Chapter 1: The girl beneath the tree
The schoolyard buzzed with noise.
Children ran across the dusty playground, chasing one another between swings and football posts. Laughter echoed through the warm afternoon air. Teachers stood near classroom doors, watching over the students during recess.
For most children, it was another ordinary day.
For ten-year-old John, it felt like a nightmare.
He stood near the old tree at the edge of the playground, clutching a book tightly against his chest. The thick roots twisted through the ground like ancient fingers, providing a quiet place where he could read during recess.
Unfortunately, it was also where the bullies found him.
Three older boys surrounded him.
“Well, look who it is,” one of them sneered.
“The little bookworm.”
Another boy snatched the book from John's hands and waved it in the air.
“Give it back,” John whispered.
“What was that?”
“Please... give it back.”
The boys laughed.
One shoved him hard.
John stumbled backward and fell against the rough bark of the tree.
“Too scared to fight?”
“Maybe he'll cry again.”
A kick landed against his leg.
John curled inward, trying to protect himself. His heart pounded violently. He wanted to run, but his legs refused to move.
He hated this feeling.
The fear.
The helplessness.
The certainty that nobody would help him.
Then a voice rang across the playground.
“Stop it!”
The boys froze.
John slowly looked up.
A girl stood several feet away.
Her braided hair swayed gently in the breeze. Though she was no bigger than John, she stood confidently with her hands on her hips.
Ross.
Everyone knew her.
She was the girl who shared her lunch with students who forgot theirs.
The girl who helped injured animals.
The girl who never ignored someone in trouble.
“What do you want?” one of the boys asked.
Ross walked closer.
“What you're doing is wrong.”
The boy laughed.
“And?”
“And you should leave him alone.”
The confidence in her voice made even the bullies hesitate.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then one of the boys rolled his eyes.
“Forget it.”
“Yeah. Let's go.”
Muttering under their breath, they walked away.
John stared after them in disbelief.
Just like that.
They were gone.
Ross approached him and knelt beside him.
“Are you okay?”
John nodded weakly.
Ross smiled and extended her hand.
“Come on.”
After a brief hesitation, John took it.
A strange warmth spread through his chest as she helped him stand.
“Thank you,” he said quietly.
“No problem.”
She picked up his fallen book and brushed the dust off its cover.
“You really like reading, huh?”
John nodded.
“A lot.”
Ross handed the book back.
“Then don't let idiots like them stop you.”
For the first time that day, John smiled.
It was small.
Barely noticeable.
But it was there.
And that was how everything began.
Over the following weeks, Ross appeared in John's life almost every day.
Sometimes she dragged him into games during recess.
Sometimes she sat beside him under the tree while he read.
Other times she simply talked while he listened.
At first, John was awkward and quiet.
Ross did most of the talking.
“Why are you always so serious?”
“I don't know.”
“You should smile more.”
“I do smile.”
“No, you don't.”
“Yes, I do.”
Ross laughed.
“That doesn't count.”
Slowly, John's walls began to crack.
For the first time in years, he started looking forward to school.
One afternoon, John arrived without lunch.
He sat beneath the tree, pretending not to be hungry.
Ross immediately noticed.
“You forgot your lunch again, didn't you?”
John looked away.
“Maybe.”
Ross sighed dramatically.
“You're hopeless.”
Opening her lunchbox, she placed half her meal in front of him.
John shook his head.
“You don't have to.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
Ross smiled.
“Because friends help each other.”
John stared at the food.
Then at her.
Friends.
Nobody had called him that before.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
Ross grinned.
“You say thank you too much.”
The seasons changed.
Months passed.
Their friendship grew stronger.
After school, they often sat beneath the old tree.
It became their place.
Their little corner of the world.
One afternoon, Ross lay on the grass, staring at the clouds.
“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
John thought for a moment.
“I don't know.”
“You have to know.”
“Why?”
“Because everyone has a dream.”
John looked at her.
“What about you?”
Her eyes brightened instantly.
“I want to become a doctor.”
“A doctor?”
She nodded enthusiastically.
“I want to help people.”
“Why?”
Ross sat upright.
Her expression became unusually serious.
“Because people shouldn't suffer when they can be saved.”
John listened quietly.
Ross continued.
“Especially poor people.”
“Poor people?”
“My dad told me some families can't afford treatment.”
The thought clearly upset her.
“I don't think that's fair.”
She looked toward the sky.
“If I become a doctor, I want to help people who don't have money.”
John smiled.
“That sounds like you.”
“What does that mean?”
“You always help everyone.”
Ross laughed.
“Not everyone.”
“Almost everyone.”
For a moment, neither spoke.
The afternoon sunlight filtered through the leaves above them.
John found himself watching her smile.
Watching the way her eyes sparkled when she talked about her dreams.
Watching the way she made every ordinary moment feel brighter.
His heart beat a little faster.
He didn't understand why.
Not yet.
The years passed.
Their friendship remained unchanged.
Until the rain came.
It was a cold evening.
Dark clouds covered the sky.
Rain tapped softly against the windows of John's house.
A knock sounded at the door.
John opened it.
Ross stood outside holding an umbrella.
Her eyes were red.
She looked like she had been crying.
Immediately, his stomach tightened.
“Ross?”
She lowered her gaze.
“My dad got transferred overseas.”
The words hit him harder than any bully ever had.
“We're leaving.”
John felt frozen.
“Leaving?”
She nodded.
“Next month.”
Neither spoke for several seconds.
The rain continued falling around them.
Finally, Ross forced a small smile.
“We'll still write letters.”
John nodded.
“Yeah.”
“We'll stay friends.”
“Of course.”
But for the first time, he wasn't sure.
Because standing there in the rain, he realized something.
The thought of losing Ross terrified him.
More than anything else.
And for the first time in his life, John understood that she wasn't simply his friend.
She had become the most important person in his world.
The rain continued to fall.
Neither of them knew it yet.
But this goodbye would change both of their lives forever.
End of Chapter 1
