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Past
1958
There were a lot of posters at this time of year. Especially around September, when so many clubs are opening up.
Most clubs don't open for you until you are in second grade. Only a few clubs allow first graders to join, but most clubs don't open for you until then. I wasn't even interested in the clubs they allowed first graders to join! I wanted to be in grade two so badly two years ago. But I didn't stop to look.
Until now.
Me and Carly were at the front bulletin board of the school, looking at the posters posted up and looking at which club we should join. "Crochet club?" Carly asked me. "Not interested," I said. We were looking for something that interested us both. "Dance club?" "Too embarrassing." I shot back. I sighed.
"Art club?" Carly asked. "Ehhh..." I trailed off. Then something got my attention. "Oh! Carly! Do you like singing? I don't like it, but it's at least interesting for me to try!" I said, "Excited." Carly looked at it. "Ooh! Sure! That definitely sounds like fun." She replied. "When is the first meeting?" She asked. "Oh," I said. "But either way, we're free, right?" I stopped and read over the first poster.
"Let's see... meetings are in room 112 during morning recess. Every Tuesday." I stopped. "Hey! That's tomorrow!" I said. Carly smiled. "I'm so excited! So we can just stop, and boom, we're in the club." She said. I nodded.
At least I'm part of a club!
It's Tuesday. As soon as the bell went for first recess, we rushed over to the room where the other students were still getting out. It's boring waiting. "Where's the teacher?" Carly asked. A boy turned around to her. "Oh. She's inside. She's chasing everyone out of the classroom first and then starting it. Is this the line for the singing club?" He asked. Everyone in line nodded, including me.
The remaining students went out to the classroom, and the teacher waved to let us know we could come in. "Please sit on a desk. Any desk!" She said. I sat next to Carly. As everyone was sitting down, I realized Bethany. Why was she here?
"Hello everyone. My name is Ms. Greenwald, and I will be your teacher for this club. This is a singing club for people who are interested in singing, so you do not need to be good at singing to join. This club is for anyone who is interested, regardless of their level or how well they do. Anyone wants to make a song request for us to sing?" She asked.
At first, nobody spoke; the room was quiet. "Oh. You can bring your own CDs in for songs to sing, but right now you can suggest a CD you can find on the shelf over there." The teacher said this, pointing to a shelf behind all of us.
Bethany raised her hand. "Yes?" The teacher said: "Can I suggest something first?" She asked. "Sure, go to the shelf." Bethany found a CD we all sang to, and it was fun. Singing.
She then asked the person next to Bethany, and so on. But as I thought out the whole meeting, I realized two things.
One: Bethany was a great singer. Like, really great. I didn't know that she sounded good at this! She even said she really liked singing herself because it runs in her family.
Two: when the teacher was asking students for song requests, I realized she skipped us. I think it was by accident, but since she didn't ask me or Carly, she must have really skipped us and knew what she was doing.
At least, that's what I thought. I don't really know why she skipped us; I don't even know if it was on purpose or by accident. She just somehow did.
I told Carly those two things I noticed after the bell signalled that the first recess had ended. "Really? I didn't realize!" Carly said when I was finished. "We'll try another time. If she skips us again, we will quit, okay?" I suggested. Carly looked at me. "Quit?? I say we don't argue and go to every meeting. They at least allowed us to sing." She said. Then the boy from earlier approached us. "I can't help but overhear you. I'll go ask her; she's my teacher anyway." He said. Then he went up to her desk. Carly gasped.
"It's okay. He wants to help us." I manage to say. Then I peeked inside. From the looks of it, the boy was talking with the teacher calmly, not really loudly arguing. She said some things back that I couldn't hear from the way from here. But the boy nodded and came rushing back outside the classroom. 'You're banned." The boy said,.
"From the club??" Carly and I both said it at the same time. "Yeah. I'm so sorry." He said. "Come on, Carly, let's get to class." I said as I grabbed her hand and rushed out of here.
I tell myself not to think about what just happened.
I definitely don't belong in a club at all after all this.
Present
1999
"Mom." Hailey said as she loaded up the washing machine.
"Yes?" I asked. She has just finished her first year of high school. "Can I go to the beach so I can play volleyball with my friends and then swim?" She asked. "After you mow the lawn, sure," I said. "I wanted to go to the beach too. Maybe dad will also want to. Well, either way, he's driving us."
With that, Hailey quickly rushed upstairs and out to the backyard and front yard. Well. Give a teenager a reward, and she will do it.
"You ready?" Dad asks Hailey as she fastens her seat belt. "Yup. Let's go!" She said. Nicholas turned his head towards me, then started the car and started the way there.
After an hour, we were there. We got out of the car and carried over stuff all over to the sand. Whew. That was a lot of work.
"Andre! Janet! Over here!" Hailey said this to a boy and a girl. Then they came over. "Hailey!" They said it, smiling. "We set up things already! Follow us!" The boy, Andre, said. "Okay!" Hailey said. Nicholas sat on one of the chairs and watched Hailey play volleyball with her friends. Wow. She's good.
The sun was shining so much that it was so relaxing. I looked up, blinded by the fact that I couldn't see myself. And then I ended up falling asleep.
"Get off of my chair." A voice said that I woke up.
I blinked. "This chair is mine." I said, puzzled. Then I immediately said, "Oh! Sorry! I don't mean to say that!"
I remembered only bringing one chair, which Nicholas sat on. So this chair was definitely someone else's. I didn't even remember bringing an umbrella! I got off. "I'm sorry for sitting in your chair!" I said. The man smiled. "It's okay. Hey, who are you? You seem familiar now." He said
I looked at him. The black hair. The skin. Let's see... "Oh." I said to myself, "I know you, but I don't remember your name." "I remember yours." He said. "You're Ashley, right? My homeroom teacher told me from third grade, who was also the singing club teacher." I stopped. "Oh! I get it now. You were the person who stood up for me when I thought it was unfair that I didn't get a chance to make a request. You didn't really have to do that."
"I'm sorry if I did. I'm sorry if I got you banned." He said. "Alright, that's a lot of apologies in one day. What's your name?" I asked.
And then we talked and talked and talked until Hailey wanted to go home.
By then, I knew two things: Two new things.
One: The person who argued for me is Thomas. He is the same age as me.
Two: I'm officially a third done with this list of people to reunite with. As I crossed him off, I knew that.
Looking over this list, I probably know what will happen next.
And I'm pretty sure of it.
