“Whatcha lookin’ for?” a voice from behind me said, startling me from my task. A boy about my age peered over my shoulder, shaggy blond hair curling into his narrowed eyes.

I’d never seen the boy before, but I was always happy to make new friends. “Ladybugs. Wanna look with me?”

“I thought girls didn’t like bugs.”

“They’re ladybugs,” I explained in exasperation. Clearly, this boy didn’t know anything about girls. Of course, we liked ladybugs—it was right there in the name. I returned to my search, sensing the boy join me when he dropped to his knees beside me. “You live here?” I asked him without taking my eyes from the miniature jungle of vegetation.

“Nah, this place is way nicer than my house. My dad’s inside talking. He made me come out here.” He grumbled the last part, his displeasure obvious.

“Same here. They said I wasn’t old enough to come inside, but this is way better than listening to grown-ups talk.”

“You’re probably right,” he admitted reluctantly. “How old are you?”

“Five and a half. How old are you?”

“Six, almost seven,” he said proudly, flashing a toothless grin. “Hey! There’s one.” He reached into a large shrub and came away holding his finger out with a tiny red bug walking across his knuckle. “Wanna hold it?”

I gave him a big smile and nodded, too excited to talk.

“Okay, hold out your hand flat, and we’ll let him walk from my hand to yours.”

I followed his instructions, and he pressed his hand firmly against mine on the side where the ladybug was headed. My hand was frigid compared to his, but it didn’t faze me. I was too excited to care about the cold or the rock that was digging into my knee. The moment the microscopic legs touch my skin, I gasped with a giggle. “It tickles.”

“Have you held one before?”

“Yeah, but it still makes me laugh. I wish I got to hold them more. We don’t have a big yard, so I don’t see them very often. My favorite are the yellow ones, but they’re super hard to find. I’ve only ever found one of those before. I like them because yellow is my favorite color. You have a favorite color?” I asked as I watched the bug make its way around to the underside of my hand.

“Probably green. That’s the color of the New York Jets, my dad’s favorite team.”

“You know if you mix yellow and blue, it makes green? I love painting, so I know how to make all the colors,” I explained confidently. “Yellow and red together make orange.”

The boy cocked his head to the side and looked at me curiously. “You think if the red ladybugs and yellow ladybugs have babies together, they’d have orange ladybugs?”

I burst out laughing, making the bug on my hand fly off toward more stable ground. “You’re funny. What’s your name?”

“I’m Nico. What’s yours?”

I didn’t have to answer. My dad’s booming voice called my name from the side of the house. “Gotta go! I’ll see ya around.”