November 7th, 2011
Rowan, Forrest, and Willow became close very quickly.
Forrest and Willow would always stand up for Rowan whenever he got picked on, so the bullying stopped pretty quickly.
Willow had actually given one kid a bloody nose when he used his scissors to cut a lock of Rowan's hair.
Nobody messed with Rowan- or Willow or any of her friends, for that matter -after that.
Despite Rowan being the newest addition to their trio, he never felt left out.
Forrest and Willow always made sure he was included.
Rowan and Willow were waiting for Forrest at the oak tree one morning. They stood in a comfortable silence, Willow bouncing her back off of the tree, then leaning against it again. Bouncing off, leaning against it. Bouncing off, then leaning against it, her hands resting in the pockets of her blue jacket. She watched her breath be visible in the cold, her attention switching from that to the floor as her cheeks turned red from the low temperature.
Meanwhile, Rowan crouched with his knees up to his chest, and his back against the tree. He wasn't sitting down, but he was perched just above the dirt. His hands fiddled with a dead leaf as he waited with Willow.
He would glance up from the leaf every few seconds to see if Forrest had arrived yet, and Willow would look up from the ground.
They ended up looking up at the same time, both of their eyes catching the sight of a boy.
It wasn't Forrest, though. It wasn't a boy they had even seen at school before.
He had sandy-blonde hair, and he wore a grey shirt with small dinosaurs scattered around it, the dinosaurs a variety of colors. Over the T-shirt was a navy blue jacket. The rest of his outfit consisted of dark blue jeans, and sneakers that were a similar color, just with white bottoms.
The boy seemed slightly nervous, staring up at the building in front of him as his parents drove away.
Willow and Rowan had the same thought, both turning their heads to each other in unison before making their way over to him.
"Hi," Willow said. "I'm Willow. What's your name?"
"Grey," the boy's gaze switched to the ground as he spoke.
"I like your shirt," Rowan complimented. The redhead was quite fond of dinosaurs, seemingly like this new boy.
"This is one of my best friends. His name is Rowan. We're waiting for our other best friend, Forrest," Willow explained. "Do you wanna wait with us? You can meet him."
The boy's - Grey's - head perked up at the suggestion. He nodded eagerly. "Okay."
"Okay, c'mon," Willow smiled, taking Grey's hand.
"This is the oak tree. It's our meeting spot every morning. If you don't find new friends, you can wait here for us before school! We'll always be here," Willow told him.
"Okay," Grey nodded. "Are we friends now?"
"Yeah!" Willow exclaimed with a cheerful smile.
This made a joyful grin appear on Grey's face. Then, he hears a voice behind him.
"Hi, guys."
Grey turned to where the unfamiliar voice came from.
"Forrest! This is Grey. He's new," Willow introduced, adjusting the grey and red beanie on her head. It had a pom-pom type thing on the top, something Willow quite liked about the hat.
"Hi! I'm Forrest. Do you wanna sit with us at lunch?" He asked his new friend.
"Yeah!"
"Okay, we sit right over there," Willow said, pointing to a cafeteria table.
"I was new at the beginning of this year. It's scary at the beginning but it's good here. I like it," Rowan told the newcomer.
Grey nodded, and Willow helped the boy everywhere he needed to be throughout that day.
They all bonded with Grey quite fast, and their trio was now a quartet.
A second grade friend group that would remain inseparable for years to come.
