fiction:: 4th GRADE REALLY SUCKED, pt. 6

I remember one day I saw something happen which sums up everything that I hated about being in grade school. It was during recess and I was leaning against one of the jungle gyms, spacing out as usual. A bunch of kids were playing tag and running around Miss Cunningham, whose turn it was for recess duty. It was like they were running around and hiding behind a huge oak tree. Sara Covey and Troy Duker were there. They were the two most popular people in our grade; Sara because she had mastered the fine art of being smart, yet never antisocially brainy, and Troy because he was the class clown. Actually, I'm not even sure that those were the reasons, but they were definitely the most popular. It was established. Everybody always wanted to sit next to them during lunch, invite them to their birthday parties, be on their field hockey team. And, since they were the two special people of fourth grade society, everybody always joked about Troy having a crush on Sara and vice versa.

At some point all the running slowed down and everybody in the game just sort of scattered around the playground, doing their own thing. Sara was standing by Miss Cunningham, doing nothing. It must have been pretty chilly outside because she had her arms crossed in front of her and she was scrunching up her shoulders. Troy was standing around there too, joking with his tough guy friends. The word "faggot" was real big that year all of the sudden, so it was Troy going "You faggot you're such a faggot" and then one of his friends shouting back, "No way, you're a faggot, faggot" Back and forth like that forever.

Suddenly I noticed Miss Cunningham was pushing Sara Covey in the general direction of Troy and his friends who were still doing their faggot routine. It was strange because she wasn't pushing her hard, just lightly, as if she were trying to guide her somewhere. It looked very innocent.

"You like Troy don't you?" she said.

"I guess," Sara shrugged, sort of sarcastic, sort of smiling.

"Kiss him then."

Sara shook her head. "Unh huh."

"Come on." She nudged her again. "Kiss him."

Sara just stood there, as firmly as she could, never uncrossing her arms.

"Don't you want it? You know you do." Miss Cunningham said.

Troy and his friends were oblivious to this little conversation and every time Troy ran by them, Miss Cunningham would give Sara a little sharp push.

"Come on" she'd say over and over again, the same exact way you would say it to a little two-year waddling toward you. You could tell Sara was getting uncomfortable about this but what could she do? If she walked away, it would be acknowledging the weirdness of the whole situation. It was better to just stand there, pretend it was only teasing.

Picture above: DRAWING FOR BOYS by Kell Alexander Black