Tomorrow, Today

Chapter One

Part One

2005

I was eight back then. Summer had just ended and it was now the first day of school. I wasn't looking forward to it. What kid did? Summer consisted mainly of sitting outside of the laundromat while my mom did laundry, watching as my older brother played with his friends, never receiving an invite to play with them. That and completing that stupid summer packet that'd be due in class today.

As I stuffed my pencil box and packet into my book bag, I wondered if I was missing anything when a knock came to my door. Monica, who was still sleeping, groaned in the bed at the noise. At four, all she had to worry about was making it to pre-school and taking another nap there.

Hakeem pushed the door open and looked around my room nosily.

"You showered?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said.

He sniffed the air, "You sure? Smells like onions in here."

"Hakeem! Leave her alone. Unless you wanna walk with her to school," mom said.

"Nah, gotta go!" he dashed off.

I followed mom into the living room. Dad was sitting at the dining table, drinking coffee and reading a newspaper. MTV played in the background; they were counting down this week's hottest videos. 50 Cent's 'Candy Shop' was playing and as Hakeem swung open our front door, he hummed the lyrics, slamming it shut behind him.

Mom picked at my uniform, frowning.

"Your dad better stop buying Wendy's for you. You're getting fat," she said.

"She's fine," Dad muttered without looking up.

"I don't like it. She's only eight," Mom said.

"Can I go now?" I asked.

"Okay, be back by 3:30," Mom said and I raced out of the apartment.

As I walked down the street, the warm sunlight shined over me. I rubbed my round stomach, replaying my mother's words. I hadn't noticed myself, but I guess I wasn't the thinnest girl around. Was Wendy's the perpetrator? But just as quick as I thought about it, the critique left my mind. Wendy's was too delicious. A 6-piece spicy chicken nuggets was gone in seconds if placed in my vicinity.

While I was in the third grade, Hakeem was in the fifth so I rarely saw him at school. I liked it that way. When I saw him, I saw all his friends too and all of them always picked on me. I got enough of that from kids in my own grade.

Because it was the first day of school, there wasn't much to do. Ms. Fuentes gave us assigned seating then she put a movie on. When it was time to eat lunch, we ate in the cafeteria before running our energy off on the playground. Then we returned back to our classroom. Before we could start the lesson, Ms. Fuentes stepped out.

There were some unfamiliar faces in my class this year and some old, annoying ones too. Kaneisha, who sat behind me, tapped my shoulder. She had an older sister who knew how to fight and was in the fifth grade with Hakeem, so no one checked her on anything.

"You finished your packet?" she asked, and I nodded. "Lemme see it."

"It might be wrong," I admitted.

"That doesn't matter! C'mon, you're smarter than me," she laughed and I handed it to her.

One of the annoying kids, Jamal, and his posse stepped up to the whiteboard. He grabbed the dry erase marker.

"Alright, let's rank every girl in the class," he said, garnering a few snickers from the boys.

"Rank them on what?" Kaneisha asked.