The playground was filled with children. Chasing each other, teasing each other, sitting in time-out. Sola and Sole didn’t notice. They never noticed. Only each other. The two had met at the beginning of the year and had been inseparable ever since. The teachers loved to watch those two play together. Such calm and well-behaved children. Quiet and respectful in the classroom. They didn’t play in the sand, they just sat in the field and talked. Such sweet children.
Such opposites, though. Sola had golden hair and eyes. Even her skin was golden. Such a lovely little girl. Very sweet. She did ask too many questions some of the time, but the teachers loved curious children. Her eyes seemed to twinkle at the prospect of learning. She was never in trouble and she loved to read.
Sole was quite sweet to, though the best thing about him was how quiet and thoughtful he was. Thoughtful children seem so rare. Such a straight face, too. The only person in the whole school that could get any emotion out of him whatsoever was Sola. His appearance was quite the opposite of hers. He had ebony black hair and pale skin with light green eyes. What an odd and dear little boy.
They were always together, maybe even childhood sweethearts. Such similar names, too, which was quite odd as it was just a coincidence, but they supposed it was simply a perfect match. Oh how sweet.
They were very caring of each other. The only time they had ever gotten into trouble was when one little boy, Derek had pushed Sola down on the playground. Sole , enraged had jumped on Derek with Sola behind him telling him she was fine, not to worry, and to please leave Derek alone or else he would get in trouble. By the time the teachers had gotten to where the circle of children Derek was apologizing to Sola and then he ran away.
The principal wasn’t quite sure what to do with these two. Sole sat quietly in his chair looking at the floor. Sola fixed the principal with her eyes very wide and pleading. “Please don’t send Sole home, Ms. Harper, please don’t. He thought that Derek was trying to hurt me. He was only trying to help. Please don’t send him home.” The principal then told Sola that she couldn’t send him home, because his foster mother was at work and wasn’t able to come get him. Ms Harper knew, however that she wouldn’t have been able to send him home anyway, not after being fixed with those golden eyes.
Such lovely children. Playing innocently on the field.
“They’re watching us again,” said Sole, grudgingly.
“They think we’re cute,” added Sola disapprovingly. They were sitting across from each other trying to decide what they would talk about today. So many things. They had had a very interesting discussion the day before, and couldn’t decide whether they should attempt to finish it. Sole didn’t like to talk about death. They both knew that it was a good thing didn’t know what they usually talked about.
No one was allowed to talk about death. The teachers just shushed them. They weren’t supposed to talk about anything sad, a rule which they both thought of as ridiculous.
“What do you want to talk about?” asked Sola. She wouldn’t bring up their previous discussion.
“I don’t know.” He didn’t need to talk, especially about that. He just needed to be with Sola. They belonged together.
“Me either.” She fixed his hat, it was crooked. He smiled. She was so funny, always taking care of him. He looked up.
Actually, he did know what he wanted to talk about. "You know Tommy has a crush on you.” He couldn’t help but look angry. Everyone kept trying to take his friend away.
“Well I know that Tommy picks his nose,” she said somewhat primly. “I wouldn’t be able to hold hands with him.”
“But if he didn’t pick his nose, would you hold his hand then?” He looked up at her through his bangs.
She pushed his bangs out of his face. “No. There must be all sorts of gross stuff on his hands other than boogers…” she knew she was avoiding the question.
He opened his mouth to insist that she answer, but she, smiling, interrupted him.
“Don’t be silly, Sole. You’re the only person I like to be with. You know that.”
“Yeah, I know,” he said, trying to sound gruff. He exhaled in relief, anyway. She didn’t miss a thing. He always tried to be tough about things but they both knew better. An awkward silence spread between them.
“Hey guess what?” Sola asked. He looked up. She crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue. He looked down again, hiding his smile.
“You’re such a goof.”
“And you’re a grouch,” she chided, unaffected. He stared at the ground. She smiled at him.
“Hey guess what.” He looked at her again, expecting another funny face. Instead he felt his hat being swiped off of his head. She stood up.
“Come catch me.” She turned around and started to run. Smiling, he got up as well and began to run after her.
The teachers watched them with smiles on their faces. How adorable.
“C’mon!” She laughed delightedly, seeing that he had decided to play along. She ran over the pavement. “I’ve got your hat!”
He laughed quietly too. He would catch her. He ran toward the pavement—too quickly. He slipped. At first she didn’t notice.
“C’mon, slowpoke!” She looked back and saw him sitting on the ground looking at his knee. She ran to him.
“Sole! Are you okay.” She skidded to a stop next to him.
“I’m fine, I fell on my knee,” he said, angry with himself.
The teachers noticed something was wrong. They began to rush over.
“Let me see it,” she told him.
“No, I’m fine.”
“No you’re not, you’re bleeding!”
“I’m fine, Sola.” She jerked his pants leg up. A typical scraped knee looked scary to eight-year-old Sola.
“It’s okay, Sole, I’ll make it better.”
“Don’t touch it!”
“It’s okay, just hold on.” She placed her hands in a circle around his knee-cap. Sole felt his knee tingle and then feel very cold. He looked at her, terrified. She looked at him and saw the scared look on his face. Oh no. They looked at each other.
“I’m sorry” they both said at the same time. What? They looked at each other, confused. Then the teachers finally got there.
“Are you okay, Sole?” Mrs. Harper looked down at him, concerned.
“Let’s see that knee, son,” said Mr. Lee. He bent over Sole. The skin was bright red, but other than that, unharmed.
“What?” said Mr. Lee. “How did blood get on your jeans, son?”
“Umm,” Sole said, still staring at Sola, who never looked away, “It’s just a stain, sir.”
The teachers stood up, shaking their heads. Kids. They went back to the tables to talk some more.
Sole slowly got back to his feet, watching Sola carefully.
“Let me see it,” he told her.
“See what?” she said stubbornly, holding her hand over her knee. He watched her, biting his lip.
“Move your hand.”
“Umm, Sole, it’s time to go to class.” She tried to grin.
“No,” he said fiercely, “let me see your knee.” She didn’t like the change that had come over him. She moved her hand to expose a new dark red stain on her pants leg, on the same knee that Sole had fell on.
He looked at it. No, he couldn’t have… he wasn’t even trying to, he… it was his fault. He closed his eyes and ran away from her, how could he have hurt Sola?
“Sole!” She watched him as he ran away from her. She had scared him. He was her only friend and she had scared him.
“Sole!” He never looked back.