First Day of School

Titus had turned six in August. On August 13th. He had been born on a Friday, and his mom, Shelby, liked to tell him how this had been the most unlucky day of her life.

Today, on the first Tuesday in September, he was going to start Kindergarten. He had looked forward to it all summer. Shelby had brushed his bright blond curls with her hairbrush until almost all of his dreadlocks turned from matted hair to angelic locks framing his face. Titus wore his new t-shirt with his favorite superhero Superman on it. Knobby knees poked out from tan cargo shorts. His socks had lost their elasticity and hung tired over his ankles and the rim of his shoes.

Titus held Shelby’s hand on the way from their home to the school bus. Other moms from the trailer park got on the bus with their children, but Titus had to content himself with waving at her from the window once he found a seat. Shelby waved back and walked away before the bus left the stop.

Marni, his friend Summer’s mom, took Titus to his room. Summer and he weren’t in the same classroom. Marni hugged him. “You’ll see each other on the schoolyard.” Titus nodded.

He went into his classroom. It was packed with kids and parents. The teacher, a pretty blonde called all kids to the rug in the front of the classroom. Her melodious voice was like music to Titus. He pushed through the kids who had arrived before him until he was in the front row, close to her.

Miss Monica was not only pretty and blonde and had a beautiful voice, she also smelled good. Her fingernails were clean, her shoes were shiny, and she was always friendly to every child. One boy cried and Titus watched as she took him in her lap. She spoke softly to the crying boy until he was comforted. Titus thought that looked like something he would like to have also.

During the first recess, Titus fell off the tricycle on purpose. He sat crying on the schoolyard, holding his scraped knee. Instead of Miss Monica, an old woman with heels too high to look safe for her and a hearing apparatus in her ear walked up to him. She leaned over and was about to speak to him, but Titus jumped up and ran away. He wiped the tears off his face and didn’t come back out of the corner he had been hiding in until the bell rang and he had to line up to go back into the classroom.

Back in the classroom, Miss Monica saw his scraped knee. She made Titus sit on her teacher chair, which was comfortably cushioned, and she cleaned his scraped knee with a solution that did not burn. She gave him a band-aid and drew him a smiley face on it. Finally, she pulled him into a hug. Titus held still, his heart beat all the way in his throat, and he hoped this moment of bliss would never end. However, Miss Monica sent him to his seat in her melodious voice after just a second or two of holding him.

Lunch was an embarrassing time for Titus. Some kids went to the cafeteria, where their parents had paid for them to get cooked food. Other kids had lunch boxes with yummy things from home in it. Titus had no lunchbox, and his mom hadn’t told him if he should go to the cafeteria either. Summer was a cafeteria kid, so Titus tagged along with her. Hungrily, he watched as everybody sat down and ate something that smelled and looked delicious.

A lunch aide walked up to him. “If you are finished eating, you should go play. Other kids need the seat to sit down for lunch.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

During the next period, Titus was hungrier than usual. Shelby never cooked lunch, but at home, in the trailer park, there was always a mom who gave him something to eat. Sometimes it was Marni, on other times it was Steve’s mom. It had never mattered to Titus who gave him food as long as he didn’t have to go hungry.

“Miss Monica.”

“Yes, …” Miss Monica looked at the seating chart she had made in the morning, “Titus.”

“I am hungry.”

“We just had lunch. Didn’t you have enough then?”

“I had nothing.”

“Why not?”

“My mom …” Titus hesitated. He decided to lie. “I forgot my lunch on the bus this morning.”

Miss Monica smiled at Titus. “Remember it tomorrow.” She gave him a bowl of Goldfish crackers and a box of juice. He was even allowed to eat at his table while the other children had to color in a sun. They had to color the sun in red. It looked stupid to Titus and he was glad he escaped the activity.

At the end of the school day, Miss Monica gave each child a stack of papers to take home for their parents to fill out. Titus stuffed it in his little backpack without paying attention to the instructions she gave. Once the bus had picked him up from school and dropped him and the other kids from Happy Acres Trailer Park off, Titus threw his backpack onto the stoop of the shack he called home, and ran right past it to go play with Summer and Steve.

Summer’s mom had made cookies. The kind that comes out of a sausage shaped wrapper and that makes perfectly round chocolate chip cookies. Titus dunked his cookie into the glass of milk. Life was good and stayed good all afternoon long until he heard Shelby’s rough voice scream for him through the cooling evening air.

Titus went home. Shelby had warmed him some dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets for dinner. They were still cold in the middle, but Titus did not complain. He thought of Miss Monica and her kind smile. He couldn’t wait to see her again.



999 words



Prompt: Character's first day at primary/elementary school



Written for

ID: 1698337   (Rated: NPL) Sr Mod WDC 10th Birthday Contest  One character, ten prompts, 10 daily prizes and a HUGE grand prize! by Diane