"Do you have to go?" the ginger-haired 3-year-old asks to her mother, grasping the young woman's leg. The preschool was huge particularly to such a small child. It's sheer size was daunting to the little girl and none of the toys or play equipment seemed to feel like a worthy substitute for her mother's warm body which brought a feeling of safety to the little girl.

"'fraid so, sweetheart," her mother replies, scooping Lizzy up to hug her, "You'll have fun though, promise!" Lizzy wasn't so convinced. The place was loud, filled with squeals of other littlies chasing each other in their games.

Lizzy's mum eventually lower her back down to the ground and Lizzy strained her neck to look into her mother's hazel eyes, much alike to her own, before inspecting the room. It was then she spotted the small book collection in the corner of the room, she seemed to perk up at that. She hugged her mother tightly on the legs before farewelling her. She then ran towards the books, a small squeal of glee escaping her delicate lips. Inspecting the spines of each book she grabs what was most probably the brightest one there before sitting down, or more accurately falling onto her bottom, and opening the book

Ariel hated preschool. They always wanted her to do something, like clean up her mess. Her mother had just dropped her off ten minutes ago. Like most children, she had to be practically pried off of her dearly beloved mother. She huffed and walked over to the book shelves where she took multiple books off the shelf, only turning around when the door open to see a tiny red head who eventually shrieked and ran over herself. She picked up the brightest one on the shelf - also the one that Ariel wanted to add to her small personal collection.

Now Ariel had an objective: to get the book that the un-named red head held. She picked up a few other brightly colored books and walked over to the other child. "I'll trade you for that one," she said.

Lizzy was actually quite enjoying the book, sure it was mainly picture followed by small, simple sentences but what more can you expect from a child? By any rate, it was a good book to the little redhead, that was when the other girl approached her, Lizzy didn't notice her before.

At the other girl's offer the three-year-old scrunched her nose in thought, eyeing the other little girl carefully, holding the oh-so-precious book to her chest. "Wif what?" she questions, continue to hold the prize book to her chest

Ariel plopped down in front of the girl, spreading the books that she was willing to trade out in front of her. "For these ones. Look. Green, purple and blue!"

Lizzy looked among the books skeptically, she was onto this girl, she knew what she was doing. That purple one was pretty though. Lizzy looked down at her own book before looking back up at the other little girl. "Do you really want this book?" she asks.

Ariel nodded her head quickly. "Mhm. I really, really do." It was true. Ariel was willing to trade her books for this one. She would have had it already, if the little red-headed child hadn't beat her to it.

Lizzy bit her lip. She was nearly finished this book! This raven haired child, however, really did want it. Unwilling to hurt the girls feeling she closed the book and held to out to the girl with her two little hands.
"Yew can have it then," she says cheerfully, passing it to her. Once she took it Lizzy gave the girl a large toothy grin , "What's your name?"

At the other girls words, Ariels face would light up as she took the book and returned the grin. She in return handed the purple book to the girl. She had seen her looking at it, and after all, she wanted the trade to be as fair as possible.

"Ariel. What's yours?"

"R-we-el," Lizzy repeats soft to herself, trying to get a hang of the name. "I've never heard that name before! It's weird but pretty! My name's boring. I'm Lizzy.

The girl shook her head. "It's not boring I like it," she replied with a smile.

"Really? Thank yew R-we-el! I really like yours too!" the ginger replies seeming to perk up from the little girl whining into her teenage mother's jeans. She scratched her head near her hair band before attempting to fix it up by tugging on her now loses ponytail only to make it messier, not that she knew that part. "Is this your first day too, R-we-el?"

Ariel nodded her head fast with a small giggle. "You're welcome." She Lizzy fixing her hair, and admired the head band. Personally, Ariel had never had any use for them. They made her head itch, and always seemed to be falling out some way or the other. "Yep. I didn't want to come, but mommy made me."

"My mummy made me come too. She said because they're busy and I can make friends but I could go to Gran'ma and Gran'pa's house. They're my friends!" she replies persistently before sighing. "It's very loud!"

Ariel looked around when Lizzy exclaimed her concerns. It was indeed a bit loud in here, but not to badly, she supposed. Suddenly, the little girl had an idea. She perked up, a smile on her face. "We could be friends, Lizzy."

Lizzy watched Ariel look around the room then voiced her ideas. Lizzy perked up instantly. "Ok!" she replies eagerly with a large toothy grin. She steps forwards and wraps her arms around her new friend

Ariel hugged Lizzy in return, laughing as the teacher called for them to clean up their messes. "Maybe we should hide the books for later! That way they can just be ours."

Lizzy, once again, scrunched up her nose in thought. She looked between Ariel and the book before shaking her head. "That's not fair! Ah-fer kids might want a turn! It would be mean to hide dem," she says surely, getting up from the ground and brushing her hands on her jeans

Ariel huffed, standing up herself as she grabbed some of the books."Okay," she responded, placing them on the shelf one by one.

---

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Ariel was standing in her drive way, waiting on the bus to come, a bag of cookies in hand. For the last thirteen years, she had became best friends with Lizzy. They had been there for each other through everything. Ariels mother dying had taken a toll on her, an Lizzy was the one that showed her that it was okay to grieve, and not to hold it all in. As the bus came to a stop in front of her house, Ariel would climb the steps, spot the mess of red hair towards the middle and head that way. Plopping down in the seat beside of the other girl, she would open the bag. "Want one?" she asked. "I got bored and made them this morning. Naturally."

Over time the pair had only gotten closer and Lizzy had gotten a motherly air toward her friend, especially after Ariel's mother died. As Ariel entered the bus Lizzy gave her a half-smile, bringing the travel mug, that was filled with tea, to her lips.

Trust Ariel to make cookies at ungodly hours of the morning. To eat them and that time too. Lizzy shook her head in faux disbelief. "Ariel, you shouldn't be eating cookies at this time in the morning, or in the bus," she chuckles, taking a couple of cookies and dropping them into a container she saved in her bag for Ariel's early morning baking, she'd eat it at lunch

The girl shrugged her shoulders. "What can I say? You know I don't make the healthiest choices," she said jokingly. It was true, she hardly ever ate anything actually healthy. Sure, it was bad for her health, but it was tasty. "Soooo... how was your weekend?"