NathMarc November 2020

Dare

"Get ready, Nath. Kim's daring people again," the pigtailed brunette wearing a green dress and black leggings warned her red-haired friend who wore a purple shirt with orange pants.

He looked up from his coloring book and sees the young Vietnamese boy with his two friends, Marinette and Nino. He has this proud look on his face, the look he gets when he's going to dare the others to do something. Marinette and Nino are trying to coax him out of it. He let out a sigh, "Please don't let him pick me."

Alix wrapped an arm around him, "Don't worry. I'll take all your dares."

"Thanks," Nathaniel smiled. He did have the best friend ever. He wasn't the most social kid so that often made him a target for bullies, but Alix would always be there to back him up. Once when they were at recess, a second-grade boy kicked sand in his face while he was drawing in the sand because he left his coloring book in the classroom.

Being the sensitive, shy boy he is, Nathaniel started crying while the boy laughed. Then out of nowhere, Alix ran over to them and punched the boy in the face, grabbed Nathaniel's arm, and ran away.

After that, the two began hanging out, and a beautiful friendship was started.

He went back to coloring, but it seemed that his bangs were gassing the idea. They dropped over his eyes and he let out a frustrated groan

"Why not just cut 'em?" Alix questioned, "They always get in the way when you draw."

"But I like them," he said while moving them off of his face

Alix hummed in thought before her lips formed a grin, "Hold on!" She ran off to the craft area and came rushing back with a pair of blue safety scissors, "Put 'em back over your face," she told him

Nathaniel complied and moved his bangs so they were once again draped over his face. "Now hold still," she then grabbed a few strands of his bangs and cut them off, giving her friend slanted bangs, "There! Now you can see, and you still have your bangs."

Nathaniel let out a tiny squeal and hugged his friend, "Thanks, Alix!" And he went back to coloring while she watched

One hour later, and it was time for recess. Mme. Bustier's class immediately ran outside and played to their heart's content. Coming out of the school a minute later was Mme. Mendeleiev's kindergarten class. The two classes got along pretty well, and it wasn't rare to see the children playing together.

As their time progressed, Marinette made her way to the top of the slide, with some difficulty due to her short legs, so Nino had to help her up. Once she was at the top, her cute pink dress with a white bow on display, she pretended to clear her throat and yelled out, "May I have your attention please?!"

The children ceased their activities to see what the class darling and the resident music lover had to say

"Thank you," she said sweetly, "Kim is gonna be daring us today!"

"Again?" A voice in the crowd asked

Nino nodded, "Yes, again!" He exclaimed with a noticeable lisp as he fiddled with the jaw strings of his blue hoodie. He had recently lost one of his front teeth, so it was sometimes a little hard to understand the creole boy

Marinette continued, "Remember, you can take dares for others if you don't wanna take them. But if you don't, Kim is gonna call you a chicken for..." She counted on her fingers then held up six fingers, "One week!" Nino unfurled one of her fingers so she was holding up seven, "One week. Okay, that's all," and she slid down the slide with a 'Whee!', followed by Nino, and the two made their way over to Kim who high-fived them both