Love Me on Valentine's Day || ✔️

0.3 // peter's pickle sandwich

0 . 3 / /  p e t e r ' s   p i c k l e   s a n d w i c h

Grade One // Age 5

IT WAS the first day of school, and five year old Alexandria Benson could not be more excited. She had hardly slept the previous night, her mind running wild with ideas and fantasies and questions about what school—real school—was like. All Alexandria knew was that she was now a big kid, and had a lot more responsibility. She'll be getting homework, the kindergarten kids didn't get homework since they were too young to understand. She was now older and smarter.

The thought filled Alexandria with giddy excitement.

When Alexandria's mother finally came into her room to wake her up, Alex jumped out of bed and into the bathroom. It didn't matter that time will go by at the same pace, she thought that if she got ready faster, school will start faster. Her mother chuckled and tended to her, dressing the little girl in a cute outfit they had picked out weeks in advance. To top it off, Alex's mother added a matching bow to the girl's Afro.

"Alright, you're all set," the soft voice of her mother said, sending her downstairs for breakfast.

The girl was too eager to eat, but it was their family's tradition to make pancakes for the first day of school, and so Alexandria sat with her older siblings and ate the pancakes, and drank the orange juice her father woke up early to prepare.

"It's Little Ria's first day!" cried her eldest brother, Khalil. Khalil was at university already, a whole other level Alex can not comprehend at her young age. He picked her up and spun her around, causing giggles to sound around in the kitchen.

"Khalil, put her down. She just ate," their mother said. Khalil obeyed, ruffling her hair.

"You do good, little sis. Blow their socks off," he said.

Alex's little face screwed up in confusion. "How do you 'blow their socks off'? Aren't they wearing it under their shoes?"

Khalil laughed, ruffling her hair again. He walked off, leaving her question unanswered. As she was going to demand an answer, her mother announced it was time to go. All other thoughts flew from Alex's mind as she rushed to put on her new shoes, and sling the backpack over her shoulders.

It was time.

♡♥︎♡♥︎♡

Alexandria was in love with grade one. Her teacher, Mrs. Anderson, was the sweetest person she had ever met. The kids in her class were nice, and she had already made two friends, Rania and Sara. They played and sat together, enjoying this new experience.

It was lunch time, and everyone eagerly took out their new lunch boxes, exclaimed over the prints on their friends', (Alex was the envy of her table with her new Barbie box) and took out their sandwiches and snacks.

As Alex was happily digging into her grilled cheese sandwich, she heard some laughing behind her. It was not an odd sound, everyone was chatting and laughing around them, the volume higher than it usually was when the teacher was around. But the sounds of these laughs were not like the rest. They didn't seem to be shared, but rather aimed at someone. Alex turned, and saw that at a nearby table sat four boys.

Frank Johnson, Henry Queens, Tariq Wilson, and Peter Jackson. Frank had already showed himself to be a little rude, and his friends followed his example. The teacher didn't know yet—he was excellent at keeping his remarks and actions hidden from Mrs. Anderson—but the students knew. Alex made sure to remember everything he did to tell her mother later today.

At the moment, Frank and his minions were laughing at Peter. The boy's face was as red as a tomato, his face turned down, his chin wobbling. He clutched in his hand a sandwich, his little white fingers tightly wrapping around it, indenting the soft bread. Alex didn't know exactly what was happening, but she was ready to say something. She got up from her seat and walked over, calling, "Hey!" to get Frank's attention.

Frank and his minions stopped laughing and looked up at her. Frank curled his lips in disgust at the sight of her. "What do you want?" he demanded.

"You're making fun of Peter. That's mean, you have to stop," she placed her hands on her hips, daring him to disagree. Peter thought she looked like a superhero then.

Frank laughed at her, Henry and Tariq joined in instantly. "Who cares? He's eating a pickle sandwich. That's weird. I don't like weird."

"You wear weird shirts, I don't like them. But I'm not making fun of you because them," Alex said. It was true, his shirts were weird, all faded and torn. It looked nothing like the brand new shirts everyone else was wearing.

"Hey, who are you calling--"

Alex interrupted him, "You don't have to eat his sandwich. It's not hurting you. Just leave him alone."

"Yeah, leave him alone!" called Rania, who was watching the exchange from her spot.

Sara voiced her agreement, and soon the rest of the room did too. Frank looked very embarrassed, and Alex felt a little bad. But he nodded and turned back to his lunch, mumbling a "sorry" under his breath to Peter. Alex smiled, and looked at Peter. Peter was looking up at her in awe.

That was the moment Peter thought he fell in love with Alexandria. He would continue to love her from afar. As a shy boy, he never had the courage to go up to her and talk. He instead watched her from afar, treasured their scarce encounters and conversations, and dreamed of the day he could confess his feelings. It took him years, but he was finally able to by sending Alexandria an Invite.

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Hi everyone, and thank you for reading!

What do you think of this chapter? Not all superheroes wear capes, as Alexandria showed. What do you think of her so far? I honestly love her and can't wait for you all to get to know her even more! She's pretty amazing.

The next chapter is her response to Peter's invite. What do you think she'll say?

Also, happy New Year's Eve! I hope 2019 will be a good one for you all 💖

See you next chapter,
Sage