Storymania - I Pledge Allgiance by Elizabeth K Flannery

I Pledge Allgiance
Elizabeth K Flannery

I Pledge Allegiance
Liz Flannery
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.”
Andeana walked into classroom 32 to see everyone facing what was now her new country’s flag. She thought to herself, “I’d join in if I knew the words,” but, since she did not, she just stood there glancing through the doorway watching peoples’ mouths move in synchronicity. It almost seemed, by the tone in their voices, this was a familiar thing they had to do and it didn’t mean anything to them at all.
After everyone was finished reciting, the teacher motioned for her to come. Andeana slowly walked over.
“Everyone, I’d like you to meet our exchange student, Andeana. I know it’s kind of strange having a new classmate in the middle of the year.” The teacher informed all her students. “Why don’t you introduce yourself to the class and tell us where you’re from?”
“Hi. I’m Andeana,” she quietly spoke toward her new class. “I moved from Costa Rica.”
Snickers were passed around the room like a game of tag. She looked down at what she was wearing. T-shirt, jeans, and tennis shoes. Nope, couldn’t be that. Andeana tried her best to make her accent clearer, but it came out unnatural. She looked around for something to talk about to break the silence but found nothing.
“Alrighty. Andeana, your desk is right next to Mary’s. Your books are in your desk, and if you need any help, just ask me.”
Andeana walked to her desk and sat down with a tiny sigh of relief. She didn’t want to attract any more attention.
Soon the teacher spoke again to the entire class, “OK everyone, turn your books to page 200 and let’s start where we left off.” And so Adeana started her first day of school in the United States.
Andeana had gone to school in Costa Rica, where education was taken very seriously. There were public schools, private schools, a French school, a German school, and a Japanese school. With more schools targeted at the people, the public schools were small. Classes in the Chicago public school systems, though, were much larger and didn’t seem to be taken so seriously.
Andeana moved to Chicago because her uncle had passed away and her family inherited the much nicer house in the US. Seeing that it as a new start for the family who was poor in Costa Rica, they moved in the middle of the year to start a new life.
2nd period was geography. Books came flying down in formation on the desks. When Andeana got hers, World Atlas, 2005 was the title printed on the cover with gold lettering. She opened it up a little.
“Not yet!” the teacher exclaimed.
Mrs. Terebal assigned everyone partners to work on a class project. Andeana became partners with the girl seated next to her.
“Hi, my name is Regina.” She glanced to make sure the teacher wasn’t coming and held out her hand. She peered mischievously back at three other girls in the back of the room. Andeana didn’t know why.
“You two are assigned Guatemala,” Mrs. Terebal pointed a finger at Andeana and Regina.
And she finally reached the last two people in the row: "Costa Rica.”
“Costa Rica? Great. That’s only the most boring country in South America,” one of the kids spoke, as if trying to see if he could play with the teacher’s patience. Andeana was not even thinking about it being an insult; she was just happy the teacher didn’t hear the comment. She seemed so mean.
Second period ended, and Andeana went to her next class. This was Andeana’s first English class in the US. It seemed like the time she could prove to other people that she knew English quite well. The government in Costa Rica required schools to teach English; she knew she would have to use it one day. People tend to forget that Costa Ricans speak English in their country, too. Andeana knew how to pronounce everything pretty well. The only letter she was having trouble with was the ‘b’ sound.
“Bee,” she said to herself. A few people gave her confused stares. She quietly whispered vowels to herself. Each one rolled off her tongue with a little bounce.
“A, E, I, O, U.”
“Class?” A woman stepped in, checking all the chairs, making sure each and every one of her students were there.
“Hello,” she directed her voice to Andeana, “You must be Andeana. The Lord of the Flies books are on the side of the wall. We’re on page 143. Would you like to read?”
Andeana shrugged and grabbed a book.
“You are a silly beeooy. Said the lord of the flies, just an ignorant silly little beeooy.”
“beeeeeoooooyy,” a boy mocked her.
Embarrassed, Andeana sat down and covered her face with her hands. Through the rest of the English period, Andeana kept silent, eyeing the clock on the wall, just waiting for the big hand to turn. Earlier before, Andeana was looking forward to lunch, now she was just wishing she could go home.
Andeana looked for a table where she could take a seat and wait for lunch to finish. All of the tables were filled except for one in the corner. She sat down and the shade filled her empty plate. Andeana was not hungry. She rested her hands on her chin and closed her eyes.
“Andeana?” a voice startled her. “May I sit here?” It was Mary, from earlier in the day. Andeana had been hoping for someone to join her.
“Sure.”
Mary then started to talk about her life. Before living in Chicago, she lived in Georgia.
“People made fun of my accent when I moved here,” Mary said. “At first I brushed it off, but then it started to get to me. I would walk down the hall and people would talk in a southern accent. It drove me nuts.”
“It hasn’t been that bad yet, luckily,” Andeana said.
“Well, if I were you, I would watch out for Regina.” Mary said with a serious look on her face.
RINGGGGGGGGG.
“That’s the bell; we have early dismissal today. I’m going to go home,” Mary told Andeana as they walked through the halls. Mary reached into her locker to grab one big book and a bunch of notebooks. She stuffed them into her backpack and then spoke to Andeana.
“Are you walking home in this weather?” Mary asked while peering through the window. A snowflake flew onto the glass.
“Uh, yeah. I guess.” Andeana looked outside.
“Well, if you want a ride home, my mom is picking me up.”
“Thanks. That’s nice of you, but I only live a few blocks away from the school.”
December wind hit her face as Andeana began the walk home. Sounds of the bus behind Andeana made her shiver; as she thought of the warm children on the bus. Andeana pushed her hands into her pockets and pulled out her gloves, and before long she was home.
“How was school today?” her mom asked.
She glanced back at her mom and dad, with her backpack dragging behind her and said, “OK.”
Thoughts flew through her mind. She thought she had a pretty good day, but it was hard. The people that were laughing probably didn’t know any Costa Ricans. Even their American accent sounded kind of strange to her. Regina seemed like a nice enough person, but why did Mary think she was mean?
Andeana went into the kitchen to grab an afternoon snack. For a good-sized house, the kitchen felt small. One of her favorite places to be was in a kitchen. Not because she ate a lot, but because she loved to cook and see the outcome. The only time she can remember messing up was when she was four and she turned on the stove, without her mom, and cooked the pasta too much. Steam and smoke filled the room. She remembered the loud screeching noise of the smoke detector. Her mom discouraged her from cooking for a while after that, but she couldn’t stop cooking and snuck in the kitchen ever since. It was one of her joys, being in the kitchen.
Andeana worked on her homework a little bit and then walked to the kitchen to make lunch, but found it already prepared. ‘Well, tomorrow brings a new day.’ Andeana said to herself.

“Good morning students,” a voice over the intercom began the second day at Andeana’s new school. The loud chime of the first bell echoed through the hallway. All the students shuffled in the middle school hallway, trying to make their way to their first class. Andeana ducked into the classroom and slid into her chair, feeling lucky for not getting caught being a few seconds late. With her favorite outfit on, she had a little bit more confidence.
In math class, Andeana didn’t do much. Math was something she was always good at. A kid in the back started rocking his chair and fell over. The classroom floor shook from laughter; Andeana knew this was going to be a good day.
After math, geography was OK. The teacher assigned reports on the countries her class studied. Andeana was, of course, partners with Regina. They talked for a while, but then they began their project that was assigned yesterday.
“How about we paint a picture of Guatemala?” Regina asked, pointing to the bottles of paint.
“Sure.”
“Let’s start with the paint,” Regina said.
While Andeana was turned around to look at the map, for no apparent reason whatsoever, Regina carefully smeared blue paint on the back of Andeana’s shirt. The goopy mess soaked in, but Andeana could not feel a thing. Regina turned to the back of the classroom to get approval from her friends.
“FYI, I always get good grades,” Regina smirked when Andeana turned toward her, “So you better make this project look good.”
Andeana leaned back on her chair, making an imprint on the chair and spreading the paint on her shirt. Regina smiled funny. And until the end of class, Andeana didn’t know why Regina seemed so enthusiastic.
Andeana walked out of the classroom and Mary was shocked. She told Andeana about the paint.
“I swear I do not know what happened,” Andeana explained to Mary.
“Well, I bet it was Regina,” Mary spoke with a harsh tone that made a few heads looked up in the hallway.
“Yeah, well, why me?” Andeana asked.
“Regina likes to target new people, ” Mary replied.
“I guess I better get to gym class. See you later.”
Gym class went through without any worries. Outside, ice fell from the top of the awning as kids held their hands high, knocking each one off without care. The final bell rang and a flood of students went outside to go home. Before she left, Andeana grabbed the pencil outline of the painting and put it in her backpack. She didn’t want to rely on Regina for completing the project.
It was way too cold to be walking back home, so Mary’s mom offered to take Andeana home. After the short ride to Andeana’s house, Mary wanted to see Andeana’s project.
“Can I see your painting you’re working on?” Mary asked.
“Sure,” Andeana said.
“Mom, can I go into Andeana’s house to see a painting?”
“Yes, but please be quick about it.”
Andeana walked out in the cold with her coat wrapped tightly on her. An icy chill ran up her arm as she reached for the front door to open it.
As they walked down to the basement, Mary saw the floor was covered with a plastic sheet to protect it and paint bottles of every color filled the sheet. A painting of scenery was drying on the table.
“Wow, that’s a pretty neat painting,” Mary exclaimed. “How many paint bottles do you own?”
“A lot. I paint on my own and had a little studio made here,” Andeana explained.
“This one’s washable…” Mary picked up a bottle, studying the label.
“Yeah?” Andeana pulled out her project and started to paint it.
“Well, don’t you feel like standing up for yourself?” Mary asked.
“Standing up to what?” Andeana was puzzled.
“To whom? To her. Standing up to Regina and giving her a taste of her own medicine.”
“I shouldn’t,” Andeana knew it would start something bad in the school, or just give her a bad reputation, “Besides, it was just a little paint.”
“A little paint? That was a whole handprint! And it ruined your favorite shirt.” Mary seemed as if this wasn’t just about Andeana.
“I’d just rather not make a move. Regina is a bully and that’s just the way she is.” Andeana sighed.
A car horn came from the distance.
“That’s my mom. I guess I better go. Bye, see you tomorrow.”
“Bye.”
Mary waved goodbye and Andeana waved back. Andeana went back to her painting and with each brush stroke she thought more and more about what Mary said.
“There we go, I’m almost done,” Andeana spoke to herself. “I’ll just let this dry and go to bed.”
The smell of drying paint came off of the painting.

The next day, Regina saw the painting. “This project is looking really great!” Regina looked up and down at the painting, “We work so well together.”
Andeana managed a, “Yeah.”
“Ooh, nice painting you two.” Mrs. Terebal pointed out, “By the way, partners will get the same grade. You’ll get your grades tomorrow.”
Regina smiled at Andeana in a mischievous way.
Mrs. Terebal walked away and put her attention to the last people in the class.
“Inter…esting…”
“Nice painting,” Regina mocked Mrs. Terebal, taking a Sharpe and sliding down the middle of the painting, leaving a black streak down the middle.
“Oopsee!” Regina giggled. The bell rang and Regina stood up and walked away to go talk with her friends.

“Shouldn’t be surprised about her attack today,” Mary said. “Let’s go home.”
Mary’s mom drove up and the two jumped in the car.
“Tomorrow, you’re going get revenge, right?” Mary whispered to Andeana.
Andeana was sick of all Regina’s games, but decided she wouldn’t win by stooping to Regina’s low level.
At home Andeana worked on a new painting. It made her feel good to focus on the painting. When she finished, she hung it out to dry. In the morning she slipped it in her bag.
By the time of geography class, Andeana summoned her courage to go talk to Regina.
“Regina, I don’t think it’s fair that you didn’t do any of the work.”
“I don’t care, Andeana. Mrs. Terebal thinks I did, and that’s all that matters.” Regina snapped.
“I care.” Mrs. Terebal said as she walked into the classroom, overhearing the conversation.
After class, Andeana ran up to Mary to tell her the grade she got on her report.
“I got an A!” Andeana beamed.
“That’s great! What did Regina get?”
“F.” The two friends grinned.