Kayla's Day

I wake up at 6:00 am like I always do to the sound of my Pa's alarm clock. He comes into my room and sits on the edge of my bed poking at my feet and telling me to get up for the day. I beg him for five more minutes and eventually, he sighs and sings me a song until I crawl out from under the covers hoping to stop him from starting another verse.

Pa is my dad, but I don't like "dad" and I already call my grandpa, "Papa". So I just call dad, Pa. I'm just called Kayla.

I walk on my toes all the way to the bathroom. The floor is so cold in the morning so I like to get used to it. Sometimes I walk on my heels, but that's harder and Pa says I'll fall and crack my head.

I already cut my head once before. I fell asleep on the toilet one morning while waiting for the water to heat up in the sink so I could wash my face. Next thing I knew, I had slipped off of the stool and scraped the side of my head good on the corner of the sink. Blood dripped down my face and onto the floor all red and messy like strawberry syrup. I tried to wash it while it was still bleeding and it just got everywhere. That's when I decided to call Pa for help. As soon as he saw me he almost passed out.

It's a good thing Nilah was there because she's tougher than Pa. Nilah is Pa's girlfriend and my buddy. I don't remember a time when Nilah wasn't around. She doesn't live here but she should. She cleaned up my blood and helped Pa take me to the doctors when I cut my head. They said the cut was very small and they just gave me a bandage. I think Pa wanted me to have an X-Ray. I wanted to too, so I could see my bones; but the doctor said we didn't need to get an X-Ray.

Nilah told me that it's a good thing they didn't put me in front of the X-Ray machine that day, because it would be rude to take pictures of the troll that lives inside of me without warning him first. I told her that was silly, and that I didn't have an inside troll. She swore that I did and started poking and tickling my tummy to find him. She's always silly like that.

Anyway, I didn't crack my head this morning, and when I was done in the bathroom I changed into my clothes for school. Nilah, Pa, and I ate waffles and turkey ham for breakfast and talked about our plans for the weekend. This weekend we're all going to the beach and Nilah is going to teach me to swim. She says that six years old is already old, and if I don't learn now I'll never be a mermaid. She's goofy, but I do want to learn.

After we give each other kisses and hugs we leave the apartment for the day and Pa grabbed a green apple for me to eat in the car. He makes fun of me for eating the green ones because they're sour, but they're the only ones that I like. When we get to school Pa gives me three dollars to get a snack at the end of the day while I'm in aftercare. I give him a big hug and kiss and run off to find my friends.

When I run my backpack slaps my back and I can hear my pencil box rattling around. I think it's funny. Sometimes when I stand in one place I still swing my backpack so I can hear the shaking. I find my friends by the basketball courts. They're watching the 11th and 12th graders do their morning rap battles. I can't tell that any of them are doing very good, but sometimes a kid will jump up and go "whoaaaaa" like something crazy was just said. I like watching them, and they don't care that we're there.

The high schoolers are much cooler than the 7th and 8th graders. 7th graders tell you to get lost because they think you're a baby. The high schoolers think it's cute that we think they're funny. They call us their kids, and sometimes they toss us some candy.

When the bell rings everyone walks the way they're supposed to walk. We all split off like the branches on a tree. I'm still little at this school so my class is on the first floor. I think they do that so we don't get lost, or maybe it's because we're so small that we may get knocked over on the stairs. That's probably it because that's exactly what happened to me one time when I had to go to another floor for my advanced reading class. Big kids will just run on your back if you fall down in their way.