Status: done.
You Drain The Life From Me.
We learned to love when we were young
"You'll be okay, right Leigh?" asked her mother. Leigh fought off the urge to roll her eyes.
Even at the young age of five, Leigh was feisty. John just tapped his foot impatiently. He had his backpack hanging off his right shoulder and his Doug lunchbox in his hand. Inside was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a pudding cup, a fruit punch flavored Capri Sun, a single bag of Toy Story fruit snacks, and a baggie of orange slices.
First days of school were always a drag for John, especially now that he was a big kid. A second grader. He got to use the slide before the first graders and he got to move to the second grader table at lunch.
He was getting impatient as his mom made absolutely sure that his baby sister, a kindergartener, was okay.
It wasn't like Leigh really needed all that help. She was fine. She was strong, just like her brother.
They always made jokes that she was the strongest potato chip ever. Even though she hated the nickname, she always laughed when John said, "If someone took you out of the chip bag and tried to bite into you, all their teeth would break cause you're so tough."
Mrs. O'Callaghan kissed Leigh on the cheek and Leigh grabbed a little tighter onto her bright purple backpack and Star Wars lunch box. Mom hated when they brought toys to school, but John had seen Leigh sneak a Darth Vader action figure into her pocket. He argued with himself on whether or not he should tell on her, but he figured it would just make the goodbye a whole lot longer and he was dying to see Jared, Halvo, Tim, Max, and LB already.
"Bye, potato chip!" John called as he waved goodbye to his little sister.
Leigh groaned, but smiled. "Bye, Johnny!"
"That's not my name!"
"I know!" Leigh's smile only got bigger as John and her mother walked away. She could practically smell the worry radiating off of her mom. Her mom of all people should have known that she would be fine. She had brains and guts. Sometimes, she was even braver than John. But she didn't like to talk about that, because then John would get all butthurt and tickle her.
She turned around and took one last look at her mom and brother before walking into the classroom. Her teacher's name was Ms. Casey. She was a bit early, but some kids were already there. The first thing she spotted was her teacher, getting things ready for class. It was a big room. There were desks set up, five squares of four. Then there was a big whiteboard on the other side of the room, and a wide, open space in front of it. To her left was a long desk, with a nameplate that read "Ms. Casey," and there was a bright red apple resting right next to it.
In the wide open space sat about five or six children. The first thing she spotted was a boy with huge ears that made him look like a monkey. She giggled to herself, but she immediately stopped when she saw the boy next to him. He had dark brown hair, from what she could see, and he was smiling widely, with an action figure in his hand. When she made out what the action figure was of, she almost squealed in joy.
He had an Obi Wan Kenobi action figure. And she dug her hand deep into her pocket and pulled out her Darth Vader figure.
And from that point on, she had one goal. She was going to make that boy her best friend.
Ms. Casey caught sight of her and walked up to say hello.
"What's your name, sweetheart?"
"Leigh! My name is Leigh O'Callaghan."
"Good morning! Are you excited for your first day of school, Leigh?"
Leigh nodded.
"Okay, how about you set down your things and then you can go play with the other kids."
Leigh did as told and approached all the other children, setting her aim on the boy she had seen earlier.
As she came closer, she realized that the boy with the big ears was Pat Kirch, her brother's friend's little brother.
"Hi, Pat!"
Pat looked up and smiled. "Leigh! We're in the same class?!"
She nodded. The boy who had been sitting next to Pat looked up and bit his lip.
Leigh thrust out her hand, offering a handshake. "Hi, I'm Leigh!"
The boy just stared at her hand as if it belonged to an alien. "Um, h-hi. I'm Ga-Garrett."
Pat giggled. "Garrett's shy."
Leigh giggled as well. But then she furrowed her brow. How was she going to become his best friend if he could barely talk to her?
She withdrew her hand and then presented her Darth Vader toy.
"Wanna fight?" she asked, nodding her head towards his Obi Wan Kenobi.
His eyes widened, and his lips turned into a slight smile.
"Y-Yeah!"
At lunch, the three sat next to each other. And all three were delighted to find they had a ton in common.
Before that day, Leigh had never really ever talked to Pat. But she was glad she was in the same class with him, because he was very funny. Pat was very hyper and friendly. He loved fruit and he loved animals. He had a dog named Cosmo, and a brother named Tim. He hated the way his ears looked, and he wished he could grow out his hair, but his mom wouldn't let him. His favorite show was Doug.
Garrett was quite different from Pat. He was quiet and he kept to himself most of the time. He stuttered and he was extremely shy. He too had a brother named Trey, but Trey was three years older than him. He loved Star Wars and dinosaurs. Both boys enjoyed listening to music, just like Leigh.
Leigh took a liking to Garrett's deep blue eyes. She complimented him on them, which only caused him to blush and stutter (more than he did usually), and look away, mumbling something to himself.
"Garrett, I think you and Leigh will get along pretty well," said Pat suddenly. Garrett looked up from his baggy of Goldfish and furrowed his brow.
Leigh stopped chewing on her Nutella sandwhich and waited for Garrett's reaction.
"Garrett, I wanna be best friends," she admitted shamelessly.
"B-But why?"
"Because you're cool, duh," Leigh answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"No, I'm not."
"Are too."
"Am not."
"Are too."
"Am not."
"Are too."
"The swings are free!" yelled Pat, not even aware of the intense argument going down. He threw down his turkey sandwich and ran to the swing, abandoning his Quailman lunch box full of food.
Leigh smirked and pointedly looked at Pat's stash of candy that he had been guarding all through lunch.
Garrett smiled evilly and whispered, "Should we?" forgetting about their previous bickering.
Leigh nodded and they both lunged for it. There was a mix of Rolos, Twix, Sour Patch Kids, M&M's, Swedish Fish, Dum Dums, and Reese's.
They both got quite a bit before Pat realized what they were doing and came running back to defend what was rightfully his. "Hey! That's my candy!"
"Sharing is caring!" said Leigh.
Garrett just laughed. He was beginning to like this girl. He had said more words to her than he had said to any other girl his age he had ever met before. She liked Star Wars, Beast Wars, dinosaurs, Doug, Ah! Real Monsters, music, Converse, and all other kinds of stuff that he liked too. And she was really pretty and thought he was cool. And she helped him steal Pat's candy, a feat he had never been able to do by himself. And she was awfully nice to Pat. Not a lot of people were. Usually they were freaked out by his ears or his hyper-ness.
"Leigh, I think we should be best friends."
"Yeah?" she asked hopefully.
"Yeah."
"Wanna come over to play with lightsabers later? And Pat and I can make fruit salad!"
Both boys grinned so wide that their eyes crinkled at the corners.
"I think I should go home and get my lightsabers before I come over," said Garrett unsurely.
The three kids were standing by the school parking lot, waiting for their parents to come get them.
Pat shrugged. "My mom will probably be cool with it. She already knows your mom because of Tim, so she'll say yeah."
"Garrett, how about you go home first and I'll have my mom give your mom my address so she can drop you off!"
Garrett nodded. "That sounds good."
All of a sudden, there were voices behind them, and she recognized one of them as her brother's.
"Hi, John!"
John came up behind her and ruffled her hair. "How was your first day, potato chip?"
"I made new friends!"
Then she caught sight of Eric and smiled. "Hi, Eric!"
He said hello and gave her a high five. She did the same with Moose, LB, and Tim.
"Ooh, looks like Pat and Leigh are buddies now, Tim," laughed John.
"Hey, John, do you think mom would let Garrett and Pat come over?"
He shrugged. "Yeah, I think Tim and Eric are coming over later anyway."
"Mom! I think Garrett's here!"
Leigh and Pat ran to the door and opened it, running out to the front lawn just as a white minivan came pulling up on the curb.
Mrs. O'Callaghan followed after them with a chuckle.
Mrs. Nickelsen parked and got out of the car, and the side door slid open and out jumped Garrett.
"Thank you for having Garrett over, I've never seen him so excited for anything!"
"Leigh and Pat have been jumping up and down for the past hour, it's amazing!" Leigh's mom said with a laugh.
"Bye, mom!" said Garrett, before dragging his lightsaber and bag of action figures towards the house with Pat and Leigh on either side of him.
"Thank you Mrs. Nickelsen!" yelled Leigh before running back inside.
"Okay, what do you want to do first?" asked Leigh, leading the two boys into her backyard.
"Lightsaber fight," Garrett answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Leigh picked up one of her many lightsabers from the grass and handed another to Pat.
"Good luck, young padawan," she said to Pat in the most official-sounding voice she could muster.
Garrett set down his backpack filled to the brim with dinosaurs and Jedi figures before unleashing his innocent wrath on his newfound friend and his best friend.
"Ahhhhhh!"
Their lightsabers met with a loud tap, and they all laughed, then pulled away before getting into a sort of sword fight, but with plastic lightsabers.
In their minds, they truly were in the world of Star Wars, battling each other to the point of extreme exhaustion.
The three kept going at it before Pat suddenly froze. "I have to pee."
They all giggled and Pat ran inside to use the bathroom. Garrett and Leigh sat, indian style, waiting for him to get back.
"You know, Garrett, you're really cool. I'm glad I met you today."
Garrett beamed. "You're really cool too, Leigh."
Silence.
Then, "But I'm still a better Jedi than you."
Leigh's eyes widened and were filled with playful anger.
"You did not just say that, Nicko."
"I did! Whatcha gonna do about it, huh?"
It all happened in an instant. Leigh lunged from her seat on the ground and tackled him, laughing wildly as she did so. They rolled around, wrestling for a few minutes before the door opened and closed and Pat's little Converse clad feet walked back to the little boy and girl wrestling on the grass.
"I can tell this is going to be a beautiful friendship," he said to himself, releasing a happy sigh.
Even at the young age of five, Leigh was feisty. John just tapped his foot impatiently. He had his backpack hanging off his right shoulder and his Doug lunchbox in his hand. Inside was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a pudding cup, a fruit punch flavored Capri Sun, a single bag of Toy Story fruit snacks, and a baggie of orange slices.
First days of school were always a drag for John, especially now that he was a big kid. A second grader. He got to use the slide before the first graders and he got to move to the second grader table at lunch.
He was getting impatient as his mom made absolutely sure that his baby sister, a kindergartener, was okay.
It wasn't like Leigh really needed all that help. She was fine. She was strong, just like her brother.
They always made jokes that she was the strongest potato chip ever. Even though she hated the nickname, she always laughed when John said, "If someone took you out of the chip bag and tried to bite into you, all their teeth would break cause you're so tough."
Mrs. O'Callaghan kissed Leigh on the cheek and Leigh grabbed a little tighter onto her bright purple backpack and Star Wars lunch box. Mom hated when they brought toys to school, but John had seen Leigh sneak a Darth Vader action figure into her pocket. He argued with himself on whether or not he should tell on her, but he figured it would just make the goodbye a whole lot longer and he was dying to see Jared, Halvo, Tim, Max, and LB already.
"Bye, potato chip!" John called as he waved goodbye to his little sister.
Leigh groaned, but smiled. "Bye, Johnny!"
"That's not my name!"
"I know!" Leigh's smile only got bigger as John and her mother walked away. She could practically smell the worry radiating off of her mom. Her mom of all people should have known that she would be fine. She had brains and guts. Sometimes, she was even braver than John. But she didn't like to talk about that, because then John would get all butthurt and tickle her.
She turned around and took one last look at her mom and brother before walking into the classroom. Her teacher's name was Ms. Casey. She was a bit early, but some kids were already there. The first thing she spotted was her teacher, getting things ready for class. It was a big room. There were desks set up, five squares of four. Then there was a big whiteboard on the other side of the room, and a wide, open space in front of it. To her left was a long desk, with a nameplate that read "Ms. Casey," and there was a bright red apple resting right next to it.
In the wide open space sat about five or six children. The first thing she spotted was a boy with huge ears that made him look like a monkey. She giggled to herself, but she immediately stopped when she saw the boy next to him. He had dark brown hair, from what she could see, and he was smiling widely, with an action figure in his hand. When she made out what the action figure was of, she almost squealed in joy.
He had an Obi Wan Kenobi action figure. And she dug her hand deep into her pocket and pulled out her Darth Vader figure.
And from that point on, she had one goal. She was going to make that boy her best friend.
Ms. Casey caught sight of her and walked up to say hello.
"What's your name, sweetheart?"
"Leigh! My name is Leigh O'Callaghan."
"Good morning! Are you excited for your first day of school, Leigh?"
Leigh nodded.
"Okay, how about you set down your things and then you can go play with the other kids."
Leigh did as told and approached all the other children, setting her aim on the boy she had seen earlier.
As she came closer, she realized that the boy with the big ears was Pat Kirch, her brother's friend's little brother.
"Hi, Pat!"
Pat looked up and smiled. "Leigh! We're in the same class?!"
She nodded. The boy who had been sitting next to Pat looked up and bit his lip.
Leigh thrust out her hand, offering a handshake. "Hi, I'm Leigh!"
The boy just stared at her hand as if it belonged to an alien. "Um, h-hi. I'm Ga-Garrett."
Pat giggled. "Garrett's shy."
Leigh giggled as well. But then she furrowed her brow. How was she going to become his best friend if he could barely talk to her?
She withdrew her hand and then presented her Darth Vader toy.
"Wanna fight?" she asked, nodding her head towards his Obi Wan Kenobi.
His eyes widened, and his lips turned into a slight smile.
"Y-Yeah!"
* * *
At lunch, the three sat next to each other. And all three were delighted to find they had a ton in common.
Before that day, Leigh had never really ever talked to Pat. But she was glad she was in the same class with him, because he was very funny. Pat was very hyper and friendly. He loved fruit and he loved animals. He had a dog named Cosmo, and a brother named Tim. He hated the way his ears looked, and he wished he could grow out his hair, but his mom wouldn't let him. His favorite show was Doug.
Garrett was quite different from Pat. He was quiet and he kept to himself most of the time. He stuttered and he was extremely shy. He too had a brother named Trey, but Trey was three years older than him. He loved Star Wars and dinosaurs. Both boys enjoyed listening to music, just like Leigh.
Leigh took a liking to Garrett's deep blue eyes. She complimented him on them, which only caused him to blush and stutter (more than he did usually), and look away, mumbling something to himself.
"Garrett, I think you and Leigh will get along pretty well," said Pat suddenly. Garrett looked up from his baggy of Goldfish and furrowed his brow.
Leigh stopped chewing on her Nutella sandwhich and waited for Garrett's reaction.
"Garrett, I wanna be best friends," she admitted shamelessly.
"B-But why?"
"Because you're cool, duh," Leigh answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"No, I'm not."
"Are too."
"Am not."
"Are too."
"Am not."
"Are too."
"The swings are free!" yelled Pat, not even aware of the intense argument going down. He threw down his turkey sandwich and ran to the swing, abandoning his Quailman lunch box full of food.
Leigh smirked and pointedly looked at Pat's stash of candy that he had been guarding all through lunch.
Garrett smiled evilly and whispered, "Should we?" forgetting about their previous bickering.
Leigh nodded and they both lunged for it. There was a mix of Rolos, Twix, Sour Patch Kids, M&M's, Swedish Fish, Dum Dums, and Reese's.
They both got quite a bit before Pat realized what they were doing and came running back to defend what was rightfully his. "Hey! That's my candy!"
"Sharing is caring!" said Leigh.
Garrett just laughed. He was beginning to like this girl. He had said more words to her than he had said to any other girl his age he had ever met before. She liked Star Wars, Beast Wars, dinosaurs, Doug, Ah! Real Monsters, music, Converse, and all other kinds of stuff that he liked too. And she was really pretty and thought he was cool. And she helped him steal Pat's candy, a feat he had never been able to do by himself. And she was awfully nice to Pat. Not a lot of people were. Usually they were freaked out by his ears or his hyper-ness.
"Leigh, I think we should be best friends."
"Yeah?" she asked hopefully.
"Yeah."
"Wanna come over to play with lightsabers later? And Pat and I can make fruit salad!"
Both boys grinned so wide that their eyes crinkled at the corners.
* * *
"I think I should go home and get my lightsabers before I come over," said Garrett unsurely.
The three kids were standing by the school parking lot, waiting for their parents to come get them.
Pat shrugged. "My mom will probably be cool with it. She already knows your mom because of Tim, so she'll say yeah."
"Garrett, how about you go home first and I'll have my mom give your mom my address so she can drop you off!"
Garrett nodded. "That sounds good."
All of a sudden, there were voices behind them, and she recognized one of them as her brother's.
"Hi, John!"
John came up behind her and ruffled her hair. "How was your first day, potato chip?"
"I made new friends!"
Then she caught sight of Eric and smiled. "Hi, Eric!"
He said hello and gave her a high five. She did the same with Moose, LB, and Tim.
"Ooh, looks like Pat and Leigh are buddies now, Tim," laughed John.
"Hey, John, do you think mom would let Garrett and Pat come over?"
He shrugged. "Yeah, I think Tim and Eric are coming over later anyway."
* * *
"Mom! I think Garrett's here!"
Leigh and Pat ran to the door and opened it, running out to the front lawn just as a white minivan came pulling up on the curb.
Mrs. O'Callaghan followed after them with a chuckle.
Mrs. Nickelsen parked and got out of the car, and the side door slid open and out jumped Garrett.
"Thank you for having Garrett over, I've never seen him so excited for anything!"
"Leigh and Pat have been jumping up and down for the past hour, it's amazing!" Leigh's mom said with a laugh.
"Bye, mom!" said Garrett, before dragging his lightsaber and bag of action figures towards the house with Pat and Leigh on either side of him.
"Thank you Mrs. Nickelsen!" yelled Leigh before running back inside.
"Okay, what do you want to do first?" asked Leigh, leading the two boys into her backyard.
"Lightsaber fight," Garrett answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Leigh picked up one of her many lightsabers from the grass and handed another to Pat.
"Good luck, young padawan," she said to Pat in the most official-sounding voice she could muster.
Garrett set down his backpack filled to the brim with dinosaurs and Jedi figures before unleashing his innocent wrath on his newfound friend and his best friend.
"Ahhhhhh!"
Their lightsabers met with a loud tap, and they all laughed, then pulled away before getting into a sort of sword fight, but with plastic lightsabers.
In their minds, they truly were in the world of Star Wars, battling each other to the point of extreme exhaustion.
The three kept going at it before Pat suddenly froze. "I have to pee."
They all giggled and Pat ran inside to use the bathroom. Garrett and Leigh sat, indian style, waiting for him to get back.
"You know, Garrett, you're really cool. I'm glad I met you today."
Garrett beamed. "You're really cool too, Leigh."
Silence.
Then, "But I'm still a better Jedi than you."
Leigh's eyes widened and were filled with playful anger.
"You did not just say that, Nicko."
"I did! Whatcha gonna do about it, huh?"
It all happened in an instant. Leigh lunged from her seat on the ground and tackled him, laughing wildly as she did so. They rolled around, wrestling for a few minutes before the door opened and closed and Pat's little Converse clad feet walked back to the little boy and girl wrestling on the grass.
"I can tell this is going to be a beautiful friendship," he said to himself, releasing a happy sigh.
♠ ♠ ♠
I think y'all deserved an update after three days of nothingness. I still have to comment you all back! I've been on vacation, and I had no internet :( Sad lyfe. But I'm back now! And I have two more chapters after this. But I'm fighting off a nasty cold! Hopefully it'll go away soon :) Oh, and, this chapter is dedicated to Christy (mrstomorrow) because she likes flashbacks!Please comment and subscribe ♥