Hey Blogger, Maya here to tell you a couple stories from 2010. I was eight years old in 2010 and it was pretty rough back then, it was kinda awful and kinda crazy because I was up to no good all the time, more than I am now. So here are some stories from when I was eight.
June 17th 2010
I was sitting on the porch of my house wearing my black strapped sandals with pink stitching around the edges and short short jeans with a long black loose tank top with designed line-like holes in the back, with my hair pin-straight and half in the front, half in the back. So I sat there watching cars drive by, sweating my butt off in the hot summer weather. Every now and then, I would take my mom's mailbox key and check if anything was in there and it never was. Farkle walked up to me, to the point where I was literally laying down on my porch, looking up at sky and dying of heat. "Hey....Maya?" Farkle asked confused in her kid-ish voice. "What?" I asked dully, not even looking at him. "What'cha doing?" he asked. "Waiting" I replied, still I hadn't looked at him once, just up. "For what?" he asked. "Don't you have to go construct a building or somthing?" I asked. "Not now, that was yesterday!" he replied cheerfully. "Well, go catch a mosquito, steal an ice cream truck, do something" I said, never did I look at him once. "What does that even mean?" he asked. "I dunno, figure it out" I replied. "Who are you waiting for?" he asked. I turned my head and looked at him. "Minkus, you've got too much time, go find yourself a girlfriend" I replied sitting up. "How?" he asked, avoiding the fact that he was 8 years old. "I don't know, work out and attend a swim meet or something" I said. He didn't respond. I walked up to him and put my hand on his shoulder. I turned him faced away from me and shoved him a step ahead. "Go on" I said. He looked back. "Go" I repeated. He started to walk away and looked back to find me laying down on the porch. He kept on walking and soon he was out of sight. After waiting bored for like 3 hours, my mom drove up in her car. I looked over and sat up. "Why aren't you inside, it gets colder as it gets later" she said. "I don't know, I'm bored" I replied. "Still waiting on the mail?" she asked. I stared at her and tilted my head. She looked at me too, but just sighed. She walked past me and into the house. She shut the door and then it was silent. She was right, it was getting kinda chilly. I got tired of waiting so I walked over to the mailbox and checked again. Nothing. I sat down beside it and waited. Then next thing I remembered, I was waking up and the sun was shining high and bright. It took me a decent 2 minutes to realize where I was. The mail truck drove up to the boxes and the man looked down at me. "What are ya doin' here so early, kid?" he asked. "What?" I asked confused. "It's 7 o'clock in the morning" he said. He opened the mail boxes and started loading them with mail. I looked up from the ground and watched him load it all in. "Is there anything addressed to "Hart" in there?" I asked. "Hart?" he asked confused. "H-A-R-T" I replied. He looked through his mail and came back with 3 envelopes. "Katy Hart?" he asked. I looked up at him for a few seconds then stood up. I walked over to him and took the mail. "HART, Katy" they all said on them. It was the electricity bill, the water bill and the heating bill. I sighed. "You know Katy?" he asked. "Maya Hart" I said putting out my hand. I shrugged his shoulders and shook my hand. "Your her daugher or niece or something?" he asked. "Sorta" I replied. "Okay, go take your mail home to your mom, it's important" he said. "Should you be trusting me? How do you know I'm not some stupid kid siking you out? How do you know I'm really Katy's daughter, how do you know Katy has a daughter at all?" I asked. He stood there for a second. "So what do ya want me to do, kid?" he asked. "Nothing" I replied turning around and walking away. I walked up to my sidewalk and chucked the mail at the door. I sat on the porch and put my head in my hands. "When will it come?" I asked myself. My mom came outside when she heard the mail hit the door. She looked at me then at the mail. I turned around, "Mails here" I said. She looked confused but picked it up and read the fronts of the envelopes. She sighed. We couldn't afford all those bills, she knew it. "I gotta go to work" she said. "House is open if you would like" she said. She walked inside. I was still wearing that same outfit. Soon my mom walked out of the house. "Be back as soon as I can" she said and got in her car and drove away. I then realized, my mail is never coming. If I wasn't getting anything at this point, what's the chances of ever getting anything on again?
July 31st 2010
Back to school was in a few days and I was about to start 3rd Grade. I woke up in my bed, the same one I have now. I looked at my clock "8:44am" it read. I got up, got dressed in my black sparkly short-shorts and my grey t-shirt that had a black motor-cycle on it with my black leather vest on top with my black and pink sandals and walked into the living room. "Hey Maya, school shopping is today" my mom said. I sat down and poured some cereal into my bowl. "I'll give you some money and then head down to work" she said. "the usual" I thought to myself. After I finished eating, we got into the car and drove to the mall. "Okay, here's $300 and a $30 gift card to "Girls Unlimited" that store you like" she said. Girls Unlimited is not a very peppy store. It was more for dark girls for girls ages 7-14. You would rarely find anything bright in there. I went inside and went to Girls Unlimited first. I found a pair of black ripped jeans that only came in sizes 10-14. I went up to the till. "Do you have this in Size 8?" I asked. "Where's your parents?" the lady asked. "Look, my mom sent me school shopping and school starts in 2 days. I need to get my hands on the last of the good stuff before it all sells out before those last-minute-shoppers get it all tomorrow, you got the pants or what lady?" I said. I kinda freaked her out I could tell. "Do you even have any money?" said asked. I showed up my $300 in pocket cash. "Oh and this" I said showing up at $30 dollar gift card to the store she seemed to think she owned. "I'll check in the back" she said walking into the back. "She's afraid of me, I'm doin' my job" I thought. "Here" she said. "They are extra GST in a smaller size because it is rare" she said. "Will that be okay?" she asked. "I'm 8, I don't care about prices woman" I said. She scanned them for me. "That will be $28.35 including tax" she said. I handed her the gift card. She scaned it and put my pants in a bag. "You have $1.65 left on this card" she said handing it to me. I glared at her as I took the bag. I walked out of the store and onto the next. I went to a couple other of my stores and before you knew it, I was overloaded with bags and I only had $1.65 left on the Girls Unlimited card and $13.40 left of what my mom gave me from the $300. So I took the $13 I had and bought myself some frozen yougurt, leaving me with $7.15 left. I exited the mall and went to look for my mom's car. I waited for an hour and she never showed up. I went to customer service in the mall and asked to use their phone. They let me and I called Nighthawk Diner. "Nighthawk Diner, what could I do for you this evening?" the lady asked. "Is Katy there?" I asked. "Katy got off work 2 hours ago, who is this?" she asked. "Her daughter" I replied. "Oh, why aren't you with your mom, honey?" she asked. "She left me to go school shopping while she went to work" I said. "We had to get both done today" I added. "Oh okay, well I don't know where Katy is now, but I could call her cell and see where she is at if you would like?" she asked. "That would be of great help" I replied. I hung up and told customer service that she would call back in a minute and they let me wait there until she did. Soon she called back from Nighthawk. "Hello?" the customer service man answered. "Hi, this is Nighthawk Diner, New York who is this?" she asked. "Customer service" he replied. "Do you have a little girl there?" she asked. "They called back" he said handing me the phone. "Hello?" I said into it. "Okay, your mom is on her way. She'll be there soon" the lady said. "Where was she?" I asked. "I'm not sure, she just said she forgot to pick you up because she thought you were at a friends" she said. "Oh, okay" I said hanging up. Like about 45 minutes later, my mom's car drove up. I got in the car with all my bags and sat there in the back seat. "Sorry for not picking you up sooner, I forgot" she said. "Where else would I be?" I asked. "I didn't even think of it" she said. The rest of the drive was silent. School shopping was rough, other than the fact that I got loaded on clothes. School started up again 2 days later. I was okay at that point.
September 2nd 2010
So this was the first day of school. I woke up and realized I actually had to go do work today. So I grabbed on one of my new school outfits. The pants had parallel ripped holes from right below the pocket to my ankles, so there was alot of open space. Then the shirt was a black short sleeved shirt with red sleeves with a red broken heart with a arrow through it. I straightened my long hair down to my back and put on high top red and black runners. My Grade 2 back to school outfit was light blue jeans with a blue lace top and flip flops. So a distinct change for sure. Then I got to school and found my class and went in. All the desks had nametages on them like they did in Grade's 1 and 2 as well. I found my desk which was happily in the middle of the room. "Hey, are you new here?" I heard a voice behind me say. I turned around and saw my old classmate from Grade 2 know as Matt Wringler. I turned around and looked at him "What? You don't know me. We've been in the same class for the past 2 years and you don't even know who I am" I said. "Maya!?" he said shocked. "What?!" I asked angrily. "You've changed, alot. I mean, alot" he said. "Yeah and you still have that same shaggy haircut" I said rubbing his head and walking away. I walked to our coat hangers and found my name on one of them and hung up my backpack. "Hi, I'm Jordan!" the girl on the coat hanger behind me said. I turned and looked at her. "Maya?" she asked. Jordan Smith was in my class in Grade 1 but not Grade 2 but she was in my Grade 2 gym class. "Yes, it is me" I said like I have heard that for the millionth time today. "Wow, your so different" she said studying me from head-to-toe. "Yeah, I dress differently, I grew up, I'm not a baby anymore" I said whipping my hair and walking to my desk. At that point, class had started. "Good morning class and welcome to Grade 3" our teacher said. "So this morning I would like you to all stand up and say your name and your favorite color" the teacher commanded. Each student went around. Then it came to Riley, my best friend. "Hi! I'm Riley, I mean Riley Matthews. With an "M" and my favorite color is purple!" she said. Riley was wearing a light purple dress with a nice black belt around her waist. It was a tank-top dress and it had black lace around the neck and sleeve part. Her hair had a purple bow holding back her half side bang. Then it came to Farkle. This was interesting, for sure. "Hello wonderful friends and aquantinces of 3rd Grade. My name is Farkle Minkus and I would have to say that my favorite color is green, green or orange" he said with a big smile on his face. "What a bright student!" the teacher smiled. I rolled my eyes. Farkle hadn't always gotten on my nerves as much as he did today, I thought. Then it came to me. "I'm Maya and I'm only here because I have to be" I said smiling. "Maya..." she said looking at the attendance list. "Hart?" she finished. "Sure" I said. "Please only share things appropriate for class" she said. "My favorite color is black" I said rolling my eyes. Farkle raised his hand. "Yes, Mr. Farkle Minkus?" the teacher smiled. "Technically, black is not a color, Maya, it is a shade" he said and smiled after. I raised my eyebrows at him. "Next" the teacher said. The last students went along until it was recess time. The bell wrang and as I rushed out the door with everyone else, I felt someone tap my shoulder. I looked back to see an 8-year-old Riley standing there. "Let's do recess together, I asked Farkle to play hide and seek with us" she smiled. "Farkle? Come on Riley, his idea of a good hiding spot is curled up in a ball in the bathroom stall" I sighed. "Come on, pretty pretty pleeeeaaase!" she begged. "Fine" I said. "Oooh, goodie!" she smiled and dragged me outside. "Farkle!" she called. Farkle was on top of the play structure. "Over here!" he called waving his hands. Me and Riley climbed up and met Farkle up there. "Okay, I will count" he said. "Phewf! Thank Heaven!" I cried. "Why?" he asked confused. "Because we aren't allowed in the boys bathroom" I said. He remembered hiding there last year and us getting in heck for trying to go in and find him. So once recess was over, I was sick of Farkle, but more sick of hearing "1.....2......3......4...." and so on. Then we only had one more subject, lunch and then one more after that. So we had math, which I almost fell alseep in. Our teacher had such a boring voice, especially when it came to math. "Ding! Ding! Ding!" the bell wrang for lunch. "Finally!" I cried and ran to my lunchkit and everyone went to the gym for lunch. I saw Riley, Farkle and a couple other kids I was familiar with sitting at a table, and those were the exact people I sat with last year, so I decided to sit down with them. "So who wants to do tradezees?" I asked. They all stared at me confused. "I got a chocolate bar?" I smiled. They still made no word. "Okay, what's the gig peeps?" I asked. "Who are you?" one girl asked. "Really, Ella? Maya. Remember? Gym class last year?" I informed. "Your not Maya" she said. "What? Of course I'm Maya, who else would I be?" I asked. "The new girl who flew up from hell" she said. "No, I'm Maya. Really. And I didn't fly down from hell" I informed. "Up? You mean up? Hell's down" Farkle educated. The bell wrang for lunch recess, I went outside and met up with Riley. "Why didn't you say something?" I asked. "About what?" she responded. "Our friends from last year, they acted like they didn't even know me!" I said. "You know I'm Maya, why didn't you help me?" I asked. "I don't know, they are right. You are sorta different" she said. "So, people change" I complained. "I spent my every day waiting on my porch and slept outside sometimes, you think the desperate won't change ya?" I asked. "I guess so" she said. "Riley! Come on, come play grounders!" some kids yelled from the playset. "I gotta go" she ran off and climbed up the playset. "Different, different my butt" I mumbled to myself. The bell wrang and everyone ran inside. The day went by and I only got worse. Finally it was clean up time at the end of the day. The teacher went to grab something from another classroom. I stood up on my chair. "Okay everyone, listen up!" I yelled. Everyone, every 8-year-old head, looked up at me. "You wanna clean? Or you wanna have some fun?" I asked. Everyone looked at eachother and started mumbling amongst themselves. I grabbed the broomstick from a boy in our class and started playing fake guitar on it. Everyone stared at me like they didn't know what to do next. "What can't kids like them resist?" I asked myself. "Ah ha!" I said and jumped down. I grabbed the teachers candy bin from behind the desk and stood back on the chair. "Who wants candy!!?" I shouted. "Yeah, me, yay!!" all the kids screamed. "Well then let's make it rain!" I smiled pouring candy down on the kids' heads. They bent down, collecting as many pieces as they could. "Your just a little genius!" I smiled to myself. Then the teacher walked in and a shocked look appeared on her face. "W-What is going on here!?" she cried. "Teacher's here, hide the...candy?" I said. "Maya Hart!" she yelled. All the students backed up, some girls huddled together. "Get down here right now!" she said. I looked around me and jumped off the chair. "Get to the office right now young lady!" she yelled. "The rest of you, clean this up and put all the un-opened candy back in the bin! I'm very disappointed in you all" she said. I walked down to the office and stood at the desk. "Can we help you?" one secretary asked. "My teacher sent me" I said. "Howcome?" she asked, in a sweet soft voice. "Is that Maya Hart?" the secretary from behind asked. The one talking to me looked at me for an answer. I nodded my head. "She's in big trouble" the one from behind said. She came around to my side of the desk and took me into the principal's office. The other secretary looked confused, I seemed so innocent that moment. "Maya's here" the secretary said letting my wrist go once I was in the principal's office. "Maya, we are calling your parents and--" the principal said. "I don't have parents" I inturrupted. She lowered her glasses and looked at me. "Pardon me?" she said. "I don't have parents" I repeated. "Then who do you live with, Miss Hart?" she asked. "My mom" I said silently. "Isn't she your parent?" she asked. I shurgged my shoulders. One of the other secretary ladies came in. "We can't get ahold of Katy Hart" she said. The principal looked at me, I looked innocent but guilty all in one. "Okay, that's fine. The bell goes at three" she said. The secretary walked out. "You understand what you did was wrong, Miss Hart" she said. "I have nothing to lose" I said sadly. "This school is important, it is my school." she said in a firm voice. "We cannot have students starting riots and creating havick like this, I've never seen such a situation" she said. I said nothing, just looked innocent/guilty and dead inside. "Okay, go wait in the front office, I'm not sure what we're gonna do with you" she said. I walked out, without a word. I sat down in the chair. The secretary who I was talking to first, looked at me as I sat down. "Is everything alright, sweetie?" she asked. "Yeah" I said blankly. "Okay, you let me know if you need anything" she said. My head rested on my hand, I nodded. She smiled sadly, and went back to work. The bell wrang and I watched the other students walk out, bigger ones, smaller ones. I wondered if I was allowed to leave or not. The prinicipal came to me. "Do you take the bus?" she asked. "No" I responded. "Do you get picked up, or walk home?" she asked. "What do you think? I have nobody to pick me up, I always walk. I always have...walked" It was the longest sentence I'd spoken in 20 minutes. "Okay, well you head on home, but I will still be calling your mother" she said. "Go ahead and try" I said walking out. I walked back down to our 3rd Grade classroom, where our teacher was stacking papers on her desk. She looked up at me. "I'm just getting my bag" I said going to the coat hangers. She had nothing to say to me. I grabbed my stuff and walked out. When I reached my house, I grabbed the key and opened the door. "Maya? Is that you?" I heard a familiar voice say. "Hi Gammy Hart" I said as I dropped my bag. "How was your first day of school?" she asked. "Normal" I said plopping down on the couch and scrolling through the channels with the remote. "Well I hope it was a good one" she said. "I beg to differ" I responded. "I have a snack for you in the kitchen" she smiled. "What is it?" I asked walking in. "Oh, just leftovers from the cake your brought home from your friend's birthday party" she said. I sat down and ate my cake. My mom came in the front door, I heard it. "Hello, sweetie! How was your day?" Gammy Hart said walking to the front door. "Fine, mom" she said taking off her jacket. "Maya home yet?" she asked. "Hi mom" I waved from the kitchen without a smile. "How was school?" she asked without even paying attention, she was busy doing whatever around the house. "Fine....Did they call you?" I asked. "Umm, haven't checked my phone, why?" she asked. "Uh, I don't know" I said. "The prinicpal gave...us a lecture on safety today! She said she was going to call all the parents, but don't answer it, it's not important" I said. "Uh, okay. But why would she call so many kids' parents to talk about safety?" she asked, now paying attention. Oops, my bad. "Uhh, because something recently happened and we had a safety issue over the summer and they just wanted to tell all parents to keep their kids safe" I said. "Shouldn't they just give out notices or something, you've been in school for about a year now" she said. "Uh, I've been in school for 3 years, 4 including kindergarten and no, this one was serious" I said. "Oh, okay then" she said and walked into her room. "Don't sweat it, dear" Gammy Hart said kissing my head and walking away.
Those were just some of the stories I remember from when I was around that age. It was an off year, so I remember all the hard times and such. So I hope you enjoyed, "Maya Hart - What Happened 2010" and thanks for reading The 99 Problems of Maya Hart and be sure to follow us through email or Google+ or Blogger, and be sure to check back again soon!
