Chapter 5: The Discovery

It wasn't too long after that day in the den that an envelope came in the mail addressed to "Miss Cookie Mullins".

Cookie had never been addressed as "Miss" before and had never received any mail in her whole life, let alone such an official looking letter, and she was almost overwhelmed with excitement as she held it out to admire it and then, finally, carefully opened it.

It was from the school district telling her that she and a parent had to go to the Junior High School and register in order for her to receive her class schedule and purchase her required books. With her last name starting with an M, she had to register on Wednesday.

At dinner, Cookie came from the kitchen to show her father the letter.

"I know all about this," he told her, pushing the paper back at her. "It's already been arranged and all you have to do is go and get your class schedule and books."

"I'll go with her," Corey said from his seat at the table. "I have to go on that day too and sign up for football."

Cookie went back, through the swinging door, to her small supper at the kitchen table. As she sat there alone, she couldn't help but feel an excitement at the idea of starting fresh at the Junior High, a new school full of new students who didn't know her and weren't aware of her peculiar history at Stokley Elementary. Maybe, she thought, she could make some real friends there and start anew.

When Wednesday arrived, Cookie dressed in her nicest white blouse and the least threadbare sweater she had. It was yellow and looked okay with the brown skirt she had carefully ironed. She found some white knee-sox in her dresser drawer that matched each other and she wiped her black flats to be as shiny as she could make them.

Pershing Junior High School was eight streets away and Cookie and Corey walked there together. This being his second year at the bigger school, Corey took his sister directly to the large cafeteria where the registration tables were set up.

He had to go to the gymnasium to sign up for the football team so he left Cookie in front of one of the school secretaries who took her name and looked through a file-box to find and hand her her class schedule.

Cookie excitedly looked at the pink, computer-printout paper to see what classes she would be attending. She saw that her first hour would be math and second hour science, both taught by Gilley in room 38. Third hour was gym with Cross, followed by lunch and then art with Wilson for fourth hour, English for fifth and American History for sixth hour both listing the teacher as Sharp.

Cookie then stood in the book line with a lot of kids that she didn't yet know. From how tall some of the boys were and how developed some of the girls appeared, Cookie surmised that they must be students in upper grades mixed with students from other elementary schools. She noticed that the girls were all dressed nicely in summer-ware or stylish dresses or skirts and tops that were far nicer than anything she had. Some of them already flashed her looks of disdain because of what she was wearing and Cookie felt that awful ache in the pit of her stomach that she hadn't felt since the end of school last Spring. When she got to the front of the line the lady asked her for her schedule and she was shortly handed four books and a folded, white gym uniform and asked for the fifteen dollars which her father had grudgingly given her, after breakfast that morning, muttering about having to waste good money on her.

"Take care of these books," the woman advised her, "because you can sell them back at the end of the year if they're still in good condition."

Cookie smiled and nodded and then, books in her arms, she found her way to the football field, at the back of the school, where Corey had told her to meet him. Feeling the warm, September sun shining on her, she sat down, on the lowest row of the wooden bleachers, to watch her brother scrimmage with some other boys before he spotted her and ran over.

"What did you get, sis?" he asked, reaching for her schedule.

Cookie smiled up at her brother as he scanned her paper and said, "Mr. Gilley is a good guy. I had him for Math and Science last year. I know Miss Wilson and I hear Mr. Sharp is easy. It's odd that they have Mr. Cross listed as your gym teacher though."

"Why is that?" Cookie asked.

"Well, he teaches boys gym. It must be a misprint or something."

Cookie shrugged. She would just have to straighten out the mix-up when school started next week.

The rest of that week Cookie was both anxious and excited about the prospects of starting Junior High. It was on her mind most of the time as she cooked and cleaned and laundered and did her other household chores. She had to be careful not to make any mistakes, as she went through her daily tasks, to avoid the chance of any painful punishments caused by an absent-minded slip-up.

Cookie had an elegant dinner on the table for her father and brother by five o'clock and was finished with the dishes and polishing the wood furniture, in the living room, by eight.