I attended a private Christian school from elementary to junior high school in which my graduating class consisted of a measly twelve students, where girls made up the majority. I don’t know if it was just because there weren’t many students or because we didn’t have an escape from the estrogen, but the girls were not exactly the nicest to each other. It wasn’t like we didn’t get along most of the time, but when we did argue, it was like a World War III was commencing. The main leaders would take their stand and the remaining girls would have to choose sides.
One weekend, during February of the fifth grade, Cherie decided to have a slumber party to celebrate her birthday. Every girl from our class was invited to attend, so it was anticipated to be a huge party. All of my best friends were expected to be there like Brittany, Rachel, and Dana, but my ex-best friend, Zay, whom I had a falling out with earlier in the month, was also going to be there. Zay and I had been best friends since the third grade when we collided into each other on the playground, however, ever since we started learning about Segregation among Blacks and Whites, she started treating me differently. I am of European descent whereas Zay is from African descent, so you can see where she might have gotten the idea during Black History Month that we shouldn’t be friends any more.
Well, on the night of Cherie’s slumber party, my mom dropped me off with every intention of picking me up the next morning; however, an unexpected battle shortly began minutes after my arrival. I walked through the door of Cherie’s house, and was immediately hit with one of Zay’s new accusations. This time, I was accused of being racist because I thought it would be more fun to camp out in the family room then outside in the tents where a friendly skunk was making a new home for itself. I knew then as I know now that I am nowhere close to being a racist, so I challenged her accusations by saying, “It’s not the color of skin that I have a problem with, it’s your attitude.” I think I also added, “You need to come up with a better excuse for using such prejudicial language. Just because I’m white, doesn’t make me a racist.” I called my mom shortly afterwards and had her pick me up from the house. It was not worth my time to be called such nasty words by a person who really didn’t know the implications she was making.
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