I sat down with my tray of food at the empty table in the back of the Cafeteria.
Biting into my apple, I scanned the room for my best friend sense kindergarten: Julia.
She was walking towards my table a little faster than usual. When she sat down next to me, she took a deep breath and began to explain to me the shocking news about her math class.
"I can't believe he actually picked up my pencil," Julia giggled.
I was kind of listening, but I couldn't help but look behind me. The kids at the table next to us, kept glancing towards me and whenever they looked back they snickered.
"Levine, are you even listening?" Julia finally asked.
I turned my head back towards Julia and stared into her deep brown eyes.
"Oh, sorry. So, what about the guy who picked up the pencil?"
Julia sighed and raised her eye-brows.
"We finished that conversation already. Don't you remember? I asked if you heard about the test tomorrow?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, um..." I racked my memory for anything about some test, but the back of my brain was filled with thoughts of my reputation at this school.
"We're having a history test tomorrow and everyone is talking about it." Julia said.
Well that explains it. I thought. If everyone was talking about something, I was usually the last to hear about it.
"Well, I'm ready for it." I said wiping my mouth with my red sleeve. "I'm fascinated by the Greeks. Did you know Alexander the Great named like, tons of cities after himself?"
Julia picked up her fork and played with her noodles while I raved on about the Greeks.
Finally I shut my mouth and Julia looked back at me. Her face brightened and she tossed her napkin at me playfully. I tossed it back.
"I began to think you would never stop talking." She joked.
   I blushed a little and couldn't help smiling.
"So anyways," Julia continued, pushing a strand of her auburn, brown hair behind her ear.
"My brother told me, that last year when he took the test it was super weird. He said there was a question about potions and spells."
"That sounds cool." I said picking up my fork and stabbing a few peas on the sharp point.
"I mean, it sounds like a fun test."
Julia looked down at her own tray of food.
"Yeah, I guess so."
We sat in silence for awhile, listening to all the loud voices mixing together in the Cafeteria. Some kids would laugh at different moments and you'd hear different parts of different conversations.
Sometimes I wish I could have more friends and be part of those conversations. I never knew what I did wrong to be the oddball of my grade.
I thought back to the beginning of the year. I first joined the school in October. My family moved from Florida to Kansas. Now the date is November 16 and it's getting close to the winter solstice.
My family is strange, we do many strange things. This is why I used to suggest to go to Julia's house when we wanted to play. On solstices my family celebrate's by sitting on a hill and watch the sun slide across the sky.
When I come home from school, I find my 5 year old brother's socks hanging from his basket ball hoop which is in the living room. My mother says it encourages him to do his laundry. He climbs onto a chair and jumps to get them down,and he rolls them together like a basket ball. He then jumps off the chair and throws
them into the hoop and they drop through, landing in his laundry basket.
   The 6th grade coach in the cafeteria blew his whistle which signaled to finish eating and get back to class.
   Julia and I quickly shoveled our food into our mouths and rushed through the crowd, to empty our trays.
     We said our goodbye's and split

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

When I got home from school, I immediately pulled my math homework out of my back pack and sat at the kitchen table.
   Grabbing a pencil from the kitchen drawer, I headed back towards my homework and turned to page 362.
I started on problem number 1. I was half way through when my dad stepped into our kitchen.
"How was school?" He asked, pulling a jug of milk out of the fridge.
"The usual." I replied as I wrote down the answer to 3x6-(10x4).
"What's the usual?" My dad asked dipping a peanut butter cookie into his milk.
"Just.... Um..you know a normal school day." I tried to sound as casual as I could but really, I was choking down my tears.
"The winter solstice is coming up." My father took a bite of his cookie and wiped a drop of milk off his chin.
"I know." I looked up from my homework and tried to smile. It sort of turned out as a smirk.
"Your mother and I were thinking we skip it this winter." I dropped my pencil.
   "What! What do you mean?" I was more disappointed than ever.
    "Well," My father shoved another cookie in his mouth and sat down across from me.
"We aren't very popular in the neighborhood. The people who live here think we're, what are the words? Like them."
He paused to shove more cookies in his mouth. I was surprised my parents thought this way. About fitting in with our neighbors. I thought I was the only person in my family to think in that way.
I thought my father would continue, but instead he stood up and put his plate away and drank his glass of milk, before neatly stacking it with the other cups in the dishwasher.
By the time I finished my math homework, I zipped it away in my back pack and heard my brother bouncing his basket ball down the steps.
"Levine, Wanna shoot some hoops with me?"
I turned around and watched his curly blonde hair bounce each time he dribbled his ball.
My friends say we look alike and I guess we do. My hair is also blonde but it's not curly at all. He has green eyes and I have blue eyes but we have the same nose and freckles running along our face.
"Sure, Arthur." I smile.
My brother always makes me smile he always has. Well, okay I'll admit it, not every time. Especially after snooping through my room and playing with my Lego's and books.
We head towards the living room and I listen to the rhythm of Arthur's dribble.
Once we arrive I defend the hoop, Arthur shoots and scores! I grab the ball, dribble it a few times but it bounces off my foot and rolls away.
Argh! Why am I so clumsy? (This happens almost every time I play basket ball)
Arthur steals the ball and shoots once more.
"GOOOOAL!!!!" He runs around the room screaming with his arms raised over his head so far, I can see his belly.
Mom comes home from work after a few more of Arthur's scores. When dinner is cooked, everyone sits at the table and begins to eat.
Mom and dad try to explain to Arthur about skipping winter solstice.
"But why?" Arthur whined.
Mom and dad looked at one another.
"Sugar cube it's grown-up stuff." My mother said in a gentle voice.
  My brother folded his arms and squished his face up like he always does when he throws a fit.
   "But it's not fair!" He yelled and kicked the table with his legs. His spoon bounced in the bowl of potato soup.
   I scooped more and more of my dinner into my mouth, trying hard to ignore the conversation and block out Arthur's screams.
    Finally, my mother pulls Arthur by the ear to his room, and it's just me and dad left at the table.
    We eat quietly and the only sound in the room is the clang of our spoons against the metal bowls and Arthur's pounding and yells of his tantrum upstairs.
     When I go to bed, I can't help but think of the test tomorrow.
Why would we have a test on spells and potions? Maybe it's just an activity paper Mrs.Hickory is giving us as a reward for all our hard work lately?
  The idea boggled my mind for awhile until finally, I drifted off into sleep.