'Get up, get up you have school today,' my mother blurted out, as I fell out of bed. I stood up and waddled to the bathroom. Looking into the mirror I smiled to myself; I knew today was going to be just fine. My family and I had just moved from Guatemala, and today was to be my first day at Bel Air Elementary School. I usually don't get worried about these situations, since I've been through the routine before, besides I tend to make friends pretty easily. Why would today be any different, I told myself.I finished brushing my teeth and splashing my face, then continued to get dressed. I threw on some Bugle Boy caches, a Polo shirt, and some Nikes. After giving up on my hair; I ran into ...view middle of the document...
Lunch rolled around and we knew what that meant; recess was next. The bell rang and everyone ran outside, bursting onto the playground like a swarm of locusts attacking crops. I saw many games going on: dodgeball, soccer, jump roping, and many others. It seemed all right, but it wasn't what I expected. I couldn't believe that no one was playing football. Even in Guatemala we played football; I wondered what I could do.That day when I came home from school, I searched through our 'bucket of balls' for my football. Yes, I found it, my black and yellow, mini Steelers ball. I began to think how I could integrate football into the lives of the kids. The first thing that popped into my mind was Brian Vedder who I had met earlier that day; he knew a few of the soccer players and he might be able to get them to play football. The next person I could count on was Melvin Jackson. I met Melvin while in math class, he was new to the school too, and he was dying to play football too. With these two I could at least throw the ball around, and hope for others to join in.The next morning I awoke to the same routine as usual. I put on some clothes and belted out the door a little earlier than usual. When I got to school I hid my ball in my backpack until I could stuff it into my cubby hole. Then I looked for Melvin, he was across the hall in Mrs. Symms class where I had math class. I went up to him and asked him if he'd play football with me at recess. He told me he would love to and even told his friend Sean Gravely about it. Well at least now I didn't have to ask for Brian's help.Recess came again that day as it had before, but Melvin, Sean, and I had a little agenda to take care of. We strolled out onto the playground, and across the asphalt to the field where the soccer guys played. Melvin began to run, and I unleashed the ball from my hand. It floated through the air in a perfect spiral until it landed down on his fingertips. At once we had spectators. Boom! Sean punted the ball, and it skied forward. More and more kids watched, as if wondering what was going on. Kofi, the biggest guy in school, and popular soccer player called for the ball. I launched one over to him and he smiled. 'Lets get a game together guys,' he said in eager anticipation. We agreed, but I wasn't done, I wanted everyone to have a chance to take part in Bel Air's fi...
