Recess Gone Wrong

Two posts in one day! That's what happens when I'm stuck in snowy Grand Rapids, with noplace to go...

Love, Lisa



Nobody played with me during recess. I didn’t mind.

Jacksonville was gorgeous in April. The weather was calm and warm without being oppressive. The unbearable heat would arrive in a couple months, but for the time being it was perfect. It was paradise.

So I spent each 30-minute recess beneath the shade of a big, leafy palm tree.
I was alone but content. I’d study the latest math lesson, the newest English poem. It was so much better than doing homework inside Forrest Elementary. Or, worse, trying to tutor Michelle Jenkins.

Michelle spent her recesses on the blacktop. Now that we weren’t study buddies anymore, she resumed her active social life.

She would practice dance moves with a few of the girls. Sometimes she’d talk to Nick. Or Jesse. Jesse loved to shake his hair. It was his way of proving that he was a surfer, I think. Shaggy blond hair and board shorts. That was his trademark. That was how he defined himself.

Jesse was busy practicing skater stuff that Thursday. He slid up and down the cement, demonstrating his talent for the world. He was good. But he was also a show-off.

I sighed and returned to my pre-Algebra. It was a boring unit, one I’d mastered last year. I was ready for sixth grade, when we’d pick up the pace. They had accelerated units in sixth grade, the kind that would actually make me work. Instead of this baby stuff.

The warning bell rang. We had five minutes left before lunch started.

Michelle kicked up some mud as she walked past me. I didn’t fight back; it wasn’t my style. I brushed the dirt specks off my shorts and continued working on problem #16.

“Hey.”

I glanced up at the sound. It wasn’t Michelle, though. She was already long gone.

“Oh. Hi, Deandra,” I muttered. In an instant, I grabbed my books. I stuffed them under my arm and jumped to my feet. Recess was officially over.

“Hey, I saw what she did to you,” Deandra said quietly as I grabbed my belongings.

I shrugged. It didn’t matter that Michelle was mean to me. I didn’t want anyone’s sympathy…especially Deandra’s.

“It’s not fair for her to act that way. It isn’t right,” Grace insisted.

Please stop talking to me, I thought as I scrambled for the door. It was a beautiful day, but I wasn’t going to spend it outside. Not if I had to spent it with Deandra.