A friend indeed, a jewel within

Finger snaps, gentle thuds followed by bright lights turning on consecutively
Gasps "No way!", Lydia rasped, obviously stunned by the handy work of her partner in all things good, bad and ugly, marveling with wide eyes of utter surprise at the beauty of the theater podium that posed before her. Turing to her side, she met the architect of the artistic decoration she had come to behold, "You did this all for me?", she quizzed in a shaky voice.
"Yo! Not with the crystal eyes again Lid, it's honestly no biggy", Luke, the older boy who was responsible for the dazzles in the confined space, replied to wade off the incoming show of tearful emotional display. He always thought Lydia a weakling when it came to emotional stamina; a chronic romantic that gets immediately attached to the slightest things of the heart.

crystal heart

"Remember that one time I got a gig with my decor crew here about a month ago and then got retained? Well the director here has been really nice and when I had a talk with him about this, he readily gave his approval with the condition of a curfew though", he reminded.
"Since you've always talked so much about performing on "stage", I thought of adding and saving this one for the last day. So Miss Lid, do make your way up on stage ma'am", he teasingly gestured, causing the immensely grateful Lydia to giggle inbetween tears of gladness.
The lovely girl, a little past teen age was made up of long brown wavy hair possessing such thickness as that of Rapunzel's. Caramel skinned, ivory eyed with a sprinkle of gold dust across her face, she moved her relatively slender body up the flight of stairs that led to the spacious podium.
Luke has always being protective of Lydia; many times like a big brother looking out for his baby sister and some other times, like a jealous boyfriend protective of his girl but this period of her messy heartbreak, he's putting on both coats of protectiveness. Lydia thought he was being "extra" with it when he confronted her ex and promised her a week of fun to help her shine out from this igloo of sad, draining spirit.
Acknowledging all his effortlessness in trying to restore the energetic vibe that exuded her, she drifts back to the incident that made them almost inseparable. It was during lunchtime in school. She was in third grade and he was in the fifth. In the cafeteria, little witty Lydia was feeling downcast cuz she scored lower than she'd anticipated in the class quiz so she was obviously not in the mood to associate with the other kids.
"Hey freak! wanna play fetch?" a chubby hand reached and picked up the juice box on her food tray. Raising her head to meet the mean mischievous smile on that chubby face wearing a red strawberry haircut styled on his head, Lydia knew she needed a miracle to happen because Billy was a sign that her day was about to get worse. "No thanks Billy, I'm good. Just give back the juice box" she nicely requested.
Billy the bully as he was often referred to as was not satisfied with the answer he got plus the smile at the end of Lydia's statement kinda threw him off a little. By all means, he wanted to leave his imprints on Lydia so while he continued to toss the box in his hand up and down, he scanned the room with the corner of his eye to know if there were any sympathy for Lydia. The kids were still looking on for the next line of action.
"And what if I don't give it back, what will you do? Cry to mummy?", he laughed with the two other kids who were his sidekicks. "Give it back she said Billy", a more domineering voice rang behind the three boys in front of Lydia.
Turning round to unleash his anger on the kid that dared him, he met with a more superior look on Luke's face. Luke had once taught him a lesson when he tried picking on him and that has always given Luke a upper hand over Billy. Gladly, Luke was on Lydia's side today so, bad one for Billy.
The cafeteria was filled with wide eyes of suspense and murmurs on what would happen next but to the surprise of everyone, Billy dropped the box on Lydia's table and made his way out with his two other friends. Some of the kids were applauding Luke's bravery, some were loudly talking about Billy meeting his match today while some were still surprised that someone stood up to the bully. The brave fifth grader made his way to Lydia to make sure she was okay which she was and in addition, was grateful for standing up for her against that big bully.
"I think I have seen you somewhere else", Lydia tried to recall. "Yes, I'm a kid on your block, although I haven't been here too long and I rarely get to be outdoors", he replied with a cool shrug. "And I'm guessing that's because you don't have a playmate, right?", Lydia guessed which attracted two nods of affirmation from the black wavy haired boy. "Then maybe it's time for a change", she smiled and reached out for a shake to verify their friendship.
snap snap snap
"Lid, I've been calling on you", Luke snapped her back to reality. "I did the thing again, didn't I?", Lydia asked as she collected the microphone for Luke who was busy setting her up on stage. "Yep, you did". He was used to her starring into space because she did it often to either plan for something or to get the ideas to proffer solutions to problems that troubled her.
"Everything okay with you?", concerned Luke couldn't help but ask. "Yeah, I'm alright. Was just reminiscing the good old days", she sneaked in a faint smile. "OK. As long as you were not lost in thought thinking of one big jerk who didn't value the jewel he had in you, then I'm okay with it", he smiled too to suppress his welling anger. "Let's get started then. I also had this idea to mount a recording cam right over there", he slowly pointed at a tripod carry a camera standing in the audience part of the auditorium. Lydia chuckled and sighed out her anxiety.
"Just have fun Lid. No need to get uppity, Ms perfecto", he teased her before making his way to the seat closest to the tripod. One last time before her vocals rang through the speakers, her heart really thanked Luke. He'd do anything to help her be better and she was glad she had such a soul to call "friend".