Too Young to Burn

"Hey, we have to meet for that girl from Panama.  Her mom's pissed.  She says her teacher is mean."
"Her teacher isn't mean."  I responded and kept running to my next class.

"Someone stole my bookbag!" Rafael informed me during morning tutorial.  

"How you going to turn in your homework?"  Jaime asked.

Rafael gestured toward Danny.  Danny pulled Rafael's homework folder from his book bag.  

"That was really nice of him to carry that for you."  I remarked.  

They put their headphones on and continued their work.  

I signed in to the online meeting with Ariel's mom.  I always want to think of her as the girl from Ipanema, even though she's from Panama.  I imagine her running on beaches in the bright sun, happy.  

"Wagner, you go first"  Ranier whispered to me.  

"Hey, it's good to see you again.  I'm Ariel's ESOL teacher, we met when you registered her.  Look, she's behind, but she's advancing.  She didn't know her alphabet when she got here, but now she does.  You told me they were online for a long time there and you know, kids here didn't do well with that either.  So, she's barely on a kindergarten level. There is a lot we all have to do."

"I bought her some stuff from School Box.  I'm working with her."  she responded.

"That's awesome."  I responded.

"It's going to take work at home and at school"

Rainier started whispering again.

YOUR TUTORIAL, she mouthed.

"I have a tutorial early in the morning."  I said.

"Ariel is welcome to come, we can do some extra work then."

"We have to put retention on the table."  Rainier interjected.

"She has to be reading by third grade.  We can revisit later, but it's important."

The homeroom teacher weighed in and everyone left satisfied.  

When we hung up, everyone sighed that "mean teacher" never even came up.  

"So, you'll pick up your breakfast and come on out to the trailer.  I'll be out there."

Ariel looked at me incredulously.

"COME AND MEET ME AT MY BUS!"  she said, eyes wide.

"Naw, it's okay.  I'll be in the trailer.  There are other kids that come out in the morning too, but....well, they are all boys and older than you..."  I said hesitantly.

Her eyes widened.

"CAN'T MURIEL COME!???"  she shrieked. 

"It'll be fine.  I'll be out there waiting for you."  I said with a smile.

I was running around the next morning before seven, catching up with a teacher that is going to be working with Danny.  After talking to her for a few minutes, I glanced at my watch.

"Shit,"  I said, "I have to run, he's going to be waiting for me."

I sprinted over to the cafeteria and saw Rafael and Danny heading for the doors with their trays.

"Hold on you guys, we have one more kid coming."  I said, scanning the cafeteria for Ariel.

"Be nice to her.  She's the only girl and she's younger than you."

Rafael pointed toward the outside.  There stood Ariel, alone in the dark in her little pink coat, staring at me with complete distrust and a little bit of laughter.  

"I AM SO SORRY!  All I tell are lies, Ariel, I'm sorry."

We made it to the trailer and everyone got to work.  I watched Rafael remove the poppit bracelet that he had bought from the school store and slide it toward Ariel.

"That's nice of you, Rafael, you know, to let her play with that."
"She can keep it." he responded and kept working.  

When it was time to leave, Rafael wordlessly handed Danny his folder to carry while he popped open his umbrella with his free hands and held it over both of them. 

And they all walked off to school.  

*Title, Sonny and the Sunsets