𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐗𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐘𝐌𝐈𝐀² - 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 ♥︎ 𝘑. 𝘉. 𝘉

𝐈𝐈𝐈

TW: Slight bullying.

[Be My Baby - The Ronettes]
1:40 ─〇───── 2:13
⇄ ◃◃ ⅠⅠ ▹▹ ↻

Beverly's POV

The main bell rings, the noise echoing in the small classroom. Chatter and footsteps all over the room as I walk into the space, hiding behind the teacher's legs. I hold onto her dress, pulling it up to my face and covering my eyes, too nervous to open them. Other kids walk around me, trying to find their seats and settling in. My hands tremble as the teacher walks me into the class, ushering me towards a table, and pointing to a seat. This is literally my worst nightmare.

My first day of pre-school.

I sit in the seat, needing help to lift myself onto the wooden chair. The teacher smiles down at me before walking over to her desk, preparing for the lesson. In front of me sits a young girl, the same age as me. Her blonde hair is held in two pigtails, flowing down her sides and ending at her mid-arm. Next to her is a boy, plump-faced and with bright ginger hair. Opposite him and next to me is a smaller boy, boney and blond. His head is hung low, watching his feet swing as he sits on the chair, too small for his feet to touch the ground.

All the other tables are chatty, even the girl and ginger boy is talking to each other. But I and the blond boy are silent, too scared to talk to anyone. I look at the table, not making eye contact with anyone until the teacher stands from her seat, clapping her hands to get our attention. Everyone stops their conversations and looks up at her, me included.

"Good morning class." She greets.

"Good morning, Mrs Taylor." The class replies.

"Today we will begin with an art project." She grabs a stack of papers from her desk. "Can everyone draw their family, please?" She hands out the papers.

Another teacher stands from her chair in the back of the classroom, grabbing trays of crayons and placing them on each table. With all the equipment in front of us, we all begin drawing. I draw my house in the background, using brown, green, and black. I draw the walls, doors, and windows. I even add the car beside the front door. The green vines hand down the house, mixtures of different greens. I begin drawing the people, standing on the yellow road in front of the house. Mother has her hair tied back, brown locks flowing in front of her face. She wears her signature yellow summer dress, holding a bag. Father stands next to her in a grey suit, and black shoes are too big for his short legs. I begin drawing Howard, but realise that I need the blue. I look around the tray, the table, and the floor, not seeing the blue. I turn to my side and see the blue being used, by the small, blond, and quiet boy.

I sit there, pondering my next moves. He is clearly busy with it, colouring in the roof of his house. Nervously, I pluck up the courage to talk to him. To the first person, I've talked to today.

"Uh, can I borrow the blue, please?"

"Yeah, sure." He hands it to me, also nervous.

I take the crayon, look back at my paper and begin drawing Howard's shirt. With the outline finished, I start colouring it in, the colour getting out of the lines. The table falls silent again, my concentration focusing on my paper.