New Start

“Oh Mom, why do we have to move?  I just signed up for the basketball team with Ryan.”  I whined to my mostly annoying stepmother.  “Because we need a change.” said Mom, who was stacking her jewelry boxes (she has five!) into a box.  “Yeah, but I like living in Wyoming.” I said, thinking about my best friends.  Mom ignored me and started to put her shoes in another box.  “I like having the same colored houses, and having all white people in class.  I even have all boys.”  I continued, starting out the window at all the rows of same colored, sized houses.  When I looked back, Mom was gone.  I walked into the hallway.  She was getting down more boxes from the attic.  “Now you pack.” she said, putting the boxes in my arms.  “Did you hear what I said?” I asked her, throwing the boxes in my room.  “Yes, I actually did.” Mom said, closing the attic door.  “But, all my friends are counting on me and--”  Mom put a finger to her lips.  I stopped talking.  “We need some diversity around here.” said Mom.  She kissed my forehead.  “You need some diversity, Tommy.”  Ugh, I hate it when they call me Tommy, I thought.  But so far, my ratings for diversity is:  BAD!!!

The next day, I walked up the sidewalk to Bayside Middle School.  It loomed in front of me like a haunted house, asking, Come in, if you dare!  I sucked in a deep breath of air and walked in.  Ryan was waiting for me at the water fountain.  “What’s up, yo?”  We gave each other a high five.  Two other guys joined us.  I stared curiously.  “Meet…” Ryan said, pausing for effect (I love it when he does that.) “…the awesome Basketball Twins!”  The two guys shook hands with me.  Then I whispered in Ryan’s ear, “the bell’s about to ring.”  He nodded and we walked away from the boys.  I kept my head low, trying to make sure Ryan didn’t see my tears.  But Ryan has these hawk like eyes that can see everything.  Literally.  “Dude, what’s wrong?” he asked.  “Nothing.” I said.  But Ryan knew better.  “Really, Tom, what’s wrong?”  I whispered, “I’m moving.”  Ryan’s jaw dropped open.  Then the bell rang.  “I’m sorry.” said Ryan, giving me a slap on the back.  I felt a tear roll down my cheek.  We rushed to our homeroom.  “Here.” said Ryan, taking a basketball handkerchief out of his backpack.  “Thanks.” I said, wiping my eyes.  We opened the door to homeroom and took our seats. I tried to give the handkerchief back to Ryan but he wouldn’t take it.  “It’s yours.” I said, putting it on his desk.  He put it back on mine.  “Ok class, we are going to start Language Arts.” said Mrs. Swirl.  “Boys.” she said, “pay attention.”  I definitely don’t want to be called a crybaby but I almost cried.

After a long day of school, I walked home with Ryan.  For a few minutes we walked in silence.  Then Ryan spoke up.  “I wrote down my phone number.”  He said uneasily.  “Here.”  I took the small piece of paper.  On it said:  RYAN’S PHONE NUMBER 207-555-6578.  I looked up.  “Thanks.” I said sadly.  “Where are you moving to?” asked Ryan.  “Washington D.C.” I said, kicking at all the rocks I saw.  Ryan stopped in his tracks.  “Washington D.C.?!?!” he yelled excitedly.  “Yeah.”  I said, surprised by his reaction.  “Dude, that’s awesome!” he said, jumping up and grabbing a branch from a tree.  “What’s so great about it?” I asked, curious to know what he was so excited about.

 “That’s where so many monuments are!” Ryan said, waving at a car.  “You will be able to look out the window and instead of seeing all the same types of houses, there will be
different colors, sizes and shapes everywhere!”  He continued.  “When you go to school, there will probably be black, white, even medium skin!”  Then an evil grin spread across his face.  “There will be chicks.” he said dreamily.  “Tell me about the cute ones ok?”  Ryan is possessed by girls.  I don’t see anything wrong with them.  “Your real mom used to live there, right?” asked Ryan.  “Yep.” I answered, amazed that Ryan could talk so fast.  “That was before she got killed in that car.”  Ryan pursed his lips.  “It’s ok.” I said, patting him on the back.  We came to my house.  Maybe diversity isn’t so bad, I thought.  I give it a rating of OK.

“Tom.  Tommy.  Tom. Tom. TOM!!!”  I woke up staring into my father’s eyes.  “Hey, Dad.”  I said, giving him a hug.  “Today’s the move.”  My good spirits were pushed back down.  The day I had dreaded had come.  I suddenly felt sick.  I quickly got dressed.  I ran down the hall into the bathroom.  “Auuuuuh.”  I threw up in the toilet.  “Tom?”  Mom asked from the kitchen.  “Are you ok?”  “Yeah.” I said, turning on the cold water.  I sprayed my face with the refreshing water.  Then I flushed the toilet.  I slowly ambled into the kitchen.  “Your father is outside helping the movers put everything into the van. Oh…” she picked up a piece of paper. “Found this.  Didn’t think you would want to lose it.”  She handed it to me.  It was Ryan’s number.  “Thanks.” I said, slipping it in my pocket.  “Go try to help your father.” she said. I stealthily stole a pancake from the stack and ran out the door.   I stopped in surprise.  My entire homeroom class was on my front lawn, even the bully, Gerry Lenniard.  Some were holding signs, and some were holding cards.  Ryan was standing in front of the class, beaming like he had just won a trophy.  I gave him a hug and said “Hi, and bye, dude.” Ryan wiped his eyes.  I did, too.  “Tom, let’s go.”  My dad honked his horn.  I looked over.  Everyone was ready to go.  I waved, then hopped into the car.  I waved out the window.  Ryan waved back.  I guess I must have fallen asleep because before I knew it, we were stopping for the night at a hotel in Nebraska.

For the next three days, we were like travelers. We would stop at a hotel for the night, in the morning have breakfast there, hit the rood, find a place to have lunch, find a place to have dinner, then stop at a hotel for the night and so on.  “I’m so bored.”  I told my mom on the third day.  “Well, I’m so sorry.”  she said, turning around in her seat.  “Are we going to have an apartment?”  I asked her, changing the subject.  “No.” said Mom.  “We are going to live in a house that is pretty much right outside the gates of the White House.”   “What?!?!” I screamed.  “That’s awesome! Who was the former owner?”  Mom looked worryingly at Dad.  Then she said, “Your, um, your…” I expected her to say my grandparents but I got a surprise. “…Your mom.” said Mom glancing at Dad.  I couldn’t believe it!  They were making me to go my dead mother’s house!  “We wanted to go there so you could learn a little more about her, since you were only two when, um, she passed away.”  I nodded.  “Look, there’s your school!” said Dad.  I looked out the window.  A red, blue and pink building was standing tall on a concrete platform.  Black and white children were walking up and down the sidewalks.  In big black letters, a sign said, Cheery Middle School.  “Now that’s a whole lot of diversity right there!” said Mom, laughing.  You know, I have to agree with her.  This was a  lot different than Bayside.  I looked again.  Maybe I was going to have a friend here.  Might have a girl in homeroom.  Maybe diversity is good.  For now, I’m calling it good.

The next day, on Tuesday, I helped Mom and Dad unpack everything.  I carried in my comic books and toys.  I opened the door and walked inside.  The place was humongous!  It had four stories with five flights of stairs.  I went up two flights and walked into a huge bedroom.  Three windows, a very high ceiling, and a small closet.  “Cool.” I whispered.  I dropped all my boxes down on the floor and started to unpack. While I had been unpacking, the movers had moved in my dresser, bed and nightstand.  They were now hauling in my desk.  I noticed they had different types of skins too.  I quickly slipped by them and ran up the next two flights of stairs and opened the first door I saw.  It was filled with books, notebooks and a bed.  I opened one of the journals.  I almost dropped it.  It was my mother’s diary.  I read Day 1, I just moved. Lots of diversity and people.  I stopped there. Maybe I wasn’t the only one who had just learned about diversity.  I smiled.  I wasn’t the odd man out.

The next day was school.  I walked by myself.  It felt weird not to have Ryan by my side.  I made it into homeroom just as the bell rang.  Nobody stared at me when I walked in.  But I stared at them.  There were five girls and five boys.  Half of the boys and girls were black, the other was white.  “Take your seats,” said a lady with large and round spectacles.  She looked at me.  “We have a new student,” she said.  “His name is Tom.  Tom, I am Mrs. Weasel.  Hope you get used to your new home.”  I looked around.  A few guys winked and a few girls smiled.  Diversity was turning out to be pretty cool. The first six periods passed by quickly.  Soon I was at lunch.  Black kids were sitting with whites.  Girls were sitting with boys.  The only problem was that I was sitting by myself.  I couldn’t wait until recess.   I quickly ate my sandwich, then threw everything else away.  Hurry.  Recess has to come quicker.

When recess finally came, I quickly explored around the area.  Everything was pretty much the same as Bayside. I ran back to see if I could nab the basketball.  But someone else had already got it.  I ran to the basketball court to see who it was.  Two guys, a black guy & and white, were playing a pretend basketball game with the ball.  I sat on the bench and watched.  Suddenly, a voice cried out, “Want to play?” I looked around.  No one there.  Except…I looked at the basketball players.  They had stopped playing.  The black player asked again, “Want to play?”  “Yeah.”  I got up and walked over to them.  “You start.” said the white dude.  “My name’s Alex.” said the black dude.  “This is my friend, Daniel.”  Daniel smiled.  “So you go first, uh,” Alex started.  “My name’s Tom” I told them.  “Ok Tom, shoot.” said Daniel.  I backed away ten feet and shot.  The ball bounced on the rim, then into the basket.  “Pretty good.” said Daniel.  Pretty soon we had fired up a good game.  When it was time to go inside, Daniel made a pouty face.  We all laughed.  After school I walked as slowly as I could across the parking lot.  I wished someone was there with me. Then Alex appeared.   “Let’s walk home together.” he said.  When we got to my house, I rang the doorbell.   Mom answered, “What in the world?” she asked, looking from Alex to me.  “This is my friend,” I said.  Mom smiled.  “Ok then, I should leave you two alone.”  She closed the door.  “Want to play basketball?” I asked Alex.  “Sure” he said.  So now I have new friends and a great mom and dad.  And for diversity, well, I have to say it’s awesome!!!