"quiet class! we all know halloween is coming up, and we're all very excited. so i'll give you all five minutes to talk to each other about the holiday, but then it's back to work," ms. drouillard shouts from her desk. instantly, the class bursts into giggles and shouts about costumes and scary stories.
"what are you gonna dress up as, drew?" abby sits up straight, green eyes beaming bright as ever. drew grins from ear to ear, "i'm gonna be an astronaut!" abby smiles and nods happily, "that's awesome!" they hear a loud scoff a few seats away, "like a black can be an astronaut! ha! yeah right!" they look over to see alex walker rolling his eyes, making his friends snicker along with him.
drew's heart beats faster and his throat tighter. he tries to tell them about the several african american astronauts who've been to space. several missions completed because of the inspiring "blacks" before him. the snickering and giggling spreads across the classroom until he feels the water in his body spill out of his eyelids.
"what are you talking about alex? what makes you think there's never been a black astronaut?" abby snaps at him. surprised, alex looks at her, "w-well, th-that just doesn't make s-sense!" drew wipes his eyes and watches as abby stands up and marches over to alex, "and why not?" alex looks around the room, whose all staring at him, waiting for his answer. "uh, black people a-are just dumb!"
abby scowls at him, "no. they are not. there's a man named guion bluford. guess how many times he's been to space. four! guess what? he's black. mae jemison was the first black woman in space. how many times have you been to space? huh?"
alex stares at abby as she marches back to her seat and plops back down silently along with the rest of the class and ms. droillard. drew smiles at her and giggles when she sticks her tongue out at alex. the class slowly begins to talk again, leaving drew and abby to continue their conversation.
"well what are you going as, abby?" abby cocks her head to the side, "i don't know yet. maybe i'll go as an astronaut!" drew nods, "that'd be cool!"
YOU ARE READING
blurry nights
General Fiction"my skin is dark as night, but you're the one with constellations across yours"
