I held my head down as I walked through the halls of Springfield Elementary. Each glance felt like a punch in the stomache. You know when you have a pimple on your face, and you subconsciously try to cover it with your hand? Or you forgot to put on deodorant and you awkwardly try to keep your arms down at all times because you're worried that you stink? Well, that's pretty much my whole life.
You'd think I'd be used to it by now, but I just started going to school and I've just now started to care what other people think about me. Sometimes I try to act like I don't care. And I hate to admit it, but I really do.
Everyone is constantly telling you not to judge people by how they look and to get to know someone before you judge them.
But it's in human nature. Everybody does it, even if they think they're not. And to be honest, it's not as cruel as people say it is.
For example, if you go out with someone to a formal event, and you're date didn't dress up at all, it usually means they don't care about looking nice, or they didn't bother to buy something nice to wear.
Of course, there's always the occasional situation where they're outfit was ruined be they're annoying siblings or they didn't realize that you couldn't put it in the washing machine. But it's pretty safe to assume they just don't care, and that's what most people do.
In my case, it's the occasional something. I don't look nice when I go, well. anywhere because my family can barely raise enough money to feed, cloth, and take care of 3 kids and 2 adults. We don't have the money to buy cosmetics or nice clothes, and we don't have the time to put work into our appearences. So, not many people really bother to hang out with me.
But It's not like I'd be able to have friends anyways. It's like my Father always says, "Pinkamina, you know we don't have time for that sort of thing. This business keeps us alive. Would you rather have friends or your life?" So, yeah. I don't really bother arguing.
He's constantly telling me about how the Rock Farm works. It all starts with the West Field.
Their farm is by the Mountain, and they basically just break off rocks so it's easier for us, the South Field. But that's what they do. We take those rocks and break them open. if there are crystals inside them, we carefully cut them out. If not, we crush them.
The East Field identifies the gems, and carves them into shapes. You see, when they get them, they're all jagged are pointy. And finally, the North Field. They are responsible for taking the gems to town and selling them. Sometimes, they even make tools for the other 3 Fields, if they have time and the materials.
Once a month, we rotate our work to the next field, so the assembly line can run smoothly. And the money made from selling the gems is split fairly between all 4 Fields.
Anyways, back to me.
I've been told that I need, "help" because I wasn't raised the same way other kids were. Whatever that means. But I grew up fast. I'm 10 years old, and I thought other 10 year olds were pretty much the same as me. Boy, was I wrong. Kids are so immature.
Always doing stupid things like they don't even know what the consequenses could be, bothering the adults for no apparent reason just because they have nothing better to do with their life, and constantly saying they hate sshool. Do they not realize how lucky we are? And everyone knows that the better you do in school, the better job you end up having. Atleast, I think they know that. With kids, you can never be too sure.
Seriously, I felt like they're a bunch of babies and I'm their babysitter. It's hard being the only one who really knows what's going on.
Lost in thought, I walked out of the classroom, only to be suddenly aware of my surroundings when a loud, high-pitched sound. I ran out, a feeling of relief rushing through me. Monday at school was officially over. Who knew school could be so exhausting. But it would all be worth it.
When I walked outside the room there was quite a racket of kids talking to each other, talking about stuff that I couldn't care less about.
I did meet one girl, Fluttershy. She's shy just like me, and I guess the teacher hooked us up because we both didn't have any friends. She's really nice, and she's even invited me to her house a couple times.
She doesn't really understand that I can't have friends apart from at school. I don't want to offend her, because she's also EXTREMELY sensitive. So, I just tell her that I have stuff to do.
It is nice to have something close to a friend, anyways.
You see, I'm not exactly your run-of-the-mill kid. I live on a Rock Farm. There's no smiling, there's no laughing.
"Why would you farm rocks?"
"Aren't farms supposed to have plants?"
That's what they all say. But it's not as ridiculous as it sounds. We break rocks to see if there is anything of worth inside of them. If there is, we carve it out and sell it. And the more we work, the more money we make.
So, we work whenever we can.
Anyways, I've learned to live with it. The other kids go home to play with other kids and play video games. I go home to work for hours, barely having 6 hours of sleep. I've just accepted it, because sooner or later I knew I'd have to.
I've always worked on the Rock Farm, because my dad taught both Maud and I to work before we could talk. People say it must be hard and so exhausting, and I guess it kind of is.
But still, it's what I'm used to, it's my normal. What I'm not used to is lack of sleep and nothing fun.
My father is strict, but he's not ruthless. I usually start working 6:00 am sharp. We get a 40 minute break 3 times a day, one for each meal. I stop working 10:00 pm, so I work about 16 hours per day.
Now I go to school, and my dad was generous enough to let me work on different and fewer hours. I work 1 hour before school, 5:00-6:00, then leave for school. I get breakfast at school, so that's still a full hour. Then I get home at 2:00, and start working as soon as I get home until 2:00 am.
That's actually much less than I was working on the Farm before, only about 12 hours per day. But I still have much more work than before. I guess I have myself to blame. Here's what happened.
A few months ago I told my sister Maud how I saw some kids walking to school and that I wanted to get an education so I could leave the farm and get a real job. Maud is the only person I feel comfortable talking to, but she doesn't really understand me.
She has always loved the farm and agreed to work here, passing it down for generations.
I've always wanted to leave this devastating place the first chance I got and get a job that pays well so I wouldn't have to put my children through what I had to go through. To come to think about it, I don't know if I want to have kids. I'll get a job that pays well so I don't have to devote all my time to work.
I could go to medical school and be a doctor or a nurse, they get payed well. But they have uncontrollable hours. Maybe I could go to law school and be a lawyer. Or maybe I could go into retail. Then again, that's not a very steady businuss.
I know a lot of people would prefer to be their own boss, but I just want a job that has a salary guaranteed. I want to know exactly how much money I'll be making in a certain amount of time, so I can relax. Pretty much the opposite of the rock Farm.
Anyways, back on topic.
I'm just glad I don't have to run the family businuss instead of her. Maud even got her cutiemark for rock farming, and I have always felt like it's just not what I'm supposed to be doing. I really have no idea, so I just go with whatever comes my way.
I mean, what the is so interesting about rocks anyway? Well, I guess I just have to stay here until I'm old enough to leave this dump. That's been my plan since the day I was old enough to understand what a plan was.
My Father is really strict. Whenever I try to ask him something, he usually just yells at me. I've pretty much given up on asking them anything, because I know it will be useless.
But this was something I really had to do. I knew it would change the course of my future!
You won't believe how long it took me to gather enough courage to say I wasn't hungry for dinner, let alone ask to go to a public school! But when I finally did, I saw a part of me that I hadn't seen before.
I marched right into the kitchen, looked my dad in the eye, and announced that I wanted to go to school.
Suddenly I felt myself crumble, and immediately regretted asking. I had used all of my courage to come up and ask him. Like when you're in a race or something, and you use all your stregnth into running as fast as you can during the race. But as soon as you cross that finish line, you fall to the ground, gasping and wheezing fpr air.
That's pretty much what had just happened. I wanted to crumble in a burst of tears, but I knew I had to put on a brave face, so my father would take me seriously. I know, It's pretty pathetic. But, it's just the way I am.
But I guess my dad had seen me as mature enough to make my own decisions, and miraculously decided to let me go! From this experience I learned that if you don't speak up and tell someone what you want, you're never going to get it. So started being less shy around people, and not just going with whatever happpens to me. Wow, when did I get so cheesey?
But I swear it was like he morphed into an entirely diffearent person for the exact minute I needed him to. I guess that's just my luck!