AN: Hi everyone. =] it's been a while. this chapter is fairly short and more of a prologue/introduction. I don't how this came to me but it did, and i liked it so here's the beginning. I hope you enjoy it. More to come!
Disclaimer: I don't own. so sad.
Growing
Age 5
"Mommy…..I don't wanna go to school! I DON'T WANT TO! I DON'T!!".
The small child wrestled out her mother's grasp and ran back under the covers of her bed.
"Honey, it's your very first day of school! You should be excited! Don't you want to make friends and learn to read?"
"NO! I want to stay home!"
"Maureen you will get out of bed now and you will be going to school. Don't make me count," her mother threatened. She'd been trying to get her daughter out of bed for the past 15 minutes. Seeing that her daughter wasn't moving, she began to count.
"ONE….TWO…"
Maureen pushed her covers to the side and got up. She huffed, and stomped towards her mother.
"Thank you." Her mother said. She pulled her along to the bathroom, finally getting her daughter ready for school.
XxxxX
"Momma!!! Wake up wake up!" whispered the small curly haired girl. She had crept into her parent's room after waking up herself.
Her mother stirred before she opened one eye and saw her daughter. Her eye flicked to the clock on her nightstand. It was 5:00am.
"Joey, sweetie, its too early."
"But momma, I have to get readyyyyy." Joanne grabbed her mother's arm, pulling at it with all her might but her mother wasn't budging, "Come on momma!!"
"Alright alright…" she said groggily.
The small child smiled widely, finally succeeding in waking her mother. "We can make breakfast too right momma? Let's make breakfast!"
"Mmm hmmm". She let her daughter drag her along with her hand to the kitchen, stifling a yawn.
She smiled as she watched her daughter run towards the kitchen seeing how excited she was to go to school. Since birth, both her parents noticed that she was very curious and was always learning new things from watching and listening. She picked things up very quickly and when tested during preschool, her intelligence was off the charts for the average 4 year old. Today was an exciting day for Joanne, she'd been telling everyone who would listen that she was going to start going to a real school now.
"Joey, what do you want to eat?" Her mother asked.
"I dunno momma! You pick!! You pick!" Joanne was practically bouncing off the walls, making Mrs. Jefferson wonder how anyone can be so perky at 5:00am in the morning.
XxxxX
Little Maureen watched as all the children ran around the yard, playing before class started. Her mother walked her into the school and left her standing in line in front of her assigned class room, leaving soon after to go to work.
She eyed the little brown skinned girl walking hand in hand with her mother. She felt a small pang of hurt, jealous that her mother wasn't there to wait with her like this mother and daughter. The pair was coming towards her. They stood behind Maureen waiting until the bell rung, making Maureen feel extremely self-conscious.
Mrs. Jefferson looked down at her daughter, "Remember to behave okay? I'll be here to pick you up at 2:00. Have a good day honey." She leaned down to kiss Joanne's cheek, stroking her short curly hair.
"Bye momma!" Joanne said, watching her mother walk towards the exit of the school.
Joanne finally noticed the other girl standing in front of her. She had really curly light brown hair and Joanne noticed that she was a little shorter that her, making Joanne extremely proud to be taller than someone. She tapped the smaller girl's shoulder, watching her turn around.
"Hi."
"Hi"
"I'm Joanne. What's your name?"
"Maureen," she said, not really wanting to talk to this girl. She was mad that the girl had her mother's attention but Maureen never got any of her own.
"Wanna be friends?" Joanne asked, smiling.
Maureen shook her head angrily.
Joanne's smile faltered. Before she could say anything more, their teacher began to walk them inside the classroom, placing them in their assigned seats. Joanne's feelings were hurt after being rejected by Maureen. She didn't understand why someone wouldn't want to be her friend. She sat at her seat, shrugging it off. She decided she wouldn't speak to Maureen for as long as they knew each other.
Their first year in school together was nothing but normal. They didn't play together, but each found their own friends. Maureen was very aggressive, always competing against the boys and hitting them. There'd been several times where their teacher took away recess from Maureen for causing so much trouble.
Joanne on the other hand was a diligent student. She was able to pick up reading fairly quickly and always colored within the lines. She was the first the raise her hand to pronounce a word and if she couldn't she kept trying.
After their little incident at the beginning of the school year, they never spoke a word to the other, nor did they share with one another.
Little did both girls know, this was only the beginning of their story, together and apart.
AN: i hope that was okay. please review. i'm glad to be writing again after a while. thanks for reading! =]