Playing Pretend // Jace Norman FanFic

How The Friends Met

Hope you enjoy ! Nicole-Marie helped me! She's my picklebear 💕, and Yes, I know I said Picklebear. It's not weird.

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When I was 6 years old, Saturday afternoons my father would take me to the park without a fail. We would make our way through the monkey bars and slides, pretended to be pirates on the lookout for gold, and ran around the open field available. By the end of our fun, all of our energy was drained and we needed to be replenished, so we made our way to the store at the corner of our street.

It was 3 pm when we made our way to the store for Popsicles that particular Saturday. The sun was high up and heated our skin to a sweat as we made our way down the sidewalk. When we stepped in through the door the air conditioning was a relief that made me sigh contentedly.

My father immediately made his way to the sodas while I skipped to the back of the small store where I knew the Popsicles would be. I slid the glass top of the fridge to the side and got on my tip toes to lean over the edge and grab my favorite orange Popsicle. I stretched and stretched until I decided I couldn't reach and turned to find my father. I gasped when I saw the boy standing behind me with a soft smile on his face.

He was an inch taller than me and skinny and had deep brown eyes and brown hair. A short girl about my height stood beside him with similar features, except that she had extremely pale features and long curly hair. Her lips were also much thinner which led me to the conclusion that they were not related.

"Need some help?" The boy offered as he pointed at the cooler. I nodded shyly and stepped aside for him to grab it for me. He reached in and pulled up my icy treat from where it lay, and handed it to me. "Here you go," he gave me a toothy grin. "I'm Johnny. This is Nicole."

I gave Nicole a little wave. "I'm Angelina," I smiled at the odd pair.
Nicole finally looked directly at me.

"I really like your hair. It's pretty." She blushed as she complimented me which made me feel out of place, but I decided I liked her.

"Well thanks, I like yours too." I giggled as we began to walk back to the front of the store.

"Maybe we can all play together tomorrow?" Johnny suggested as he met up with his mom. Apparently she was watching Nicole too because they were having a play date.

"We can do that, right dad?" I asked as I tugged on his hand. My dad smiled down at me like always.
"Of course, Princess. We can do it at one. Is that okay?" He directed his question at Johnny's mom for confirmation. She nodded and smiled softly.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow at the park." I told them with the Popsicle beneath my mouth. I give it my first lick as we walked out of the store.
"Bye Angelina," they both said in unison.

The next day was just as beautiful, if not more, than the previous. The morning was a bit misty and cool, but by noon it was hot and nice enough to go out.
I spent all morning gathering my outfit consisting of a red an white shirt, light blue shorts, and white flip flops. My mom brushed my long hair and made a tiny braid on the side before allowing me to leave with my dad.

We arrived at the park soon to spot Nicole and Johnny sitting on a bench by the swing set.
"Hey guys," I waved as we approached them. My dad smiled at us and urged us on to play.
"Be careful, okay? I'm here if you need anything." He sat on the bench and watched us walk towards the playground set.

Johnny immediately ran up the steps ad to the monkey bars. His small boyish hands wrapped around the metal and he began to swing himself across the contraption. I giggled and attempted to cross but only made it three bars in before I fell. I watched as Nicole grabbed on to the first bar and stayed there with et body swinging below her.

"I'll never be able to do this," she let go and landed in a crouch beside me. "I suck at this." She huffed and began to climb up the small steps.
Johnny chuckled and rushed to catch up to her. He wrap his arms around her shoulder and squeezed it in a reassuring way.

"I'm sure you will one day," I smiled at her as I caught up to the both of them. She laughed at my statement and patted the top of my head as if I were some sort of puppy, which made me look at her confused.
"Silly girl, I'm spaghetti."
What she said confused me more. She's not spaghetti, she's human, I thought. I ignored it all and just rolled my eyes playfully.

A kid whizzed by me, but I was too busy paying attention to my new friends to notice.
Johnny motioned over the big blue tube slide, "Ladies first." I blushed and looked over at Nicole.
"You can go first." She smiled and gestured ahead of her.
"Oh, okay." I stepped forward and put my hands on the blue rim of the slide before setting my lower body into it. I let go and giggled as I slid down it quickly.
I screamed as I bumped into an object halfway down the slide. I couldn't see what it was, but it must have been a little girl because she squealed. We both slid down the rest of the slide and fell to the ground at the bottom.

I gasped as I saw I had landed on top of a little boy around my age. He stared up at me stunned, and I did the same.
Blonde hair came down and rested above his eyebrows, a small nose, brown eyes, dark lashes. His lips were small, the bottom lip slightly fuller than the top.

His eyebrows furrowed as he continued to look at me. "Uh... Hi?"

I quickly stood off of him and dusted myself off. "I'm so sorry!" I reached my hand out to help him out. "I didn't know you were in there. I thought it was empty."
He grabbed my hand and I helped him stand. He smiled at me after he was up and shook my hand.

"It's okay. And I'm Jace." His smile held a warm place in my heart which made me want to smile too.
"I'm Angelina." His hand pulled away from mine just as Johnny and Nicole made their way to us.

"Are you okay?" Nicole grabbed me by the shoulders and examined me like a doctor would do his patient. I smiled and nodded. Johnny let out a worried sigh and looked over at Jace.

"Guys, this is Jace. Jace these are my friends Johnny and Nikki." I glanced over at her nervously as I tested my new nickname for her. She smiled and looked over at Jace.
Johnny smiled at him and gestured to the metal slide on the other side of the blue one. "Want to join us in squish banana?"

Jace grinned and began walking with us towards it. Johnny went first, followed by Nikki, and then Jace. When I slid in beside Jace we all laughed as Johnny fell off of the slide and scrambled to get back up to the top.

Our friendship began fully that very day, and took us on the greatest journey ever embarked on.