Pride and Promises ✔

Chapter 23

The boy ran to the park and hid behind the bushes as he saw his friend sitting alone in one of the twin swings. She had been angry since he'd kissed her three days ago and had refused to talk to him despite his many attempts.

So resigned, he had contented himself by silently observing her as she sat alone in the park, ready to catch her if she fell. He was also making sure that there was no boogeyman around to scare her, although she always claimed that she wasn't afraid of one.

On the other side, the girl was silently crying as she sat alone on the swing, where her Mickey was meant to be with her. She had never sat here alone without him and she was missing her friend a lot. She knew she'd yelled at him and asked him to never talk to her when he transferred his cooties to her but now, as she sat alone in the swing which was meant to be their place, she felt guilty for her treatment to him.

Even yesterday morning, he had come to her with her favorite blueberry muffin and an apology but she had taken the muffin and stormed off to the park without a word to him. In her defense, she hadn't really been upset and had thought that he would follow her to the park. Then, she had thought that she would tell him she was only pretending to be angry and they would eat the muffin together, in this very swing like they always did.

But he hadn't followed her, at least that's what she thought, and she assumed that he had grown angry and tired of her rudeness. Her bottom lip quivered as she imagined Addie never talking to her again. She had no close friends before due to her constant moving. She loved Addie's sister Jade but she was already a teenager and was more interested in playing with her phone. Her little sister Eva and Addie's brother Aaron were too tiny to play with.

"Dear God, pwease let Addie come to me. I will tell him I'm sowy. I will never be angwy with him ever again." She prayed silently, bringing her hands together in front of her, not realising that she was losing her balance in the swing.

The boy widened his eyes as he saw the swing suddenly move unsteadily and he rushed towards the girl to catch her as she started to fall. He had barely reached to the swing when the girl suddenly fell on the top of him. He let out a heavy 'oof' as the both of them rolled on the grass.

Hastily, he got up to check on the girl for any injuries when he heard her sobbing quietly. Horrified that she'd gotten hurt, he frantically rushed to her and started checking her hands and knees.

"Minnie! Are you hurt? Where does it hurt, Minnie? Tell me, please. Tell me, and I'll make it alright, Minnie!" The girl suddenly stopped crying and looked at him, confused.

"You're not angwy with me?" She asked hesitantly. It was the boy's turn to be confused now. "Why would I be angry with you? It's you who is angry with me." Then, he suddenly remembered her words and looked down. "I know you're still angry with me, Eve. You told me not to talk to you again. I'm sorry." He slumped dejectedly, expecting her to walk away anytime.

But instead of another screech or even worse, a pull on one of his ears like she always did whenever she was angry at him, he heard small giggles from her. Daring himself to have a little hope, he raised his eyes to see her sitting there, giggling hard with her right hand against her mouth.

"Why are you laughing now? Did you hit your head?" He frowned at her, looking for injuries on her head this time and sighed in relief when he found no visible ones. "I thought you were mad at me. You have not talked to me." The girl explained, making the boy look at his friend incredulously.