A/N: This is an old story, I wrote four years ago. So please be kind.
Ryder was excite. It was his first day of the kindergarten. He just couldn't wait to see his friends, have some fun and maybe even learn something. But that was really what his parents wanted. Anyway, Ryder was excited.
"Ryder! We're going to be late!" Ryder's mother, Charlie, called from the kitchen.
"Coming my mom!" Ryder yelled back as he grabbed his backpack and ran to the kitchen where his parents were. He ran in, dropped his backpack in the corner and plopped down at the table to eat. His mother was making breakfast. Some of it was already on the table, eggs, bacon, and toast. She was finishing making the eggs because both Ryder and his father liked them different ways.
Ryder's father, Greg, was at the table reading the news paper as he had his coffee and eggs. He glanced at his little boy as he began to eat.
"Be careful. Don't mess up your clothes. Your mother spent a lot money on those, and you haven't even worn them ten minutes." Greg told Ryder and he nodded, not saying a word.
"Greg, he'll be okay. He's five now. I think he can handle eggs." Charlie said and smiled at her son as she then picked up his backpack and made sure everything he needed was in it. "Honey, do you have your lunch?" Charlie asked Ryder and he nodded.
"It's in there. I think." Ryder said.
"You think?" Greg asked him and Ryder frowned. He hated it when his father asked him those type of questions. He made them sound like he was in trouble or he said something stupid.
"Um..." Ryder tried to answer, but his father cut him off.
"Well? Is it or isn't it?" He asked.
"Greg! It's ok. It's on the counter." Charlie said and Ryder sighed. His mother saved him. Ryder loved his father, but sometimes he didn't like all the questions and how he talked.
"Mom, you are taking me right?" Ryder asked, hopeful.
"Sorry honey, your father has to this morning. Emergency at the office." Charlie said and Ryder frowned.
"What kind of emergency?" Ryder asked.
"Sorry, I have to go." She said, trying to get out of answering that. She didn't like to talk about her work at home. She went over and kissed Greg and then Ryder. "I'll pick you up later okay." She said heading out the door.
"Bye mom!" Ryder yelled as he got up from the table and grabbed his backpack. "Dad, can we go now?" Ryder asked and his father sighed, but nodded. He got up from the table, grabbed his things and then himself and his son headed out the door.
Ryder got in the car with his father and he started heading towards the school Ryder went to. "You be good okay? Do everything you are supposed and try and learn as much as you can." His father said and Ryder nodded.
Soon enough they were at the school and Greg let his son out and he went into the school. He saw a lot of new kids and then he saw some people he recognized from the Pre School down the street.
"Hello, you must be Ryder. I'm Ms. Maggie. I'm your teacher this year." She told him and Ryder smiled.
"Hi." He said, happily.
"Well, you can go talk and play with the other kids. I'll put you backpack over here with the others alright?" She said and Ryder nodded and handed her his backpack and then ran off to go play.
He saw one of his best friends and couldn't wait to have fun with him all year. "Jake!" Ryder yelled and the other kids turned around and smiled when he saw Ryder.
"You're in my class!" Jake exclaimed and Ryder nodded.
"This is going to be fun!" Jake added.
"Is Liam here?" Ryder asked, but Jake shook his head and then Ryder frowned.
"He moved, remember?" Jake reminded and then Ryder nodded as it came back to him. "It's okay. There are new kids and they are probably cool. Unless they are girls." Ryder frowned. He never understood why boys didn't like girls. He thought they were awesome.
"Why are girls bad?" Ryder asked. He's always wanted to ask this but never did,
"Because they only like girl things. Playing with dolls and stuff like that. And my brother said they have some disease if you touch them." Jake said Ryder arched his eyebrow.
"Then why do they get married?" Ryder asked. "My mom and dad kiss. All the time and hold hands and stuff." Ryder said, he didn't really believe that stuff, luckily he had two parents as proof.
"Ew! Gross!" Jake exclaimed. "Anyway, maybe its only some girls. The weird and friendless ones."
"Maybe." Ryder said, unsure if he should believe that.
Ryder and Jake played for a little bit until they were called over to the rug where Ms. Maggie was.
"Everyone, I'm your teacher this year. And I think that we should all get to know each other, so why don't we go around the room and tell each other our names." She said and everyone sat down. She started down the left side.
The first few were boys. Sam, Danny and Lenny. There were couple girls too. Alex, Lauren, and Diane. Then they got to Ryder and Jake.
"I'm Jake."
"I'm Ryder."
Then there was the last one that caught Ryder's eye. "What's your name sweetie? Don't be shy." The teacher said and the girl stood up. She had long brown hair, beautiful blue eyes and was wearing a beautiful light blue dress with splashes of yellow, red, and pink on it. She looked very pretty.
"My name is Marley." She said. Ryder smiled, a very pretty name for a very pretty girl, at least that was what he thought.
"Wow, she was named after a guy." One girl shouted and then everyone started laughing. It was the girl almost exactly across from Marley. Everyone thought that was funny, except for Ms. Maggie and Ryder.
Marley frowned and then sat down, Ms. Maggie didn't want anyone bullying going on in the classroom.
"Quiet!" She shouted and the room silenced and then she turned to the girl who said what she did about Marley.
"Kat. There will be none of that again, or there will be a time out. Do you understand?" She asked the child, but the child frowned.
"My name isn't Kat. It's Kitty." She corrected.
"I'm going to tell you all right now, no one will bully in this classroom or there will timeouts during playtime and recess. Do you understand?" She asked and everyone nodded. But the damage was done. She was hurt. Ryder could see it plainly on the girl's face, but paid his attention back to the teacher for a while.
Later, they were able to play again and Ryder followed Jake and they ran around for a little bit with a few other boys, but then Ryder caught a glimpse of the girl he saw earlier. She was sitting alone and she didn't look happy at all.
"Ryder, why are you looking at her?" One of the boys asked.
"She's all alone." Ryder replied.
"Because no one wants to play with a dog." Jake whispered and they all laughed except for Ryder. Jake frowned when he saw that Ryder didn't think it was funny. "Ryder, why do you care? She's a girl." He said.
"Would you like to play all by yourself on the first day or at all?" Ryder asked and Jake shook his head.
"I'm sure a girl will talk to her or something." Jake said.
"I'll be right back." Ryder said, leaving the boys and walking over to the girl. She looked up, not any happier. She figured since it was a boy, he was going to be mean.
"Why are you sitting all alone?" Ryder asked.
"No one wants to play with me." She said.
"Why?"
"I don't know. I guess they don't like me." She said.
"Want me to play with you?" Ryder asked, kindly and she smiled, but then frowned.
"You don't have to." She said.
"I want to. Come play with me and the boys over there, and if they don't want to, we can play something by ourselves." He said and she smiled again.
"I'm Ryder."
"I'm Marley." She told him again. "I know." And he took her hand and guided her over to his other friends.
"Ew! It's a girl!" Another boy yelled.
"No its not! I don't know, I'm not sure!" Another boy joked.
"This is Marley. She wants to play with us." Ryder said, hoping they'd stop making fun of her.
"Well we don't want to play with her. Girls are gross." A boy named Luke said.
"Why do you want to play with her anyway?" A girl asked, walking by. Ryder turned to Marley and saw she was upset again.
"Because she's nice and should have some friends." Ryder said.
Then a few other people came by then they started singing. "RYDER AND MARLEY SITTING IN A TREE. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Making fun of both Ryder and Marley. He didn't care, he wasn't going to let her be by herself all day.
"Come on, let's go play by ourselves." Ryder said and took Marley and they went to go play with blocks. They played that for a while, but then later they colored and drew each other pictures.
Marley seemed really happy that she had someone to play with. All she needed was a friend. Ryder liked her, she was really nice and he wished everyone else would be nice to her.
Later they went over by the tables and sat down and just talked for a little bit.
"So where do you live?" Ryder asked.
"Not far. Main St. I live with my mom." Marley said.
"I live close by then. I have a mom and dad." Ryder said. "What does your mom do?"
"She works here. She's the lunch lady. Please don't tell anyone though." Marley said and Ryder nodded. "Pinky promise." Ryder said and they did a pinky promise.
"What about your parents?" Marley asked.
"My dad...I don't know what exactly. Every time I ask he says 'phD'. I don't know what that is. My mom is a tooth doctor person." Ryder said and Marley smiled.
"Thanks for playing with me." Marley said and Ryder smiled. He really liked her. She was fun, it was different playing with a girl. It was fun though. He liked it, he didn't care what his other friends thought though.
"It was fun. Wanna' be friends?" Ryder asked and Marley nodded and then they hugged.
"You want to go play with the blocks again?"
Ryder nodded and then the two got up and went to wear the blocks were and started playing. They played for a while, but then they had to stop because Ryder's mom got there to pick him up.
"Ryder, your mom is here." Ms. Maggie called and Ryder frowned. Marley did too.
"Don't go!" She pleaded.
"I have to. I'll be back tomorrow. You want to come get my backpack with me?" Ryder asked and Marley nodded. Ryder went and got his bag, while Marley followed him.
"Hi honey, how was your day?" Charlie asked and Ryder looked at Marley.
"It was FUN!" He exclaimed.
"Who's this?" Charlie asked, noticing the girl next to Ryder.
"This is Marley. She's my new friend!" He said, putting an arm around her and she smiled, shyly. But then looked up, she seemed less shy now that she had a friend.
"Hi." Marley said and Charlie repeated it.
"Say 'goodbye' Ryder, we have to go home now." Charlie said and Ryder hugged Marley.
"See you tomorrow Marley!" Ryder said as he left with his mother, waving goodbye to Marley as he left. She was waving too, happily. He couldn't wait to come back tomorrow and have some more fun with Marley. He didn't care what the other boys thought, he liked her.
