purple sneakers

My name is Rosalie. I’m a new girl in this school. I go to Manasquan Elementary School and I’m in seventh grade. I used to live in Seattle, Washington, but that quickly changed after my father chucked a grapefruit at my mother and they got a divorce as soon as possible. My parents were always angry with each other, but never this angry. My mom wanted to get as far away as possible, so I had to pack up all of my crap and move across the country. I have yet to go to school. It is August 29th. School starts on September third and I moved here six days ago. My mom wanted to get all of the stuff out of the boxes so that we could “permanently” settle down.

In my old school I wasn’t popular. I don’t plan on being popular here either. I guess I’m different than most people. I have deep brown hair and pale skin. I dance and actually care about grades. I guess I’m a geek. I am excellent at math, but my teacher hates me.

I had two friends, and they always were so close. We never sat at the “loser” table, but we never sat at the popular one either. My two old friends were Tara and Kyle. Kyle was gay and, gosh, was he proud of it. Now I’m gone; another empty seat in the classroom; another empty locker; another lost friend.

I sat in my room. It was white with white carpet and my mom said that we could paint it when we had the chance. My bed faced the window. The yellow blanket was pushed back because of the heat. My orange sheet was pulled up on my blue and green pillows. My desk sat in a cubby next to the closet. It was blocked off by a room divider with chalkboard paint on it. I would be spending a lot of time in it.

I sat on my white dresser. My back was against the mirror. My legs were folded and I chomped on a muffin.

“Honey, I’m going out to my interview!”

“Okay, Mom. Good luck,” I called back.

My mom was always good at finding jobs. She didn’t hit on the boss or employees or managers, but she was just good. Her name was Heather Anne. I think the name is really odd, and so does my mom. I guess we are close. I was never close with my father. My mom was adopted, so she doesn’t know who her mother was to blame for the name.

I picked up the remote for my radio and turned it on. As the CD was loading up, I heard my mom pull away. I put the muffin down and started to hang my curtains. I stepped up on a bench and put the curtain rod with curtains already on it on the little things sticking out of the wall.

I stepped down and placed my blue stuffed bear on my bed. His name was Kyle. Kyle gave it to me before I left. Tara gave me her lucky ring and said that I would need it more. She was right; I did. I toyed with the small, hot pink ring.

I was still wearing my pajamas, so I went to my closet to get some clothes. I slipped on a yellow elephant tee and some short shorts. I picked a piece of my muffin off with my long, French manicured nails. I popped it in my mouth and put a thin line of eyeliner on. I never put too much make-up on, but always just a little bit. I put on my flip flops, turned off the stereo, and started downstairs.

As soon as we moved here, my mom got the newspaper and started to look for a babysitting job for me. Like always, she found one, and that’s where I was headed. She said that I needed to get a job and preoccupy myself. She was right; I did. My mother told me all aboutt he family after she was on the phone for about two hours chatting about family and crap like that. I stepped outside and grabbed my green cruiser. As you can tell, I’m a very colorful person. I rode down the streets on a list of directions my mom gave me and locked my bike on the sidewalk. I paced myself. I’ve babysat before, but I grew up knowing the people. Here, I knew no one. I walked onto the porch and rang the doorbell. I waited for a little while and a woman carrying a baby came to the door.

“Hi, I’m Rosalie; Heather’s daughter.”

“Oh, right,” she said as she stuck out her hand. “This is Christopher, I’m Rebecca, and this is Amelia.”

I looked down and saw a girl standing there in a pink dress.

“Come in, Come in,” she gestured. I stepped inside the large house. “Amelia, go get your daddy, okay?”

Amelia ran out of the room and called, “Daddy?”

Rebecca placed Christopher in a high chair with some Cheerios on the place mat. She went behind the counter. I sat down on the stool.

“Hello Rosalie.”

“Hi.”

“Welcome to Manasquan,” she started with more small talk. “Well, I guess I will see you very often from now on, so I will tell you every important thing that goes on. Amelia will go to the same school as you next year, so I hope that you can pick her up at the front kindergarten gate.”

“Sure, I will just need to find where it is when I go to school.”

“Christopher goes to day care on week days, but he has a small cold today.”

“Should I pick him up on weekdays?”

“Oh, yes please. Amelia might try to convince you that she doesn’t need “swimmies” in the pool, but she can’t swim well.”

“Mommy, Daddy’s here.”

“Yes I am,” said a tall, young man walking in. He sat down next to me on a stool.

“Steve, I was just talking to Rosalie about babysitting.”

He stuck out his hand for me to shake and I shook it. I hated meeting new people. I hated this town already.

“Hi,” he greeted.

“Hi.”

We both turned back to Rebecca and Christopher, but I felt a slight tug on my shorts. I looked down and saw Amelia waiting for me to lift her up and put her on my lap. I lifted her up and her butt plopped down on my right thigh. I shook my leg up and down to amuse her.

“What else,” Rebecca asked herself. “Oh yeah, they both get small snacks after school with a juice. No TV unless it’s raining out, but there is still another thing to do. Usually, Puff, the dog, gets a walk around three thirty. Christopher’s stroller is in the garage. His nap is at four thirty. I will be back from work around four forty-five, and that’s mainly it.”

I shook my head and Rebecca looked at her watch. “Oh, I’ve got to get to the gym soon.”

I saw her run up to her room

“And I’ve got to get to work,” I heard Steve say as he went over to fill his mug with coffee. He looked at the calendar on the side of the stainless steel refrigerator, pointed, and nodded. “Amelia, don’t you have a play date with Marissa today?”

“Yup!”

“Well, you better get ready, because you have to walk there.”

“Fine,” she mumbled and I lifted her off my lap. I got up and started after her on the stairs to help her.

Rebecca shot out of her room with Christopher and a hair tie in the mouth. “Rosalie, can you take Chris from me so I can go?”

“Sure,” I said as I lifted him off her hip.

“Thanks so much.”

The couple left and I placed Christopher against pillows in Amelia’s bed.

“Need help Amelia?”

“Can you put my f-a-lip flops on?”

“Sure,” I said as I grabbed two yellow flip flops out of the closet. “These ones?”

“No; the pink and “bue” ones.”

I lifted the flips out and tilted my head as a question. She nodded and I slipped the proper shoe on each foot.

“Let’s go,’ I said as I picked Christopher up and shoved them out of the room. I closed the door behind me and turned off the light. We walked into the joined garage and I yanked out Chris’s stroller. I placed him inside and Amelia grabbed the side.

“Where does Marissa live?”

Amelia pointed down the street, “Purple house.”

“Purple house,” I repeated after her as I pushed the stroller. “So Amelia, what are you two gonna’ do there?”

“Play dollies on the swings.”

It sounded odd, but I used to play with my dolls in weird places of the house. Amelia let go of the stroller and began to turn in little ballerina spins.

“Amelia ,grab the side, cars get very close, and I don’t want you in the street.”

“Fine,” she sighed.

I stuck out my right hand and she grabbed it. She started to swing her hands. I stopped at the purple house and walked up to the door. I knocked on it and a dog started to bark. Christopher was in my arms and I shifted him to my hips. Amelia’s short body stood at my side. A small girl opened the door as I heard a woman run after her.

“Marissa, can you wait for me” asked a woman with a hair tie in her mouth as she smoothed her hair into a ponytail. She put her hand on her daughter’s back, but the two girls quickly hugged each other and ran into the other room.

“Bye Amelia.”

“Bye!”

“I’m their new babysitter,” I told the woman.

She gave me an uninterested “oh” and shut the door in my face. I slipped Christopher back into the stroller and jogged back to the house.