Little Differences

Jessie and I decide to walk home from school on this nice day. Because we live in the opposite direction of the school we began to walk behind the school building. As we are walking and playing the I Spy game we become so distracted that we barely pay attention to the sniffles coming from the other side of the school. “Shhh, do you hear that”, I say after hearing the sounds. “Yes, what is that”, Jessie asks. “Not sure, but we’re going to find out”, I say.

We begin to follow the sound and we come across Alani crouched down beside the dumpster. She has her face down in her lap. I go over to her and give her a light tap on the shoulders. Alani slowly raises her head and her face is covered in tears. “What’s wrong”, I ask. “Are you okay”, Jessie asks. “I’m fine meat head. Now go away. Both of you”, Alani manages to say. I am totally shocked at her attempt to still be mean when all we are trying to do is help her.

I open my mouth to speak but nothing comes out. I get a lump in my throat and my eyes begin to burn. Before the tears can fall, I start to run home. At that moment, I completely forget that Jessie is with me. I’m not sure how she does it but by the time I make it to my driveway Jessie is right behind me. “It’s okay, you know how Alani is. Don’t let her get you down” Jessie says while rubbing my back. “I just don’t understand her”, I say. “I better get inside, I’m sure mom is waiting”, I tell Jessie. “Yes, my parents are probably waiting on me too. See you later”, Jessie says. She takes off running to her house, two houses down from mine.

I go inside and before entering the kitchen, my dad comes around the corner. “Hey, there care bear. How is it going?”, he says to me. Care bear is a cute name that my dad picked out for me when I was smaller. He always tells me the story of the care bears that his little sister use to have when they were little. Dad tells me that as I started to grow and develop my personality, he knew right away that I was going to be a very caring person.

He was right. I care about things and people who don’t even appreciate it. I run over to dad and grab hold of him. Before I know it, I am crying again. “What’s the matter care bear?” I tell dad all the details of what happened afterschool with Alani. “We were only trying to help her”, I say while sniffling. “I understand. Maybe, she is going through something that you can’t quite understand yet” “Be nice to her and give her just a little space, she’ll come around”, dad says grabbing me up in a big hug. I feel much better after pouring my feelings out to dad. “All that crying has made me hungry”, I say with a grin. “Well, let’s go fix you a snack and then it’s homework time”, he says while walking me into the kitchen.