"It'll be fun Emma. Lola will be there all day. It's Field Day".
I wanted her to volunteer to help out. We asked permission. We got the okay. And, we were looking forward to it.
Emma was at my house by 7:30, an hour that she hates. We carried Lola to school, dropped her off in my classroom and went to the morning meeting. As we walked down the hall, I saw Aria hiding out in her mom's classroom.
"What is going on?" her mom asked me.
"What do you mean?"
"The Principal said we couldn't be here. I asked the Executive Director and Coach, they said yes...." Aria exclaimed.
"Just stay here. Emma's here too. We will just go help Coach and everyone will realize it's fine".
Emma and I went to the meeting. There were songs, videos and performances.
"So, middle schoolers, thanks for your help but we don't need it and if you need a ride, there is Mary to take you...." the Principal called out in front of four hundred people.
Emma and I looked at each other. She walked out as I followed her. She was upset. It was embarrassing, almost like a call-out and, completely unnecessary.
I felt the salt, rubbing in my wounds. My niece has been at that school for nine years. This was her last year, before she goes to high school. She has been there before everyone that works there, Principal, Executive Director, everyone. She knew I was being shoved out. And now she was too.
"I'm calling my mom" she said, averting her eyes.
I wanted to pull my finger nails out. No one upsets my niece. I was powerless. And frustrated. What else could they do to me? How else could they make a bad situation worse? Couldn't they grant me this one thing?
Aria came outside, with Cally.
"I don't get it" Aria stated, "The Executive Director said it was okay..."
"What is going on?" Cally asked.
My sister pulled up and I walked Emma to the car. Everything was ending. My stomach churned. How much I wanted to kill anyone that hurt my niece. The car pulled off.
"Aria, you are going to have to go back home and put pants on, your shorts are too short and go back to school, I'll get you a ride..." her mom said, "we have to call Cally's dad too".
"Look, I know this is weird, but they don't want to go to school now. It's awful. I live behind the school, I can walk them there. I have an XBox. They will be two minutes away...."
"Are you serious? You really don't mind?"
"No" I said, signaling to the girls.
We walked the two minute walk from my school to the house.
"Take whatever you want from the fridge, here is a key, there is the phone, and here is the XBox. Call if you need anything!"
"Thank you so much...."
I went to Field Day. I held my dog and worried about my niece. Worried about everything. I felt like an open wound. Finally, I went back home to make something to eat. Everything was so out of whack that I could barely bathe and get up in the morning, let alone make lunch before going to work.
"Hey, it's just me!" I called.
I saw them moving their shoulders and legs to Dance Central, Wii style. The minimal furniture that we have was pushed out to the edges of the room.
I made my sandwich and ran back.
"Where did all that Scottish cheese go?" Alec asked, hours later.
"I only had a little..." I answered.
"There was like, six ounces and now there is a cube left..."
I told the girls they could have anything. I loved it that the one thing they picked out of the cheese drawer was the nicest one. They have taste. And, they had fun.
But my niece, my lovely, did not. And it will always bother me. It bothered me that I could make it right for those two girls, but not for her.
I didn't call out to Aria and Cally. I wanted to, they looked bored. I worried about their eyes as they stared at the sun.
I kept walking.
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