Little ten year old Toni scanned the cafeteria room, filled with her classmates. She saw the table she usually sat at with Fangs and Joaquin, and a couple other of her friends, but she let her eyes wonder over to a boy in a baggy T-shirt and ripped jeans. She smiled a little and carried her lunch tray over to him.

"Hi" she said, holding her tray, the boy looked at her.

"I don't have any more money..." he said a little sadly, she frowned.

"I don't want your money...I was wondering if I could sit?"

"Oh...s-sure." He scooted over a little, Toni glanced sideways at her usual friends, giving her odd looks from across the cafeteria. She turned her attention back to the boy.

"Where's your lunch?" She asked, looking around for any sign of food.

"I ate it already" the boy answered clearly, fidgeting with his hands a little.

"Do you want some of my sandwich?" She asked him again, holding up her turkey sandwich, "I don't like turkey and I'll trade you for half of a Twinkie"

He frowned and looked at her,
"But I don't have a Twinkie" he told the girl, he watched her stand up and walked over to a table. Toni grabbed one of Fangs' Twinkies. Fangs stood up,

"Hey! That's mine!" He shouted at her. She turned around and stared at Fangs,

"Well now, it's his." She raised an eyebrow at him and swiftly made her way back to her seat.

She gave the boy the Twinkie and gave him her sandwich, which he reluctantly took. He broke a half of the Twinkie and handed it to her.
"I'm Antionette, or Toni for short." She stated, holding out her hand.

"I'm Sweetpea." The boy said with a small smile before shaking Toni's hand. She smiled.
"You're very pretty.." he told her, which made her blush and smile more, she replied with a thanks and invited him to play tag with her and her friends later. He accepted the invitation gratefully and said he'd meet them after school.

After school, Toni waited outside for her new friend. She watched as he bursted out of the double doors, being chased by some 7th graders. He ran pretty fast, and was just as tall as them. She ran after the group and made her way behind a dumpster, while the older boys pinned Sweetpea against the brick wall of the white wrym. She tried to get in on their conversation, even though it was hard to hear for her.

She saw Sweetpea shake his head, which ultimately got him a punch in the gut. Toni gasped as they boys began beating him up, she stepped out and yelled at the boys, screamed at them to stop it. They boys dropped Sweetpea and turned over to Toni.

She glared as they threatened to beat her up too, but when they got close to her she punched the leader, hard. Then the older boys hovered over Toni, she looked five compared to them. Toni punched them all, eventually they ran away, she ran over to Sweetpea, who's lip was bleeding and he was touching a bruised eye gently.

She helped him up and helped him walk back to Toni's trailer. She explained that her parents came home around dinner time, so she usually played outside until then. She led him inside her trailer home and went into the bathroom to grab some first aid. She pulled out some cream and gauze pads, smiling when she walked back up to the boy. She held up the gauze on his lip and put a tiny bit of cream on his eye.

"Toni, how do you know all this stuff?" He asked her quietly, looking into her chocolate brown eyes. Toni smiled a little and lifted her her shirt, enough that only her stomach was showing. He saw a bunch of black and blue bruises spotted her torso. He frowned,

"How'd you get those?" He mumbled, looking at the floor. She looked away and pulled her shirt back down, she clearly didn't want to talk about it but she made him swore he wouldn't tell anyone about them. He agreed, saying he wouldn't. She kissed his cheek when he was done, he hid a small blush and asked what was that for. She smiled and said her mum would kiss her boo boos and it would feel better. He hugged her, thanking her for the kindness she showed him.

"Sure, what are friends for?" She pulled away and asked him if he still wanted to play tag. He nodded a little and she led him outside and through the maze of trailers of sunny side trailer park. She looked at the trailer belonging to the Jones', seeing a small glimpse of the beanie wearing boy underneath the curtains.

Toni rolled her eyes, she always knocked on their door asking of the boy wanted to come play, but the boy always said no, claiming he didn't want to play with a bunch of snakes. That made Toni mad, after all it was just a game of tag.

Toni had finally reached a clubhouse by the creek, saying it was a secret hideout for her and her pals. She knocked on the door and saw a carmel colored boy with black hair open it up. She whispered something in his ear as she tugged at Sweetpea's hand, leading him inside.

Fangs frowned at the boy Toni brought in their clubhouse and immediately shoved Toni back outside with him.

"What's he doing here?" He hissed to the tiny girl standing across from him.

"I invited him, relax Fangs!" She crossed her arms, Fangs rolled his eyes and they both made their way back inside. Sweetpea and Fangs exchanged looks, Fangs was uninviting and unwelcoming, Sweetpea's was warm and soft a little. Toni took Sweetpea's hand and introduced him to Joaquin and Fangs. Fangs crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes at Toni. She frowned before he shoved her out of the clubhouse and locked her out, Sweetpea was perplexed.

"It's boys only now!" Fangs shouted loud enough for Toni to hear.

"But that's not fair!!" Toni yelled back, banging on the door. Fangs ignored her and turned to Sweetpea and interrogated him. When Sweetpea answered all of his questions, Fangs smiled and held out his hand. Sweetpea hugged him instead. He never had a group of friends before and he was welcomed in this group.

Toni, sitting outside of the clubhouse, crying, heard the door open and Fangs and Sweetpea came out. Saying that Joaquin was eating candy. Toni stood up fast and started running away from them, she didn't want them to know she was crying, she didn't want them to know she was a baby. Fangs scrunched up his face,

"What's her problem?" He looked at Sweetpea, who was running after her saying he'd catch up with Fangs later. Toni was pretty fast, despite her height.

He heard quiet sobs coming from a spot between two trailers. He saw the tiny girl sitting against a trailer crying, her head in her knees.

"Hey- hey what's wrong?" He asked, sitting next to her. She looked up at him, a little hesitant to answer.

"Fangs has never shut me out of the clubhouse before...I- I don't want to be replaced!" She sobbed as he grabbed her hand.

"Well, he basically asked me a bunch of questions like if I liked Pokémon or trucks and shit." He told her, studying her face. She looked horrified.

"you can't use no no words!!" She gasped, "my mommy says I'm never allowed to say those! I got in big trouble one time!" She winced a little and covered her eyes.

"I'm sorry..." he said, looking worriedly at her, still holding her hand. Toni sniffed and looked up at him, showing him the bruises on her stomach again.

"My mommy says don't say such evil thing, or else daddy will hit me.." she started to cry, she didn't want to cry in front of her new friend, but she couldn't help it. She said everything hurts. He looked at her and got a glance back. He kissed her lips softly, she blinked and kissed him back, not really knowing what to do. He pulled away and looked in her eyes.

"Now, everything won't hurt as much" he said, smiling a little. She held his hand and smiled back at him. They both heard rustling from the grass and looked up.

Fangs stood there, his face contorted.
"EWW!" He shouted, pointing at them both.

"What-?" Toni sniffed, hiding the fact that she was crying.

"YOU GUYS ARE HOLDING HANDS, THAT MEANS YOUR BOYFRIEND GIRLFRIEND!!"
Sweetpea and Toni just looked at each other. Fangs ran away screaming something about cooties. The pair didn't move away from the trailer though, they started to talk and eventually it was sundown. Sweetpea stood up and walked Toni home,

"See you at school tomorrow?"
She smiled and nodded her head a bunch of times.

"And after too!" She said before making her way inside her trailer. He heard yells from what sounded like her father and eventually a cracking sound followed by a whimper from Toni. He wiped his eyes a little as he dragged his tired body back to his empty trailer, worried as hell.