Chapter 4:
"Sit next to me, 'Kay?" Whitney asked as she took a seat in the middle of class. Of course I wasn't gonna say no; she was the only person I knew. As we started to open up our notebooks, I heard one of the girls in our class whisper loudly to another girl "Ugh, we gotta be in class with Miss Prissy again!" the other girl nodded. "She never says nothing. I bet she still thinks she's better than all of us!"
I looked over at Whitney, wondering if she heard what they said. By the way she looked down at her notebook to write on it, I think she did. "Hey Prissy Houston!" one of the girls said, tapping Whitney on the shoulder. She looked like she had ate one Honey Bun too many, because she was big. Whitney ignored her, continuing to write her name on her new notebook. "You heard her light bright!" yelled the other girl with the nappy hair and buck teeth. Whitney finally turned around to look at them. "Leave me alone!" she yelled. "Girl, who you thank you talking to?" the fat girl said. "Just you wait, I'ma beat you little scrawny tail up! I see nothing has changed over the summer; you still thank you too good to say something to people." "OOOOOOOHHH" the rest of the class said, egging it on. Whitney shook her head, looking kinda scared. "No I don't. Y'all are always messing with me and I haven't even done anything to you."
I kept watching them go back and forth, my head going side to side like a tennis ball. Now I know she wasn't lying about the kids being mean to her. I mean class hasn't even started and they were already ganging up on her.
Just as it was about to get really ugly, our teacher stepped into the classroom. "Good morning boys and girls and welcome to the 4th grade!" The older looking black lady said; everybody scrambled to their seats and straightened up. "My name is Mrs. Williams and I will be your teacher this year." "Good morning Mrs. Williams," we all replied back. Now before we get into class rules and first day information, I want you all to stand up and introduce yourselves so we can all be acquainted with one another." Everyone who stood up had to say their name, favorite color and what they like to do for fun.
When it came to Whitney, she stood up like she didn't really want to. By all the teasing she had already been through, I didn't really blame her. "My name is Whitney. Um, my favorite color is purple and for fun um…. I really like to sing." "Girl, I bet you can't sing, stop lying!" another kid called out and everyone (except me) started to laugh. Whitney stuck out her tongue at him, quickly sat down, and looked down at her desk. "That's enough class. We won't be mean to each other in here." Mrs. Williams told them over the giggles.
She pointed at me to go next and I stood up. Everyone gave me a weird look, probably because they never seen me before and maybe because I was what was considered real tall for my age. "My name is Calvin and I just moved here from Chicago. I guess my favorite color is blue and for fun, I like to play sports, eat and read books." The same boy snickered. "Read? Who reads for fun? I bet he's a nerd and a punk." I turned to look at him, my old Southside Chicago neighborhood creeping in. I know that he was trying to see how tough I was. "I also am really good at boxing and wrestling, so I would like to challenge you to either one." "Oooohhh" the class said again. The boy looked at me like he was going to do something to me. He must've looked at my face and height though, because he backed down and just said 'man whatever'. I may like books, but as boys, my dad always tells us to stick up for ourselves and don't let nobody punk us (or our little sister) around. Mrs. Williams yawned, looking like she was already bored with us. "Settle down children." As I sat back down, Whitney looked over at me and we both smirked at each other. She had never seen me act like that with anyone until now, so it had to be a little funny. I'm just glad that it was with someone that was being mean to her. She didn't deserve to be treated like that.