Lets wind the clock back to the year 2001. The year that followed the grand millennium. London, United Kingdom.I remember this day like yesterday.
Two layers of clothing, a woolly red jumper, a navy blue skirt over thick black tights and a pair of Mary Janes traipsing across the Barbican platform. Generously clad to fit the humdrum inclement weather was I, 6 year old me. Instead of the usual 'running my fingers across railings' and 'jumping over cracks on the pavement', I kept myself busy during my everyday 20 minute walk to school that day, by jumping into muddy rain water puddles. Every time I jumped, the butterfly clips in my hair would flutter a little. It made me feel a bit like Tinkerbell flying across Neverland skies. The only part of school I enjoyed was the commuting. I always held my dads hand throughout the walk and in my other hand I would swing my Peter Pan lunch box back and forth as I walked/skipped to school. That day I had woken up extra early to make my own lunch. It was one of my favourites. Whole wheat egg sandwiches. Although my mother did the boiling, I peeled off the eggshells very carefully, sliced them and made them into nice little sandwiches for myself. I was very proud of myself for it and couldn't wait to gorge into them at school.
As we neared the big black school gates, my stomach began to feel funny again. Which meant that it was finally time to let go of Daddy's hand. I slipped my fingers away reluctantly, took my schoolbag from him and trudged inside. I liked to scrub my soles against the slippery floor and make them squeak. Halfway through the squeaky hallway I remembered that I had forgotten to wave goodbye. I turned around only to see that he had left. But I saw Emily's mum at the gate, smoking. She told Emily not to play with me because I came from a lowly family. I immediately turned back and walked up to my class, increasing my pace up a notch. Emily was one of the prettiest girls in school. She had cascading strawberry blonde hair with neatly cut fringes and a dab of freckles on her cheeks. Emily was a nice girl though. She would still play with me despite her mother instructing her not to. At times.
I walked into my Year 1 classroom and located my place on the green table from the doorway. I hung my bag on my peg and placed my lunchbox snugly below my table after I sat down. Wouldn't want to lose it now would we? Behind the green table was the red table and to the left was the yellow table. Nadia and Piran sat at the red table. Lee sat at the yellow one. He had big blue eyes and the cutest mushroom cut I'd ever seen. I've always wanted to sit at the yellow table with him. If not the yellow table at least the red table. But I was stuck on the wretched green table with no one to talk to. I would talk to Charlie sometimes, but all he would talk about was David Beckham and Michael Owen. So I preferred to keep mum and listen to to my teacher talk. In the morning we had numeracy class. Lee was very good at math. I wished I could go sit at the yellow table and recite the number bonds really loudly with him. Oh well.
Time flew and all of a sudden, it was noon. Lunchtime. The time of the day that stained my entire perspective of school. The time of the day I dreaded and was so afraid of. As soon as Mrs. Trip left our classroom, I grabbed my lunchbox from underneath my table and jolted out to the corridor. I was before the cafeteria doors in a jiffy, but I stopped short. 'They'll definitely find me here. I'll go to the playground'. So I took off again to the old playground benches and much to my elation, found nobody there. I sat down and caught my breath for a few minutes, watching the playschool children screaming on the merry-go-round. 'Hmph, kids'. It was the time I had been waiting for all day. I precariously opened my lunch box, and unwrapped the aluminum foil gently without tearing it. 'Tadaaa!'. It looked so scrumptious. Beaming with joy I opened wide to take the first bite.
'BIIITCH!'. I heard a voice behind me, from a distance. 'Oh no. No no no no'. That was Ryans voice. I knew Samantha and Olivia were with him too. 'Turn around', yelled Samantha. I turned back slowly and looked up at the three tall figures in front me. My eyes, brimming with fright. They always called me by the name 'bitch', but I never knew what it meant. 'What you got there, Paki?', asked Ryan. I didn't respond. 'I said, What. Do. You. Got. There?'. I was too frightened to say anything. 'Gimme that', he said and snatched my sandwich from my hands. It tore into two, him ending up with the larger portion. He tossed my sandwich perfectly into the trashcan and kicked my lunchbox a few feet away from my bench. I broke down at this instant. Softly, without letting out much noise, because as much as I was hurt I was still scared. Samantha and Olivia scrammed fearing they would get into trouble. But Ryan was the macho man. He walked off, in no hurry with his hands in his track pants, not even a tad bit sorry for what he had done.
Emily and two of her friends witnessed the entire episode from near the Year 2 block. But Emily never came over to help me. Because she was Ryan's girlfriend. She wouldn't dare do anything that would anger him. One of Emily's friends walked up to me and sat beside me on my bench. Tears were still rolling down my face as I looked at her, gasping for breath as a result of the crying. She had extremely pale skin, curly blonde hair and thin rimmed glasses. 'Here', she said, handing me a baby blue tissue. I turned down her offer and just wiped my nose on my jumper sleeve. 'Are you alright?'. 'I don't think so'. I was sob-talking. She just sat there next to me for a while and did'nt say anything. 'Guess what!'. 'Whaat?'. 'Em' and Ryan were playing Mum and Dad yesterday. Ryan was trying to save Em' from the sharks but hell fell from the top of the slide in front of the playschool children. He's been a sulky wussy all day because of that!'. 'Haha!', I managed a little laugh because that was actually funny. Every time Em' let me play Mum and Dad with her she would make the gardener or the nurse olnly. Also, whenever I wore two pigtails to school, I got to be the dog. And when Em' was'nt looking Ryan would feed me sycamore seeds and force me to put them in my mouth. 'Dog food'. 'Is that an egg sandwich?'. 'Yep'. Looking at what was left of my sandwich made me want to cry again. 'Well then where's the ketchup?'. I opened the sandwich up and figured that I had forgotten the ketchup. 'Great. Exactly what I need now', I thought to myself. 'Looks like I didn't remember the ketchup', I mumbled. I wasn't going to be able to swallow it down at all now. Oh phooey. 'I have some mayonnaise I could lend you!'. 'Mayonnaise and eggs?'. 'Here try some!', she gave me a sachet of mayonnaise. I didn't want to at first. But then my sandwich had become cold and dry and I wasn't going to able to push it down my throat at all. So I opened the sachet and squirted some of it out on the sandwich. I looked at her doubtfully for a while. 'Go on! What are you waiting for?'. I opened wide again and took a nice, big bite.
My whole wheat mayonnaise sandwich was the best thing I had ever tasted in my entire life. Ahem, look for the metaphor.
Loosely based on a series of true incidents.
Two layers of clothing, a woolly red jumper, a navy blue skirt over thick black tights and a pair of Mary Janes traipsing across the Barbican platform. Generously clad to fit the humdrum inclement weather was I, 6 year old me. Instead of the usual 'running my fingers across railings' and 'jumping over cracks on the pavement', I kept myself busy during my everyday 20 minute walk to school that day, by jumping into muddy rain water puddles. Every time I jumped, the butterfly clips in my hair would flutter a little. It made me feel a bit like Tinkerbell flying across Neverland skies. The only part of school I enjoyed was the commuting. I always held my dads hand throughout the walk and in my other hand I would swing my Peter Pan lunch box back and forth as I walked/skipped to school. That day I had woken up extra early to make my own lunch. It was one of my favourites. Whole wheat egg sandwiches. Although my mother did the boiling, I peeled off the eggshells very carefully, sliced them and made them into nice little sandwiches for myself. I was very proud of myself for it and couldn't wait to gorge into them at school.
As we neared the big black school gates, my stomach began to feel funny again. Which meant that it was finally time to let go of Daddy's hand. I slipped my fingers away reluctantly, took my schoolbag from him and trudged inside. I liked to scrub my soles against the slippery floor and make them squeak. Halfway through the squeaky hallway I remembered that I had forgotten to wave goodbye. I turned around only to see that he had left. But I saw Emily's mum at the gate, smoking. She told Emily not to play with me because I came from a lowly family. I immediately turned back and walked up to my class, increasing my pace up a notch. Emily was one of the prettiest girls in school. She had cascading strawberry blonde hair with neatly cut fringes and a dab of freckles on her cheeks. Emily was a nice girl though. She would still play with me despite her mother instructing her not to. At times.
I walked into my Year 1 classroom and located my place on the green table from the doorway. I hung my bag on my peg and placed my lunchbox snugly below my table after I sat down. Wouldn't want to lose it now would we? Behind the green table was the red table and to the left was the yellow table. Nadia and Piran sat at the red table. Lee sat at the yellow one. He had big blue eyes and the cutest mushroom cut I'd ever seen. I've always wanted to sit at the yellow table with him. If not the yellow table at least the red table. But I was stuck on the wretched green table with no one to talk to. I would talk to Charlie sometimes, but all he would talk about was David Beckham and Michael Owen. So I preferred to keep mum and listen to to my teacher talk. In the morning we had numeracy class. Lee was very good at math. I wished I could go sit at the yellow table and recite the number bonds really loudly with him. Oh well.
Time flew and all of a sudden, it was noon. Lunchtime. The time of the day that stained my entire perspective of school. The time of the day I dreaded and was so afraid of. As soon as Mrs. Trip left our classroom, I grabbed my lunchbox from underneath my table and jolted out to the corridor. I was before the cafeteria doors in a jiffy, but I stopped short. 'They'll definitely find me here. I'll go to the playground'. So I took off again to the old playground benches and much to my elation, found nobody there. I sat down and caught my breath for a few minutes, watching the playschool children screaming on the merry-go-round. 'Hmph, kids'. It was the time I had been waiting for all day. I precariously opened my lunch box, and unwrapped the aluminum foil gently without tearing it. 'Tadaaa!'. It looked so scrumptious. Beaming with joy I opened wide to take the first bite.
'BIIITCH!'. I heard a voice behind me, from a distance. 'Oh no. No no no no'. That was Ryans voice. I knew Samantha and Olivia were with him too. 'Turn around', yelled Samantha. I turned back slowly and looked up at the three tall figures in front me. My eyes, brimming with fright. They always called me by the name 'bitch', but I never knew what it meant. 'What you got there, Paki?', asked Ryan. I didn't respond. 'I said, What. Do. You. Got. There?'. I was too frightened to say anything. 'Gimme that', he said and snatched my sandwich from my hands. It tore into two, him ending up with the larger portion. He tossed my sandwich perfectly into the trashcan and kicked my lunchbox a few feet away from my bench. I broke down at this instant. Softly, without letting out much noise, because as much as I was hurt I was still scared. Samantha and Olivia scrammed fearing they would get into trouble. But Ryan was the macho man. He walked off, in no hurry with his hands in his track pants, not even a tad bit sorry for what he had done.
Emily and two of her friends witnessed the entire episode from near the Year 2 block. But Emily never came over to help me. Because she was Ryan's girlfriend. She wouldn't dare do anything that would anger him. One of Emily's friends walked up to me and sat beside me on my bench. Tears were still rolling down my face as I looked at her, gasping for breath as a result of the crying. She had extremely pale skin, curly blonde hair and thin rimmed glasses. 'Here', she said, handing me a baby blue tissue. I turned down her offer and just wiped my nose on my jumper sleeve. 'Are you alright?'. 'I don't think so'. I was sob-talking. She just sat there next to me for a while and did'nt say anything. 'Guess what!'. 'Whaat?'. 'Em' and Ryan were playing Mum and Dad yesterday. Ryan was trying to save Em' from the sharks but hell fell from the top of the slide in front of the playschool children. He's been a sulky wussy all day because of that!'. 'Haha!', I managed a little laugh because that was actually funny. Every time Em' let me play Mum and Dad with her she would make the gardener or the nurse olnly. Also, whenever I wore two pigtails to school, I got to be the dog. And when Em' was'nt looking Ryan would feed me sycamore seeds and force me to put them in my mouth. 'Dog food'. 'Is that an egg sandwich?'. 'Yep'. Looking at what was left of my sandwich made me want to cry again. 'Well then where's the ketchup?'. I opened the sandwich up and figured that I had forgotten the ketchup. 'Great. Exactly what I need now', I thought to myself. 'Looks like I didn't remember the ketchup', I mumbled. I wasn't going to be able to swallow it down at all now. Oh phooey. 'I have some mayonnaise I could lend you!'. 'Mayonnaise and eggs?'. 'Here try some!', she gave me a sachet of mayonnaise. I didn't want to at first. But then my sandwich had become cold and dry and I wasn't going to able to push it down my throat at all. So I opened the sachet and squirted some of it out on the sandwich. I looked at her doubtfully for a while. 'Go on! What are you waiting for?'. I opened wide again and took a nice, big bite.
My whole wheat mayonnaise sandwich was the best thing I had ever tasted in my entire life. Ahem, look for the metaphor.
Loosely based on a series of true incidents.
