An Honest Mistake

When We First Met

The afternoon sun shone its brightest today, it seemed. It reached beyond the trees and the grass and beyond the flowers basking in its rays for nutrients. Today was a perfect summer day, the breeze gently blowing to keep the air from becoming too humid, the butterflies making the grass colorful and the bees collecting pollen.

A calm, serene day.

But according to a certain group of boys, it was the perfect day for mischief.

There were 3 of them, one tall and lanky, his skin dark, another short and stubby, his skin pale, but bruised and the last was the tallest - the leader of the small group.

"Hey! Give us back our ball!" A small child yelled - his skin was a light caramel, his hair matched the golden yellow of the blazing sun.

He ran fast, his long legs carrying him a longer distance than the other boys behind him.

Deep brown eyes hidden by sleek black hair glanced in the direction of the boisterous boy, then back at his book.

"Hey!" He yelled once more, trying to get the attention of the weird boy.
"Chi! He totally just stole our ball." One of them whined.

The blonde boy huffed in annoyance.

"You have our ball!"

But the boy kept his eyes planted in his book, one that looked much too large for someone his age.

'Is he ignoring us?'

The boy named 'Chi' with golden hair approached him first - his breaths unstable and voice loud - too loud for the quiet boy.

"Are you ignoring me?"

Chi was casting a shadow over his book, making it difficult to finish the sentence in the paragraph. He looked up, Chi wore black shorts, black sneakers and a white t-shirt. It looked new but was probably ruined from all the wrestling they'd done earlier.

He didn't respond, only moved his book fron Chi's looming shadow to resume reading. But the obnoxious boy moved in his way - this time purposely. Moving again, the boy let out a small huff. Only for Chi to block the sun again.

"He-llo?" Chi chided, his voice teasing.
"Jeez Chi, you run really fast." The dark-skinned one remarked.

His cheeks were red despite being relatively dark.

"Yeah," the shorter one agreed, being the last one to catch up to the group and clutching his stomach.

"You're too fast!"
"I told you guys - I'm the fastest runner-er."
"That's not a word." The quiet boy commented, his full attention on the golden haired boy.

The boy smirked at him.

"Runner-er is a word - stupid."
"No," he flipped a page, his eyes still on Chi.
"It's not."

Chi was a short-tempered boy. He didn't like being told what to do nor did he liked being corrected.

"I said it is, so it is!" His small hands became fists, red spreading across his cheeks.

Unfazed, the bookworm shrugged his shoulders.

"Just because you say it is, doesn't mean it is."
"Whatever stupid, give us our ball back - now."

The quiet one closed his book and put it on the side of him, he sat on a wooden bench.
"I don't have to give you anything."

Chi glowered at the boy - he made him mad, so mad that he wanted to punch him in the face. He was such a weirdo. The boy wore long-sleeve and pants in the hot summer sun and a cap sat atop his head.