Just Grey: In a Black & White World

Prolouge

      It was raining, of course. I was living in my innocent stages then; four at the time. My mother had just picked out a pair of purple pants with little black dogs on them, a black tee with purple letters spelling out "i <3 dogs", and some black flats for me to wear to my first day of kindergarten. My mid-length, black, curly hair was tamed in two french braids with matching black and purple hair bands.

As my mom slid my backpack over my shoulders, I was ready to dart out of the door. I was so excited.

"Calm down, honey. Only a few more moments and you'll be making new friends. Just have some patience." She said, grabbing my lunch box and handing it to me. Before my brain even thought about it, my hands already had it in grasp.

"But I wanna be there now! Let's go, let's go, let's go!!!" I yelled, pulling her french manicured hand by my much smaller, raggedy ones.

"Hey, just because you want something doesn't mean you get it right away. Or even eventually, for that matter. So calm down and wait." She said sternly.

I sighed dramatically, letting my legs slide out from under me and my bottom land on the cold stone flooring.

"Thank you."

Ten minutes later, we were getting out of our maroon-colored suburu and my feet were padding harshly on the concrete sidewalk. In what felt like seconds, I was inside and greeting everyone. My mom soon also showed up, but then, too soon, it was time for her to leave.

~

The door shut softly behind me. I was already on the floor in tears.

"Baby, what's wrong??" My mother swiftly turned around at the sound of my body hitting the ground, coming to gather me in her warm, milk chocolate-y arms.

I couldn't answer, as my mouth was full of sobs. Instead, I grabbed onto her shirt and hugged her as if I wouldn't ever get the chance to again. Her clean, coconut scent filled my heart with love and her frizzy hair surrounding us made the hug even better. Her soft hands came to brush my hair away from my face and wipe my tears from my pink cheeks.

"Talk to me, baby girl. I thought everything was okay. In the car, you said school was fun." She said.

"I don't wanna go back! The kids are mean and you weren't there and the lady is so old!" I cried.

"But she's a nice old lady, don't you like her?"

"No! She took my sandwich because I wouldn't share with Mahogany!"

"Well, why wouldn't you share with Mahogany?"

"Because! Her eyebrows are connected, mommy!"

For some reason, my mother found this funny. She began to break into a fit of giggles.

"It's not funny! And Tony tripped me!"

"Tony tripped you? Well that's not nice! Did you tell Miss Mulligan?"

"Yes, and she talked to Tony, but he stuck his tongue out at me! Ugh, the nerve of some boys!"

She laughed again, "Yes, the nerve they have. But I'm sure something was fun today."

I thought. "Well...at lunch, I met a really nice girl named Jennifer. We're friends now."

She beamed. "That's lovely! See, not all is bad! And I'm sure tomorrow will be better."

"Eh. I don't think so. Miss Mulligan said she's gonna give us homework! And it's hard! Who does that?!"

My mother's eyebrows crinkled up as if in deep thought. "Homework on the second day of kindergarten? What the hell..." She mumbled to herself.

"Mommy!" I scolded.

"Sorry! Sorry. Don't repeat that. How do you know the homework will be hard?"

"Because it's numbers! How am I supposed to know what numbers comes after twenty?? That's such a mess!"

"But just look at the world around you, Love. There's messes everywhere with unclear answers. Don't give up yet." She told me gently.

"I know, but I just wish that it was less confusing."

"Well, things are gonna get confusing after a while, but you can't just stop trying. You've got to search harder for the answer; maybe it's somewhere you haven't looked yet. Someday you'll trip over a rock that's harder than this, and bandaids won't just stare you in the face. You won't know what to do. So prepare yourself for that day, baby."

"I'm gonna trip over a rock?" I asked, eyes widening with worry.

She shook her head, the bubbly symphony of her laughs echoing in the room. "No. I mean you're going to be in trouble one day and you won't know how to get out of it. Like this, but tougher."

"You mean I'll have to go through this again? But even harder? Ugh, I won't make it." I sighed heavily.

"No. I know you will. It just won't be so black and white. It'll be...in between the two."

"So it'll be just gray?"

She revealed her big, beautiful smile to me as if I had understood all that is right and wrong in the world. Kissing the top of my head, she whispered, "Exactly."

~

Omg I started a new story! I had the idea for this and I just had to start writing. And then I kept writing. And wrote some more.

I've actually been writing this story for a while now. There's a lot of plot and characters in this story; it's definitely a challenge for me to remember some things so if I miss something please let me know and I'll try my best to fix it up.

Thank you guys so very much for reading this :) Try to keep up, alright?

Oh, and just remember:

Wear your underwear.

Until next time, my lovelies,

- Kate