What's Wrong With Emily Browne

Lucy Browne

          Lucy made her way down the stairs  towards the kitchen. She could smell something good cooking. It was here first day of high school. I had whipped up a batch of my delicious waffles for the special occasion. My sister was never good at small talk so I decided to talk to her first.                         
"So," I said in a sing-songy tone, "Have you found any friends, or are you still eating in the bathroom?" She looked at me as if to say 'Of course not' but she simply smiled.

Our mother was ready for Lucy in the car. She grabbed her sparkly Lisa Frank backpack that she had covered in black paint because it was "to child-like for 7th grade". I  grabbed my bag and headed towards the door. I realized that dad had left his special cuff links on the coffee table. I picked them up and put them in dads "special items" drawer.

          The drive to school use to be a hassle with the New York traffic but now in Edgewood there is basically no one one roads until 5 pm. Our high school is right next to the new bakery dad works at. Lucy has a small group of friends but they live on the other side of town. Chloe is the smart friend. She is a Mathlete, she won the spelling bee the past 7 years and she was dux in middle school. Then there is Sophie. She is older than everyone but she repeated 1st grade. Mia is the baby of the friend group. She acts immature and still watches kid shows on tv.

That day Mom's car ran out of gas so they had to walk to school. It's embarrassing on the first day of school to walk into school with your mother. It's even more embarrassing when the new kid is coming behind you so everyone starts laughing. The new kid seemed to be running late as her mother was stuffing a egg salad sandwich into the kids bag. My mother, the social psychopath she is, turns around and introduces herself.

"Hello." My mother began in a happy voice, "My name is Angela, what's yours?" The mother began to surch deep into her handbag and pulled out a small, thick book titled 'Anglais pour Français débutants'. "Hello" the woman said in a thick French accent, "Je m'appelle, je m'appelle je m'app- AHHH" she said as she found the translation. "My name is Peggy Browne. This is my daughter, Emily" "Hi." said the young girl in a regular accent.
Mom went to France in 1991 so she thinks she is an expert at everything French. One time she was talking to a French guy at the grocery store and told him 'Mes poulets poubelles ont fière allure dans des écharpes et des ustensiles de cuisine.' I don know what she was trying to say but it ended up wrong. Something about birds, scarves, and knives. Anyway, Mom dropped of Lucy and left her with the French kid. Now, you know how I said earlier that she was terrible at small talk and starting conversations, well when you are forced to stand with someone that probably speaks English as a second language it makes for an awkward first day.

"Soo...." Emily, the French kid, said, "Do you know any French?" "Well, I know how to say something weird that my mom always says." Lucy joked. "Well what is it?" Asked Emily. "Mes poulets poubelles ont fière allure dans des écharpes et des ustensiles de cuisine." "Oohhhhh... Ok. So does your mother like to cook?" "No. She used to think that stroganoff was a desert made with strawberries. It was interesting having to eat strawberry flavoured beef in front of my aunt."