Rose Bridges

Six

Carmen
Fourth grade
8 years ago

"I want to be an astronaut!"

Mr. Campbell grins.

"I want to be a construction worker!" Another boy says as he happily waves his hand in the air.

Mr. Campbell looks a little confused for a second but smiles again. "Well that's great. Anyone else?"

I smile and raise my hand. He nods towards me to answer.

"I want to be a lawyer," I say knowing he'll be impressed with my answer. Mama's a lawyer lady. She dresses up fancy and helps get bad people in jail.

Mr. Campbell lets his head fall back as he begins to laugh. I chuckle too, not sure why we're laughing.

"Sweetheart, you realize you have to go through a lot of schooling for that," he says with a softer voice.

I swing my feet under the desk. "Yeah," I nod with a grin.

"Okay." He lifts his hands up defensively. "It's just you're a bit of an emotional girl, gotta toughen up, you know?"

My smile falls a little.

He purses his lips. "Anyways-"

My eyebrows pinch together as I think while staring at my desk. What does he mean toughen up?

A little while later, he hands out math coloring papers along with colored pencils for us to work on at our tables.

I sit quietly as the people at my table talk.

Two times twelve? Um...I look at the wall as I count in my head.

Two plus two plus two plus two-

"My dad's a lawyer," a voice interrupts my thinking.

I look to the boy with spikey blonde hair sitting across from me.

He interrupted my counting, so I'm annoyed, but I smile at him. "Oh, that's so cool!"

He doesn't smile. "Lawyer-ing is a man's job."

My smile falls slightly. "It doesn't have to be," I respond quietly.

"Well it is. Girls are too emotional to be lawyers. How are you supposed to put the bad people in prisons if you cry in court?" He furrows his almost invisible eyebrows.

My mouth goes slightly open. Uh-

"Plus how are you supposed to be a lawyer when you take care of your kids?"

I falter, holding the blue colored pencil in my hand. "I guess I'll figure it out..."

He rolls his eyes. "Plus you wear too much pink."

My hand automatically goes to the pink headband holding my hair away from my face. My mind going to my entirely pink room.

But I love pink, I frown to myself.

"Well then when I become a lawyer-lady I'll stop wearing pink," I say a bit more firmer, showing I mean business.

He nods. "Good. You can't take someone seriously if they're dressed like a barbie doll."

My mind goes to the barbie's sprawled out on my bed at home.

"I'm not dressed like a barbie doll. And I won't cry in court," I spit back at him, feeling more angry.

He chuckles to himself. "You cried last week because you got a C on the history test."

"I care about my grades," I say defensively.