Penny had never seen a fight before. She didn’t like it. She started to cry. She wanted to leave but she was frozen in place. She wanted, more than anything, for it to stop.
“God please,” she whispered, “please, please stop this.”
A teacher broke up the fight.
Penny didn’t feel better. She was relieved that it was over, but she couldn’t stop crying.
That would be the first of many times that Tommy would make her cry. As the teacher escorted the boys inside to call their parents, Tommy spotted Penny. The anger disappeared from his eyes and he was suddenly sorry.
Penny didn’t see Tommy again until Saturday and at first she didn’t even see him then. Penny was playing alone in the grass while her sister was off with her friends again. Penny didn’t mind. She looked up at the oak shading her from the sun and thought about climbing it. She wished she didn’t have to wear a skirt, playing would be so much better in pants.
While contemplating the oak tree she heard his hushed voice. She looked to the fence with its chipped white paint and through the cracks she spotted Tommy crouched on the other side.
“Hey,” he gasped.
Penny just looked nervously toward her house. She knew she could get in trouble if she wasn’t careful.
“Penny.” He mashed a daisy between the pickets. “I’m sorry.”
Cautiously she stepped toward the fence and slowly pulled the crushed flower through.
“Why?”
“For making you cry.”
She didn’t know what to say. It was then she realized Tommy was good and no matter what would come after that, she couldn’t go back to thinking he was bad.
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