Jerrie Oneshot Book

Paper Rings

Summary: Four times Perrie gives Jade a paper ring, and one time she doesn't.

1.

The first time Jade lays her eyes on Perrie, the blonde girl is smiling more widely than Jade has ever seen anyone smile. She's laughing on the swing, an older boy helping to push her.

Their happiness sort of captivates Jade, and she doesn't notice how long she's been staring at them before the blonde girl spots her and immediately says something to the boy — presumably for him to stop pushing her, because she dismounts from the swing as fast as she can and runs over to Jade.

She's a little taller than Jade, eyes strikingly blue and full of energy. She's wrapped in a thick winter coat, making her torso look gigantic as compared to her legs, which are only covered by a pair of jeans. Fur-lined boots sit on her feet, and Jade already wants to be her friend.

"Hi! Do you want to play with us?" the girl asks, and Jade can only stare at her and nod.

The girl's smile widens, and Jade wonders how a smile so wide can widen even more. "Great! My name is Perrie, it's nice to meet you," the girl — Perrie, Jade commits the name to memory — exclaims, and after a few moments of slightly awkward silence, Jade realizes that she's supposed to speak.

"My name is Jade," Jade replies, and as an afterthought she adds, "it's nice to meet you too."

Perrie's gloved hand takes hers and drags her over to the swing without hesitation, gesturing for her to sit on it. "I'll push you and Jonnie at the same time! Jonnie, get on the other one!"

The older kid, presumably Jonnie, gets onto the other swing and gives Jade a small smile. "Hello, I'm Jonnie, Perrie's brother."

Jade gives him a small smile in return. "I'm Jade."

"Sorry about Perrie, she can be very energetic," Jonnie whispers conspiratorially, and Perrie makes an indignant noise from behind them.

"I'm right here Jonnie, I can hear everything you're saying!" Perrie says, sticking out her tongue.

Jonnie sticks his tongue right back out at Perrie. "That's the point."

Perrie slaps Jonnie's arm lightly. "Stop and let me push you and Jade on the swing!"

Jade looks over at the benches sitting on the outskirts of the playground, spotting her mother talking to a blonde woman, who Jade thinks could be Perrie and Jonnie's mother. Before she can say anything, Perrie is pushing the swings, and Jade's having more fun than she's ever had in her life.

----

Only a few months later Perrie's sitting in her bedroom and they're playing with Jade's new Nintendo-64 that her mother bought her as a gift for getting full marks on her math test.

After they're done with their sixteenth game of Mario Kart, Perrie puts down her controller and reaches for her bag, taking out an item that she holds carefully in her closed fist.

"I have something for you," Perrie says, and Jade looks down at her fist, then back up at Perrie's smiling face. For a moment, she wonders what could be in Perrie's hand — they don't exactly have the biggest hands, they're only five years old, after all — but her curiosity is sated when Perrie unclenches her fist, revealing a donut made of paper.

"Why is the donut so small?" Jade asks, tilting her head and trying to study it more carefully.

Perrie laughs, head thrown back. "It isn't a donut, silly!"

"Oh." Jade blinks. "Then what is it?"

"It's a paper ring! I don't have any money to buy a real ring, so I made you one out of paper," Perrie says, bashfully holding out the paper ring to Jade. Jade holds out her hand, letting Perrie slide the ring onto her fourth finger gingerly. The ring is far too big to fit onto her finger, but her heart only warms more at that fact.