Lunch time

A small blond girl with white wispy ringlets and a girl with thick black pigtails and red apple cheeks sat at the table in the lunch room. They pulled out their paper sacks and carefully laid out their feasts: 2 sandwiches, an apple for the blond and a peach for the dark haired girl and two cookies.

"What's your sandwich?" the dark haired girl asked the other girl.

"Turkey, ham, cheese and mayonnaise," the blond girl answered, spewing crumbs as she beamed. "I love mayonnaise."

The dark haired girl delicately took a bite of her sandwich and wrinkled her nose. "I hate mayonnaise. I like Tabasco sauce."

"What's that?" the blond girl tore off another bite of sandwich and looked up expectantly, waiting for answer.

"It's like spicy ketchup," the dark hair girl said, sprinkling the Tabasco over her sandwich. "Want some?"

The blond girl pulled her sandwich away and shook her head. "What's your sandwich?"

"Turkey, cheese and avocado." The blond girl nodded, wondering what an avocado was. It sounded exotic. She didn't like things that were exotic.

They ate, enjoying each other's company in the comfortable silence. The blond girl wolfed down her sandwich and bit into her apple ferociously. The dark hair girl delicately finished half of her sandwich, saving the other half for later. She then took small bites of her peach, gently sucking out the juice so it didn't dribble down her chin.

"You know what?" the blond girl said, tiny flecks of apple spewing from her smiling mouth.

"What?" The dark haired girl smiled. She wasn't disgusted by her friend's crude table manners, she was amused.

"You're my bestest friend," the blond girl said, quickly patting the other girls hand before jerking it away again. She turned bright red as she looked down at the table, concentrating on clutching her apple.

The dark hair girl smiled and patted the blond girls arm in a comforting gesture. "You're my bestest friend," she said, her dark eyes shining. "Well at school anyway. I have a bestest friend at home too. But you're my bestest school friend."

The blond girl's dark blue eyes sparkled in happiness. She'd never had a bestest friend before, even if it was a bestest school friend. She looked outside at the bright sunshine, and decided her cookie could wait.

"Do you wanna play hide and seek before we eat our cookies?"

"Sure," the girl said, carefully putting her wrapped cookie in her bag. The blond girl shoved her bag into her backpack and flew outside. "Meet you there!"

For an hour, they laughed and talked as they basted in the hot sunshine. When the sweat began to run down their backs and pool on their scalp, they knew it was time to go. Climbing in the car, they drove back to work. In silence, they parked and walked into the building slowly, dreading the moment they reached the door. For once they reached the door, the joy would be gone. At least, until lunch time came again.