Chapter 1
Yelena was 9 and she didn’t get along well with the other kids.
Kate was 6 and she had found a cool bug with real long legs to play with.
There wasn’t much Yelena did at the park, other than sit alone on one of the picnic benches off to the side of the playground.
Natasha came with her, staying nearby at first but she would always wander off somewhere with her cool, older friends after a while. She was twelve and she had better things to do than babysit.
She’d always wait until Yelena looked like she was playing happily before wandering, though. Unbeknownst to the fact Yelena would quickly slip off the swing set before one of the older, meaner kids caught wind of it.
Mama had insisted Natasha take her, so she and Papa could have some ‘alone time.’
Whatever that meant.
Yelena always asked to stay home, Papa even agreed at first, but after a stern glare from Melina and a suggestive look, he would always change his mind.
So Yelena was left alone in the playground. All the other kids either too young for her to play with or didn’t want her to play with them.
Kicking her legs that didn’t quite reach the floor yet, she sighed and rested her elbows on the wooden picnic table before letting her cheek flop down on top, closing her eyes.
All she could do was wait for Natasha to come back. Her sister would play with her when she came back, she always did. Yelena just needed to think of a good excuse for why she wasn’t playing with the other kids.
A low, almost silent scratching sound disturbed the blonde. She blinked her eyes open, frowning, coming face to face with the biggest monster she’d ever seen.
Jerking back, Yelena slapped a hand over the thing, squishing it into the picnic table with a grotesque crunch. She grimaced at the blood and thin legs that stuck to the underside of her palm.
It was a praying mantis, from what she could make out of the flattened body and limbs. She shuddered, wiping her hand on the picnic table. Yelena hated bugs.
A sniffle caused her eyes to raise and she was met with big blue eyes barely peering over the picnic table, just tall enough to witness the murder of her friend.
“Why would you do that?” Came the child’s wobbly voice. The girl couldn’t have been much younger than Yelena, but her voice was pitched up with barely held back tears and accusation. “He wasn’t hurting you.”
The blonde frowned down at the girl with dark hair and unruly curls, half-wondering whether she was making fun of her before she let out one more snot-ridden sniffle and Yelena decided she was serious.
“I don’t like bugs,” She stated, brushing off her hands on her pink shorts for good measure. “They’re gross.”
“No.” The girl vehemently shook her head and Yelena was taken by surprise the girl hadn’t commented on her accent like most other kids did. “Bugs aren’t gross. They’re cool, like dinosaurs!”
“Nuh uh,” Yelena responded crossing her arms, entirely unperturbed by the argument. “Dinosaurs are way cooler than bugs and they can eat people.”
The younger girl didn’t respond that time, sniffling once more as she wiped at her eyes with the sleeve of her navy blue dress. It seemed all too big for the girl, with shiny gold buttons and cufflinks, in its elegance that seemed much too mature for the girl almost drowned in it.
“You didn’t have to kill him.” She spoke quietly, gazing down at her fallen comrade with big mournful eyes, his body squashed against the table.
A certain feeling of guilt churned at Yelena’s stomach. The same feeling she got when Natasha would accidentally play too rough with her and then Mama would send her to her room and Yelena would have to play by herself for the rest of the evening.
“He was scary.” She admitted, before her mood shifted to accusing. “Why did you put him so close to my face if you didn’t want me to squash him? That’s what Papa always does to bugs.”
Her defence did little to change the girl’s demeanour. Her disposition only growing more cloudy by the second.
“I wanted to cheer you up.” She protested weakly. “You looked like you were feeling sad and I thought that he could help you be happy.”
There it was again. The feeling of guilt twisting at Yelena’s stomach. Silently, she scooted over on the bench and the girl heeded her wordless command to climb up next to Yelena, struggling a little to pull herself up straight on the tall bench.
They both let out long sighs as they settled. Kate at the sight of her dead companion and Yelena at the guilt gnawing at her tummy.
Usually, the other kids would never talk to her or try to make her feel happy. Usually, they would put bugs on her desk to make her feel scared, not to cheer her up.
Mama would always tell her that they were jealous because she was so beautiful and she had such nice hair and a cute face and they just wanted to be like her. Natasha said it was because they were brats and that they didn’t like her accent because it was different. She always told her to punch anyone who was mean to her. Unfortunately, that meant no one tried to be nice, either, for fear of being punched.
“What’s your name?” Yelena asked the other girl quietly, she was an inch taller than the dark-haired girl and she assumed that meant she was older and therefore had the responsibility of asking all the important questions.
“Kate Bishop.” She snivelled, tears finally drying. “What’s yours?”
“Yelena.” Another silence fell upon the two and Yelena kicked her legs a little more, searching for something to say. She scowled as Kate sniffled once more. “You’re a big cry baby, Kate Bishop.”
“Am not!” The cry baby cried out in protest. She turned to glare at Yelena.
“Are too.”
“Am not.”
“Are too.”
“Shut up!”
“Kate!” The pair both froze up at the voice, turning to face the incoming adult whose furious gaze was locked on Kate’s as she approached the pair. The young girl looked like a deer in headlights. “What did I just hear you say?”
“Nothing, Miss Sosa, I didn’t say nothing.” Kate’s eyes lowered, her bottom lip trembling again and Yelena rolled her eyes. Cry baby.
“Anything, Kate. You didn’t say anything.” The woman sighed. She looked older, smile lines around her mouth and wrinkles in her forehead. Her hair wasn’t quite grey, it was dark with strands of white and Yelena thought she looked a little like a girl in her class, Sonya’s, mom, with tan skin and a stern glare. “Come on, it’s time to go. Your mother wants you home for your piano lessons.”
Slowly, reluctantly, Kate slipped off the bench of the picnic table and began to follow after the woman who spared her no glance, merely heading to the park gate.
Yelena sighed, flopping her head back onto the bench now that the momentary distraction was gone.
“‘Lena?” The blonde frowned, turning to face Kate who looked at her hesitantly, “Are you coming to the park again tomorrow?”
“Why?” She frowned down at the six year old.
“‘Cause then you can help me look for another Mr. Berney.”
“Was that his name?” Yelena grimaced. “That’s a weird name.”
“No it’s not, that’s my friend’s name. He’s a doorman and he’s so nice and he looks kinda like a bug so I named it Mr. Berney like him!”
“That’s so mean.” Yelena laughed, laughing harder at Kate’s look of shock.
“No it’s not, it’s true.” Kate stepped forward, brows furrowed, “It’s nice too, because bugs are so cool and Mr. Berney’s so cool so it makes extra sense.”
“Nuh uh.”
“Yuh huh.”
“Nuh uh.”
“Yuh huh-“
“You say ‘yes’ when you agree with something, Katherine.” The old woman had returned after realising Kate hadn’t been following. She snatched Kate’s wrist in a harsh grip, dragging her away. “Do I need to tell your mother you need a better English tutor?”
Yelena narrowed her eyes at the indents the woman’s nails made on Kate’s little wrist. She felt bad for the cry baby as she was dragged away, protesting profusely since ‘Miss Dawson was so nice’ and she was ‘the best teacher in the world.’
Frowning, she resolved to tell Natasha all about the girl when she came back to take her home. She also wanted to ask Natasha to beat up the mean woman who was dragging Kate too roughly, since Kate was so small and that meant that the woman had to be gentler with her.
Nodding to herself, Yelena rested her head back on the table and appreciated her plan.