Outside in front of the school, Luca squinted against the still-bright sun and looked around for his brother, Brennan. Brennan was in the fourth grade, Mr. Pepper’s class. If Luca was lucky, he would not have to wait more than ten minutes for Brennan to emerge from the school. Luca was not very lucky.
Brennan was nowhere to be seen, but Luca did see a tall man in flip-flop sandals, black comfy shorts, and an old red soccer jersey.
“Dad!” Luca called as he ran over to hug his father.
Mr. Levi was a writer. Mostly he wrote biographies of professional soccer players, but he liked to write fiction too. He often said, much to Luca’s amusement, that some of what the soccer players told him about themselves was probably fiction.
The best part about writing was that Mr. Levi could always plan his break time around picking up his boys from school, a fact that Luca loved.
“Hey hey, sailor, what’s happening?” Luca’s father had called him sailor for as long as he could remember. They both thought it was pretty cool. “Tell me all about your day.”
“Dad, aren’t you always saying that Mom is your best friend?”
“Absolutely,” his father said.
Luca hesitated. “How did, um… How did you become best friends?”
“Now,” said his father, “that is a great story. But it’s long. Is there a reason you’re asking me now?”
“Well,” said Luca, “I have a classmate—her name is Emma—and she has a problem. You see, she needs a new best friend…” Luca saw his father smiling, and he stopped talking.
“Go on, son,” said Mr. Levi, folding his arms, still smiling.
“It doesn’t matter!” Luca half-snapped at his father.
“So it’s a girl who needs a friend, huh?” Mr. Levi raised his eyebrows. Luca reddened and frowned at the pavement under his shoes. “Nothing wrong with that, bud,” his father said. “Girls can be great friends, and you love helping people, right?”
“Yeah. I guess that’s right.” Luca brightened a bit. “So, what do you think?”
“Hmm, a new best friend.” Luca’s father looked up slightly and put one hand to his chin, stroking the short beard he wore. “What are her likes and dislikes?”
“To be honest, I don’t know her that well yet,” Luca said, his face falling a bit.
“Well, don’t sweat it, sailor. You’ll figure something out. You always do. Maybe start by learning more about her.”
“Thanks, Dad!” Luca felt better. When his father felt positive about an idea, it seemed much easier.
“Where’s your brother?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” said Luca, a little exasperated.
“Ah, there he is,” said Mr. Levi, pointing to one of the doors.
Brennan Levi came spilling out of a side door, surrounded by a half dozen other boys, who all seemed to be talking at once.
“Yo, Brennan!” Mr. Levi called. “He-llo-o!”
The boys weren’t far away. There was no way Brennan couldn’t hear. But he had a way of not noticing, and it drove Luca crazy. Brennan managed to get straight As in school, though, which also drove Luca crazy. Things seemed to come easily to his big brother. Everything except being quiet, that is.
Brennan finally noticed his family and jogged over, almost forgetting to say goodbye to his pals first. “Hey, Luca. Hey, Dad,” he said in his most casual voice.
“Hey, dude, you ready to go? We have things to do before dinner. Let’s roll.”
The three crossed the parking lot to their car, strapped in, and left Gulch Valley Elementary.