Fifth period went by quicker than usual. I walked over to my sixth period class where I met Derek again. He shoved me away from the door.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Ladies first doesn't make sense to me because ladies last seems more reasonable looking at the fact ladies and last begin with the letter 'l'. Just like your name, Loser." He smirked and his friends laughed from behind. They walked in and I rolled my eyes following behind them.

Sixth period was sadly longer than my other classes even though sixth was my favorite class, science. Derek and his pack of idiots kept throwing pencils and spit wads at me. How I know this? When I got home I found many spit wads in my hair. Unrolling one that read "Stay in place, loser!"

I sighed. My mom knocked on the door and came in patting her stomach which carried my little brother or sister soon to come. "Hun, you alright? You seemed down when you walked in."

I looked at her forcing a smile. "I'm fine, Mom. Just a typical, boring day at school that wore me out."

She stared at me in silence for a few seconds. "Well, alright. If somethings bothering you, you be sure to let me know first, okay?"

I nodded. "Alright, Mom."

"Okay. Oh, you have a piece of paper in your hair, Rachie." She pointed to the left side of her black hair directing me to the spit wad in my hair.

I picked it out and threw it in the waste basket. "Right." I mumbled a bit annoyed.

"I love you, Rachel Baby," she told me.

"I love you too, Mama. Please don't call me baby. I'm not a baby anymore."

"Sorry, Sweetie. You'll always be my baby though." She walked over to me and kissed my forehead.

I felt tears coming on. I wanted to jump into her arms and cry my eyes out like I use to as a little kid and tell her about the terrible people there are in this world. But I wasn't twelve anymore. I was a mature fifteen year old turning sixteen in five days. I held back the tears and watched as she walked out of the room.

She looked at me her brown eyes met my fathers green eyes. "You sure your okay?"

I tucked a strand of my black hair behind my ear. "I'm fine, Ma."

She nodded. "Alright." She walked out of my room and shut the door.

I felt small tears roll down my cheeks. So, this is what it's like when you grow up? You wish you could just jump into your childhood again? Maybe this is just the beginning of growing up.

I wiped my tears and brushed my hair with a comb to get rid of the last spit wads stuck in my hair.

I wonder if there was a possible way for the bad to become good. I can't tell on him. That would be stupid and childish. I'm just going to do what most people do; just ignore them.

After spending hours on homework, my dad whistled and called me downstairs.

I dropped my pen and walked downstairs to help set up dinner. When I reached the last step he surprised me with a flash from a camera.

"Hey, Hun. Guess who's almost sixteen?" Dad sang.

I put on a small smile and he snapped another picture.

"Dad, I don't like being in pictures. You know that too," I said still smiling a little.

"Well, since when does your little girl turn sixteen?" he asked winding the camera.

I walked over to him and took the camera out of his hands putting it on the counter. "I'm not really 'little' anymore."

"Well, you're little to us!" Mom called, peeking her head out of the kitchen keeping her eye on her cooking. "We're getting too old."

I walked over to her and hoped up to sit on the counter next to the stove, swinging my legs without kicking the cabinets. "Mom, you aren't old."

She stirred the red sauce a little and then took the noodles and poured them into the strainer. "Oh, puh-lease," she said, mocking me with a smile.

"Hey!" I exclaimed. She held up a spoonful of the spaghetti sauce to my mouth. "That's my line." I told her as I took a sip of the sauce. I smacked my lips and made a face. "Hmm. Perfect!" I announced.

"Good! It's ready then." She stated, pouring the sauce into a serving bowl. I ran to the dining room and sat in the middle while Dad set the table. I waited to be greeted by the pleasant taste of Mom's spaghetti.

Laying in bed while listening to soft music was always my favorite time of the day. I would listen to my heart's content, until I drifted into a peaceful slumber. My favorite song to listen to is Cherish by Ai Otsuka; it's really calming and quiet, even though it's in Japanese. I stared at the ceiling listening to Cherish over and over again. I would yawn about every fifteen minutes. I would blink sleepily starting to drift away. When I was laying in bed listening to this song it made me think of the beauty life had. The living things that surround other living things, and love. Especially love. Love was a grand thing to take hold of. I have never given in to the emotion. I didn't think of the beauty of love much, but this song made me think of all beautiful things including love. . . and even death. . .