One | At 6 Years

They were at the central park.

Laughter erupted from the little girl. She ran across the patches of grass, holding a toy gun. She was cute - with brown locks curling down to her shoulders, pajama pants stained with mud and shoes worn out and old.

But she was still a ray of sunshine.

Lovely ran towards a tree and narrowed her eyes upwards. "Ha! Ha! I got you!" She jumped up and down.

A mix between a grunt and a whimper sounded from the tree. Lovely can see him clearly now. A boy her age was hugging a low branch just near the trunk. He dangled dangerously like a koala.

How he got there, she had no idea. Nevertheless, Lovely was overjoyed to finally find Ravine.

Poor boy, he had his eyes closed and his face fearful. Lovely expertly hit him on the back with her water gun and that was enough to make him fall.

With a swoosh and a thump, he fell down on the grass.

"Ow," Ravine groaned as he tried to fix up his glasses. He sniffed when he put them on. The glass was now stained and foggy.

"It's okay, Rav," Lovely grinned, "It's over now. But you're still the best hide-and-seek champion for me!"

The boy blushed and moved back to lean on the tree trunk. Ravine was a naturally quiet person. But when he spoke, you would hear intelligence in his tone. He was the conscience of them, telling them what's good or bad.

'Uptight', Lovely heard her mother describe him once. But she didn't know what it meant.

"You can stay here and wait for the others," she told him and he nodded. With one last squirt at him, Lovely took off to find the next boy.

The area was nearly empty, and it gave Lovely the freedom to run around until she was soaked with sweat, even freedom to roll around the grass. She didn't care if she was already smelly or dirty.

She was just happy.

As she was enjoying the bright day, occassionally spurting water on herself, she heard a faint rustling from the nearby bushes followed by a gasp.

Lovely smiled widely. She knew exactly who it was.

Stealthily and slowly, she crept towards the bushes. Sure enough, Eric Jay was lying down on his stomach behind the bushes. He was covered with leaves and mud.

Lovely chuckled and squirted water on him. Taken by surprise, Eric Jay yelped and sat up, covering his face. She was still spraying water on him.

"But I thought I had a good ca-moo-flage." He whined. Lovely grinned and ruffled his golden locks. For her, Eric Jay was the cutest.

He was like her, a ball of sunshine. Energetic and funny, Eric Jay gave away free hugs and was one to make his teachers laugh. Even though he was quite annoying sometimes, everyone loved him.

"Ravine's by the big tree. You can go join him," Lovely told Eric Jay. In a flash, he jumped up and ran to the big tree to babble to Ravine.

"Now," Lovely rubbed her hands together, "Two down, three more to go."

Holding her water gun carefully, she went to a nearby pond to refill it. She liked the pond. It had gold fishes. Sometimes the boys and her would throw coins in them.

Once the gun was refilled, she ran about, straying a bit from the place.

And there she found the next boy. He was casually sitting on a bench, eating ice cream. Lovely frowned. He had ice cream, but she didn't?

She sprayed the back of his head.

Eddie wasn't affected. He turned to grin at her and he patted the space next to him.

"Do you have more ice cream?" Lovely asked, staring at his vanilla cone.

"Here," he handed her a popsicle which she took greedily.

"Thank you, Eddie!"

Eddie was the kid in their school who broke borrowed crayons and stomped on the other kids' projects. But on the other side, he can be a big sweetheart. Lovely remembered that he bought her a cupcake when she didn't have a snack.

She finished up her popsicle. Then, she sprayed him again with water.

"Lovely!" He scowled. He chased her, dropping his ice cream.

Lovely giggled and headed for the big tree. Ravine's eyes widened in alarm as he saw them approaching.

"Catch me!" She squealed as she threw herself on the boys. Painfully, she crashed on top of the boys.

"Eddie!" Eric Jay quickly recovered and hugged his friend. "You have to stay here because you're a loser now!"

Eddie pouted and sat next to a grunting Ravine. He crossed his arms and watched Lovely run away to look for the two remaining boys.

It didn't take her long to find Julian. As she approached the thicker trees, she noticed someone dashing behind her - a flash of brown, green and blue.

Lovely screamed. "Julian! I got you! Ahh!"

Just as Julian tripped on a rock, Lovely tackled him. She heard an 'oof!' before she squirted him with water.

She was still hugging him when they stood up.

"I wanted to be champion." Julian frowned.

"Don't worry," Lovely pulled away, "You can still be third place if I be champion."

Lovely loved his shaggy bangs which, also, Eddie loved to pull. Julian was super strong and super fast. He played many sports and he was proud of his medals. Also, history. Julian was good at robots and drawing.

"Now go to the boys and talk to them," Lovely pointed to the big tree.

Julian casually nodded and ran off. Fast, like the Flash.

Lovely looked around. Only Gavin left.

But Lovely looked around for Gavin but he was nowhere. It was already hot and the boys were asleep by the big tree. Lovely was almost giving up.

She sat on an area of grass, already hot and sweaty. She wanted to cry. Gavin was her best friend so she was supposed to find him first.

Suddenly, she heard the sound of rubber wheels and the ringing of bike bells. Lovely looked up to see Crystal and her friends on their pink Barbie bikes.

"Hey, Lovely," Crystal smiled but Lovely didn't think it was a real smile.

"Hi, Crystal," Lovely muttered softly, looking down. Crystal and her friends laughed and whispered to each other. Lovely blushed.

Crystal giggled, "Are you still playing with the boys? Why are you wearing those clothes?"

Lovely blushed some more until her face was red. Inside her, she managed a small squeak.

"Honey," Crystal leaned her elbow on the handle of her bike, "Girls wear dresses and have tea parties. Not play with boys and water guns!"

More blushing. Lovely hoped she could disappear suddenly like a magician. She felt too hot.

"You should really change that," the blonde-haired girl whispered. Crystal was pretty, but she was mean. Really mean.

"But Crystal - "

"But what?" Crystal laughed some more, "do you have a crush on those boys?"

Another squeak came from Lovely. Enough.

"Stop it, Crystal." A familiar voice said. Lovely turned around. It was Gavin!

Gavin, her best best best friend, was a helpful angel. He was never mean to her and he made her laugh. Now he was her knight, saving her.

"But Gavin," Crystal pouted, "I was just telling Lovely."

Gavin glared at her, "Just go away. She can be with whoever she wants to be."

Crystal huffed in annoyance and sped off with her girl friends. Goodie, Lovely thought.

Lovely leapt up to hug Gavin. "Thank you, Gavin."

As she looked up, he was grinning and squeezing her tight. "No problem."

With the remaining water, she sprayed it on his face. "Haha! I got you! Now I'm the hide and seek champion!"

Gavin only smiled and led her back to the big tree. "Come on, Love, let's go eat snacks."