Leo stepped onto the playground. Fingers locked around his backpack strap. A wave of noisy children swept past him.
He watched a group building a block tower. He took a step forward, then stopped. Someone bumped past him. Crash!
Leo saw a girl with bright crayons. He hovered near the art table. She noticed him and waved. He froze.
During art time, Leo stared at his blank paper. The girl with the blue backpack slid over.
She pushed a box of crayons toward him. "You can use these," she said.
Leo picked up a yellow crayon. It had a little dog face on it.
Leo colored a huge, wobbly sun. Yellow filled the page. He glanced around the room.
Other children were laughing, drawing, talking. Leo unclenched his fingers from his backpack strap.
The girl in the yellow dress smiled at him across the room. Leo smiled back.
Leo picked up the green crayon. He started coloring grass under his sun.
The classroom hummed with happy noise. Leo kept coloring. The sun grew and grew.
When the bell rang, Leo held up his drawing. The sun had grass, and a little dog too.
