You Took My Crayon.
The story of how Pallene and Maya met, featuring:
tiny gremlin behaviour
a Very Serious crayon dispute
accidental friendship speedrun
and the beginning of “we’re a package deal now”
The playroom was loud.
Not normal loud.
Kid loud.
Which meant shouting, laughing, someone crying in the corner, and at least one argument happening at all times.
Pallene sat cross-legged on the carpet, very deliberately ignoring all of it.
She had a paper in front of her.
And a plan.
It was supposed to be a horse.
It currently looked like… something that had gone wrong.
“…No,” she muttered, frowning at it. “That’s not right.”
She erased part of it.
Drew again.
Paused.
Tilted her head.
“…Why do legs do that?”
Across the room, a tower of blocks collapsed with a dramatic crash.
Someone yelled, “IT WASN’T ME!”
Pallene didn’t even look up.
She reached for her crayon box.
Opened it.
Stopped.
“…Hey.”
She looked inside again.
Counted.
“…Hey.”
The blue one was missing.
At the same time…
“Okay, this is the ocean,” Maya announced very seriously to absolutely no one in particular.
She was lying on her stomach, kicking her legs behind her as she coloured aggressively across the page.
Blue. Everywhere.
Too much blue.
There was no such thing as too much blue.
“And this is…” she added, scribbling faster, “like, a really big wave. And this is…”
She paused.
Squinted at the crayon in her hand.
“…This is a really good blue.”
Very good blue.
Suspiciously good blue.
Maya glanced at the pile of crayons next to her.
Then at the crayon in her hand.
Then back at the pile.
“…Huh.”
A shadow fell over her paper.
Maya looked up.
A girl stood there.
Dark braid. Serious expression. Holding a crayon box like it was evidence in a trial.
“You took my crayon,” Pallene said.
Maya blinked.
Then immediately clutched the blue crayon closer to her chest.
“I found it.”
“It was in my box.”
“It’s not there now,” Maya pointed out.
Pallene narrowed her eyes.
“That’s because you took it.”
Maya considered that.
“…Finders keepers.”
“That’s not how that works.”
“It is for crayons.”
“It is not.”
Maya pushed herself up into a sitting position.
“It is now.”
Pallene stared at her.
Maya stared back.
A beat.
Then…
Pallene dropped down onto the floor across from her.
“Give it back.”
“No.”
“It’s mine.”
“I’m using it.”
“You stole it.”
“I borrowed it.”
“You didn’t ask.”
“I forgot.”
“That’s stealing.”
“That’s temporary stealing.”
Pallene looked genuinely offended by that.
“That’s not better.”
They stared at each other for a long moment.
Pallene reached forward and grabbed the crayon.
Maya gasped.
“HEY…”
They both held onto it.
Now it was a tug-of-war.
Over a crayon.
“Let go,” Pallene said.
“You let go,” Maya shot back.
“It’s mine!”
“I need it!”
“For what?!”
“For the ocean!”
Pallene paused.
“…The ocean?”
Maya pointed at her paper.
“It’s important.”
Pallene looked.
Blue scribbles.
A lot of blue scribbles.
“…That’s a lot of ocean.”
“It’s a big ocean.”
“…Okay.”
They both hesitated.
Still holding the crayon.
Then Pallene said, a little slower this time…
“I need it for my horse.”
Maya frowned.
“…Horses aren’t blue.”
“It’s not for the horse,” Pallene said, like that should’ve been obvious. “It’s for the water.”
“Oh.”
Another pause.
They looked at each other.
Then down at the crayon.
“…We could share it,” Maya said.
Pallene squinted slightly.
“…How?”
Maya thought very hard.
Then held the crayon out between them.
“You use it,” she said, “then I use it. And we don’t steal it.”
Pallene considered this like it was a very serious negotiation.
“…Fine.”
“Fine.”
They let go at the same time.
The crayon stayed in the middle.
Neither of them moved for a second.
Then…
“You go first,” Maya said.
“No, you said it was important,” Pallene replied.
“It is.”
“Then you go first.”
Maya lit up immediately.
“Okay.”
Five minutes later and they were sitting side by side.
Close enough that their shoulders kept bumping.
Passing the blue crayon back and forth like it was a sacred object.
“…That doesn’t look like a horse,” Maya said.
“It’s not finished.”
“It looks like a dog.”
“It’s not a dog.”
“It might be a dog.”
“It’s a horse.”
“…Okay.”
A pause.
“Do you wanna add waves?” Maya asked.
Pallene hesitated.
“…Okay.”
Maya immediately leaned over and started adding lines.
“Like this,” she said. “So it looks like it’s moving.”
Pallene watched closely.
Then copied it.
“…Oh,” she said quietly.
“See?” Maya grinned. “Better.”
“…Yeah.”
Across the room, the teacher glanced over.
Two girls who had been arguing five minutes ago were now sitting together like they’d known each other forever.
Sharing crayons.
Talking in quiet, focused voices.
Completely absorbed in the same drawing.
“Do you wanna sit together tomorrow?” Maya asked suddenly.
Pallene didn’t even look up.
“Yeah.”
“Okay.”
“What’s your name?” Maya added.
Pallene blinked.
“…Pallene.”
“I’m Maya.”
“…Okay.”
“…Okay.”
And just like that.
No big moment.
No apology for the crayon.
Simply a shared blue crayon and a bad horse drawing.
A friendship that would last a lifetime was born.
