Shiny stars bursting out of a white envelope,
inside a perfectly folded acceptance letter.
Words scream out, “Congratulations, you’re a star”.
A bittersweet feeling overcomes me, thankful
to be accepted to a great academic school,
but at the same time, I don’t want to go to
Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders. I want
to be one of the aggressive falcons at FMS.
Mr. Helwig decided to try and convince my mom
to pick ARS for a “much better education”.
Of course, he won and changed her mind, so I’m forced
to become an Ann Richards Young Women Leader.
They all knew each other from Pre-Kindergarten.
They were all friends and had close bonds with each other,
but I was the new girl that showed up in fourth grade.
Coincidently, there was another new girl too,
Zoe Fisher and we became each other’s friend.
We always stuck together and started gaining friends.
Throughout my fourth and fifth grade years, I felt closer
with my 2015 class. We established a deeper type of
bond that united us all as one. Eventually,
it was time to graduate and walk across the stage.
Although I showed up later than most in the grade,
they made me feel like I’d been there forever.
Running across the basketball court back and forth,
screaming and squealing from the sharks chasing us.
Gasping for breath, tired of being the shark’s new bait.
Celebrating my victory from arriving
to my destination, the other side, “the sea”.
I’m one of the fastest and hardest to catch
since I dodge all the seaweed to stay in the game.
I eventually gain the shark’s attention,
and both sharks disguised as Maddie and Fernanda
decide to chase me, but Maddie and I collide.
We both fall down hard. I break my fall with my wrist
and land on her ankle. We both shriek out with pain.
We’re rushed to the nurse office for a checkup
just to find a vacant room with no nurse present.
Eventually, we find the guard, and she pretends
to be a nurse, by doing an examination.
I’m cleared and go back to P.E class again.
Throughout the day, I feel faint pains throb through my wrist.
By the eighth period, it was hard to lift objects.
I call my mom to be taken to the ER soon.
After X-rays and eternity of waiting,
The dark-haired male doctor enters the white room.
I’m diagnosed with a slightly fractured left wrist.
For two months I adapt to one usable hand.
I’m nervous, standing on the big and brown stage.
The bright yellow stage lights are shining down on me.
There are many unfamiliar faces in the crowd
that watch me, waiting for the choir to start singing.
My hands start shaking, drips of sweat form on my head,
a lump is in my throat preventing me to sing.
I feel as though I’ve forgotten the lyrics
to the song that we’ve been practicing for months.
I build up the courage and search for the lyrics.
Once they are found, I start to sing. A large weight is
lifted from my chest when the song is over. Applause
fill the room. I’ve finished my first performance.
“Teasia, come to the front of the cafeteria”
A frightened but confused feeling washes over me.
I know I haven’t caused mischief recently,
so why would Ms.Rutz call me up to the front room?
As I drag my feet near her, everyone watches me.
To my surprise, an ecstatic expression is
spread across her face. She hands me a large, yellow
envelope and says “Congratulations Teasia”.
I become eager to reveal what’s inside.
When I open the envelope a letter yelps
“Congrats! Teasia has been selected to receive the
2016 African American Heritage Award”.
There’s one-minute ticking down until class ends.
Everyone begins to organize belongings
so that we can finally leave our third period.
But Coach O is still talking and usually he
doesn’t care about the extra noise, but today
he is in a terrible mood for some reason.
He suddenly snaps and tells us to stop moving.
Some people listen and stop, but the other half
continue to move, talk, and annoy him further.
This angers him and he yells out, “The longer you
take to stop moving, the more minutes I will spend
talking and keeping you from going to fourth-period”.
This statement enraged me. I believed he had
no right to hold us all back for an action that
only half of our class was taking any part of.
I decided to speak up and say, “If you’re going
to hold us back, you’ll need to tell our teachers
the reason we’re late for their class”. This made him
madder, so he replied angrily, “I will” and
continued talking. Outside of class, before we
heard students rushing, but now there was pure stillness.
Soon after, he finished talking and dismissed us.
But before I left, he stopped and gave me a speech.
I got my first white, yellow, and pink demerit.
An email appeared across the top of my screen.
Basketball Tryouts. I choose to brush it aside.
I’ve never been part of an actual sports team.
My friend persuades me to “give basketball a chance”.
I show up on Thursday to tryouts, and they’re
many girls that look very experienced players.
After the coaches run some fundamental drills, we
do shooting drills. While we were supposed to be
listening to Coach Tilson, Symantha “passes” me
the ball, which hits my face, and breaks my only glasses.
Although I’m mad, I shake it off and resume.
Later that night, I discover I made the team!
After winter break, Mrs.Willie introduces an
essay contest that the class must all compete in.
We all write essays on different violence types.
The submission due date is in less than two weeks.
So we do the writing process on our own time.
I write my essay about domestic violence.
I revise it to my best capability.
Before I know it, time had raced by so quickly.
I do one last glance over it and turn it in.
Many months go by and the season changes to spring.
One day, Ms. Willie tells me, I’m the only
finalists from ARS and I received three awards!
It’s February 27, 2016, so it’s my birthday.
I’m 13 now, officially a teenager.
This is the first year that I’ve done no planning.
No birthday lists or plans were made in advance so
I had to come up with some last-minute ideas.
I decided to go shopping for new clothes and shoes.
Later, it was time to open gifts. I received
emoji bedsheets, headphones, and a bean bag chair
since I was going through the emoji phase. After,
I went to eat at Steak N Shake, my favorite
restaurant, I went back home and watched Fuller House,
and later ate cake. Overall I loved my day.
I remember the events leading up clearly…
My mom realized she’d forgotten her phone in
the car and went to get it. It was around 11.
I paused the show until my mom got back, and was
so overjoyed over how well the day had gone.
Suddenly my mom comes back with a serious
expression, I can tell something is wrong. She
says she’s missed several calls from Nana and
suddenly my heart drops, I feel sick, and I’m
hoping that I’m dreaming or wrong. Why today?
The phone connects and a few seconds later my
mom’s cries. And I just know my grandma has passed.
Teasia's Poetry Blog 