Kaile sat up in his bed and rubbed his eyes. It was the middle of the night, and no lights were visible outside. He packed up his things and climbed out his window to the tree. The wind blew as he walked, calming himself each step he took.
This particular day of the week, Kaile planned to see Brianna. He was ecstatic. Even though he loved his other friends, Brianna was his first friend to be around his age, and the first inkling! At first he he had always thought that inklings were bad, at least that's what he mom taught him, but maybe she was wrong.
Kaile ran as fast as he could until he spotted her. His eyes lit up and his smiled shined brighter than the sun. Hiding behind the tree, he poked his head out and whispered to her.
"Hey, Brianna!" He whisper.
She looked around, trying to pinpoint where the sound was coming from.
"Brianna!" He said a little louder.
She turned and glanced behind her, "Oh, hey Kaile! You can come out from behind the tree you know!"
"Okay!" Kaile slowly came out from behind the tree. "Can you play today?" He asked.
"Yes sir! I don't have anything better to do," she sighed, "just stupid training..."
"Yay! So what do you wanna play?"
"I don't know... I don't know very many games. I only know tag and I'm a bit tired, sorry!"
"Well, do you wanna talk?"
"Yeah, sure!" Brianna ran over to Kaile and sat down under the tree.
Kaile joined her, "So what do you wanna talk about?"
"I had to go to school yesterday. We started learning how to read Morse Code."
"What's school? And what's a read?" Kaile asked.
"You don't know what school is? And you don't know how to read?"
"No, I don't really know what that is."
"Really!? I can teach you if you want!"
Kaile's eyes lit up, "Really!? You can do that!?"
"Well... I've never tried, but I'm sure I can if you want!"
"Oh yes, please! I wanna learn how to r....re....read?"
"Read?"
"Yeah! That!"
"Okay! I can help you with that! I even brought one of my favorite books with me. It's called The Giving Tree!" Brianna ran to her bag, grabbed the book, and handed it to Kaile. "Here!"
Kaile looked at it longingly, "What are the things on top called?"
"Those are words! Like the ones we speak!"
"Oh!"
"Like that's a G. I. V. I. N. and a G!" She pointed at the letters while she said them.
"So that's 'giving'?"
"Yeah!"
"Wow, that's really cool!" His face lit up with astonishment as he looked at each letter. "Teach me more! I mean- if that's okay with you..."
"Yeah! Of course, it is! I'm glad I can finally show someone what I can do!"
"Really?! I'm glad you can show me!"
"Yeah me too! So let me read it to you..."
Brianna read the whole book to Kaile. His eyes widened as she explained each word he didn't know, and what it meant. After Brianna finished, she taught him what all of the letters sounded like and how to read the words in the book. Hours passed by with her slowly teaching him, but he finally started to get it. Kaile was so proud of himself that he jumped up and gave Brianna a big hug.
"Thank you so much, Brianna! You taught me how to read!"
Brianna held still, her face full of shock.
"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable-"
"No! You didn't... It's just... I've never really had a hug before."
"You haven't?! You mean that was your first hug?!"
"...Yeah"
"Oh wow! I'm so sorry!" Kaile tried to release his grip.
"No it's ok," she paused for a second and then gave Kaile a hug back. "Thank you for letting me experience my first hug."
Kaile was a bit surprised, but embraced her tighter. "No problem! Does this mean we're officially best friends?"
"What's a best friend?"
"Let me teach you! A best friend is a friend that's the best! You can't have very many if them though, only a few! Oh! Another thing about a best friend is that you have to be close to them, and spent lots and lots of time with them! That's a best friend!"
"Really?! I want one of those!"
"Well... I can be your best friend if you want!"
"Yeah! I would love that! So does that mean we're officially best friends?"
"Almost, now we need a cool handshake! Like this!" Kaile made a few quick motions with his hands, while Brianna copied him.
"That's super cool! I'm glad I can be your newest best friend!"
"Well, I'm glad to be your first! Oh no... I've got to go I've almost forgotten that Nikiole is giving me an early birthday surprise!"
"What?! Really? When's your birthday?"
"Oh! It's on September 24! So like a week from now!"
"Really? In that case," she grabbed the book next to her. "Here! You can have it."
"What?! You didn't have to do that!"
"I know, but I want to give it to you!"
"But I thought it was your favorite book!"
"It is, but I can always get another one."
"So you're really giving it to me?"
"Yep! And happy birthday!"
"Thank you, Brianna!"
"Your welcome, Kaile! And have a good rest of your day!"
"Okay! You too, Brianna! Bye-bye!" Kaile started to run off, but turned around. He gave Brianna one last hug, then sprinted back to his house.
Kaile was delighted. He didn't tell Brianna this, but he was happy to be her best friend.
She was his first best friend too.