I walked into the girls' room and turned on the light.
"Mom, turn it off, " Aaliyah groaned.
"No, it's time to get up. You don't want to miss your first day of 5th grade, do you?"
Aaliyah's head shot up. "My what? Today?!" She got up and ran to the bathroom.
"Stay out," she said when Serenity attempted to join her.
Serenity huffed and went downstairs for breakfast.
I went to their closet and grabbed their uniforms. Aaliyah came out of the bathroom with frizzy, damp hair and a towel wrapped around her.
"SERENITY GRACE RAYON, GET YOUR BUTT UP HERE AND TAKE A SHOWER!" She yelled. "And STOP EATING MY POP TARTS!" She retrieved her uniform and put it on, conveniently avoiding a certain undergarment called "bra."
I picked it up and handed it to her. "Put it on," I instructed. "Now."
She groaned. "No, mother. I do not want to wear this...this...this thing," she replied. She pushed my hand away.
"Well, if you don't put it on, you'll never get to go to 5th grade." I held it out to her again.
She sighed, accepted it, and unbuttoned her polo.
"Thank you," I said. "Now, let me go find your sister."
I went downstairs to look for Serenity and saw Ray Ray, watching TV with her on his lap.
"Hey," I said, kissing his cheek.
"Hello," he said, kissing me back.
"Eww," Serenity said.
I lifted her off of her father and put her back on the ground. "Go get ready," I said. "You can have a cookie after your breakfast if you get ready now."
She ran towards the stairs. She tripped on the third one, but hopped right back up and jogged to her room.
"Aaliyah!" I yelled. "Come downstairs so I can fix your hair," I said.
Ray Ray went into the kitchen. I heard him tell our chef Issac what we wanted. Or rather, what he thought we wanted.
"No, no, no," I said. "I want scrambled eggs, and I want to cook them myself," I said. "And Serenity wants a pop tart."
Aaliyah fidgeted. "Make that a toaster strudel," I said, remembering Aaliyah's dislike for people eating her food.
"Yes ma'am," Issac said, and got to work.
"Make it quick, we only have about 30 minutes," I said.
I finished Aaliyah's last half-braid and sent her upstairs for her backpack. She'd also chosen to bring her new sequined purse.
"Are you sure you want to take that to school?" I asked.
"Yes, very sure," she said. "I want to have everything I need for 5th grade."
"And everything you need would be...?"
She sighed and unzipped her purse. "My lip gloss, my gum, my Nintendo DSi, my gel pens, my favorite pencil, my wallet, my bookmark, and..." She trailed off.
"And what..." I said, unzipping the zipper part inside the purse.
"Hold on, I'm remembering." She looked towards the extremely high ceiling of our 3 story house.
"Where's your phone? You know you need your phone," I said.
"Oh yeah, that's it." She ran upstairs to go get it.
"Why does she need her phone?" Ray Ray asked.
"You'll know when it happens," I replied, and went to set the table.
Less than 20 minutes later, we were getting the girls settled into Neisha's car.
"Thanks for taking them," I said. I kissed them goodbye and hugged my sister. Then I poked my head in the car and said hi to my neice Renee.
"Hi auntie Estrella," she replied.
I gave Neisha a look. "Really, sis? Really?"
She laughed. "Yes, really." Then she got into the car, waved goodbye, and drove off.
I sighed. I walked back inside and sat on the couch. Ray Ray was finishing up the dishes. I didn't have to go to work for another 5 hours. This was going to be an extremely long day.
