Game #1:
Stars Ferrikki
Earth Kelpari
Moon Lunemara
Sun Puffadore
Game #2
(This got kind of long, sorry!!)
(Edited because apparently the site ate all my quotation marks and apostrophes when i copy-pasted over from Google Docs. So if I missed any when going back over to put them back... sorry.)
Lilyanne Hadley LaRue, who wore her name with pride, arrived at school on her birthday in her favorite dress-- the pale yellow one with the strawberry-pink roses along the waistline. Her mom had braided her light blonde hair for the occasion, and together they'd tied yellow ribbons to the handlebars and armrests on Lilyanne's wheelchair.
Wheeling herself through the narrow door to her second grade class, Lilyanne checked the whiteboard, where Miss Laughlin-- the best teacher in the world, to hear Lilyanne tell it-- always drew brightly colored balloons and cakes for her class's birthdays. But instead of cheerful bubble letters spelling out "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LILYANNE HADLEY LARUE," instead of the slightly lopsided layer cake Miss Laughlin always drew, the board only said Mrs. Daly in cramped, cursive letters. And instead of the dark-skinned, round-faced, cheerful Miss Laughlin at the teacher's desk, a thin, pale woman with a bob of dark hair sat in the cushioned chair.
Lilyanne swallowed hard as she wheeled across the classroom to her desk. "Where's Miss Laughlin?" she whispered to Anna, who sat at the desk in front of her.
"She's out, I guess," Anna responded. "I wonder if the sub will let us watch a movie?"
Lilyanne bit her lip. She didnt want to watch a movie-- she wanted Miss Laughlin, she wanted the birthday drawings, she wanted the day to go how she'd thought it would. She'd had it planned out before she even arrived. After morning announcements, the whole class would sing to her, and Miss Laughlin would ask her what her favorite kind of cake was and change the drawing of the cake to be that flavor-- carrot cake with yellow frosting, Lilyanne had been going to tell her-- and at the end of the day she'd present Lilyanne with a candy bar taped to a coupon reading "One Free Skipped Homework." And Lilyanne would give her the extra cupcake her mom had packed for her, and then she'd go home and open all her presents, and it would be wonderful.
"Caleb Larson," Mrs. Daly read off. Her voice was like dry, week-old cake. "Lilyanne Larue." She pronounced it wrong, like Lillian. "Anna Li--"
"It's Lilyanne," corrected Lilyanne. "Lilyanne Hadley Larue."
Mrs. Daly blinked at her over her horn-rimmed glasses. "What?"
"Not Lillian," Lilyanne elaborated.
The sub looked at her attendance sheet, then back to Lilyanne. Does it matter? Anna Li
Lilyanne's eyes began to fill with tears. Something brushed lightly against her arm, and she looked to see that one of the yellow ribbons had come loose from the bar of her wheelchair. She made a grab for it, but it fluttered out of reach of her hand and landed on the ground where she could no longer reach it.
-
As might be expected of a second grader, recess was Lilyanne's favorite part of the day. Miss Laughlin never minded that Lilyanne preferred to stay inside and read-- her teacher last year, Mr. Berk, had never let her, encouraging her not to "let her disability stop her," but Miss Laughlin never forced Lilyanne to go outside when she didn't want to.
The second hand on the classroom's old clock finally hit twelve, and Lilyanne's classmates jumped up. Mrs. Daly cleared her throat. "We will walk in an orderly line down the hall." She glanced at Lilyanne. "Come on, Lillian, get up."
Lilyanne was caught for a moment, unsure whether to correct Mrs. Daly on her name, say she'd prefer to stay indoors, or point out that she couldn't get up, so she said nothing. It was Molly, another girl in her class who Lilyanne hadnt really talked to much before, who spoke up. "Mrs. Daly, she can't walk."
Mrs. Daly looked a little flustered for a moment, but regained composure quickly. "Well, that's just fine," she said, approaching Lilyanne. "You all line up and start going, and we will follow."
"I dont want to go outside!" Lilyanne protested.
Mrs. Daly glared and said, "Young lady, you are not allowed to remain here during recess on your own, and that is that. If you will not push yourself, then I will push you." And with that, she walked behind Lilyanne, placed her hands on the wheelchair bars, and began to push Lilyanne towards the classroom door.
The tears welled up in Lilyanne's eyes again as she was moved against her will, and she flailed an arm at Mrs. Daly, nearly dropping the lunchbox she was still carrying. "You're not allowed to push me! Let me go!"
Molly, who still stood in the doorway even though the rest of the class had already left, spoke up. "You can't just do that to her! She always gets to stay inside!"
"She does not receive special privileges because of her mobility issues!" Mrs. Daly snapped, not letting go of the wheelchair. She pushed Lilyanne past Molly, and even amidst the protests and cries of both girls, she continued down the hall.
"B-but it's my birthday," Lilyanne sobbed, trying fruitlessly to stop the chairs wheels from turning.
Mrs. Daly only scoffed. "Then you're too old now for tantrums," she said, and ignored any following words from the crying girl in the chair.
-
"I can't believe she did that," Molly whispered to Lilyanne as soon as Mrs. Daly had left them both at the base of the wheelchair ramp in order to go deal with some other playground altercation. "I can wheel you back in, if you want!"
"I can wheel myself," Lilyanne said miserably, "but she'd just notice and come get me again."
Molly glared in Mrs. Daly's general direction. "She's the worst sub I've ever had," she said, tossing her hair. "I'm gonna tell Miss Laughlin."
Lilyanne looked closely at the other girl. Molly was black, with dark brown eyes and hair braided into cornrows. She was short, although still taller than Lilyanne-- just about everyone was, given that Lilyanne was always sitting down-- and her shirt was bright yellow, with a strawberry-pink heart in the center. Lilyanne sniffled and felt the tears start to recede. "Thanks", she said aloud, proud of how her voice didn't shake so much.
Molly smiled at her. "You're welcome," she said. "But you should tell Miss Laughlin too, so she doesnt think I'm lying."
"She won't think that!" Lilyanne protested. "Miss Laughlin is the best teacher ever."
"I think she doesn't like me," admitted Molly with a shrug.
"Well, I like you, and she likes me, so she has to like you!" Lilyanne said firmly. "And none of us like Mrs. Daly, and we can make sure we never have her again."
Molly nodded, looking determined. The two girls were quiet for a moment, until Molly spoke up again. "Are you eight now?"
Lilyanne nodded, and held up eight fingers. "Just a few more birthdays, and then I won't be able to count on my fingers anymore!"
"You won't need to," Molly pointed out. "When you're that old they teach you really fancy math, and then you don't use your fingers at all except to push buttons on a calculator." There was another moment of quiet, broken by Molly's sudden "Happy birthday."
"Oh, thanks!" Lilyanne said, smiling for what seemed like the first time since she'd gotten to school. Remembering something, she opened the lunchbox in her lap, pulling out two wrapped cupcakes. "The second one was supposed to be for Miss Laughlin," she told Molly, "but it's for you now."
Molly beamed and unwrapped her cupcake. "I like the color of the frosting," she said.
"Thanks," Lilyanne told her. "Yellow's my favorite color."
-
"How was school today?" her mother asked as she loaded Lilyanne's wheelchair into the trunk of the car.
Lilyanne clutched a yellow ribbon in her hands. She considered tying it around her braid-- but if it fell off again, Molly wouldnt be there to pick it up off the ground for her. As she heard her mom's question, she shrugged. "It was pretty good!"
"Well, I'm glad to hear that."
And they drove away from the school, yellow ribbon still held tight in Lilyanne's grasp.
Game #3
Unfortunately I can't do this one, since it's my brother's birthday. Sorry!
Game #4
I honestly don't have a preference as to where my two free entries go. Put them wherever!
Also, hey, happy birthday!!! :D |
