“Bubble gum, bubble gum in the dish, how many pieces do you wish? One, two, three, four five,” I sang along with my best friend in the whole world, Chandler. I was seriously out of breath, but I had to beat my jumping rope score that I had last week, which came in at six jumps, before I got too tired. Chandler had five, so at least I was beating her. The other girl who was turning one end of the rope wasn’t as enthusiastic as we were about the game. She wasn’t even singing along, and I guess it was because she could never get past three jumps because she was a little frumpy.

I finally got to seven jumps before collapsing on the ground, my curly pig-tails covering my face.

“Dang, I’m so tired y’all,” I said to the two girls who were now sitting on the hot cement beside me.

“Maybe you’re tired because you’re always trying to show off,” Tia said with a frown on her face.

“Girl, it’s not my fault that your legs are too short and you always get tangled up in the rope.” Chandler and I busted out laughing while Tia looked like she was mad as her beet-red face shined in the sun.

“You two girls stop picking on Tia and come in here from out of that sun,” my mom chastised. “It’s 100 degrees out here and y’all are the only three girls outside sweating your behinds off.”

“Yes Mommy,” I replied before getting up from the driveway and running towards the door. My mom was right; it was hot as heck outside and officially the first week of summer break. The next school year I would be heading to junior high school, so I planned to have lots of fun this summer before the new school year started.

The girls and I piled up one-by-one at the kitchen island, and my mom had all the fixings for ice cream sundaes. There was chocolate syrup, cookies, M&M’s, gummy bears, and more. We were in sundae heaven.

“Girls, I wanted to let you all know how good you did during the school year and that I’m so excited that you will be going to junior high next year. So, eat up, and you all better not be out here fussing, or I won’t do this again. We all nodded simultaneously as I piled gummy bears on my ice cream and dug in.

“So, do y’all think that boy Jeremy who came to our school late is cute?” Tia quizzed as she scooped cookies on her ice cream.

”He’s okay. But why does he wear that rusty old hat all of the time?” I asked.

“I don’t know but he asked me to be his girlfriend,” Tia said innocently.

“Girl, he only likes you because you’re light skin.” Chandler rolled her eyes.

“Sooooo!” Tia yelled childishly. Tia and Chandler always went back and forth over anything under the sun, and today it was skin color. While Tia had a yellowish hue to her, Chandler resembled the chocolate ice cream that we were eating. And me, well I was right in the middle with a toned, bronze complexion.

“Y’all better chill out before my mom comes back. It doesn’t matter what color we are, we are all cute.” I flipped my hair.

“Well anyway, I’m going to tell him I will go steady with him.”

“Go steady with who?” I heard a voice enter the kitchen and beamed when I turned around to see my father. I hopped off the stool and jumped into his arms. I was like an ant in his arms. He was so big that his entire frame swallowed me.

“Hi Daddy. How was summer school?” I asked, kissing his cheek.

“School was school sweetheart.” He smiled and then sat me back on the stool.

“Hey girls,” he said, acknowledging Tia and Chandler.

“Hi Mr. Blue!” they both yelled simultaneously. My dad was a middle school teacher and unfortunately, he was stuck with teaching summer school, which ruined all my plans. I had planned for us to go to the beach every day, but now I had to wait for him to come home and nap or something like that.

“Misty,” he called out to me while snooping in the fridge. “Did you get your reading done today baby girl?”

“Yes Daddy,” I replied. “I read two chapters of Charlotte’s Web.”

“Good. You know once you’re done, you will have a book report, right? So, make sure that you are not just speeding through just so that you can finish.”

“Okay Daddy,” I said, staring up at him. My daddy was the best in my eyes. He tucked me into bed every night, helped me with stuff, bought me anything that I wanted, and he gave me these big bear hugs that made me squeal every time. He was originally from Haiti. He came here when he was eighteen with nothing but $500 and a dream. He landed a kiss on my forehead before jogging up the steps.

“Your daddy is so nice Misty. He always gives us dollars and he got y’all this big tail house,” Tia chimed.

“I know girl. That is my daddy!” I said before we finished the rest of our ice cream and went back outside to play.