I was sitting on the alphabet carpet in the afterschool program and Sofia was way too close to my face again. Once she was sitting in front of me at a normal distance, and now she's one inch from my face asking me questions. She was as usual the last kid and it was approaching 6, but Sofia didn't notice and I didn't want her to notice. When I was the last kid when my mom was working I always knew, I was sitting alone on the carpet while the counselors looked at their watches. Still, Sofia could back up or include Sarai in her questioning.
Sofia stared into my eyes. "Do you like boys with blonde hair or black hair?" Translation: Do you like white boys or black boys?
"Black hair," I said.
Sofia nodded. "I like boys with pink hair." Niche, I admired it.
She continued and moved her head from side to side. "Do you like boys with glasses or boys with mustaches?" Translation: I couldn't translate this one, but apparently in Sofia's world as a man you could either have bad vision or facial hair. Not both.
"Glasses," I said.
Sarai giggled.
I turned to look at her. "What's so funny?"
"Yeah whats so funny?" Sofia added.
Sarai put her phone down. "Mustaches are hotter than glasses."
I shrugged. "Debatable." A guy who couldn't see other bitches when you took his Ray bans off was way hotter than a guy with hair over his lip.
Sofia intimated my shrug. "Debatable," she mimmiccked.
Sarai just looked us over and went back to scrolling on her phone. She stayed this way until the clock struck 6 and she nominated herself as the person to leave. Because when one kid is left there is no need for two teenage girls, just one tired one. I didn't mind because Sofia's mom usually showed up right after six, and to be honest I had nowhere else to be.
Sofia continued with her questions suprinsingly denying my offer to play on my phone. She asked me about my mom, my dad, how much cookies I could eat in one sitting, and my hair. I was so tired of her questions I ended up letting her braid my braids into their own big braids. She still talked to me as she did this but she was distracted trying to differentiate between a twist and a braid. When she reached three big braids the door swung open and Sofia's eyes widened. I expected her mom to walk in already throwing apologies my way, but she wasnt behind the sign out desk. It was Ziyah with his beautiful locs and shining rings.
I was confused seeing him around all the primary colors and butterfly drawings that lined the walls. Sofia glued the pieces together by letting go of my braids and running over to Ziyah screaming, "Zi Zi, you're here." With ease Ziyah picked her up and placed her on his hip. Just then I saw the resemblance of their hazel eyes.
With my new hairstyle I walked over to the sign out table. Like he usually did Ziyah locked eyes with me even as he placed Sofia back on the ground. "Nice braids," he said.
"Thanks," I said.
I was kind of at a loss words looking at him as Sofia got her backpack and skipped along his side.
"So are you going to check the emergency contact list to make sure I'm not a random person?" Ziyah asked.
I finally stopped looking at him. "Oh right," I mumbled.
I searched under the table and found the list and found the letter C where Sofia Campbell was written. Under her emergency contact list was Maya Daniels, Bree Daniels, and lastly of course Ziyah Daniels.
I wanted to say he had a nice name, but just shrugged and smiled and realized again my braids were in wannabe dookie braids. "Umm you're all good to sign out," was what I decided on and I watched Ziyah scribble on the sign on sheet. I thought that was it and that he was going to walk away but Sofia of course began babbling, this time asking Ziyah questions.
