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The first month of kindergarten had been most exciting. Her teacher, Mrs. Byrd, had crazy orange curls which were often times tied back into a ponytail. Never, in the last few weeks, had she come into the classroom with anything other than a smile on her face. So energetic with her seize the day attitude, Amelia’s teacher was what made school far less daunting and just that much more fun. Her lessons were very hands on which often lead to fun projects that left Amelia more than eager to go home to share them with her family.

Unfortunately, like every day since September 8th, Amelia joined her classmates outside in the front parking lot watching as kids got picked up by parents or neighbors one by one when their ride reached the front of the vehicle line. With her panda shaped umbrella held overhead, the pitter patter sound of raindrops drowned out the sound of students chatting around her as she scanned the vehicles secretly hoping that her dad was among them or that Jasper would walk around the side of the building to pick her up like he had done last year while she was in preschool.

Rain was just...never fun. It killed everything, including his video game privileges because Clifford refused to submit to mother earth's desires to keep him off the soccer field. Today was no different, but mercifully his mother had packed him an extra shirt so his completely muddied other shirt was bagged in plastic and shoved into his gym bag along with his shorts and cleats. And basically the rest of his soccer equipment with the exception of the ball, because that was easy enough to wipe down. Oh, he could hear it now, the way she sternly said his complete first name…

It wasn't gonna be pretty, so he was in no rush to really get home.

Cliff started wheeling his bike out to the front of the school, covered up in a raincoat that was sort of useless at that point because inside he was already soaked to the bone. In the distance he could make out a few umbrellas, but only one stood out to him because of the head of hair beneath it. With a smile he walked on over and, after he propped up his bike, took the umbrella to hold it for her.

"Hey, 'member me?" he greeted, smiling wide. "Who're you waiting for?"

Amelia’s brows furrowed, she squinted her eyes as if thinking really hard as if his name was on the tip of her tongue. His shirt was different but other than that his smile was just the same. “Cliff?” She hesitated a guess with a slight influx of her voice.

He had been assigned to be her big buddy earlier that day. The two of them made a fairly decent pair, when he asked her to help him with their project she was more than eager to oblige. “I was hoping my daddy was gonna pick me up.” The corners of her smile pulled downward into a deep frown, seems it wasn’t meant to be as the last three cars pulled forward and the last handful of kids crowded the back seat door to get in.

Quite a bit shorter than him, the little girl turned around to glance at her teacher and the small handful of kids that huddled under her over sized umbrella. The lot of them were to head inside soon for after school activities. Older students would be sent to work on homework in a quiet room so they could get help from some of the teachers while the younger children would each get a cup of goldfish crackers and huddle around a ‘magic’ carpet for story time and later some games.

Ah, the dreaded waiting for the parents. He remembered being in the same position a few years ago when he was in the first grade, and probably when he was younger but he couldn't quite remember those all that well anymore. With a soft smile to help offset her frown he put a hand on her head and patted her a little in an attempt to maybe cheer her up.

"Got me!" he said, happy to see that she did remember him. They were buddies for the year, if he heard the instructions right, so it was good that they remember each other. He remembered her, of course, not that he felt a need to verify that fact unless she asked. He looked up from where they were standing toward where the teacher and a number of other children were huddled. His mom once had to explain to him that sometimes parents ran late because of "car reasons," so there was a chance that her dad was on the way but got into one such situation.

"Do you remember what your daddy said this morning to you?" he asked. "My mom and dad always told me the time they would be coming to get me, so maybe he told you something like that earlier."

Amelia pursed her lips in contemplation. In all honesty she couldn’t remember if he had given her a time while she ate her cereal before getting dressed for school. “I just stay in the classroom till someone comes gets me.”

“Okay, let's all get back inside where it’s dry. There’s a special treat waiting inside. Emily’s parents brought cupcakes for snack time today.” Mrs. Byrds face lit up with a glowing grin as she pushed the other kindergartners and first graders back towards the main entrance door.

The sound of sweets made the young girl's ears perk, perhaps waiting for someone to get her today wouldn’t be as bad as she originally thought. True, she really wished to go home, rainy days often made a person feel that way, but cupcakes sounded like a good compromise. “Are you coming too?” Amelia turned her hopeful purple eyes back to Cliff hoping he’d say yes.

Cliff's ears also perked up at the sound of cupcakes, and his stomach even rumbled quietly when he looked up toward Mrs. Byrd as she ushered the younger kids in. When he looked down at Amelia he noticed a similar expression on her face but, when at last she asked, he shook his head. "No," he said quietly as he handed her back her umbrella. "I have to get home and start on my homework. We have more than I'm used to so I need to start early to finish on time."

He smiled and started grabbed his bike so he was ready to wheel it and walk Amelia back toward Mrs. Byrd. "I'll walk with you 'til you get inside though! It's why you've got a big buddy, right?"

“Yeah!” Amelia nodded her head making a mess of her short hair. Hoisting her umbrella higher she tried as best she could to make it so Cliff was covered too while they walked together to the building only to part ways once she stood under the eaves to close panda parasol before stepping inside. From in the building, Amelia waved goodbye to her big buddy then joined the rest of the students for cupcake snacks.