Leslie's Melody | Isabella x Leslie FF • The Promised Neverland

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐎𝐧𝐞 | A New Game Of Tag

[Leslie's Perspective]

Under a tree, I sat in contentment as I watched the children play. A butterfly flew past me and landed on my nose.

"Hey there little buddy." I chuckled quietly. "That tickles you know."

"It seems to like you, Leslie."

I sprang onto my feet but fell afterwards, causing the butterfly to flutter away.

"I-Isabella!?" I exclaimed and looked over my shoulder.

Behind me stood my friend, Isabella. She had long ravenette locks hurled into a single braid and her eyes were piercing violet.

"H-hey! Stop that will you?!" I brushed some dirt off my pants.

"HAHAHA!" Isabella leaned on the tree and clutched her stomach. "Your- HAHA-your face! If only I had a mirror!"

"Stop scaring me all the time! It's not funny." I crossed my arms and scoffed.

Isabella stopped laughing and looked at me. "Okay okay, I'm sorry."

She sat on my previous spot and gestured for me to sit beside her.

"Boy, what a breezy afternoon it is." Isabella lazily looked up at the sky.

"Sure is." I covered my eyes as I gazed with her.

"Why don't you ever play tag with us?"

"Huh?" I replied.

"Come on, Leslie. We haven't played tag with you in a long time." she lightly punched my shoulder. "Let's play! And I'm not taking 'no' for a reply."

"But-"

Isabella took my hand and pulled me up.

"But what?" she teased me.

"But I'm no good at tag. Let alone running and cooperating in a team." I whined, hoping she'd let me go.

"We'll never know until we try!" she said with enthusiasm.

"I always mess up, remember...?"

"No excuses!" she dragged me with her.

"What?!"

We dashed towards the other children.

"Don't worry, I'll be your teammate!" She giggled. "Come on!"

"Guys! Leslie's joining!" Isabella waved at everyone and they cheered.

"We're finally complete, hooray!" Morgan, one of the eldest, said. "Everyone, gather around!"

I felt a tug on my sleeve. "Let's be a team!" I looked down to see a pair of brown eyes looking up at me. It was Fleo, one of the younger ones.

"Of course! Hehe." I sheepishly replied.

"Alright we'll be separated into two teams so we will have two 'it's." Carson announced.

"Huh?? We can have two?" Clara asked.

"Two teams? Since when did we have that?" Daffy asked.

"Doesn't hurt to try new formations, eh?" Morgan said. "We've always had one 'it' and it took a lot of time."

"Don't worry, like I said, we'll be having two teams and each team will have an 'it' to go against the other team. That's what we meant by having two. I suppose that's fair enough, right?" Carson explained.

"I see...so...let's say our 'it' tags everyone from the other team, do we win then?" Rojan asked.

"Yep." Morgan replied. "It's all about speed. Whoever tags everyone on the opposing team, wins."

"Can we tag the other 'it'?" Aela giddily asked.

"No. That's unfair. Only the 'it's are 'untaggable'." Carson replied.

"Aww."

"Alright! Let's team up!" Clara raised her hands.

"Wait wait, shouldn't we let the two 'it's pick their teammates?" Rojan asked.

"Oh right right." Clara said. "So, who's gonna be the 'it's?"

"Haha! Me!" Morgan boasted, raising his sleeves up.

"Unfair! You're fast!" Aela said.

"And so am I!" We all looked at Isabella who began folding her sleeves as well.

"Let me go against Morgan." she confidently smiled, a twinkle in her eye.

Dear Lord, please tell me she's not up to something.

"Ah I see how it is." Morgan smirked.

Isabella stared at him. "Bring. It. On."

"If I win, you're giving me your sweets." Morgan laughed.

"And if I win," Isabella stared him eye to eye, face to face, ", then you do all my chores for a week."

Everyone gasped, including me. I just stood in silence. Bargaining wasn't my thing but I knew Morgan's pride and sweet tooth won't let him turn a good offer down.

"Deal."

Oh boy. I buried my face in my hand and had the urge to back away from the game.

Isabella has always been confident and competitive that everyone loves her. I wish I had her charisma. But here am I, a shy and awkward guy with low self-esteem that always humiliates himself.
She's good at almost everything, be it wit, athleticism, and socializing.

"Twenty minute time limit! Leslie, I'm counting on you!"

"Ah- eh- I-" I stuttered. I found myself staring at Isabella and looked away.

"Here's our team! Fleo, Axel, Cecilia, Clara, you and me!" Isabella pointed at us. "Leslie, you're our team leader."

"What- who appointed me?"

"I did!" Fleo said.

"Listen, our opponents are Morgan, Aela, Daffy, Rojan, Junie, and Minmin. Carson is the time keeper." Isabella said, then she eyed me. "So team leader, what's our strategy?"

I looked at all of them and gulped. "Uhmm..."

I eyed the forest behind us and recalled the previous games they played.

"Here," everyone in our team huddled closer "I noticed that in every game, everyone opts to climb the trees for a better view. However, this is a risky move because trees rustle pretty loud and this makes you an easy target. I'm certain Morgan will be scouting the trees. Sure, you have the high ground but once they notice you, they'll be able to predict your next move, guard every tree you climb, and follow you around."

"Heads up to you too, Isabella. You're good at climbing trees right? Keep an eye on them because that's everyone's strategy." I said.

"Roger that."

"With trees out of the question, where do we hide now?" Axel asked.

"In the bushes."

"What!? But that makes us even easier targets."

"A target is only easy when they're noisy." I stated. "What we have to do is act invisible to the 'it' 's eyes. No matter how fast you are, if you're not stealthy enough, they'll keep on hearing you until they eventually catch you. Being on high grounds doesn't matter if you keep drawing attention to yourself."

I looked at Isabella and smiled. "There's a reason she chose us."

Everyone in my team was confused.

"We may not be the fastest but she chose us because we're the stealthiest. We're going to leave the 'it' standing in confusion due to our quiet commotion because we won't be moveling a lot. We're going to keep on hiding and changing only when needed."

Isabella smiled back at me."I made the right decision of choosing you."

"Remember, it's not always about speed like Morgan said, it's about strategy." I told them. "Observe. Analyze. Read the enemy."

"Got it!" Everyone looked at each other and nodded in agreement.

"All right, LET'S PLAY!"