two

                                    

                                          
"William," Mrs. Kolas snapped and the huge blond boy startled.
"Y-yes ma'am. It's just Wil, ma'am." he stammered, sitting up straighter in the uncomfortable wooden seat.
"Will is short for William," she said, squinting through her spectacles. It was a challenge, not a question. He mumbled something incoherent and a couple of students close to him snickered. "Well?" Mrs. Kolas insisted.
"It's short for Wilbur, ma'am." He answered louder and his tanned skin darkened as blood rushed to his cheeks. Mrs. Kolas stared at him for a moment, then stepped around her desk, rifling through papers until she found what she was looking for.
"Wilbur Gunn?" she asked skeptically as if expecting a poorly executed punchline.
"Yes ma'am," he replied and sunk back down.
Sunny grinned at Enid, but couldn't help feeling bad for the new kid. Mrs. Kolas wasn't a bad teacher or a cruel lady, but she was old and to her the motives of all children were suspect. 
"Who names their kid Wilbur?" Rob Roberts asked carelessly.
Enid shot back. "Who gives their kid the same name twice?"
Rob sneered at her, ready to escalate the argument, but Mrs. Kolas intervened, "Both of you can zip it if you don't want to visit Principal Olsen." She scowled around the room, then returned to the whiteboard, marking down page numbers for their reading assignments.
Two hours later, Sunny sat in the cafeteria with Enid and Roslyn, a sixth-grader both of them liked very much, all three noticing Wil's feeble efforts to hide the fact that he kept looking at their table from his place in the lunch line.
"I think he likes you," Sunny said between bites of her bologna on wheat.
"Don't even," Enid warned while Roslyn bit her lips together.
"What's wrong? He seems nice. You can't have a problem with his looks." Sunny was only half teasing. Neither of them had ever had a boyfriend and none of the other boys in class were taller than Enid. If he really liked her, it seemed like a good fit.
"I'm not allowed to date until I'm sixteen, you know that!" Enid said, scandalized.
"Doesn't mean you can't have a guy friend, does it?" Sunny mumbled through another bite.
"If you ask my mom that's exactly what it means!"
"He's coming over," Roslyn piped up, just loud enough for the other two girls to hear, and Enid shot Sunny a dirty look.
"Um..." he began as he hesitantly closed the last few feet.
"Hi Wil," Sunny said, sliding over so he could sit down, but he shook his head and looked at Enid.
"I wanted to say thanks. Most people just laugh," he said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously with one hand.
"Right, okay," Enid answered, just as nervous. Sunny wanted to giggle but could never do that to a friend.
"Well..." Wil started to move away with a wave, but Sunny reached out and touched his arm.
"Wil, why don't you join us?" she suggested. Roslyn was aghast and Enid looked like she wanted to crawl under the table. Inviting a boy to sit next to them would invite rumors they wouldn't live down until college, but Sunny had been through worse and she wanted him to feel welcome.
"I really should go get..." he began.
"Please?" Sunny gazed up at him with an expression so pure and sincere that it froze him to the spot. Enid sighed, knowing Wil was trapped, thinking how good it was that Sunny had no idea how much power that look had over people. He scanned the lunchroom briefly, then wedged awkwardly onto the bench, planting himself as far away from Sunny as he could without being obvious, and directly across from Enid. Even sitting, all of them would have to tilt their heads to meet his eyes, not that anyone other than Sunny had the slightest intention of making eye contact.