6:00 AM
"Rise and shine Bella!" Lucy said. I stretched and listened to the birds chirping. It didn't feel like a school day at all.
"Go shower and get dressed so we can leave for 7, okay?"
"Kay Lucy." She gave me some privacy and I went into the bathroom and brushed my teeth as quickly as I could. Then I hopped into the shower and washed myself with grapefruit flavored soap. I couldn't get my hair wet so I made sure not to let any water touch my bonnet.
"I have to go and get dressed." I dried off and slid on my underwear. Then I slid on those shorts that you wear under your skirt and then put on some overalls that were technically a skirt and a shirt that my Mom bought me the other day. I slid on some socks and put my bag downstairs in front of the door.
"Hey Noah."
"Hey." He was making lunches and Lucy was putting our plates in the dining room.
"Go and eat bear, and then put grab a water bottle. It's going to be hot."
"Yes Lucy." I ate my French toast ferociously and Lucy's phone rang.
"That's probably Liv! Answer it Bella." I took the phone to the dining table and answered.
"Hi Mommy!"
"Hey Baby, what's up?"
"Nothing much, I'm just eating some food."
"Where's Noah? I need to speak to him."
"He's about to start eating, he was making lunches."
"Hand him the phone for a sec."
"Okay."
"Noah, Mommy wants you!"
"Coming." Noah and Mommy talked about how he's getting a bit more independent and how he's going to have more responsibilities. I barely listened.
"Bella, I want you to do what we talked about, and to continue writing and talking to me about things and I assure you that this year will be a very good school year. Kay?"
"Kay-Kay."
"And to both of you, I hope you have an amazing first day of school and have the best of luck. You guys are my whole world and I couldn't have asked for more intelligent, kind, funny, and well-behaved kids. I love you guys more than anything else."
"Love you too!"
"I gotta go now, bye guys."
"Bye!"
*********
School
I walked up the stairs to the second floor and took a deep breath. Everything will be okay.
"Good Morning." I said politely.
"You must be Bella Benson. You're sitting at the Durfree table right over there. My name is Ms. Rossi."
"Okay, Thanks! Nice to meet you."
"Loving that outfit by the way."
"Thank you!" I set my bag on the back of my chair and picked up a Do Now. It was a get to know you paper. They asked things like, what was your favorite color and stuff like that.
There was another teacher in the room who came to me smiling.
"Hey, what's your name?"
"Bella. What's yours?"
"I'm Mr. Moretti. I've heard a lot about you Ms. Benson. You had one of the highest scores in your grade last year." I blushed and looked down at the floor.
"I didn't know I did that well." He laughed and gave me a pat on the back.
"I feel like this year will be an amazing year. Don't you agree?" I nodded and filled out the rest of my Do Now.
"Hey Bell."
"Hey Kylz!" We did our handshake and started to talk.
"I think we sit next to the new girl."
"This'll be interesting."
"Hey guys!"
"Penelope?! What are you doing here?"
"I had to change schools! I didn't know you guys went here."
"We didn't know you were coming!" We started to talk about stuff and some more kids started to come in.
"Hey, I'm Axel." We introduced ourselves and talked for a while before the teachers called for our attention.
"Alright everyone, I'm Mr.Moretti if you didn't know, and this is Ms. Rossi."
"We both can't wait to start this wonderful school year with you bright scholars!"
"Now before we can start learning we should get to know each other!" He picked up a soccer ball that had questions on it and explained the rules.
"Alright, Bella how about you start off for us?"
"Yes sir." I looked at the question that my right thumb landed on and it was a good one!
"I got, what is one fact about you? And one fact about me is that I love the show Raven's Home." I handed the ball to Kylie and she got who's your best friend.
"Bella is my best friend." I giggled and watched as this boy named Anderson answer a question.
"I love playing soccer. It's the best sport, hands down."
"Good one. Now, we need to work on a class cheer for next week. We're not going to let Fordham beat us. Are we Yale?!"
"No way!" We all shouted.
"That's what I like to hear!"
"How about in the cheer we say, Yale never fails?"
"That's amazing! I'll write that down!"
********
Lunchtime
Noah made turkey sandwiches. For once he did something right when it came to lunches.
"How was you guys' class? You guys go first."
"Our teachers are really cool! They're both Italian and they like to joke around and have fun."
"We have two boy teachers. It was a bit weird. But they're really cool! They gave us chocolate."
"We're watching a movie until the end of the day later and they're gonna give us treats!"
"That sounds amazing."
"Hello," Penelope said shyly.
"Okay guys, this is Penelope. She's our friend from summer camp."
"Hey." She sat down quietly and watched as we spoke.
"So Penelope... do you like Sydney to the Max?"
"Yeah, I love that show. She's super cool!" We all started talking and it made me super happy that my new friend and my old friends were speaking to each other.
"Yale, time to line up and go outside!" We said goodbye, threw out our food and followed our teacher to the playground.
"Let's do jump rope!"
"Do you know how to do any special tricks Penelope?"
"Yeah! I know so many."
"Alright, let's see." We spun the jumprope and she started doing all of these cool moves. She did this whole jumping while crisscrossing combo with was totally epic.
"I never knew you were so good!" She shrugged and Kayla, Jana, and Jaden came in our direction.
"Can we join?"
**********
After Ballet (5:30)
I just finished my class with Kylie and my feet hurt! We were working on turns and stuff and I hadn't been to class in a while. So it brought back all that pain that I had when I first started.
"Noah, can I have a bite?" He nodded and offered me the sandwich. I took a small bite and handed it back to him.
"Here, you need to eat because you're a growing boy." Lucy laughed and we walked home while talking.
"We're having hotdogs for dinner today kids."
"You're gonna grill some?" She nodded and I smiled wide. We went into the grocery store and Lucy picked up vegetables, these big juicy sausages, and some burger and hotdog buns. We had the burger meat at home.
"Your total is 34.50. Thank you and have a great day!" Lucy payed with a card and we went back to the house.
"This dinner is going to be so yummy! I can't wait for it to be in my tummy." I opened the door and Mommy was in the kitchen.
"Hey sweetheart!" I ran to her and gave her a big hug.
"Your outfit is so cute! And Noah, you look so handsome."
"Thanks."
"Hey Lucy. What's the plan for dinner?"
"Barbecue." She smiled as I played with her hand.
"That sounds delicious. Let me wash my hands and I'll help prep. Kids, I left some things in your room. I think you guys should go check it out." Noah and I dashed upstairs to our rooms and I saw the journal on my bed and a stuffed kitty.
"I love it!" I cuddled it and opened the journal to where Mommy replied.
Letter From Mom
I'm so glad that you're almost ready to talk about it! You know where to find me when you're ready. I'm proud of you honey! How was your first day of fourth grade by the way?! You're getting so big, I just can't believe it! I also bought you a little gift to remind you that even though you're getting bigger, you can still be the adorable, funny, and kind little girl you are. You don't need to grow up fast, and don't let anyone tell you and convince you that you should. You may not understand exactly what that means right now but I want that stay with you. You are a beautiful little girl! Black girl magic baby!
Xoxo,
Your Mommy
I giggled at the last sentence and let out a sigh. Don't let anyone convince you that you should. The paper said. I plan on staying a little kid forever!
"Bella, come downstairs and help set the table please!"
"Coming!"