Chapter 2: First Grade

First Grade - September

The new boy sat by himself at the reading carpet, clutching a worn dinosaur backpack and looking like he might cry.

Avery noticed him right away because she noticed everything like how she noticed that Mrs. Peterson always wore the same purple earrings on Mondays, or how Tommy Dillard picked his nose when he thought nobody was looking.

But this boy looked sad, and Avery didn't like when people were sad.

She abandoned her spot next to Jessica and plopped down cross-legged beside him, her rainbow socks peeking out from under her denim overalls.

"Hi!" she said brightly, adjusting her glasses that were always sliding down her nose. "I'm Avery."

"Av-ee," he tried to repeat her name, which came out sounding like "Avy."

"No silly!" Avery giggled. "It's Av-er-y."

"Avy," he said again, still not quite getting it right. “Av-eeey.”

Avery giggled again."You know what? I like Avy!" she decided, bouncing a little. "It sounds nice so you can call me Avy instead. But only you, so don’t tell anyone else," she whispered, looking around to make sure no one was listening to them.

"Really?"

The boy looked at her with wide brown eyes. He had messy dark hair that stuck up in the back like he'd been sleeping on it, and there was a small Band-Aid on his chin.

She gave him her best toothy grin. “Yup. What’s your name?”

"I'm Bryson Alexander Gray," he said very seriously, like he was introducing himself to the principal. "But everyone just calls me Bryce. We just moved here and I don't know anybody and my mom said I should make friends but I don't know how."

“Wow, you have a really long name,” she said in awe.

"It's my family’s name," he said solemnly. "Alexander was my great-grandpa."

"Okay Bryson Alexander Gray," she repeated perfectly. “I’ll be your friend then.”

His whole face lit up. "Really?"

She nodded. "I have fruit snacks. Want some?"

A grin broke out on his face. "You have fruit snacks?"

"Uh-huh! The good kind with the blue ones that taste like mystery flavor." She dug into her unicorn lunchbox and pulled out a crumpled package. "Here, you can have half," she said, handing it to him.

"Really?" he said again as he took it in awe.

"Really." She nodded. “But can you help me with something?”

His eyes opened wide. "Help with what?"

Avery pointed to the classroom butterfly garden by the window, where a bright orange monarch was trapped inside the mesh enclosure. "I think Mr. Butterfly wants to go outside and see his family, but I can’t reach the zipper. You think you can?"

Bryson looked toward Mrs. Peterson, who was busy helping another student with their reading book. "Are we allowed to do that?"

"Well," Avery whispered conspiratorially, "Mrs. Peterson says we should always be nice to animals and I don’t think it’s very nice to keep Mr. Butterfly inside."

Bryson considered this with the grave seriousness that only six-year-olds could muster. "Yeah I don’t think it’s nice either” he agreed. “Okay, I'll help."

They crept over to the butterfly garden together. Bryson was taller than Avery by at least three inches, and he managed to unzip the top of the mesh enclosure while she stood guard.

"Here, Mr. Butterfly," Avery cooed softly. "Time to go home."

But the butterfly just sat there on its fake flower, perfectly content.

"Maybe he doesn't want to leave," Bryson whispered.

"Maybe he's scared," Avery said. She stuck her hand into the enclosure and let the butterfly crawl onto her finger. "Don't be scared, Mr. Butterfly. We're gonna take you somewhere better."

They managed to carry the butterfly to the open classroom window. The moment Avery held her hand outside, the monarch spread its wings and fluttered away into the bright September morning.

"We did it!" Avery squealed, bouncing on her toes.

"We're really good at saving butterflies," Bryce agreed, grinning.

"Avery! Bryson!" Mrs. Peterson called from across the room. "What are you two doing by the window?"

They froze, looking at each other with wide, guilty eyes.

"Um," Avery said, "we were just... looking outside Mrs. Peterson."

"And checking if it was still sunny," Bryce added helpfully.

Mrs. Peterson raised an eyebrow but didn't press the issue. "Well, come back to the carpet please. It's time for story time."

As they walked back together, Bryce leaned over and whispered, "Thanks for helping Mr. Butterfly. And for the fruit snacks."

"Thanks for being tall enough to reach the zipper," Avery whispered back. "We make a good team."

"Yeah, we do." He paused. "Can I sit next to you for story time?"

"Course you can, Bryce," Avery said with a big smile. “We’re friends now.”

"Best friends?" He stuck out his small hand for her to shake, very businesslike. 

Avery grinned and shook his hand with both of hers. "Best friends forever and ever."