Whenever someone mocked her, I stepped between them.
And usually, standing beside me was Noah Parker.
Noah had been my best friend since kindergarten. He lived three streets away and seemed to spend more time at our house than at his own.
Unlike most children, Noah never acted awkward around Lily.
He didn’t talk to her like she was younger than she was.
He didn’t pretend not to notice her.
He simply treated her like Lily.
If she wanted to play basketball, he passed her the ball.
If she took too long choosing an ice cream flavor, he waited.
If someone laughed at her, Noah stared them down until they stopped.
One afternoon, after two older boys had upset her, Lily sat beneath the playground slide wiping tears from her cheeks.
Noah crouched beside her.
“Don’t listen to them,” he said. “They’reboring.”
Lily sniffed.
“They said nobody will ask me to a dance.”
