10 year old brain

''I was ten years old and I was at school. My mind was taking a while to accept numbers and see them as they are; just numbers. The point is, because of my unhurried state, I was added to an after school class. There, two older girls came from a high school near by, they came to tutor us. I remember I thought both of them were dull and stiff looking. I mean, they both had brown hair, brown eyes, and in my ten year old brain I guessed one was smarter than the other. But one of them had curly hair, I admired that. And I thought her whole body lightened when she smiled. Maybe it did. No, it definitely did.

They came every Monday and everytime they came, I would gaze at the girl with curly hair, she held a welcoming smile. So welcoming. The one beside her, gazed uncomfortably at her phone or somewhere random. Later, I found out the one with the curly hair was named Erika. It didn't fit her.

When the teacher told us to do a simple addition and subtraction problem, I got excited. I wanted to demonstrate to these older girls that I was capable. Of what? No idea. But I solved it and soon enough I walked towards them. They were also working on the problem. Like my teacher, I wanted to see their paper so I can draw a star or a smiley face. Erika, looked up at me first, her curls were in her face, I presumed that she was just too lazy to pick it up in a ponytail. But now, lazy is not fitting. In fact, I think she was just exhausted of having to clean it up. That day, though, when I walked to her, I noticed something that I didn't realize when I first saw them. When I first saw her. Her eyes were gorgeous. They were a clear brown, shimmering, drowning. Perfect. Although her eyes and smile shone brightly, her face, almost was strained. Did she fake it? Her jaw was sharp and her nose was bony and sharp, but she, she was beautiful. Just beautiful.

I remember I saw that instead of using paper, they both used a white board. Their erasable markers on the desk. They had solved it. I grabbed Erika's board and dared to smile at her. She smiled and at that I felt emerced in warmth. I checked to see if she had gotten it correct. She had. I grabbed the marker and drew a perfect star. When I was drawing it, I thought how much that suited her a lot more than her heavy undereyes or worn face, or her name. Because that's what I thought she was, a star. When I finished drawing it, she smiled again and said ''Thank you'', like she really was grateful. I turned to the other girl staring at her phone, I drew a smiley face. Simply because she was smiling at her phone. I was ready to turn, in fact, I did turn to go back to my seat. When a small movement from behind made me peek at the corner of my eye. And it was Erika. She was erasing my star. It didn't even take two seconds to get rid of it. It happened in one swift motion of her hand.''

She sighed, a cigarette dangling on her finger and a cloud of smoke erupting into the snowy night. The man next to her gazed over at her.

''What's wrong?'' he asked as softly as a drop of snow plummeting to the ground.

''Unlike anything,'' she inhaled a drag of the cigarette, and then exhaled smoke. ''that girl taught me more about the world.''