Sarah's Blue Tree ✔

Chapter 1

"I'm not going to make it!"

Sarah skidded up the stairs, brushed dead leaves off her stockings, and tried to tie her oily, wet hair into a pony tail. The rain was dying off at least, but she was still a wet rat. She had to breathe. If she just popped into the class unnoticed, things would be fine. It wasn't the first time she'd been late.

The girls in the back were staring at her wet hair, and her face felt more pink than it'd ever been. She probably had mud on her skirt, too. She shoved her bookbag off her shoulders anyway and slid in line with the others. She'd practiced. First, she turned right. Then, she spun left. She knew that the steps repeated three times before the twist. But, her shoes were all wet. Her hair dripped down onto the floor. As she danced, Ava and Emily began to slip, slide, and wipe out on the floor like bowling pins. They were doing it on purpose. The floor wasn't that wet—a drop or two at most.

"Sarah!" Mr. Louie yelled like she knew he would. "Why are you all wet? You've got on the wrong shoes. You can't dance like this."

"They're just being jerks," she said and stared down at the water puddles she'd left on the floor. "It's not that wet. I mean, don't they know how to watch where they're going?"

"Ugh," Emily groaned. "It's your fault. I can't dance when the floor's all wet. Why do you have to mess everything up and be so weird?"

"Why do you have to be so whiny?" Sarah spat.

"I'm not whiny," Emily said and stuck her tongue out.

"Ugh, stop!" Sarah groaned. "Girls that do that look so gross."

"Mr. Louie," Emily whined. "She's being miso-gyn-is-tic."

"Misogo-what?" Sarah blurted.

"It means you hate girls."

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Why would I hate girls? I am one!"

"You said that girls who do that look gross, so you hate girls," Emily said back.

"I don't hate girls. I just hate stupid tongues...like yours!"

"Sarah!" Mr. Louie scolded.

"She started it," Sarah sighed. Tears brimmed over in her eyes, and her face spotted pink. "I don't hate girls. I don't hate anyone."

"Sarah, come here," Mr. Louie's voice softened. "Talk to me. Why are you all wet?"

"It's tree day," she shrugged.

"What?"

"Every Tuesday I go to the blue tree in my neighbor's yard, and I have to go across the creek to get there. My sister won't let me go if I don't sneak out, so I have to get wet anyways. Then it started raining, and I fell out of the tree. Landed in the mud again, but it doesn't matter, because I have to see the tree because my mom's inside it."

"Uh huh...," Mr. Louie sighed. "Sarah, I know this has been hard for you. I understand."

"No, you don't. Your mom's not even dead is she? Is she?"

"Whyyy don't you just wait here, Sarah? I'm going to go call your sister."

Sarah scooped up her bookbag and stuck her tongue out at the girls who were still staring behind her back. Not even Mr. Louie, who had to be older than dirt, knew what she was going through. Why did she have to go through something that not even some old people went through yet? What did they know? They all had their moms still. They had theirs, and she didn't.

She stomped off in her sloshing boots to the front porch and sat down. Dance class was over anyway. She'd been too late to start with.

Ava left first. She had one of those fancy watches where she could just call her mom whenever she wanted. Ava wouldn't look at her. She was usually nice, but whenever Emily came around, she turned into one of them.