We Are Africans

By Joe

Summary: To better understand African-American people for a school project, Cindy is granted a wish to become black for a month. This story was requested by retro mania.

Author Notes: I do not own The Brady Bunch, its characters, or any other copyrighted material. I wrote this solely for entertainment purposes and not to make a profit.

Also, I respectfully ask that users not make any new requests until further notice. Please don't hint at requests (e.g. "I know that you're not doing requests, but it would be cool to see a fic written about…"). I am overwhelmed with numerous old projects, and working on new requests makes it hard to make any progress. Again, please do not make any new requests – or hint at them – until further notice. That said, I will still work on existing requests. Thank you.

Chapter 1

Cindy Brady's blonde, braided hair waved through the air as the eleven-year-old ran toward Clinton Avenue Elementary. Standing at the school's main entrance was Bobby – her dark-haired brother – now holding open one of the double doors for Cindy. Both kids were close to being late since they both hated to leave their warm, comfortable beds on this chilly Friday morning. The eleven-year-old had been running for almost a whole minute, and she was gasping for breath. However, Bobby and she both knew that it was in their best interest to get to school on time.

"Come on, Cindy, hurry!" shouted Bobby.

"I'm trying!" Cindy snapped between breaths as she ran past an intersection – where another girl ran around the corner and followed Cindy toward the school.

A few seconds later, just as Cindy approached the double doors, she felt her legs turning into gelatin. Bobby's eyes bulged in horror as he watched his sister leaning forward, and he jumped out of the way. Cindy stumbled through the doorway as the door nearly shut behind her. Cindy's shoulder hit a nearby wall, and she then tumbled backwards – pushing open the door.

"CINDY!" cried Bobby – who hurried to keep his sister from getting seriously hurt.

"OUCH!"

Bobby grabbed Cindy's hands and pulled her up. "You okay, Cindy?"

Cindy hyperventilated a little. "Yeah. My shoulder hurts a bit, but other than that, I'm okay."

"Well, you sounded pretty hurt when you hit that door," Bobby said.

"That wasn't me," Cindy said as the door behind them opened wider.

Standing in front of the kids was an African-American girl close in age to Cindy. With her black, braided hair, she looked almost identical to Cindy – aside from her skin color and the green bandana in her hair. At this point, the girl was clutching her forehead and staring downward as she groaned before looking up and staring angrily at Cindy.

"Yeah, it was ME!" snapped the girl.

Cindy's eyes bulged in horror at the sight. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! Did I hurt you?"

The girl rolled her eyes. "Did you HURT me? Like YOU'D care, anyway…" she snorted sarcastically as she walked into the corridor – still holding her forehead as she disappeared in the chattering crowd of students.

The door shut as Cindy looked at Bobby in confusion. "What was that all about? Did I do something wrong?"

Bobby shrugged. "Not that I can tell. I don't know what her problem is, but we'd better get going. We're going to be late," he said before running off. Cindy nodded, and with that, she hurriedly followed her brother farther into the toasty corridor – briefly shivering and sighing – happy that she at least was warm now.