Mine Forever: The beginning

Chapter One - Javon

Eight-Years-Old

It was the first day of third grade at Webber Elementary. My teacher, Miss Dunlap, introduced herself, writing her name on the whiteboard.

I sat in class along with the rest of the students attentive to the teacher checking attendance. Everyone shouted here when their names were called. She was still looking at her roster, peering up at the class every so often. This caused her to push her big, round glasses up against the bridge of her nose with her thin index finger whenever they slid off her slender face. I think she was making an assessment of missing students.

Then, she walked in.

"You must be Billie Rose," said Miss Dunlap.

I sat at my desk, noticing her immediately. I placed my elbow on the desk and rested my hand against my cheek. Billie Rose, I said to myself while drawing invisible doodles of her name on the desk with my finger. I stared dreamily. She smiled at me and my hand slipped. That's when my head smacked against the desk. Ouch!  The sting only lasted a split second. I think the desk suffered more than I did.

There were snickers around the classroom. I didn't care. I only had one person on my mind.

Miss Dunlap looked at her roster. "Javon are you alright?"

I nodded, not wanting to tear my eyes away from her. Billie Rose sat two rows behind me. I noticed there wasn't anyone sitting next to her. I picked up my things and dashed to sit beside her. She was the prettiest girl I'd ever seen. Her eyes were dark brown and shaped like almonds. Her skin was brown and smooth, and she had the cutest button nose. Her hair was pulled into a huge afro puff. She seemed a little shorter in height than most people in the class and looked a lot younger too. She appeared to be about five or six years old. I didn't care. I couldn't wait to go outside for recess to play with her. I stuck out my hand and introduced myself.

"I'm Billie," she responded, shaking my hand. It was soft, tiny, and fit perfectly in mine. 

My stomach felt weird. When I took gymnastics over the summer, I would run fast against the wind before doing a flip. That's how my stomach felt. I bit the inside of my cheek. I'm not sure why but it seemed to calm the jumpiness I felt inside. 

"Okay, Javon since you've started introductions, would you mind standing up for the class and telling us a little about yourself," said Miss Dunlap, snapping me out of my flipping thoughts, and causing me to finally release Billie's hand. 

I hoped that Miss Dunlap's neon orange shirt with flowers would keep my attention. Maybe that's why she wore it to keep us focused. If that was her aim, so far it wasn't helping.

Great, I thought, sarcastically.

I stood up, telling the class a little about myself. "I like to sing, read, write, hang out with my family, and meet new people." I looked at Billie when I made the last statement. Then, I sat down quickly.

"Okay, Javon. Thank you for that, and please understand that will have to be your seat for a while until I can learn everyone's names."

"Okay," I said, not minding at all.

Our first lesson of the day was Language Arts. I loved that subject. It was my favorite. My love for reading and writing helped me to excel in this area.

I often read books that were above my grade level, which gave an eight-year-old like me a massive vocabulary.

Miss Dunlap placed the spelling words on the board. After we wrote them down, she told us to get a dictionary and look them up.