The family heard the scissors cutting, separating the cord that held the daughter to her mother. The first cry from the baby echoed off the white, plastered walls. Soothing noises could be heard as the nurse wrapped a pink blanket around her small form. The nurse walked over to the new mother and father with the pink bundle. She gently handed the girl over to the mother while showing her how to support the infant's head.
"Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Tate! It's a girl."
Soft cooing could be heard from the father while the mother gently rocked her back and forth.
"Hello sweetie. I'm your mommy. And this is your daddy. We've decided to name you Margaret. Margaret Elizabeth Tate."
As if on cue, Margaret opened her tiny mouth to yawn.
Finally Aaron, the father, spoke. "She's beautiful. She reminds me a lot of you."
"And she'll have your personality. Smart, nice, and wonderful."
"I'll make sure she gets into a good college and has fun at the same time."
The new parents looked down at their daughter as she finally settled down into a comfortable position between her mother, Susan's, arms and chest.
Margaret turned 5 in July. Therefore she was able to start Kindergarten today. She woke up at 6:30 and bounced out of bed to eat her breakfast and get ready.
"Mama, I wanna have my hair in piggy tails and I wanna wear my yellow dress. I wanna be all pretty for my first day of school."
Susan laughed while she picked Margaret up and carried her over to her bed. "Okay sweetie. Start brushing your hair now while I go find the dress."
Susan looked back and watched her daughter brush through her hair with her pink brush and hum to a made up tune. She smiled whenever she watched her daughter get excited about something. Susan and her husband were never able to afford taking Margaret to a pre-school so she was pleased that her daughter talked about making friends with everyone.
"Okay sweetie, I have your dress. Is your hair brushed?"
"Yes, mama."
Susan brought the dress over and pulled it over Margaret's head while the little girl pulled her arms through. Then Susan pulled Margaret over and sat her on the bed to brush her daughter's hair. When she finished brushing her brown locks, she got Margaret's matching yellow shoes.
"Come on sweetie, I have to drive you to school now. Otherwise you won't make it on time and that's never good."
"Okay." Margaret took her mother's hands and followed her to the car.
"Mama, I wanna be like you when I grow up."
Susan was surprise by the words that came out of the blue. "That's nice sweetie, but you know, you can be whatever you want to be."
"I know, I wanna be like you."
Susan glanced at the rear view mirror and watched her daughter playing with her Barbies. The brown curls in her pigtails fell around her face. Her chocolate eyes glistened when the sun fell through the window. She was going to be so beautiful when she grew up. Susan hoped she was around to see it.
~~~~~~~3~~~~~~~~~
When they arrived at the school about five minutes later, Susan turned around in her seat to look at Margaret.
"Hey sweetie. We're here. Are you ready?"
Margaret unbuckled her seat belt and pulled herself out of her booster seat and over to the window. She looked out at the school and watched kids hugging and running in front of a long, tan building. She saw kids about her size and kids a lot bigger, which she assumed were the kids in higher grades.
"Yeah mom, I'm ready." Her voice was whispered and shaky.
Susan's brow rose in concern as she watched her daughter. Margaret opened the door and stepped out. A few seconds later, her mom followed with Margaret's pink backpack.
"Any last questions?" Susan asked.
"Yeah, how do I look?"
Susan smiled as Margaret spun in a circle. "Pretty as a princess."
Margaret smiled as well while she took her back pack and lunch box. "Like Belle did when she found her prince inside the monster."
"Now come on. We have to meet your teacher." Susan took Margaret's hand and lead her toward the entrance of the school.
When they entered the front doors student, parents, and teachers were crowding the doors and walking around. Susan looked up at the signs taped above each door until she saw Margaret's teacher's name.
The woman had light blonde hair and hazel eyes. She wore a light brown eye-liner with light pink lip gloss. She looked to be in her mid-twenties, if not her young thirties. When she saw Susan and Margaret walk over she smiled. Her teeth were straightened perfectly and the white hue stood out from her tan skin. She extended her hand out to shake Margaret's when she spoke. "Hello. Are you one of my students are do you need help?"
"I think you are my teacher." Margaret's brown eyes curiously roamed the hall way and the class room behind the teacher.
"Well then, what's your name?"
"Margaret Elizabeth Tate. What's yours?"
"I am Miss Doodle. Do you have any nicknames?"
"What's a nickname?"
"It's something a person calls someone else that isn't their name."
"Oh, my mama calls me sweetie."
Miss Doodle laughed at Margaret's innocence before telling her she'd keep letting her mom be the only one to call her that and then directed her into the classroom and telling her to find any seat she wanted.
Susan kissed Margaret on the cheek before letting her daughter wander into the class room. Then she turned and headed back to the car.
Meanwhile, Margaret stepped into the classroom and watched as all the kids eyes turned to her. She saw two girls sitting at a table and walked over. Smiling she asked "Can I sit with you guys?"
"NO, I'm not a guy. Ima gurl AND you're wearing pigtails so you are gross."
The girl sitting next to the one that spoke laughed. The boys at the next table snickered until a boy with blonde hair spoke up. "Do you know what the means?"
Margaret looked bewildered. Were these kids making fun of her? How was she suppose to reply? This was not what she thought school was suppose to be like.
The boy continued, "It means pigs are gross. So if you have pigtails you are gross."
Margaret didn't know what to say to the kids. Her face started heating up and her cheeks turned red. She tucked her bottom lip between her teeth to keep it from quivering. Her round eyes looked down at her yellow shoes as her eyes started to pool over and her vision blurred. Margaret's lungs felt like they were tightening up as she turned around and found an empty table in the corner of the room.
~~~~~~~3~~~~~~~~
The end of the day came causing all the students to run outside and find their parents. Well, almost all. Margaret just slung her backpack over her shoulder when Miss Doodle walked over to her.
"Hey Margaret, how did you like your first day of school?"
"I don't like school. No one talked to me. No one wants to be my friend." Her arms crossed her chest as she let out a grunt and frowned.
"Well," Miss Doodle felt sympathy for the girl. She felt bad that no one could see the potential for being a great friend in the energetic girl. "If you let me, I'll be your friend."
Margaret's face lit up as she looked at Miss Doodle and realized she was serious. She hugged Miss Doodle and ran out of the school like the other kids earlier. Margaret saw her mother in the parking lot smiling and waving.
When Margaret reached her mother, she hugged her and proceeded to tell her how her day was.
". . . and then after school Miss Doodle told me she would be my friend." The whole way home Margaret told her mother about Miss Doodle.
It was the middle of her first grade year when Margaret was sitting on her purple bed playing with her Barbies. She opened her mouth to talk for Ken and she felt an uncomfortable pain in her mouth. She looked down and watched as one of her teeth fell out onto the bedspread in front of her. Margaret, being six, didn't know her teeth fell out and started to get uncomfortable. She got off her bed in search of her mother.
"Mama, I think my tooth fell out." Her bottom lip jutted out and her chocolate brown eyes looked into her mother's similar eyes.
Susan smiled and looked at her daughter. "Hey sweetie. I think you lost your first tooth."
Margaret's eyes widened and her mouth hung open. "What? But I can't loose a tooth. I need my teeth. I'll look weird without them and the kids at school will make fun of me. I don't want missing teeth. And you said my 'first tooth'. Does that mean I'll loose more? No, I don't want to look like grandpa. Does this mean I'm going to start getting wrinkly too?"
Susan laughed as Margaret paced around the bedroom with wide eyes before landing face first on her bed.
"Relax sweetie. A new one will grow back."
Margaret grunted. "Grandpa's hasn't."
"Well your grandpa isn't as young as you. But everyone looses their teeth when they're your age. And then a new, bigger one grows back."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
"Am I still pretty with a missing tooth?"
"Pretty as a princess."
"Like Belle."
"Yes, like Belle."
Margaret smiled a toothless grin before frowning and looking back at her mother. "Will I lose my arms and legs too so new, bigger ones will grow back?"