My Multicolored Cloak

Prologue

"This way guys!" A young boy who had just turned eleven years old named Adrien shouted, as he grinned and ran through a peaceful forest. Adrien was always the one to lead the group, his energy was contagious. He loved nothing more than being outside, surrounded by nature, and he was happiest when he was running free. 

He was followed closely by a girl just barely younger than him, who wore her neatly combed green hair in two pigtails. She was just as athletic as Adrien, and she loved a good challenge as they raced down the hill. The two of them were at least twenty feet in front of the other two members of their friend group, clearly being the faster and more athletic members. They had been coming to this hillside for years, and they knew every inch of the terrain. They knew the shortcuts, the hidden trails, and the best spots to stop and catch their breath. 

They loved the way that the sun shone through the trees, the way that the leaves rustled in the wind, and the way that the birds sang in the distance. As they reached the bottom of the hillside, they turned around to see their friends still making their way through the forest. They grinned at each other, knowing that they had won the race, and they waited for the others to catch up. 

"Fleur, are you coming?" one of the slower kids asked as he and Fleur lagged behind. He adjusted his glasses as he did so. His name was Mac. He was a bit clumsy, though he hardly ever got hurt thanks to all the precautions he liked to take. 

"No thanks Mac, I'm full," Fleur breathed, holding a notebook and looking down as she walked, hardly paying attention to the world around her. Fleur was always lost in her own thoughts, and she often forgot about the world around her. She was a dreamer and a writer, and she loved nothing more than to write down her thoughts and ideas in her notebook. She liked to live two lives in her mind. The life in the outside world, and the life of her stories. 

She continued walking without a care in the world as Mac grasped her arm and quickly pulled her aside to stop her from walking into a tree. 

The boy's eyebrows knitted together in worry, as they always did. "Are you okay? You seem distracted," he noted, keeping a gentle grip on her arm so he could guide her and prevent her from tripping or running face-first into any trees. 

"I'm thinking," Fleur corrected, still refusing to look up from her notebook. She held a pen between her middle and index finger, but she wasn't writing just yet. Just tapping the corner of the blank page before her. 

"Same thing, Nerd!" Marie, the girl with the pigtails who had run ahead yelled, giggling as she did so. 

Mac and Fleur both rolled their eyes. They were used to Marie's teasing.

Fleur put down her notebook, tucking it into her backpack and adjusting her straps. "You didn't have to stay behind with me, you know," she told Mac with a tiny shrug. "You can hang out with the cool kids."

"Cool kids?" Mac asked, quietly laughing a slightly forced, awkward laugh. He looked away and scratched the side of his head, brushing loose strands of hair away from his ears. "I think you're twice as cool as the two of them combined." 

"EXCUSE ME?!" Adrien, cried out, suddenly skidding to a halt and looking back at them with nothing short of a shocked expression. "You take that back!"

"Alright, alright, I take it back!" Mac defensively exclaimed, putting his hands up as if he was a criminal being caught. 

Fleur giggled and rolled her eyes, noting how much of a pushover Mac was. He was always like that.

Once the group got to the bottom of the hill, they sat down in the multicolored flowers. There were so many different colors, ranging from red to yellow and green and brown and blue. Marie couldn't help but start picking some so she could weave a flower crown. She loved making them, and she was already imagining how beautiful it would look when it was finished.