The New Girl
2117 Words
Lyla
Age Five
I narrowed my eyes on Emily and Jessica. They were teasing the new girl, Dominique Rose Klinkel. That’s how she introduced herself to the class. She had long blond hair in braided pigtails and glasses that had really thick lenses that emphasized her big blue eyes. She had freckles on her nose and cheeks.
“Why are you staring at those three girls?” my brother Cameron asked. He was in the 1st grade with my cousin Rissa. I should be with them or above them, but my mom wanted me to have friends my same age. I was really smart, they said, and probably could be moved to the fifth grade, but mom and dad said no. It was fine, I didn’t care. The school work was too easy, so they gave me what they deemed harder work. But it wasn’t hard. I did it anyway.
“Bullies,” I said. I didn’t talk much, but I always answered Cameron. He was my big brother and my protector, although I don’t think I needed his protection, but that’s what daddy says.
“Oh, I see now, those two are bullying the little blonde girl. Come on Rissa, let’s go stop them.”
I followed behind my brother and cousin. We marched up to the trio.
“You’re so ugly. Those glasses make your eyes look like bug eyes. Are you blind without them?” Emily asked, poking the new girl in the forehead.
I growled and went to launch myself at her, but Rissa caught me by the arm and shook her head. I glared at her, and she swallowed hard, but still shook her head.
“She probably is blind. Let’s take her glasses,” Jessica said in her nasally voice.
“I don’t think so. Do not touch her,” Cameron said. Emily and Jessica whirled around. When they saw who was behind them, they blanched.
You see, I had sort of a reputation. At five, I was very quiet. I didn’t react to anything unless I deemed it worthy enough to react to. I stabbed a teacher in the hand at the beginning of the year, because he put his other hand on my shoulder, and he made my skin crawl.
My dad came to the school that day. He smoothed things over with the principal and superintendent. He paid for the teacher’s medical bills. When he took me home he asked if I was okay. I nodded. Then he asked me why I did it.
I told him he touched my shoulder and made my skin feel icky. Since I hardly talked, he took notice. He and mama did some investigation, and it turned out he had pictures of little kids on his computer. Mom said she exposed him. He got fired, and I overheard papa B tell some of my uncles and my daddy that the teacher was pig food. I didn’t know what that meant, but I was just glad that teacher was gone.
After that, my dad had a meeting with the principal and the superintendent of the school. They left me alone now. My dad told Cameron and Rissa to keep a sharp eye on me.
“Cameron, Lyla, Narissa, we’re just playing with the new girl, right Dominique?” Jessica asked.
Dominique’s big eyes looked at us. I could see she was crying. I stepped forward, Emily and Jessica moved hastily away from me.
“Okay?” I asked, putting my hand on her cheeks. I wiped her tears away with my thumbs.
“I don’t like them,” she said in her tiny voice. I turned around and put my hands on my hips.
“She doesn’t like you,” I said.
Their mouths dropped open. Again, I wasn’t one to talk much. But I’d stand up for this girl.
“You girls better run away. Lyla’s mad, and I’m not going to hold her back today,” Narissa said.
Emily and Jessica ran away.
Cameron looked at Dominique and I turned around.
“You’ll be okay, kid. If those girls bother you again. You come find one of us,” Cameron said. I nodded.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
We walked away leaving her there.
The next day, I was under the tree watching all the kids play. Rissa and Cameron were playing tetherball. I didn’t want to get sweaty, so I sat in the shade.
I heard the shuffling footsteps coming up behind me. Daddy said I must always stay on guard. I didn’t know what that meant, so he said always listen to your surroundings, especially when you can’t see behind you. Papa Roberto taught me all about listening to my surroundings. He takes me hunting for rabbits sometimes. He says it’s our papa and Lyla time. I know he does the same with Narissa and Cameron too. The other cousins don’t get their time. Papa said they have to be older first. He even taught me how to start a fire with just the stuff around me. I liked papa Roberto time.
The footsteps stopped and I waited and waited. I sighed.
“Sit,” I said.
Dominique sat next to me. I could feel her stare.
“I like you,” she said. That had my eyes widening. No one liked me.
“No, no one likes me.”
“I do. You have pretty black hair. It’s like my cat’s. His name is Midnight. Do you have any animals?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because they take a lot of work. And they are messy. I don’t like messes.”
“Oh. Sometimes I get messy. I like to play in the mud and make mud pies.”
I knew I was looking at her with a disgusted look on my face because she lost her small smile.
“Does that make you think I’m weird?”
“No. It’s just messy.”
“Yeah, my mom is always telling me I’m a mess. But then she plays with me in the mud too and we both become messy. My daddy always laughs at us and shakes his head.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I didn’t say anything.
“Do you want to be my friend?”
“I don’t have any friends,” I said.
“Well, then maybe we can be friends. I don’t have any either, so it’s perfect. We can be best friends.”
She had a big smile on her face. I just stared at her. The longer I stared, the more eager she looked. She was waiting for my answer. It hit me then that this girl wasn’t scared of me. Even some of my cousins are scared of me, but not this girl.
“Okay,” I said.
“Yay! Do you think you can come and stay the night at my house tomorrow night?”
“Why?”
“Oh, um, it’s my birthday and I asked my mom if I could have a sleep-over. She said yes. But I didn’t have anyone to ask, until I thought of you.”
“I have to ask my mom.”
“Okay. Here, give this to her.”
She handed me an envelope that I didn't see she was sitting on. It had my name on it.
“Okay.”
When I got home, I handed the envelope to my mom.
“What’s this Lyla?” I shrugged my shoulders. She opened it and smiled. She looked really excited.
“Oh, Lyla, do you have a friend?”
“Yes, she says she’s my best friend.”
“Oh. Well, this is a party invitation. She wants a sleep-over. There’s a phone number here, so I am going to call her mom. Then maybe we can meet up and introduce ourselves to them.”
“Okay.”
I went to the living room where Cam was doing his homework, so I pulled out mine. It was the same as his. I got done really fast. He stared at me with his mouth open.
“You’re a freak Lyla,” he mumbled.
“I know,” I said. Because I did know. He wasn’t the only one to tell me that.
“Wywa, pway wif me,” Resa demanded. I scowled at her, she was always trying to boss me around.
“Okay, hide, I find,” I said. She squealed and ran off to hide.
I sat down and turned on my tablet.
“You’re so mean. You aren’t going to go find her are you?”
“No,” I said. “I will when mama says it’s time to eat.”
He scoffed.
Two hours later, I got up and went to find Resa. I knew where she would be. She hides in the same spot every time. We were fifteen months apart. I was almost 6, she had just turned four. I once got tested for my intelligence and scored off the charts. She still eats her crayons. I looked under her bed and she was asleep with her blanket and stuffed rabbit.
“Lyla!” mom called out. I went running back to the living room and towards the kitchen.
I stepped in and there was my daddy at the table with mama. They sat side by side and mama smiled at me.
“There’s my little ninja. Aunt Becs and your mom said you were doing real well with your lessons. Do you like practicing shooting with your B.B. gun with aunt Becs?”
“Yes. I am in the first red circle now, I’m getting closer to the middle circle on the target. Mama showed me how to throw with her throwing knives today. I can almost make it to the dummy that’s ten feet away. I’m just this short,” I said, holding my thumb and pointer finger close.
Daddy chuckled and opened his arms for me. I climbed into his lap. He and mama were the only ones I let touch me.
“Your mother called Mrs. Klinkle. Her number was on the invitation you got today. Do you want to go to their house and spend the night?”
“Yes, I like Dominique.”
“Well, we are going out to dinner with her parents tonight. We will be meeting them and assessing them. Your mom has already done a deep dive into them. They seem like good people.”
“Dominique and her mom play in the mud. Her daddy said they were a mess.”
That had my parents chuckling. “You, your sister and brother are going over to Aunt Becs. Can you go help get Resa ready?”
“Yes.” My daddy kissed me on the top of my head. Mama leaned over and kissed my cheek. Then she did this thing that I liked. She sniffed my ear, making me giggle.
“Oh my God, did you hear that honey, a giggle monster entered our very serious daughter. What should we do?”
“No, no, I’m going,” I said, hurrying off my daddy. If I didn’t, they would tickle me until tears came to my eyes. I fled with their laughter trailing behind me.
I went back to Resa’s room and low crawled under her bed and laid on my side facing her.
“Wake up sleepy head, I found you,” I said, brushing my pointer finger down her nose. Her little nose wrinkled, and her eyes fluttered open. She focused on me and smiled brilliantly.
“You so smawt, you found me.”
“I know. Mama and Daddy are taking us to Aunt Becca’s and Uncle Dozers. Bring your blanket and your rabbit.”
“K,” she said, turning on her tummy and wiggling out from under her bed. I did the same and then went to my room to grab my traveling pack. I put my favorite pillow in it. It was a brown pillow that looked like a Hershey bar. I got it at Chocolate World when we went on a family vacation last year. I ran to the living room and put my tablet and charging cord in. We left a little bit later.
When my parents dropped us off and said goodbye, I grabbed my mom's hand.
“What is it sweetie?”
“Don’t scare them please. I really like her.”
She smiled at me and nodded. “We’ll try our best.”
I watched them drive away. I really didn’t want to punish my parents if they scared my new friend away.
- Writer
