Fresh paint and pizza sauce

Flash Fiction by Crystal Senter-Brown

All the dishes are still in storage but your mama bought a pack of plastic plates from the Dollar General. She pops the pack open with her long, red fingernail and slides one over to you, placing a hot piece of Mr. Gatti’s pizza on top.

“How was your first day of school?” Your mama asks, pulling the pepperoni off her slice of pizza. The truth is: it was awful. The school is double the size of your old school so you got lost five times. Plus, no one even said hello!

“It was fine,” you say, taking a giant bite of your pizza.

“I know it’s hard being the new girl, but in a few weeks you’ll have lots of friends,” your mama says.

You hope she is right.

You look around your new apartment, inhaling the smell of fresh paint and pizza sauce.

The smell of fresh paint calms you, as it always does when you are in a new place. Fresh paint meant you were going to be there for at least a little while, and the landlords cared enough to make the place look nice.

You eat your last slice just as there is a knock at the door. You stand on your tiptoes to look out the peephole, where you see a short girl with fiery, wild red hair looking up at you. “Who is it?” You yell out. “Samantha” the voice says. Your mama says to open the door.

“Hi!” She says, waving. “I’m your neighbor. My mama wanted me to invite you to walk with me to the bus stop tomorrow. We leave at 7.”

You turn to mama and she is already nodding.

You look back at Samantha. “Okay!” I say, trying to hide your excitement. When your mama said you were moving to a new state, you decided you were going to recreate yourself as a “cool girl” this time, so you had to be super serious and unbothered.

You help your mama clear the table and you settle into her bed since your bed has not arrived yet. As you doze off, you can hear your mama begin to snore.

You plan the next day in your head and feel excitement for the first time since you arrived.

After meeting Samantha you think: maybe this place won’t be so bad after all.