Chapter 4 (Riley)
#4 of First Steps 3: New Generations
Chapter 4 (Riley)
Warning: what you're about to read could be a bit boring; but it's part of my life story. My morning routine.
***
I wake up when my alarm goes off at approximately 7 o'clock every morning on a school day. I get out of bed, put on fresh new clothes and head downstairs. My parents don't usually wake up until 7:30 so I have to stay quiet.
I go into the kitchen, go into the cupboards and grab a pack of pop tarts. This is my usual breakfast. Well, that and a small cup of milk. As I open my poor arts and pour my milk, I get out my phone and text with Jo and Mike before I have to leave for school.
"Hey guys." I text them both. My parents say I mumble what I text sometimes; even though I admit that I've caught myself doing that too, I can't help but do it.
"Sup?" Jo texts me back.
"Hi :)" Mike. That guy always smiles whenever he talks to me. Even when he is sad or mad.
"Hey Mike. How r ya?" Then I tell Jo: "I'm good. How're u?"
I get a next from Mike almost immediately: "I'm good :) how r u cute fox?"
"I'm ok. I see ur still flirting with me."
"Is that ok? :("
"I'm fine with it. Just making sure it's just as friends." That's how most of my text conversations with Mike went. Ones with Jo mostly went like this: "hey"
"Hey"
"Whatre u doin'"
"Nothing." Silence for a while. I mean, we sometimes talk about stuff going on in our lives; but other than that, nothing really interesting.
When I'm done with my pop tarts and milk, I brush my teeth, get new clothes on, and start packing my school bag. It's nothing special; just a black ragged bag with an outline of a white fox on it. I also but my LGBT button it like I've always had it.
My parents' room is down the hall upstairs. If you're walking up the stairs, my room is a 180 degree turn to the right. Their room is at the end of the hall on the left.
I walk up their door as I'm getting my watch on. "Dads! I'm going to school!" I knock on the door and yell that.
"Ok! Stay safe!" I'm pretty sure that was Todd. With my bag on my shoulder, I walk down the stairs, throw on my shoes and walk out the door.
Before someone freaks out, two reasons my parents don't walk me to school: one it's literally right down the street, two Mike and Jo walk with me.
Mike's house is about 100 feet from mine and across the street. It's a nice house; not as big as mine though but it's good enough for him. It has two stories, pure glass windows, a wooden and creaky porch, and it's painted green.
I wait outside of his house for a moment for him to walk out. While I'm waiting, I can't help but think about that photo Jo found in my basement. Maybe I should ask my parents about it. Then again, why keep it secret?
"What's up!" Someone scares the daylight out of me and I see who it is. Jo. Of course.
"Jo! Do not! Scare me! Like that!" I say.
"Sorry. I saw you with your back turned and couldn't resist." She says. Why am I not surprised? Jo lives on the other side of my house; further uphill. "What are doing?"
"Waiting for Mike to walk out." I say.
"He's probably spending twenty minutes deciding what shirt to wear."
"Or maybe he slept it. It is the first day of school after all." After a moment, Mike does eventually walk out and joins us. He's wearing a hot pink t-shirt (I'm referring to the shade of the color), a pair of jean shorts and black sneakers. Suddenly, a sharp yet great smell hits my nose. It's kinda smells like roses and morning dew.
"What's that smell?" I ask before I realize what I said.
"Perfume." Mike says.
"Ok. Why?"
"I don't know. I thought it smelled good."
"It does it's just... your 10 and I'm pretty sure it's a bit unusual to be wearing that stuff at our age."
"Well, thought I'd might as well. What's the worst that could happen, right?" I'm not sure. As we start walking towards the school, my mind wanders back to the photo of that white bear. How does Angie know her? Does Bruno know about it? I need to know what else that photo is hiding from me.
Our school is only one story high, beige on the outside; but a bit boring on the inside. I can't help but think about the screening were gonna go through and how the principal is going to talk me into a middle school screening this year.
Going through the front doors for the first time in three months feels like I've been adopted again. It's like you know this place, yet you're not used to it.
The main office it to the left of the front doors. The cafeteria in immediately ahead of us. To the right are the majority of the classrooms. This year, me along with Jo and Mike are in the last room at the end of the hall. Ms Kara.
She's a white vixen with a blue tipped tail and a headful of short, blond hair.
When we enter the room, I take a look around. Only two other kids are here. One is a wolf with a propeller hat. Kinda reminds me of my dads' story of how they met. The other is a vixen with blue fur.
Our classroom this year looks a lot different than it did last year. Desks are aligned in 4 rows. Books are in the back of the class. The teacher's desk is in the corner. There's a white board in the front instead of a chalkboard. This is gonna take some time to get used to.
"How come there's only 5 of you?" Ms Kara asks. I look at the clock. She's got a point. The bell rings any minute now.
"How many are there supposed to be?" I ask. She looks at her class roster.
"15."
"I'm here!" The door opens an orange fox out of breath enters. I guess some people are running late; first day of school will do that to you.
"Where have you been, Jacob?" Ms Kara asks.
"I slept in. I forgot it was the first day of school. Again." The fox says. He takes a seat towards the front. I look over at my friends. Jo has a rubber band stretched out, aiming blindly.
"Jo." I whisper. She looks at me. "Don't." She rolls her eyes and puts it away. As students continue to come in, I learn more names faster than I thought I could.
Rachelle is a tiger cat that wearing clothes that only match her fur color: pink. Caleb is a wolf with white fur and one black ear. CeCe is a Dalmatian with a noticeable southern accent. One student in particular starts to raise questions for me.
He's a bulldog with a spiked collar, black shirt with a skull-and-crossbones on it and torn up jeans. Plus, one of his ears is pierced.
"Jase. Just like last year, you're the last one to show up." Ms Kara says.
"Whatever." He takes a seat towards the back. I know it's wrong to judge people by their appearance, but that guy is raising serious red flags for me. Even his voice is a bit intimidating, even though he only said one word.
The bell rings and it's all of a sudden silent. Ms Kara closes the door and begins to speak. "Well, it's good to see you all." I'll give you the rundown of the first day speech.
Her real name is Georgette Klarissa but she prefers Ms Kara. She's from a small town in Alabama then even I don't know. She came to Los Angeles to get a better job opportunity and was an elementary school teacher for 4 years, this year being her 5th. She's 27, married, and has two kids: Julia and Amelia.
Our classroom rules are mostly the implied ones from last year. Plus, on the first day, everyone has to do Screening to see where they stand as for reading/writing/math skills. It's that part that makes me somewhat nervous about this first day than any other I've had.
***
At around 10, the 5th graders are called into the library to begin Screening. I with Jo the whole time we head there. In this place, the library is just down the hall from my classroom this year. As we're slowly piling in, I hear someone mutter something. I'm not the best at specific hearing, especially with everyone speaking in low voices, but I swear the words I heard were: "Nice bag you had back there, Rainbow." I secretly scan the small crowd to try and find Mike, but I can't find him. Whoever the voice was, they were talking to me, and the tone did not sound friendly.
"Hey, Jo." I whisper to her.
"What?" She whispers back.
"Where's Jase?"
"Up there. Why?" She nods to a boy a few feet ahead of us. I definitely think I saw rapid movement out of the corner of my eye before I asked Jo about that. That's when I realize: Jase may not know me, but he definitely doesn't like me.
Once everyone from my grade is in (there's only like 66 or 67 5th graders here; roughly 20 for each classroom), our principal, Dallas, walks in. Wendell once described him as half fat and half buff and I kinda agree with him.
Once the teachers manage to get everyone to quiet down, Dallas speaks up. "Welcome, to your first day of school and, once again, another yearly round of Screening. As you know, every year, we test your reading, writing, and math abilities to see where you stand on an educational level. To see if you need improvement and if so, which area. When I say so, you may go find the seat with your Screening booklet and sit down and wait for a teacher to tell you to begin. If, at any time, you need to use the restroom, please tell an adult and they'll take you there. Please go find your Screening seats." After that, everyone scatters but the chatter doesn't really resume.
This is big enough that everyone can fit in here. I immediately start searching the desks for my seat. I find Jo's toward the front of the room, with Mike's being right across from her. Where's mine? I think.
I look around the room some more. Most of the students are already seated. That's when my eyes find a desk in the corner, at most 10 feet away from the nearest student. I slowly walk over to it and I see a Screening booklet on it. In gold letters on the front are the words I feared they would be there.
Riley McCarthy-Tripp.
I start to ask why. Why am I isolated from everybody else? That's when I remember Wendell and Dallas talked about my Screening. He said I should be doing a 6th grade packet and not a 5th grade to REALLY give me a challenge. I'm probably by myself so I can focus more.
I slowly take a seat and look around again. At least Jo is the one closest to me. I look at my booklet. Is has the symbol in the top right corner that I've seen on every Screening test I've ever taken: a black diamond with a white one inside it. It looks a few pages thickets than other Screeners. At least I'm only doing three subjects like everyone else. Most schools in the country also try to squeeze in science and history in their Screening, but here in California, we don't focus on that as much until middle school comes around.
A teacher comes by and gives me two sharpened #2 pencils, both with good erasers. We're also given a peppermint, but I'm not sure why they ever do that. Did someone somewhere prove that mints are some kind of relaxant?
"You have one hour to complete your screening." A teacher says. "Starting now." The sound of booklets opening fill the room as everybody starts their Screening. I open mine and see the first subject is math. Good. One of my best subjects.
Question: Graph x<12 on a number line.
That one's easy. I drew a number line, made an open circle around the 12 and shaded everything on the left.
Question: how do you find 5C3?
I remember seeing that C before and know that that means combination. After doing some math in my head, I knew the answer was 10.
Question: graph y = 3x + 10
Hold on. Graphing? I know how to do that. Using a grip that's on the same page, I make a dot 10 spaces above the x-axis then go over 3, up 1, over 3, up 1.
Something's wrong with this. How did I know that so easily? I've only seen graphing problems a couple times when I was at Jo's house sometimes I would look at Ashley's old homework assignments. I was never taught how to graph equations before. I guess I'm a fast learner. I take a look at some of the further questions. One requires me to solve a set of equations using substitution. Something is definitely wrong here.
No, I tell myself, you sound kinda crazy.
But graphing and substitution isn't taught in 6th grade. That's when I realize, I don't have a 6th grade Screening packet.
I have a 7th grade one.
Maybe I heard Wendell or Dallas wrong. But I have to know. I need to talk to my dad.
I raise my paw and a teacher comes by. I tell her I need to use the restroom. I get out of my seat and she escorts me to the bathroom down the hall. As soon as I lock myself in a stall, I turn my phone's sound off and text my dad. "Dad, I have a huge problem."
I wait for him to respond. Or for anyone to respond. After waiting 30 seconds, Wendell texts back.
"What's wrong?" He says. I quickly type back.
"What Screening level did you and Dallas discuss me doing?"
"6. Why?"
"I don't think I have 6. I think I have 7."
"I think maybe doing this was too much of a challenge for you." That settles it. My dad thinks it's too hard for me. I need proof that they're giving me a too hard of a test.
I quickly leave the bathroom to keep from suspicion. Once the teacher escorts me back to the library and back to my seat, I think about how to get proof that this is a 7th grade packet.
Before I know it, I'm on the reading section. I think about the front of the packet. It had my diamond symbol, my name... what else? I turn it back to the cover and look at the bottom. It has my school lunch number, and the test number.
Wait a minute. Test number! If I can look it up, I might be able to show Wendell that this packet is for 7th graders. Since phones are not allowed out, I'm stuck with having to memorize the sequence.
083519562501.
Never though I'd say it, but this isn't gonna be easy.