Love Hate

3

Stumbling down the stairs, Haven rubbed her eyes from sleep. It was the Monday following her new move and her first day at her new school. The sun was barely rising. Jaxon and Corey sat at the table. A bowl of cereal sat at the table, waiting for the six year old. "Morning Buttercup, did you sleep well?" He mess of brown curls bounced as she nodded. Jacob kissed the top of her head as a goodbye before heading to his new job. Naomi gave him a peck goodbye dressed in her scrubs. She had already found a job as a nurse in the new town. 

When the three children finished eating, they all raced to get ready. Haven wandered into her bedroom. She had yet to decorate her bedroom like her old one. Although she found the walls bland, she didn't want to paint them. The night before, her and her mother picked out a blue sundress that she could wear. It was the color of the ocean with a floral bordering on the bottom. White kid converse slipped onto the girl's feet before she rushed out the door. "Mommy!" 

"Yes Butterfly?"

"Can you do my hair?" Her mother's lips tugged into a smile. Haven followed Naomi into the small bathroom where the boys were already getting ready. The small girl winced as her mother tugged at her hair every so often. Soon her wild curls were tied into two french braids. At the end of each were two ocean blue bows to match the sundress. 

The purple backpack bounced against the girl's back as she jumped down the stairs. "Bye Mommy."

"Goodbye Haven. Have a good day at school. Corey you have your key?" The nine year old held up the basketball painted key. With one last goodbye, the Williams children were out the front door and headed to the bus stop at the corner of their street. As they passed the Kuwonu household, Haven looked at the window. What she din't expect was to see the boy she couldn't stop thinking about staring at her as she passed. Her smile cascaded onto her face. Lifting her hand up, she waved to him.

Zion watched as the weird girl passed by his house. His mother, Mandy, was about to drive him and his sister to school. Kékéli was running behind so he decided to look out the window. Then he caught her eye. It was a little difficult to recognize Haven with her hair tied down, but it was still Haven. She was still out of the ordinary.

Due to the fact that his mother drove him to school, Zion made it there before Haven. He wandered down the hallway of the elementary school to the playground where the kid met before going into their classrooms. Seeing his friends, Brandon and Edwin, he ran over automatically. The three messed around playing a game they liked to call ninja. 

That was until Haven arrived.

When the three siblings first got to the school, they had to go to the attendance office and get the names of their teachers. Haven was apart of Ms. Watanabe's class. Zion's class. She walked through the hall anticipating who was in her class. The small girl wished that her crush from next door was in it.

He was.

"Zion!" Her squeal could be heard by the entire school. She rushed up to the other six year old, who stood in the middle of the playground, attacking him in a hug. The boy stumbled at the contact. Brandon and Edwin stared at the encounter. They had no idea who this girl was. Zion could feel everyone from the first grade watching Haven hug him. No longer wanting contact with her, the small boy pushed the girl off. 

Haven didn't seem to notice as she continued to smile at him. "Z whose this?"

Before the boy could respond, Haven was already speaking, "Hi, I'm Haven! Me and Zion live next to each other. You must be his friends. We can be friends too." Both boys stared at the girl. The new girl was odd in their eyes. She was talking to them like they wanted to be friends with her. The problem with this was cooties. Yes cooties. Every little girl and boy seems to get the case of being scared of them at some point of time. The three boys just so happened to have them now. 

"Why would we want to be friends with you? You're a girl." Brandon pointed at her like she was a strange object in a museum.

"Yeah, you have cooties." Edwin stepped back a little. Haven's little smile turned into a frown. Her coffee brown eyes looked at Zion. He was already watching her. With a small wave goodbye, the girl trudged over to a bench. She didn't feel like searching for Jaxon or Corey. They had already found kids to hang out with. 

The girl stared down at the ocean blue dress skirt in attempt to pass the time. Two feet appeared in front of her. The girl looked up to see another girl standing in front of her. Her brown hair was tied into two pigtails. Her big green eyes hid behind black rimmed glasses. She wore a plain white shirt and a floral skirt. "Hi! You look lonely." Haven only nodded and watched as the other girl sat down. "My name's Venus."

"I like your name. Mine is Haven."

A large crooked grin fell onto Venus's face. "Thanks, I like your's too. Want to be best friends?" Haven nodded automatically, grabbing ahold of her new found friend. 

Skip to recess. The part of the day that every kid loves. Zion, Brandon, and Edwin all raced out to the playground seeing who could get there first. Haven and Venus skipped out together talking about Haven's life before moving. As the girls entered the playground Venus dragged her new best friend to the ball cart. She pulled out a soccer ball, "Do you like soccer?" 

Nodding enthusiastically, she raced towards the field. As the two girls played soccer, the three boys rushed around the playground. "Hey Zion look at what your little girlfriend is doing!" A boy named Bryan called out to Z. He looked over in the direction of Haven for a split second. 

"She's not my girlfriend!"

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yeah, you were hugging this morning. That is what girlfriend and boyfriend do."

Other kids started to chime in. Zion slid down a slide to get away from the rest of the classmates. He was now branded as the weird girl's boyfriend. In that moment, he knew he hated her.