Lost

Chapter 10 - Flower

"No! You're supposed to be using green!" The little girl shrieked, pointing at the other one's paper.

It was the end of their kindergarten day so the three little girls were just sitting at the art table, coloring in some pictures as they waited for their parent, guardian, or elder sibling to pick them up.

"I don't wanna use green!" Sadie, the little girl in question, responded, folding her arms together and beginning to pout. "Green it ugly! It looks like when my baby brother barfed!" She responded back, hitting the other girl with the meanest glare she could muster.

"Nu-uh!" Linh responded, pointing at Sadie's paper. "Green is the color of plants! You can't draw a blue plant." She said smugly, pointing outside to where the plants were in fact green.

"Jodee's drawing a brown flower — that's not green." Sadie turned towards her best friend's paper.

The girl with curly brown hair finally looked up from her drawing, a little pout playing at her lips as she wasn't very thrilled on being brought into the exchange.

Jodee was a docile little girl even at five years old where most kids ran wild. She was content to play by herself, would always go with the other person's idea if there was a tousle at recess, and she never really spoke out of turn or threw any tantrums.

"My flower was green." Jodee tried to explain in a small voice. "But it's dying now."

Sadie and Linh were both shocked — unsure of how to respond.

Jodee peaked at them with her head down, through her long brown lashes. Not wanting to say anything either. She looked at her friends and her kinda friend — she believed all of her classmates were her friends — for only a few more short seconds before turning and going back to the task at hand — drawing her dying flower.

"Why is your flower dying?" Linh stated, looking a little disgusted.

Jodee just shrugged. "I dunno."

"Yeah! Why wouldn't it just stay green? Didn't you water it, Jo?" Sadie asked.

"Don't call her 'Joe'!" Linh immediately shrieked. "Joe is a guy's name!"

Jodee groaned, placing her head on the table — Linh had a lot of opinions.

"Don't be mean! That's her name! She can't help it." Sadie whispered to Linh, thinking that Jodee wouldn't hear the offensive comment, but of course, her whispering was very loud.

"My big brother likes my name so I like my name." Jodee said, defending herself.

The girls were always super interested in Jodee's relationship with her brother, so the subject of conversation immediately changed.

"Is your brother picking you up today?" Linh asked.

"Yup." Jodee responded.

"My big sister never picks me up." Linh responded quietly. Linh and her sister don't get along so she's always curious on how Jodee speaks so highly of her brother.

"Your sister's like seven." Sadie responded.

"Nu-uh! She's eight! And she's in the third grade." Linh said.

"That's still little." Sadie responded. "My mommy says only in highschool are you a big kid! That's when you get a phone. That's like one hundredth grade!"

"Is your brother in one hundredth grade, Jodee?" Linh turned her attention back to the youngest girl of the three.

"No." Jodee responded. "He's in highschool."