When she was born, her parents wept. They wanted a boy.
For a long time, Sunny was sad about this. But her parents tried to make light of the story, and soon it became a lively joke in the family.
"Your Ma was so upset about having a girl, and so emotional from her unstable hormones, that she cried. Ugly, wretched sobs... Oh my, it was a scene! And soon, I couldn't help but cry with her. We cried so hard that the Doctor thought we were absolutely lunatic! We were overwhelmed and scared, we didn't know how to raise a child!" Pa loved to tell this story whenever he got the chance, in between hysterical laughs. Ma would chuckle along to his laughter, as Pa bounced little Sunny on his knee.
Then Ma would pinch her daughter's little cheeks and say, "We were newly married and young and oh my, it was hard! The only thought that kept us sane during my pregnancy was the hope we so desperately clung to that you could be a boy. We foolishly thought, 'Boys are easier than girls! They need less attention, and don't cry as much.' What an ignorant assumption... But, we got a girl. A perfect, precious little ray of sunshine." And that was how, two years late, Sunny adopted her middle name. "My Sunny Rae Blues." And then the guests would smile happily at the sweet story and the love that was so apparent in the parent's eyes as they stared at their little girl.
Sunny had heard this story so many times, for her parents recited it almost every time guests visited, and she was used to the attention.
So it was quite a surprise when one day, when Sunny was three years old, two babies seemingly stole all of that attention away from her. The attention that had been all hers was suddenly given to the twins, Suvanna (who was always called Suvy) and Lila.
Stories soon shifted from Sunny's heart-warming birth story, to the story of the very much planned twins.
For a while after they were born, Sunny struggled with feeling unloved, and rather abandoned. She was utterly confused, and even quite desolate.
Her parents though, despite their own personal struggles, tried very hard to give Sunny as much love as they had for her. But as much as they tried to be strong, they still got down sometimes. They longed for the life that they missed. A life full of travels, sightseeing, and adventure. When Sunny was born, the unplanned baby who remained nameless for three days, they were forced to abandon all of their ambitious dreams.
Ma and Pa still made lots of effort with Sunny, and smiled as they buttoned her raincoat for her first day of school.
"We love you so much, Sunny." Her parents said, kissing their daughter on her freckled cheeks. They then looked with a sense of reminiscence at the image on the mantle of Sunny as a baby.
The infant lay still, her eyes delicately closed. Her bottom lip stuck out, her cheeks brushed pink. Her perfect face was so innocent, and Ma sighed as she stared at it.
"I miss when she was so little... of course I wouldn't go back to that time in a million years, but I wouldn't trade our baby for the world." Ma murmured longingly, still looking at the picture, as Sunny walked to the front door.
"Bye Ma! Bye Pa!" Sunny waved, clutching her umbrella with a buzzing excitement.
"Bye dear." Pa nodded, sighing with annoyance as two screeching girls came running down the hall.
"Sunny!" Suvy screamed, throwing herself onto her sister.
"Oof" Lila muttered when she tripped, then stood back up and toddled clumsily to her sister.
"Get off." Sunny grumbled breathlessly as she managed to wriggle away from Suvy's suffocating arms around her waist.
"Bye-bye!" The twins waved farewell sheepishly, as Sunny slipped out the front door.
The little girls had just turned two, and they were quite a handful. Sunny struggled with their constant annoyance, even though the girls were just trying to express their love.
Sunny opened her umbrella, stepping into the rain. She walked giddily down the street to her neighborhood school, overjoyed that the first day of school had finally come.
She reached the school grounds just on time, all of the children rushing past her to get out of the rain and into their classrooms.
"Miss Johnson's class, follow me!" A pretty girl with curled brown hair and a kind face about Ma's age was waving to all of the children. Sunny recognized the name, for she had been told that she was her teacher.
She followed Miss Johnson excitedly, a group of children Sunny's age walking beside her. Some knew each other, giggling and talking, but most looked around wide-eyed and curious. Sunny was the latter, staring with wonder at the strangers surrounding her and the school building that was so much bigger than she had imagined.
"Alright children, this will be our classroom for the year!" Miss Johnson lead them into a room at the end of the hall. Smiles spread on all of the children's faces as they admired the colorful decorations adorning the walls, the posters of words they would someday be able to read, and the desks in neat rows with their names on them.
"The seating chart was arranged based off of last name. But as the year progresses, it will too. You will make friends, and soon be able to sit by them. I want this school year to be as fun as possible! Do you all agree?" Miss Johnson smiled so warmly that everyone was instantly comfortable. All of the children exclaimed shouts of agreement, and after hanging up their raincoats they ran to find their seats.
Sunny wandered the room until she saw her own name tag on the first row of desks. She sat down, smoothing her orange dress and staring at the coloring sheet and crayons in front of her. "Sunny Blues" the name tag read, familiar to her amidst a room of foreign things.
To the left of her sat a boy, with short brown hair and brown eyes. He folded his arms, appearing tough and arrogant. His nametag read "Rodger Abbott".
To the right of her sat a short girl, with straight blonde hair a shade darker than Sunny's and a wrinkled blue dress. Her heels clicked together in a constant rhythm, her gaze sharp.
"Hi, what's your name?" Sunny introduced herself to the girl politely, like many of her peers were doing to their neighbors. The girl stared at her blankly for a few seconds.
"Abby Bridget." She finally replied, still not smiling. She seemed nervous, and came off rather bitter and cold.
"My name is Sunny Rae Blues." Sunny smiled, scrunching up her nose and playing with her hair. She was so excited to meet new friends, that she barely even noticed the sour look on Abby's face.
"I think that's the strangest name I've every heard." Abby said stoutly. Her arms were folded now, her chin tilted up.
"Oh." Sunny's smile faltered, then faded. She blinked back tears.
"I don't know why your parents would ever name you something like that." Abby continued bluntly, and she probably would have said more if Miss Johnson hadn't have spoken up.
"Alright class, I am so excited to get to know all of you! Now, I already know all of your names but you don't know each other's. So we are going to do an introduction game!" The rest of the teacher's words faded into the background as Sunny pondered Abby's hurtful words.
Her spirits were rather shaky now, and she found it hard to feel happy again.
The rest of the morning was full of playing and learning, and eventually Sunny's spirits returned. Not entirely, but enough for her to enjoy the activities. And before she knew it, school was over and it was time to go home.
Sunny put on her raincoat, satisfied with what she had accomplished in the day, and walked down the hall and out the front doors.
As she opened her orange and yellow umbrella, Sunny perked up at the voice of one of her classmates. Rodger Abbott stood in front of Abby Bridget, his hands on his hips and his face menacing; for a five year old, that is.
"Where's your umbrella, huh? Are you too short to see that it's raining?" He said mockingly, pointing accusingly at the cowering girl in front of him.
"I don't have one." Abby mumbled, staring at the ground. She was nearly drenched from the pouring rain, shivering in her wrinkled blue dress.
The girl that had been so cruel earlier suddenly looked so helpless. Her bottom lip trembled uneasily from humiliation.
"You're too poor to get one!" Rodger stepped closer to Abby, his friends Sammy and Lucas joining in his taunting laughter as they walked away.
Sunny couldn't tell if the girl was crying, for rain covered her distraught face. Abby glanced at Sunny, seemingly just noticing her, and an embarrassed look crossed her troubled face.
There was silence for a few moments, the two girls just looking awkwardly at each other.
"You can have my umbrella." Sunny offered suddenly, before she could think it through. She held the umbrella kindly out to Abby, but the shy girl didn't take it.
"It's okay, I have more at home. I like the rain anyways." Sunny smiled sweetly with a sense of reassurance, entirely forgetting the painful words that Abby had said earlier.
"Thank you." A faint smile spread on her wet face, as she timidly took the umbrella.
Sunny nodded, but noticed the still guilty look on Abby's face.
"See? I love the rain!" Sunny's teeth chattered, her dress now soaked, but she began to twirl and spin in the rain. Abby giggled as Sunny danced across the schoolyard and on her way home.
"Wait, Sunny!" Abby called out. Sunny turned around.
"I'm sorry for what I said earlier... I really like your name."
"That's alright! And thanks!" Sunny nodded, her smile lighting up her whole face, and waved goodbye to her new friend. Then she turned back around and, like she promised, danced in the rain all the way home.
Author's Note:
I really liked writing this short story, and I'm very pleased with how it turned out. I find it adorable, and my heart was melting as I wrote it. I really enjoy writing about little kids! They're so blunt and forgiving and simple!
If I'm honest, I read this over in a southern accent, because I feel that is what best suits the story. So if you want to do that as well, I would suggest it.
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed. :)
-I. Quill