and my wife are always away on business trips and he just had an attitude about it" the man said

Claire went to sit on the chair across from the boy, keeping an eye on the adults' conversation. She always did that, paid attention to what others said, tried to learn from their wisdom.

It was always when they didn't talk to kids like her that adults spoke the truth and the reality of things. Instead of letting herself get sweet talked all day, she focused on the hidden truth of things.

By the looks of it, the boy was doing the same thing. He gave her a surprised look as if trying to decipher if she thought the same thing. They both had an unspoken agreement and pretended to work on their color mixing as they both listened intensively.

He may not be as bad as she originally though...

"My wife and I both work as well, Claire spends much of her time in the local library learning who knows what. I suppose its a good thing, the world could use more smart individuals in the future" her dad said

"True indeed. It's odd though, I've never seen another kid stand up to my son" my classmate's dad said before he let out a low laugh "That boy could do with having someone around to put him in his place from time to time"

Her classmate looked like he was gonna blow like in the cartoons she watched on Sundays, his face grew as red as her father's tie and his fists clamped on the vials in his hands.

She had to focus on not bursting out laughing, yet the small smirk that escaped her control didn't go unnoticed by the boy and it actually looked like he might combust by then.

"I have a feeling that wouldn't be a hard task for my daughter, specially during one of these class exhibitions" her dad replied

"I still can't comprehend the purpose of these things, at least the kids seem to enjoy them" the man replied

Claire and the boy locked eyes again and...smiled...actually smiled at each other. They both seemed to realize then just how much adults hated those things when they had always acted as though they loved them.

She went over to stand next to the boy and she gave him her colorful vial to mix with his.

To her surprise, he accepted it and they both watched the colors blend together to an array of swirling like waves on the ocean. Claire was temporarily mesmerized by the display that she stopped listening and just watched everything blend together.

The boy seemed to be as distracted as her, then he turned to her and handed her another two vials for her to mix.

Shocked by his display of kindness she just stood there staring at him, maybe it was a trick or a prank?

He did his best attempt at a kind smile which actually made her laugh. He always wore clean, pressed clothes which made him look older, much like his father's clothes now that she looked at them both.

He wore adult-like pants, a white shirt with that odd neck fold, a tie much like the ones her father always wore, and a jacket over it that made him look stiff. She always thought he might be uncomfortable, but the clothes seemed to give him confidence because when they had to go play outside and he had to take off his jacket and change his fancy shoes is when he seemed truly out of his element.

Now, that smile seemed so out of place with this formal, cold, and stiff attire. It was so unusual that she smiled back and took the contents from his hands as gently as he had.

When she mixed them, the colors turned into bright purples with blues, white, black, greens, and sparkles swirling freely inside the tube. It was beautiful!

As before, she was so transfixed with the colors that she failed to notice the boy smiling by her side until he tucked some locks from her bangs into the back of her ear.

"Your hair is gonna fall into the tube, be more careful" he said

She though of snapping a snarky remark back to him as she always did with her older brother, but she smiled instead.

"You're not that mean... maybe you just need a friend to smile with. You can be my friend if you want" she said

His eyes widened with shock

"Ok" he said, still shocked from the simple question she asked, maybe he didn't get asked that often?

He seemed like he could be really mean at times, but her mom always told her that it was a good thing to make friends. She always said that some people could be mean because they were lonely or sad and a little bit of kindness and love could always help them.

She took his hand out of his jacket pocket and held it tight before she placed the vials back on the table with the other.

"Come with me. There are some puzzle games in the cubbies that we can play with" she said, and he didn't fight back as she dragged him across the room to where her favorite puzzles were.

------

He watched Claire play with the son of the man next to him.

She had never bothered to play with any other kids her age, claiming that they were to dumb to understand any of the games she liked.

The fact that she had warmed up to that kid at all was a surprise to say the least. He had expected her to snap at the kid and therefore having to help the teacher stop a fight.

But there they were, sitting on the floor playing with a puzzle of sorts with no worries on their minds, and no frowns either...well not at themselves at least, their brows furrowed every now and then when they had trouble finding a piece.

"They became friends just like that" said the father of the kid.

"Just like that" he replied, still a bit shocked

"Your daughter seems like a wonderful young lady, she's smart and somehow broke though that ice cold heart my son has. What's her name?" the man asked casually, still not taking his attention off the kids.

"Claire. Yours?" he asked

"Stefan. Now that I think about it, I've never seen you at one of these events." the man asked

"It's my first time. My wife usually comes with Claire but she thought it would be good for me to spend some quality time with our daughter"

The man laughed

"Seems like our wives think alike" he said

"I never introduced myself, I'm Travis Johansen" he replied

The man shook his outstretched hand instantly as said,

"My name is Cloyd...and that is my wife calling me, probably checking up to make sure I haven't lost our child" Cloyd joked and stepped aside to answer his call

Travis stared at his daughter, she seemed happy. The truth was, he was glad his wife had suggested he go, not only because he wanted to see what his kid learned in school but also because he didn't know what her life was like outside of home.

She had never really connected with her brother James, they barely spoke but now...

That boy made him nervous, he seemed to have a disregard for kind words and as her father he worried the boy Stefan might hurt her feelings.

It was true that his daughter was brilliant, but she was also a very sweet soul that looked for the good in others like his wife.

Though he had no place to dictate her friends, he worried that Stefan might upset her. Yet there she was, having the time of her life.

The other kids stared at Claire and Stefan, some seemed confused and others so shocked they didn't stop staring until their parents scolded them.

As his daughter approached him to show him the puzzle in her hands, he smiled at the joy in her eyes. Stefan following close behind with the other half of the puzzle

"Look dad! Its a building like the ones you make" Claire said as her little shoes clicked on the marble floors the closer she got.

He took a look at the image of the puzzle and smiled.

"That's in a place called Seattle" he told the kids

His daughter smiled and seemed to tuck away the information. Then her and the boy turned back to their little corner and continued with another puzzle.

When Cloyd returned he seemed aggravated.

"Everything alright?" he asked the man

"Afraid not. Me and my wife just got a new job offer out of the country and it breaks my wife's heart that we will have to take him away after he finally made a friend" Cloyd said

They both looked at the kids for a long while, letting them play until the end of the class day came along and Cloyd told his son the news.

The boy didn't whine or scream, he just nodded and went to go get his backpack.

Before he could talk to Claire, his daughter ran after the kid to get her own backpack, or so she claimed.

----

"You're leaving?" she asked, even though she had heard it all from his dad she wanted him to say it because a part of her hoped she may have misunderstood.

He looked at the ground for a bit before looking her in the eyes and nodding with an expressionless face.

"You leave a lot don't you?"she asked

"Yes, my parents have to travel a lot but when they get big projects they have to take me with them" he said

"Can't you stay? My family can look after you, we can be friends and share my room. We can have sleepovers and watch movies" she said as she grabbed her backpack from her cubby.

"I have to go with them but maybe I'll come back soon" he said, but she knew it was a lie from the way his eyes seemed to darken with sadness.

Claire dropped her backpack and before he could reach for his she hugged him.

"I'm sorry you have to go, but we can still be friends no matter where you go" she said, and meant it.

He have her an awkward hug in return and grabbed his bag.

"You too. Maybe when we are older we will both be scientists and work together, that way I don't have to leave again" he said.

She smiled and walked back to where her dad was waiting for her, just by the door of the class, opposite to where the kid was going. Claire looked back one more time at her friend and they gazed at each other as they had before and smiled in recognition.

"I never asked him for his name" she said to her dad as they walked back to the car.

Years later she had forgotten about the boy, but she still had the drive to study the sciences. When asked why, she always said she had always wanted to since she could remember. Somewhere in her lost memories was the true reason why, to meet up with her lost friend..and even though he too didn't remember, so had he.

-------

He woke up in a jolt from his nightmare and grasped the sheets tightly.

It was early, 6 am to be exact.

He had dreamt of that day he went with his daughter to school, the day she met that boy, the boy who had sent her away from him.

Stefan didn't seem to remember and neither did her daughter, of course they were kids back then and kids of that age seem to forget things easily.

Though she had been quiet shortly after his departure, she managed to make new friends and only asked about the boy for the first year after that day.

If he would have known that that boy would take his daughter away from him back then.... he would have...

"Honey, are you ok?" his wife asked, gently rubbing her sleepy eyes to look at him, the same eyes his daughter had.

He smiled and kissed her head.

"Just thinking about today's interview" he said

"Please don't be so hard on the boy, he already has enough weight on his shoulders" she said as she sat along with him

"He took Claire away from us, from our family"

"Not purposefully, and he is killing himself to bring her back" Lily answered almost instantly as if she had expected him to say that.

"I'll try. Go back to sleep" he said before tucking her in and leaning back into his pillow

Thinking back to that day was something he did often ever since he found out that Stefan was the same boy from when Claire was in 1st grade.

What still haunted him was what his father had said as the kids went to get their bags and say their goodbyes.

Those words haunted his every though.... specially after what had happened.

He had done nothing, he had listened, and now his daughter was far away.

But that conversation...there was so much more left unanswered, so many things he hadn't told a soul.