Grace hated school.

And that was just because she had no friends. It was the second week since she had moved in this new town with her parents, the second week in her new Primary School, and she still had made no friends.

"I don't wanna go, Mum." Grace clutched the hem of her mother's dress, tugging on it as they both stopped in front of the school gates.

Grace could hear the excited voices of the other six-year-olds behind her, already enjoying their day with their new friends and teachers. Grace wasn't excited, though.

"I don't have any friends!" She whined, tugging again on Jordyn's clothes.

Jordyn inhaled deeply before leaning down in front of Grace, placing her hands gently on her shoulders. "It's just been few days since the school started, Gracie. Who says you won't make friends today?"

"No one talks to me." Grace grumbled in response. She remembered going to a group of girls the first day of school. They had almost even befriended her.

Until Grace had thrown a massive tantrum.

"They will." Jordyn gave her a reassuring smile. "You just need to be nice."

"I'm nice all the time!" Grace complained. "I can stay at home, Mum. I can even babysit Jack." Even though Grace hated spending time with her one-year-old clingy brother, she decided that it was way better than going through a whole day of school.

Jordyn sighed again and shook her head. "No, Gracie. We're already at school now. You need to face your fears and go make some friends."

That's what her mother told her all the time, even though she knew as much as Grace herself that Grace sucked at making friends.

"I don't have any fears!" Grace responded in an offended tone. "And I told you, nobody wants me to be—"

Jordyn cut her off by giving her shoulders a tiny squeeze and turning her around, nudging her towards the school gates. "Come on now, no more complains."

"But why does Jack not go to school?" Grace crossed her tiny arms and let her mother push her towards the gates. "He isn't that small."

"He is, Grace."

"He's annoying and he cries all the time." She complained again and hated that she was getting closer and closer to those familiar gates.

"No more complains about your brother either." Jordyn scolded, although it was lightheartedly. "Besides, I don't think it's that hard to make friends."

Grace grumbled something unhappily under her breath.

"All right." Her mother stopped when they reached the gates and turned Grace around once again. "If you manage to make a friend today, I might even get you those yellow roller skates you have been asking for."

Grace's eyes widened at that. "What?"

Jordyn would've repeated her words if only she hadn't heard the bell ringing. She straightened up before placing a small kiss on top of Grace's blonde head.

"Will you actually buy me that, Mum?" Grace was practically jumping in excitement now. All the misery she had felt for her school was gone all of a sudden.

Jordyn nodded and smiled at her. "Only if you make a new friend."

Grace straightened up and nodded obediently. "It won't be that hard, Mum. Just a friend. What could be easier than that?"

Not sooner than few hours later, Grace realized that it could really be hard to make friends. Especially when her favourite roller skates were at stake.

She tried starting conversations with many other kids, the other children in her classroom, the children who were crowded around the teachers, the children who were obsessing over the new library books, even the ones who were running around madly in the playground.

No one talked to her, though. And that really made Grace sad.

Her teachers were really nice and they talked with Grace unlike those other kids, but that wasn't really what her mother had said when she asked her to make a new friend.

"I don't understand." Grace murmured to herself, curling her fingers around the swing chains as she pushed the swing forwards.

"Hey, get off!"

Grace whipped her head upwards and saw three boys standing in front of her, preventing her from swinging forwards. She would've continued swinging though. She just didn't want to make a bad impression on her new teachers if any of those three guys got smashed along the way.

"I got here first." Grace gripped the chains and stared at the one in the middle. He looked taller than her and they all were probably the fifth-graders.

The boy laughed, looking at his goof-faced friends before looking back at Grace. "You get off from it or we push you down, your choice."

Grace frowned and kicked her feet against the soil, pushing her swing forwards. The three boys scrambled back just in time before it could've hit either of them.

Not too soon after, the boy in the middle gripped one of the chains and brought the swing to an abrupt halt. "Get. Off." He glared at Grace.

Grace would've fought him, but then she remembered that her mother would be angry if she did that. And making her mum angry would risk any chances of getting her favourite skaters.

So she ended the argument with a huff and stood up from the swing, walking away from those three snickering boys. She would take the revenge later some time.

Probably when Mum had already bought my skates, Grace thought.

She walked across the vast playground and saw one of her teachers along one hallways. Instead of going towards her, she stuck with sitting on the empty bench in front of the water fountain.

Grace felt really angry, especially at those fifth-graders. She huffed again before crossing her arms and leaning back against the bench.

"Make new friends." Grace lowly mimicked her mum's voice. "It's easy to make friends!"

It wasn't easy to make friends, Grace thought.

"It's easier to fight with fifth-graders." Grace murmured, looking around.

All of the children from her classroom were either near the teacher, or near the swings and see-saws. There wasn't anyone near her.

Well, all except one boy.

Grace eyed him as he sat there on the grass, cross-legged in jeans and a dark green sweatshirt, looking way too engrossed in the sheet of paper in front of him and the watercolours in his hand.

He looked peaceful unlike those other kids, enjoying the calm silence. Grace tried peeking over to see what he was doing on that paper, but failed to do so.

Grace eyed him once again and weighed the options in her head. Either she could go over to him, ask him to be her friend and get rejected, or sit here and daydream about her roller skates—the same roller skates that she wouldn't be getting anytime soon.

That was exactly why she jumped up from the bench and went over towards that boy, who seemed to be the same age as her, before plopping down on the grass in front of him.

"Hey." She spoke up slowly. The boy didn't look up from his paints, though.

Be nice. That's what her mother had told her.

"Um, would you like to be my friend?" Grace asked him, getting a bit impatient.

He took his time to answer that question, though. Grace looked at his soft brown curls, the only thing in her sight since his head was bent down a bit too much towards the paper.

Finally, after what felt like hours to Grace, he glanced up at her curiously. "Why?"

Grace blinked, a bit taken aback. None of the others had asked her that when she asked them to be her friend. All they said was a simple no.

"Because," Grace trailed off, watching the boy concentrating back on his painting. She couldn't help but notice the way so many colours were almost filling his page. She also couldn't help but notice that he was painting with his finger now.

"My mum told me to make a friend today." She stated truthfully, leaning closer to look at the different colours mixing together with the water. "And if I don't, she won't buy me my favourite roller skates."

The boy looked up at Grace when she leaned too close towards his paper. He just had to look at her long blonde pigtails to realize that she was the new neighbor, the ones that just moved in beside his house. And really, he had never seen a girl his age with such blonde hair.

"They are the exact same shade as this!" Grace pointed one finger towards the bright yellow paint on his paper. "I've wanted them for so long." She added, almost pleading with him now. "But I need to make a friend first and—"

"Sure." He shrugged, closing his paint box.

"Wha-at?" Grace spoke up in surprise. "Really? You'd be my friend? Really, like a friend?"

The boy looked back at her and pushed back his curls away from his forehead, with his same paint-covered fingers. "Yes. Why are you so surprised?"

Grace looked at him with wide eyes. "Because no one is willing to be my friend!"

"Really? Why?" He asked, wiping his fingers along his jeans, not even caring if he smothered the paint on them. And Grace seemed to appreciate that carelessness of his.

"I don't know." She replied, holding out her hand. "I'm Grace, by the way."

The boy looked away from his painting again and eyed her hand, before slowly pushing his hand to shake hers. "I'm Lucius."

Though before he could've taken Grace's hand with his paint-covered one, Grace gripped his wrist instead and shook it. "Nice to meet you."

Lucius wiggled his paint-covered fingers with a small smile until she let go of his wrist.

"I have seen you before, Lucius." She wondered out loud. "Where have I seen you before, Lucius?"

"We live next to each other." He helped her out.

"Really? That's perfect, Lucius!" She looked at him in awe. "That way I can even introduce you to my mum, Lucius."

Lucius cringed despite the grin on his face. "You really don't have to say my name at the end of every sentence."

Grace tried to compose a serene expression on her face, even though it was too hard to not grin back at him. "I'll have to. I forget new names way too quickly."

Lucius said something in response but all she heard were snickers. She glanced behind him and saw those three, familiar fifth-graders standing behind the fountain and snickering at her new friend.

She frowned at that. "Are those guys troubling you, Lucius?"

Lucius followed her gaze to those guys and looked back at her with a blank expression. "Um..."

"Oh, they are up for a big surprise." Grace announced before getting up and clenching her fists. It wasn't that she wanted to fight on her new friend's behalf, it was just that she had been meaning to take her earlier revenge from them. And besides, her mum wouldn't be angry if she's fighting for her new friend.

"They can't bully my new friend." She started making her way towards them.

Lucius's eyes widened when he realized what she was doing. "Hey, wait! They weren't—"

"Don't worry, Lucius, I will teach them a lesson."

"But they didn't do anything to me."

Grace, however, ignored that last part and marched up to those three guys. She stopped in front of the familiar goofball who had forced her to step down from that swing.

"What?" He stopped snickering and eyed her with a glare, before stepping towards her. "You back again, blondie?"

Grace glared back at him before shoving him away from her. It was a bit hard since he was taller, but the shove still managed to make him stumble before he fell down, butting the back of his head against the marble fountain.

"Oops." Grace whispered, taking a small step back.

Lucius, who had managed to follow Grace, stopped behind her and watched the whole scene with wide eyes. He didn't know that she had been looking for a chance to fight.

The boy stood up and glared daggers at Grace, along with his two other friends. Since there wasn't any teacher near them, Grace was only left with one choice.

"Lucius." She nudged her elbow against his side. Lucius looked over at her, still horrified. "I think it's best if we run."

"What?" He questioned, but wasn't given an answer when Grace nudged him once again and turned around the next instant, running towards the other end of the playground.

Out of instinct, Lucius ran after her. And those three fifth-graders ran behind both of them.

They kept on running and running and Grace did her best to not slam into any other first-grader. It almost looked like they all were playing too, just like those other kids.

Grace abrupted to a halt near the swings and Lucius had to catch himself before he slammed into her back.

"Okay." Grace turned towards him, both breathing heavily. "I think it's time I teach you how to throw a punch, Lucius."

"What?" Lucius eyed her in horror and disbelief.

Before he could've said anything else, and before those three fifth-graders could've caught up to them both, Grace grabbed his hand and curled his fingers into a fist.

"Clench your fingers tightly and when the time comes, you punch him in the face. Okay, Lucius?" She asked him.

"No way!" He replied, trying to take back his hand from her grip.

"No, you don't say that, Lucius!" She hissed at him and turned him around by his shoulders, his fist still raised in front of him.

"Why can't you punch him yourself?"

"Because I'm too short to throw punches at tall guys, Lucius." Grace lied, eyeing one of those three boys as he came towards them, his arms outstretched to probably lunge at both of them.

Lucius's eyes widened at the sight but he really had no choice, especially since Grace was gripping his wrist as she stood beside him. They both eyed the fifth grader, Grace counting under her breath.

And when she reached three, and the tall fifth-grader neared them, Grace pushed Lucius's fist forwards and it smacked the other boy right on his left eye.

Lucius jerked forward as well but Grace was quick to grip onto his sweatshirt, pulling him back just as the fifth-grader in front of them fell back with the sudden hit and clutched his left eye, groaning in pain.

"Ow!" Lucius complained too, clutching his knuckles.

Grace was delighted, though. "That was so cool, Lucius!"

But when the teachers came rushing towards the injured fifth-grader, eyeing Grace and Lucius, she knew that it wouldn't be so cool anymore.

•••••

"I am deeply sorry for what I did, Lucius." Grace murmured in a hushed voice, looking down at her intertwined fingers. "I shouldn't have made you...hit a boy who was older than us, Lucius."

Grace couldn't believe that she was apologizing for something that had been so cool. It had been so fun to knock down a fifth-grader, the same one who hadn't let her ride on the swing first.

But her mother thought otherwise, that's why she had forced Grace to apologize to Lucius as they sat there in front of the Principal's office, with Grace and Lucius sitting on the couch side by side, and Grace's mother standing in front of them with a stern look on her face.

Lucius looked up at his own mother, who had been called to school by the Principal along with Grace's mum. Marleen -Lucius's mother- had been surprised to know that her son had been in a fight. While Jordyn had just been pissed off, though she was a bit relieved to know that Grace had finally made a friend.

"It's fine." Lucius shrugged with a small toothy grin that made his eyes look warmer and brighter. Grace wanted to tell him that his eyes looked like chocolate, but she didn't.

Jordyn shook her head before turning back towards Marleen, to apologize to her once again on Grace's behalf.

"Hey, it's fine." Lucius nudged Grace's shoulder with his as Grace dangled her legs from the couch, a sad expression on her face. "We both didn't get into much trouble. Besides, my knuckles feel fine too."

Grace still kept on sulking. "Mum's still not gonna buy me those skates."

"Why?"

"Because she knows you won't be my friend anymore, Lucius." Grace sighed dramatically and sprawled back against the couch. "I made you punch a fifth-grader and she's so mad about it, Lucius."

Lucius glanced at his mom and Grace's, both looking indulged in a conversation with the office lady.

"I can still be your friend?" He suggested.

Grace straightened up almost immediately. "Really, Lucius?"

He nodded and she grinned widely in response. Lucius couldn't help but notice how strangely-golden her hair looked under the sun rays coming from the glass window behind her.

"Only if you promise that you won't ever make me punch someone again." He held up his fist towards Grace.

Grace blinked before bumping her fist with his. "I promise, Lucius."

"Also," He cringed again. "You need to stop saying my name again and again."

"What? Why?" Lucius almost took back his words when he saw the crestfallen look on her face.

"Not the full name. You can call me Luc." He said.

Grace leaned back against the couch, dangling her legs again. "No way! That sounds too boring. I'll call you Lucius until I come up with a name for you."

Lucius rolled his eyes at that. It was going to be a little hard saying no to her.

"You should listen to your mom, though." He spoke up again, glancing at her. "You shouldn't pick up fights with just anyone."

Grace pouted in response. "Not my fault that people make me angry."

Lucius grinned and narrowed his eyes at her, leaning a bit closer. "Besides, you're too short to throw punches at tall guys."

Grace's eyes widened at that, taking offense. She responded with flicking his forehead and he pulled away with a small grimace, scrunching his forehead and rubbing it. "You're too violent."

Grace chuckled lightly at that and nudged his shoulder. "Can't back out from the friendship pact anymore, Lucius."

Lucius only rolled his eyes in response but didn't say otherwise, and Grace felt a bit giddy at that. She always sucked at making friends; she always let go of them way too easily.

But now, she finally had a new friend. She could finally be like those other kids and joke around with her own friend.

Grace glanced over at Lucius and saw a small, discreet smile curving on his lips.

She would definitely hold on to this one.

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