Four Square

I was never the most out going or one of the bravest people in the world. I was the wall flower. I was the follower and my best friend, Sierra, was the followed. We met in kindergarten and she was my protector. She was the brave one, the super hero. Like wonder woman! She was always the one who wasn't afraid to ask for more juice at snack time and she was the one who always made sure the new students got settled in all right.

Yeah, “Si” was just awesome like that.

But there was one day, in kindergarten, that I got a good taste of that same awesomeness.

It had started out like any other day; we got to school, hung around in the classroom for a while, and then it was time for recess. Now, I didn't really have to many friends, but Sierra had plenty, and they always let me play with them. One of theirs, and my, favorite games was four square. It was a fun game that basically consisted of four people, standing in a square, with a ball... it really was much more fun then it sounds, I promise.

Anyway, on an average day, Sierra and I would walk outside and go around the corner of the building to find a bunch of other kids our age already playing on this small court that the teachers had set up for just such an occasion. It already had painted on squares and everything. This, however, was not such an average day.

Sierra and I walked out of our class room and started for the court only to be stopped by about ten little children's butts' waving in the air. They were all leaning over, trying to see our four square court without actually walking beyond the corner. Sierra and I looked at each other, rather curious and, really, quite amused as well. Really though, just take a moment to think about this; ten children, all bending over each other trying to look around a corner... it was like something you would only see in the cartoons!

I tried to hide a smile as we both walked over to the small crowd and tried to see what they were all looking at. I couldn't see a thing but the back of everybody else's head (I also was never really the tallest child in the world).

Sierra, however, must have seen what the problem was because the next thing I heard was her urgent whisper to some boy standing in front of me, “What are we gonna do?”

He turned around a little to see who it was and whispered back, “We don't know. We been standin' here for ten minutes an no one knows what to do.”

“Well, how come no body just goes over and asks them to move?” Sierra said.

The boy bit his lip and looked away. He almost seemed a little embarrassed about something.

Well, by now, I was absolutely crazy with curiosity. I had to know what was going on! So, fed up, I decided to simply walk around the mass of kids and get a front row seat. When I was standing in front of the group, I suddenly understood what all the fuss was about: there were these two teachers, who I recognized as a first grade teacher, Mrs. Goldman, and a second grade teacher, Ms. Dunn. Their class rooms were just down the hall of our class room. The two of them were innocently standing in the middle of our court, just talking, completely unaware of the heap of young students that had been watching them for the last ten minutes.

I felt so much better! I always hated being left out of the loop and now that I knew what was going on, my day was complete. I turned around to go back and stand in the back of the group like I had been earlier, but was stopped mid stride. The eleven of my class mates that had previously been watching the teachers, were now looking in a very different direction.

All of their attention was solely trained on me, and it took me a second to understand exactly why that was. So I looked over to Sierra for guidance. She just looked back and started waving me off and in that second, everything became clear. They expected me to go over there and ask those teachers to move!

There was no way I could do that! Couldn't they understand? I was only five: I was too young!

But it was too late. By now, everybody had started doing like my, so called, “friend”. All of them were waving me off, whispering things like, “Go on,” or “You can do it.”

I almost wanted to cry!

But, again, it was too late. Some how they had all gotten it in their heads that I had volunteered to sacrifice myself for the good of the group, and there was no way out. I mean, how could I back down? If I did back out and run away then I would forever be known as the cowered and there was now way I could let the brave people hiding behind that wall think I was wimp!

So, I did the only thing I could do: I turned back around, took a big breath of air, and very, very slowly, began my long trek across the four square court.

My heart was pounding in my ears, sweat was beading on my forehead, and I was fairly certain that if I rubbed my hands together any harder, the skin would come clean off. They just kept getting closer! By now, I was only a few feet away and I had to stop. I was so sure that my heart would come jumping straight out of my chest at the rate it was going at it.

I waited patiently for the two teachers to acknowledge me, knowing better then to interrupt someone in the middle of a conversation. I had to calm my self down anyway. I had to talk to them... about.... Oh my Gosh! What was I supposed to talk to them about?! What was it? Think, think, think!

The court! That was it! We needed the court, they were on the court, therefore, they had to move. That was why I was there! That was why they were both currently looking down at me... Oh boy.

“....Uummm...” My voice didn't work! I couldn't make it say anything! What was I supposed to do? My throat was all dry and my stomach, for some unknown reason, suddenly decided to become a gymnast. I swallowed some spit in a poor attempt to moisten my throat and quietly tried again.

“...Um... we... kinda... wanted...” I couldn't look at the tall women in front of me. I was currently twiddling my thumbs and glaring at the concrete floor, as if it were the source of all my problems. Mrs. Goldman leaned over a little more to hear me better. “We wanted to play four square...” I mumbled. “Would you, please... um.... move?” I looked up at them, biting my lip, hopeful.

They actually looked a little surprised. They looked at each other for a second, and then back at me. Ms. Dunn suddenly looked over my shoulder and started laughing while patting Mrs. Goldman on the arm and pointing to a spot somewhere over my head. I followed her finger and turned around just in time to watch all the kids hurl themselves behind the corner, no doubt tripping over each other in an attempt to hide. I turned back around to see both women with a hand over her mouth, trying and failing, to stop their laughing.

Mrs. Goldman leaned over again when she regained her breath to look me in the eye. “Why didn't you all just come over and ask us to move?”

It was a simple enough question. It was the same question Sierra had asked not to long ago. It was also a question that I, unfortunately, did not have an answer to. So, I looked her right in the eye told her clear as day, “Ionno.”

She just smiled I really could figure out what it was she was smiling about but I didn't care. She wasn't angry or anything so felt perfectly happy with smiling back. The two educators giggled one last time before waving a short good bye and walking off, and that was that.

As I turned around to grin at my friends, I felt as though I had just conquered the world. For one day, I had been the super hero. I had to rush to the rescue and save the innocent children from a very boring recess and it was awesome.