Kristelle's Point of View (At 6 years old, First Grade)
"You don't have to force yourself to befriend me, you know." I said to the boy who sat on the swing beside me. I'm kind of scared of him, I don't know what he could possibly want from me.
"Huh? Don't you think that I'm not pretending? I'm not like them, you know." He answered me and pushed himself to make the swing move.
"Why would you want to be friends with me? I'm not rich like you." I said as I frowned, my gaze attached to the soles of my shoes.
"Is money even everything? I can't use money to buy me real friends." He replied. He's the first one who ever talked to me like I'm normal. Most of the kids from school bully me. They think I can't be one of them because I'm only there because of my scholarship.
For such a young age, I'm quite mature with all these kind of stuff. I had to be, or else I'll be dead weight. I don't want to further burden my parents. Dad has to work, and mom stays at home because she can't get a job with her lack of degree. I'm not born with a golden spoon in my mouth like the rest of my classmates are.
That's why I worked hard for everything. I tried my best to be the valedictorian at my last school, just so I could attend a better school, with a better education system.
Turns out, it isn't everything as I expected.
"Why are you so quiet? I'm not going to eat you alive, you know." He added. Can I trust this guy? Is he nice? Or maybe he's planning to prank me? One second, he's my friend, and then later, boom! It's a prank!
"It's alright, I won't force you to talk to me. I just want to be your friend, I don't like those kids from our class." Does he, really? Aw, hell. What do I even got to lose, anyway? Nothing would happen if I never took a risk, right? Okay, I'm not going to turn him down.
"My name's Kristelle Micaila, but you can call me Caila." I offered my hand to him. He grinned at me and took my hand in an instant.
"I hope we can be really good friends, Caila."