CBA

"One, two, three, four, five. That's enough for a chicken to stay alive" was probably the most insulting thing you could say to a six year old of my caliber. You see, I was playing tag with the fourth and fifth graders (and winning if that's even possible), and such effort effort demanded large quantities of water to replenish my worn out but well used colt-like legs.

"Steph, come on, let's go. Onetwothreefourfive remember?"

I paused. Water dribbled from my mouth as I spoke.

"First of all, I'm thirsty, so they (referring to my six year old companions) can swallow their spit while it's still not their turn. And twelve, I'm not a chicken. Mommy says I need at least 8 cups of water a day. I am only on number two."

Scattered groans erupted from the line. I resumed drinking until I was literally yanked away from the fountain by Mrs. McBride. What a wretch she was.

Looking back, I suppose the other reason I must have been so thirsty that day was because I was usually sitting out at recess. Not a lot of physical activity going on when you are warming the bench. Being a smart ass and the free thinker that I was didn't earn me any brownie points or gold stars with the teacher.

I suppose I did get tired of seeing everyone else have fun.

I, to be clear, didn't have it all that bad, I guess. My best friend Bri Simone was usually there since she took a strange pleasure in wedging twigs in the cracks of the wooden benches, and then hammering them out with a rock. Bri was adopted from China, however, she doesn't speak any Chinese, so nowadays, she'll have on her Instagram bio CBA which stands for Chinese Born American. I frequently beg her to change it to Easy, Bri Z, Beautiful - Covergirl, but I guess I'm not as funny as I would like to think.

Anyways, we were the ones all throughout elementary, middle and high school. She is academically and athletically devoted, whereas I prefer the "why take algebra if I want to save the Pandas" approach to school. I am the type of student who complains that algebra and calc are impractical to any real world scenario, but absolutely loathe having to solve word problems, because I don't care if Timothy is going at an X rate for 123 miles on a 30 miles a gallon tank.

Bri  has her future pretty much decided. She wants to study at Stanford, and become a neuropsychologist or something like that. She's applying for scholarships and trying to get her life together. 

I, on the other hand, am not as committed to securing my future. I don't know what I want to major in, or if I even want to go to college. I lack the motivation.

Which is why I had this crazy idea on the last week of school to go to China and find Bri's real parents. Nothing like a gap summer to find myself, a decent Chinese restaurant, and two people in over a billion who I have no idea are even still alive, well, or willing to see what beautiful creation they neglected.