Shaun follows the girl with the big smile and creative mind up the stairs of the library. They got out of the Open Minds afterschool program early, knowing she had to walk home in the darkness; he took the stairs two at a time, and quickly looked around. ‘She didn’t rush out the door’ he thought, ‘where could she be?’ He flipped his head the other way to see the girl smiling, laughing with one of his best friends Anthony. Shaun, walked the long way around the library, when he got to the computer he bumped into the girl with the smile, on accident.
“Sorry” they both said at the same time.
The girl chuckled and looked at the ground. Shaun looked at the girl, wanting to really walk her home and become a friend of hers.
“You’re the new boy in the program, right?” she meekly says.
“Yeah” Shaun said, and stuck out his hand, “Shaun”.
“Sarah. I’ve never seen you around, well I have but it was only last year. Do you remember the performance when I was the MC with this boy with braids and glasses?”
“Yeah, I think I do. It was actually funny, you cracking jokes and him playing off you. It looked like a lot of fun from the audience so I decided to join you in your fun”.
She chuckled, “Yeah, it is really fun. Um, I have to get going home but I’ll see you Thursday?” she asked almost hopefully.
“Yes. D-do you want me to walk you home? I mean I’m about to go home too so,” Shaun says nervously.
“Um, I don’t know. Shaun, I don’t know you and you might not even live near me” she says walking in the direction of the entrance.
“Well, get to know me. I can tell you about myself while we walk. Bye the looks of it, you live near here you come here so often” she opened her mouth when I cut her off “Anthony and his sister, Annie. Yeah, they go to my school, my best friends actually. The sometimes talk about you but I forgot your name, sorry”.
Sarah looked shocked, amused, and then relieved. Three emotions I hope were good.
“So where you live?” I asked her.
“Hey, you said you’d tell me about yourself? Shouldn’t I ask you, I don’t know, questions” she said confidently in the beginning but in the end very shyly.
“Umm..” I stumbled.
She laughed, ‘Her laugh is a very cool laugh. Never heard one like that one’ I think.
“Calm down!” she says chuckling, “I was just joking. I live on the street of the school up there” she pointed to the small brown school with the words Northeastern Elementary on it.
“Hey! I go there, well we go there. Anthony, Annie and I, we’re all in the same class” I say, “Questions go.. you said you ask the questions shoot”.
“Why me?” she whispered to herself. I didn’t know if that was my question, it was almost too low to hear but have good hearing bad memory, so I decided to just tell my story.
“Well, I’m ten years old. I’m in the fourth grade. I have three sisters and no brothers, sadly. I love to dance, hang out with my friends, play football, and meet new people. People tell me I’m handsome, and that’s why I get all the girls but really, I think its cause of just my looks and not inside. I want a friend, a new friend who doesn’t just like my outside but also what I’m like in the inside” I said, and before I forgot “Oh and I moved about three times in the past five years”.
There’s a silence, I think I’ve said too much. I look over at her, Sarah the most beautiful girl I’ve probably ever seen and she’s, smiling. Not a fake smile like the girls in my class but a real smile, it’s small but it’s the best thing I’ve could’ve seen in my life.
“I’m eleven” she starts shyly. There’s a pause as if waiting to go on and she does, “I’m in the fifth grade in the school up two blocks from here, PolyingPlay Elementary/Middle. I have two sisters and a younger brother. I love to sing or at least I used to, I don’t anymore, I write stories, poetry, advertisements for class, you name it! My little sister is eight and so is my brother. My older sister is fifteen. My mom and dad, divorced. Moved to many times to count, and I wish people liked me for me. People pick on you for being smart and being yourself, but is that such a crime in our schools? I wish I was invisible in school and only visible to those few who actually see ME. Like, at Open Minds” she says softly but loud enough to hear her.
Once she’s done with telling me about herself, we walk past a big tree on her block. She points to the brown door.
“This is me” she says.
“Okay” I say smiling, “So, see you Thursday, right Sarah?”
“Right” she says as she knocks on the door, “I mean you never know maybe we could become friends”
The door opens, she waves and smiles at me, and goes in her house.
‘Maybe’ I think.
Who knew I’d get so much more than that…
-Inspired by Sign Me Up By: Ne-Yo
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Love Drabbles
RomanceSarah and Mark have been friends since the end of 7th grade and 8th grade and beyond. These are short one shots about situations from Sarah's mind.
