"'Nii-cha

"'Nii-cha! Don go!" My little brother TK cried pathetically. I'm not sure, but I think he mean to say, 'Oniichan, don't go!' TK is only two, so he isn't so good at talking.

"Sorry Teeks, I havta go to school." I wished I could do what TK asked. I didn't want to go. I wanted to stay home and play. But Mommy said I had to go, and she cried when she said that. She said she would miss me being around all day.

Everyone in my family cries a lot. Mommy does, I do, TK does, even Daddy does. But not Daddy so much as the rest of us.

"Yamato? Sweetie I don't know if you're going to be able to go today. The bus isn't running for the next week, and I have to go to work, I can't drive you. And Daddy already left." I smiled very hard.
"Great! So I can stay home!"
"No, Yamato, I'll find a way for you to get there. I'll call Blossom and see if she can take you. She has to get Jyou and Shin to school anyway." Blossom is Mommy's best friend. They did a lot of babysitting for each other. That's why I saw Jyou a lot. He wasn't someone who I would normally be friends with, but he was nice enough. I didn't like his brother though. He was really mean.

Mommy picked up the phone and dialed Blossom's number. "Hi Blossom…I was wondering if you could take Yamato to school while you take Shin and Jyou…your not?… They're walking? Are you crazy?…Blossom it's six miles, and your having a six- year-old, and a nine-year-old go on their own?…Blossom for crying out loud…theirs a huge highway…I know you have to work on your writing, but this is stupid…I'm glad you agree…you changed your mind, your driving?…Good…I was worried…you'll take Yamato?…thanks Blossom you're a lifesaver." She hung up the phone.

"Yamato? Blossom's going to pick you up in a few minutes. Don't worry I'll walk you to school tomorrow. But I really have to work today." She said. "Your ready?"

I nodded. "Okay. Love you Mommy."
"Love you to sweetie." She kissed me on the forehead and shooed me out the door. I waited on our lawn, and in a minute or so, Blossom's blue car pulled up. I think blue is there family color or something. They all wear blue, and they all have blue hair.

"Yamato!" Blossom called. "Hop in sweetie!" She opened the car door and I got in. I sat in the backseat, next to Jyou.

"Hi."

"Hi."

"How're you?"

"Okay. Terrified out of my mind, but okay." Jyou had a tendency to exaggerate, and have irrational fears, but I asked why anyway.

"School."

"You've been there before. Why are you scared?"

"Because I know how bad it is."

"Is school really bad?" I believed his every word. At the time, I didn't know that his perception of the world was…weird. When he told me things were scary even though I had no reason to be scared of them, I was scared. He was sort of like my oniichan, even though we weren't related. We had known each other forever, and were together as often as we would be if we were brothers. I believed everything he said, no matter how crazy it sounded. The way TK believed everything I said.

"Maybe not for you. I don't know. Yamato, do you hate me?"

"No. Why?"

"Well everyone else does. That's why school is so bad."

"Will everyone hate me to?"

"I don't know. I hope not."
Blossom glared at Jyou from the front seat. "Jyou, stop terrorizing Yamato." She looked at me. "It's really not bad. Jyou's just exaggerating."

But when I looked in his eyes I knew he wasn't. I knew it was every bit as awful as he said it was. And I became terrified to go to kindergarten.

We pulled up in front of the school. There were hundreds of cars doing the same thing, but Blossom would be going right home afterwards, so she didn't need to park properly. She just double-parked.
We got out of the car. Jyou and I lagged behind, while Shin ran into the building, and we didn't see where he went. Blossom didn't seem worried.
Blossom led us to the third floor. She pointed to the kindergarten class I would go to. "Go on ahead Yamato. Sorry your Mom's not there to take you to the door." She and Jyou walked to the other side of the floor, where he would go to first grade. She was talking to him very calmly, while he cried.

I opened the door. The lady who stood at it was an old, not-smiley scary lady. I wanted to run away, but I knew I had to go in. I sat down at the first table. Everyone else looked scared of the mean-faced lady to, except for a girl with a funny hat. She laughed and giggled, saying the teacher's lips looked like froggy lips!

Everyone stared at her, wondering how she could laugh at a time like this. But she kept on smiling, and soon she put everyone in a good mood. Except me.

I saw I was the only one un-happy, and now that I had no support, I started to cry. The kids at my table tried to comfort me, but I ignored them and kept crying. I couldn't stop for the whole next period.

Eventually, they all got tired of my tears. They laughed at me. That made me want to stop. But I couldn't. I just couldn't stop crying. I was so scared. So far it hadn't been bad, the way Jyou had said. But I was petrified that it would be. Soon. And their laughing made me cry more. I hated the sound of their laughter.

The teacher, Miss Hihato, screamed at me. "Yamato! Stop crying and pay attention!" I tried to focus on the numbers on the board, but I couldn't see them through my tears.

Finally, lunch rolled around. I still cried. I didn't know why I was crying anymore. I just couldn't stop. Finally, the girl with the funny hat, whose name was Sora, came up to me, and shoved me! I toppled over, and lost my spot on the lunch line. I was angry, but I'd stopped crying. I hadn't been expecting it, and it was a shock that knocked out the tears. "Whad'ja do that for?" I yelled.

"To get you to stop crying." She took my hand and helped me up. She smiled and laughed some more. She ran back to the lunch table, dragging me with her. She took a paper cup, a tea bag, and a thermos of hot water, out of her lunch bag. "You can have my tea. I hate it, but Mommy packs it anyway."
"Don't you need to eat?"

"Uh course. I got's rice balls anyway. I don't need icky tea." She took out a pack of rice balls and started eating. I poured the hot water into the cup and put the tea bag in.
"Arigato." I said.

"No problem. You look like you need someone to be nice to you anyway. Why did you cry so much?"
"I-…" I didn't know how to answer.

"Well?" She asked over an over again until she got fed up, and shrieked so loud her voice cracked. "Ow…"

"I was…I was crying because I'm scared of kindergarten. Someone told me it was awful, and so far he's right."

"Do you miss your mom?" I nodded.

"Maybe that's all it is. But whatever it is, cry in the boys bathroom from now on. It's better for people to think you have a bladder infection then to think you're a crybaby!" She laughed some more. This girl was amazing. She could turn any situation into a joke!

We went out in the yard when we finished eating. I wandered around aimlessly, until the bell rang. I heard terrible sounds of pain coming from everywhere. I avoided it.

When I got inside, we had an art class. I drew a picture of school. Strangely, I didn't think I needed to add horrible clouds circling it. School wasn't so bad.

But a girl with green hair that went in spikes wanted me to cry. She made fun of my picture, and took it and tore it up. I tried to ignore it, but I started to cry again. It was to late. Everyone already thought I was a crybaby.

School ended quickly. I waited for half an hour, and my mommy finally showed up. "I'm sorry I'm late sweetie!" She said, running over to me and kissing me. "To much traffic. Come on, it's time to go." She was holding TK. He grabbed a piece of my hair and chewed on it. "So, tell me about your day."

"I-" I wanted to say, 'I don wanna', the way I used to say I didn't want to take a nap. But instead I said, "I'd rather not, thank you."