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Part 1: The Seed
After about 2 weeks of summer school in first grade I was already in the worst trouble I had ever been in during my 6 years of living. I was sent to the office for punching a girl in the stomuch but seriously? It wasn't my fault. She started it. But no, she was in class making some kind of play-doh while I sat lonely in a swelteringly hot room trying to get comfortable on a stiff couch. I felt like crying. I was usually an amazingly good girl, I participated in class, volunteered to help the teacher and I worked well in groups. What went wrong? I have no idea.
Anyway, I was sitting there feeling sorry for myself and imagining the punishments my mom would give me once I got home. I was so absorbed in my self-pitying I didnt notice someone come in and sit down next to me. "Hey" I looked up and sitting closely beside me (the couch was kinda tiny) was a fourth grader, and a popular fourth grader at that. I watched him play dodgeball and etc at the courts from my spot in the sandbox. "Hi..." My voice was scratchy and nasaly since I was about to cry but, being a young carefree first grader, I didn't really care. "Are you ok?" he asked me Even back then I hated when people asked that question. It just sounded dumb. But he seemed so sincere. "I'm fine." I answered in my nasally-formerly-on-the-verge-of-crying voice. "How come you're here?" (I guess he was trying to make conversation but I didnt really want to answer that.) "I dont feel good." I lied. "Oh." He looked at the table next to us. There was a coffee maker, a few cups and a jar of li hing mui seeds. He opened the jar, grabbed one of the seeds and plopped it in his mouth. "You want one?" He asked me "Um. I guess." I answered. I had never had one of those before. But it looked yummy. He took another seed out of the jar and handed it to me. I looked at it for a few seconds then stuck the whole thing in my mouth, copying what he just did. I heard a muffled laughter from beside me so I turned to see what was wrong. "You know," He said holding back a laugh, "You didnt have to put the whole thing in your mouth." I tilted my head slowly to the side then realized what he was saying. Being 3 years older than me and being a guy, not to mention a life long experience stuffing food into his mouth, his mouth was a good two times larger than mine so I probably looked very weird. I took the seed out of my mouth so that I was now holding a wet li hing mui seed in my hand. "Ok what do I do then?" By now he probably knew I had never had one of them before so there was no use pretending. He showed me that you could bite the edges so I decided to do that instead. We talked for a little while more and then he left It wasn't until years later that I looked back at that time and wondered if we were actually allowed to eat those li hing mui seeds...
Part 2: um... Shippo?
Three years later I was sitting with my friend Crystal and her friends. They were all a year older than me but, what can I say, I was a very social child. He was sitting with a guy in my grade talking quietly. By now he was no longer in the summer fun program but a junior leader. So Crystal was drawing me a picture of Shippo and Sailor Jupiter (I asked her too, and if you’re wondering I just chose random people). The next thing I knew “Jessica!?” I was so into watching Crystal draw that I practically jumped 3 feet in the air. I turned around so that I could see who called my name. It was the boy in my grade who he was talking to earlier. But now that I looked over at them, they were tackling each other and they started to roll toward the door. I was so confused and surprised I didn’t realize that I was still standing. I sat back down and focused back on what I was doing, which wasn’t really anything. But instead of drawing, Crystal and her friends were giggling to themselves. Laughing actually. “What?” I asked even more confused. I was worried they were laughing at me. I never got an answer.
Part 3: goodbyes
It was the last day ever at my summer school. I was going into sixth grade and had a huge crush on a certain someone. It was nothing serious though, but I was still really sad because I was never going to see him again. I was packing my things for the last time and, embarassingly, my eyes were starting to fill up with tears and I was scared to even blink because I knew they would start falling in a rush. "Hey" Someone was standing in front of my desk, their hands holding onto the edges. I looked up. It was him. I sniffled and blinked. A tear ran down my cheek and I turned red. "Um...Hi..." Right then all I wanted was to be alone so I could clean my face up because I knew from past experiences that I didn't look too pretty when I cried. "So..." He shifted a bit. Surprsingly, he looked uncomfortable. That gave me some confidence. I looked him in the eyes. But he looked away. Interesting. I thought. "I guess I'll see you at the festival ok?" He asked/told me. I remembered then that he went to the okinawan festival every year. The same one I went to. I just nodded and went back to packing so he nodded too and walked away. To this day I wish I could have said something instead of brushed him off like that. I did see him at the festival. But I ignored him like the naive immature girl I was. And thats my story.
chasity_dark_queen · Wed Jun 20, 2007 @ 04:18am · 3 Comments |
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