Ｓｔｕｔｔｅｒ [ｂｉｌｌ ｄｅｎｂｒｏｕｇｈ ｘ ｒｅａｄｅｒ]

ᴘʀᴏʟᴏɢᴜᴇ

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I feel tears prick the corners of my eyes as I look down at my bloodied hand. An older boy pushed me off of the swing. The playground mulch scraped the base of my palm.

"Hey!" I yelled. The boy only laughed, swinging forward. I duck to dodge his feet, crawling out of the way. A tear trails down my cheek and falls onto the knee of my corduroys. I have a feeling these pants will have grass and dirt stains on them when I get home.

"D-do, you need he-help?"

I look up to see a little boy who couldn't have been older than me. His two front teeth are missing, and his hair is combed back in a nerdy kind of way. I nod.

"I'm B-B-Billy," he says, holding his hands out for me to take. He pulls me off the ground. When he draws his hands away, his fingertips come back red.

"You need a b-bandage," Billy comments. I sniffle, wiping my face with my clean hand. He pulls me down the playground to a woman sitting on a bench, her nose in a book. She peers over the rims of her glasses. It must be his mom.

"Oh, Billy, I see you've made a friend," she says, leaning forward. I look up at her. She's very pretty. Her expression turns worried when she sees that I'm crying and hurt.

Billy smiles a toothy grin at me, trying to cheer me up. I almost laugh. The woman reaches into her purse, rummaging around. Finally, she pulls out a bright purple band-aid.

"Here you go, sweetheart," she says, peeling the adhesive covers off. I hold out my hand, my palm facing upwards. She carefully places the bandage on my cut and pressed down to make sure it stays.

"Thank you," I say quietly, wiping my eyes. She smiles gently. I look down at my bandaged hand.

"Y/n!"

I turn around. My mom and Eddie are coming this way. Eddie waves at me with both hands.

"Y/n, what are you doing?" My mom asks, stepping off the sidewalk and walking up to the bench that Billy's mom was sitting at. Billy smiles.

"Mommy! I made a new friend!" I happily exclaim, stepping aside. Billy waves at my mom and Eddie. Our moms get to talking, but we part ways when the sun begins to set.

Eddie and I swing our hands back and forth as we cross the street to our house. Mom always makes us hold hands to cross the street.

"Did you guys have a good time?" Our mom asks, handing us each a Chips Ahoy cookie. We sit down at the dining table and nod excitedly, each taking a bite of our snack.

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