The Ray Family

16

We went up to the house and knocked on the door. Charlotte's mother opened the door "hey, my mother Tiffany said I could bring my daughter over for Charlotte's birthday" I said with a smile.

"Of course, I'm Melinda," she said as she let us inside.

"I'm Maya and this is Carley," I said.

"Hi," Carley said.

"Charlotte honey come meet Carley," Melinda said, Charlotte came over carrying her Chucky.

"Carley, this is Charlotte remember be nice," I said to her. She nodded before running off with Charlotte.

"That's weird, Charlotte is usually so shy about meeting new people," Melinda said.

"It could be because they both have good guy dolls, they can bring out a side of people that you never expected," I said with a smile as Melinda and I joined the rest of the parents.

"Where did you get your doll?" Melinda asked.

"I actually got him when I was 10 from my grandmother, I was such a shy kid that I never really had any friends so my grandmother bought me a friend, after I got him I actually opened up and made new friends," I said, "Carley wanted me to bring him so she wasn't alone even though I told her that other kids would have dolls as well. You know how kids are."

"Yeah, they just want to fit in and not stand out," one of the other parents said.

"I'm sorry I should've introduced myself I'm Maya," I said with a smile.

"I'm Jackie," she said.

"I'm Selena," she said.

"I'm Jeff," he said.

"And I'm Jared," he said.

"It's nice to meet you all," I said.

"It's nice to meet you as well," Jared said.

"So why are you limping?" Selena asked.

"I had an accident at work, I dropped a stapler on my foot and it went off," I said.

"What do you do?" Jeff asked.

"I'm a teacher at the school," I said.

"Which one?" Jackie asked.

"Perry Knights," I said.

"Isn't that the one they merged both middle school and high school?" Melinda asked.

"Yes, it is," I said, "they now have grades 7-12 in one building."

"Those poor middle schoolers must be terrified," Selena said.

"From what I've witnessed it seems to be working smoothly," I said. Then Carley started crying, "I'll be back," I said and walked over to her. I knelt down so I was at eye level with her "hey munchkin why are you crying?" I asked.

"Because Chucky said that I was being a bad friend to Charlotte by not telling her about her doll," Carley said.

"You pay no attention to Chucky right now, with the last kid we decided this time to hold off for a few days. Chucky don't go saying that to Carley, she is doing an amazing job right now Charlotte can't know, she is still in the transition phase" I said.

"Are you sure?" Carley asked.

"Positive, now why don't you and Charlotte go play," I said with a smile. Carley nodded and bounced off to play some more with Charlotte.

I walked back over to the parents "is everything okay?" Jeff asked.

"Yeah everything's fine, she just fell and hit her leg, but she's okay," I said.