New Fic (Untitled and I hate it. 1/?)

[mollysheldon.livejournal.com]

Title: Untitled as of Yet
Author: MollySheldon
Pairings: None, you'll see why
Chapters: 1/?
A/N: I've taken artistic license with all of it. Set in present day. I've made up names of some places mentioned. Read, enjoy, and let me know what you think! I've had this idea for a while and haven't been able to put it into words until now.
I don't own anyone or anything. 

"You're coming, right?" The little blond haired boy chewed nervously on his bottom lip.

"Of course I'm coming!" his friend said.

Both boys smiled as they walked into Seaview Elementary. It was Friday and everyone was excited for the weekend. But for one group of friends it was more than that. Tonight was a birthday party, the first big event since the school year started.

"You're my best friend. I wouldn't miss your birthday party for all the Legos in the world!"

"Thanks, Ry."

"See ya, Colly," Ryan said, turning to go into his classroom as Colin turned into his.

~~~

"Good morning, everyone!" Mrs. Sherwood addressed her 3rd grade class. "Today is very special. We have a new student who will be joining our class. I want everyone to be on their best behavior and make him feel welcome here."
Mrs. Sherwood stepped into the hall briefly and when she came back in a boy with brown hair and glasses followed her.

"Class, this is Drew. His parents are in the Navy. He just moved here from.. " She looked down at Drew, "Where was it?"

Drew pushed his glasses up with a chubby finger. "Florida," he said.

Mrs. Sherwood smiled warmly at the cherub-faced boy. "What he must have been through moving all the way across the country."

"Drew, why don't you take a seat beside Ryan here. Ryan, will you share your books with Drew for today and show him where to put his things?" Ryan nodded and took Drew to the wall of backpacks. When the boys got back to their seats, Mrs. Sherwood started the morning lesson. Ryan smiled over at his table mate. Drew shyly smiled back.

~~~

The bell rang for recess and two grades of excited children ran onto the playground. It was a rather sunny day for Seattle and everyone wanted to be out in it.

Ryan spotted Colin a few yards away. "Race ya to the swings, Colly!" he called out.

Colin grinned at him and they both took off running. While Ryan was faster, he let Colin get to the swing set first.

"You're in my swing, Colly."

Colin jumped at the menacing voice behind him. "Go away, Bradley," he said softly but firmly. Ryan had stopped his swing.

"What are you going to do? Huh, Colly?" Bradley stretched out the nickname and sneered. When Colin did not respond in hopes his tormentor would go away, Bradley shoved Colin out of the swing. Colin landed on his hands and knees on the pavement. In seconds Ryan had grabbed Bradley by the shoulders and had him pinned to the ground. By this time a small crowd of kids had gathered to watch the impending fight. Ryan was sitting on top of Brad and was just about to punch him when a hand on his shoulder stopped him. He looked up at Colin. Right then, Mrs. Davis, the other 3rd grade teacher, pushed her way through the children.

"Ryan! Bradley!" she exclaimed. Ryan went to get up. Bradley took that moment of distraction to push Ryan with all his might. Their positions were almost reversed when a strong arm grabbed Bradley around his waist and held him off the ground. Bradley twisted hard to get away, but then caught sight of his captor.

"Bradley," a stern voice said.

"Coach Patterson," Bradley said as he hung his head. The coach put Bradley down and they turned to go inside, presumably to the principal's office.

Mrs. Davis dispersed the onlookers and turned to see Ryan kneeling beside Colin.

"Are you boys alright?" she asked, kneeling down herself.

"Colin scraped his knee," Ryan answered.

Colin wiped his eyes with his sleeve. He would not cry.

"Come on. Let's go inside and get cleaned up," Mrs Davis said as she helped Colin to his feet.
"Ryan, you aren't off the hook for fighting either," she said gently but firmly.

"But Mrs. Davis! He pushed Colin!!" Ryan protested.

Mrs. Davis held up her hand. "We do not solve our problems with violence," she told him, her voice still soft.

"I would have punched him if Colin hadn't stopped me," Ryan said defiantly. Then he remembered what Colin had done.

"Why did you stop me, Col?"

Colin smiled at his friend. "It isn't the way," he told him quietly.

Ryan shook his head. Colin was the nicest person he knew. He would probably even be nice to Bradley.

Mrs. Davis watched the exchange and smiled to herself. While Ryan had a quick temper, Colin was easy-going. Colin made friends with everyone and always tried to keep the peace. Ryan didn't start fights by any means, but he was always ready to stand up for his best friend.

Inside, Colin got his scraped knee taken care of by the school nurse. On his way back to class, he spotted Ryan outside the principal's office, and Bradley going into it.

"I hope you don't get into too much trouble."

Ryan jerked his head up at his friend's voice. "How's your knee?" he asked.

"Fine. It didn't bleed much," Colin answered. "I'll save you a seat at lunch, k?"

The boys shared a smile and Colin headed back to his classroom.

As Ryan sat waiting for his turn with the principal, he remembered something he had heard his mom say about Bradley having a hard time at home. Ryan's teacher was Bradley's mom. She was really nice. Ryan hadn't ever seen her get mad or heard her yell. But he didn't know very much at all about the fourth grader, except that he was always getting into trouble.


~~~

"Okay, that's safe, and that and that," Ryan told Drew, pointing to various foods in the lunch line. "But do not get that!" he exclaimed in a whisper, pointing at some brown, chunky mush covered in red ooze. "They say it's made out of the guts of..."

"Ryan!" a stern-looking lunch lady cut him off.

Ryan gave her a sheepish look, then giggled as he and Drew finished getting their food and exited the line.


"And then Ryan jumped right on top of him and was like bam! bam!" Chip made punching motions with his hand as he jumped around, excitedly telling what he had seen on the playground earlier.

"He didn't punch him," Colin interjected.

"Yeah, but he almost did! Then Bradley almost knocked Ryan out, but Coach Patterson showed up," Chip ended his tale with a dejected pout.

"This is why I do not go outside during recess," a bespectacled boy, dressed in his crisp school uniform even though Friday was free day, spoke up for the first time since entering the cafeteria. "Way too much violence out there."

"You don't go outside because you're allergic to.. well, everything," Ryan popped up beside his friend, having forgotten his milk the first time through.

Gregory gave him the best withering look his nine year old self could muster. "Do you have my gluten-free entree?" he turned and asked the lunch lady. She nodded and retrieved it for him.

"See..." Ryan said and he and Chip laughed. Gregory rolled his eyes at his silly friends.

Back at the table, the boys were interested to hear exactly what punishment Ryan had gotten from his principal's office visit. Ryan took a bite of his grilled cheese, put his brownie on Colin's tray, swallowed, and told them. "I got detention for a month," he said almost proudly. Colin gasped beside him. The rest of the boys ooohed.

"Just kidding," Ryan laughed. "They let me off with a warning."

Colin sighed in relief. He hadn't wanted his best friend to get in trouble over defending him. Ryan had been so brave.

"So Drew, what do you think of the school so far?" Chip asked, giving him a toothy grin.

Drew took a drink of chocolate milk and looked into the smiling faces of those around him. "Certainly isn't boring!" he said to them. The boys laughed along with their new friend.

"Just a fight," Ryan said. "That's about the most excitement we get around here..."

~~~

The students quietly filed down the hallway back to their classrooms. Gregory nudged Ryan and they stopped, their young eyes wide. Just ahead of them out the front windows of their school they saw several police cars, lights flashing, sirens blaring, pull up into the schoolyard.
In an instant Mrs. Davis was there to usher them along with the others, just out of earshot of the voices in the teacher's lounge.

"What do you mean he's missing?!" she cried. "Where is my baby?!"

"Ma'am we are going to do everything we can to find your son," an officer tried to console the sobbing woman.


TBC...

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