Betty's Bad Day

Dylan Kennamer          

            "WAKE UP BETTY! WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE!" her older brother, Walter, yelled into her room.  

            Betty the Bluebird had overslept.  By the time she woke up the rest of her family was already ready to go and she only had enough time to throw on some clothes before she was pushed out her front door without breakfast.  It was cold outside of the oak tree that her family called home and in her rush she hadn't thought to bring a jacket.  She shivered as she flew behind her mother, alongside her siblings, on the way to school.  The day was not going so well and Betty was already in a bad mood when she arrived at Woodland Elementary.  She was late to school and as she rushed to her class a hall monitor reprimanded her, "No running in the halls, Betty!"

            Betty yelled inside her head, but slowed down as she walked into her class.  She was only a few minutes late, but upon entering the class her teacher, Mr. Roger the Raccoon, gave her a glare, demonstrating that he did not approve of her tardiness.   By the time Betty slumped into her seat she had already decided that the day sucked.  As she was staring off into space, thinking about how she wished she had woken up on time, and being mad at her parents for not waking her up sooner, Mr. Roger called on her.  Mind elsewhere, she didn't notice until the class started to laugh at her.  And even Mr. Roger made only a half hearted attempt to stop them. 

             And so her day proceeded until, after what seemed like ages to Betty the Bluebird, the recess bell rang and she was free.  Betty walked to the playground alone and it was alone that she seated herself on a swing.  Betty swung and swung and swung and then she just sat.  And while she was sitting Sam the Sasquatch started to approach her.  She looked up right as he was upon her and yelled, "GET AWAY YOU BULLY!"

            "Who you calling bully!" shouted back Sam before he pushed her off the swing and walked away. 

            Betty began to wonder if the day could get any worse.  Once Sam was out of earshot she picked herself up and under her breath said, "Stupid Sasquatches, always Bully's."

            Betty managed to make it through the rest of her school day without anything else bad happening, but was still in a very bad mood when she got home.  She stormed straight up to her room and made sure that everyone heard her on the way.  Her mother headed to Betty's room with concern.  She knocked and Betty didn't reply so she let herself in to find Betty in the room with her headphones on staring blankly ahead.  Upon realizing that her mother had entered her room Betty burst out, "MOM! What are you doing in here, you know you aren't welcome in my room!  LEAVE!"

            Seeing that Betty was not going to be able to talk yet about whatever was bothering her, her mother chose to let her cool off a little bit and simply replied, "Well, if you want to talk later you can come find me."

            She smiled lovingly at Betty, choosing to try to improve her daughter's day rather than to let her daughter ruin hers, before leaving the room and closing the door behind her.  Despite herself Betty felt a little bit calmer and in a little bit better of a mood.

                        After an hour of cooling off Betty emerged from her room and found her mom outside attempting to fix a broken chair.

            "Hey, Mom..." started Betty.

            "Yes, Babe?" replied her mom as she stopped what she was doing and turned to give Betty her attention.  

            "I'm sorry for snapping at you.  I wasn't mad at you, I was just having a really bad day," said Betty.

            "It's ok Betty.  I understand.  Why was your day so bad?" soothed her mother. 

            "Everything just went wrong.  I was late getting up and late to school.  I forgot things.  I didn't realize I had been called on.  And then, to top it all off, when I was out on the playground Sam just came over and pushed me off the swing," exclaimed Betty.

            "That wasn't nice, but how did it happen?" asked her mother.

            "Well I was just swinging on the swings minding my own business when he started to come over to me.  I saw him coming and yelled, "GET AWAY YOU BULLY."  And then he came over and pushed me!" said Betty quite quickly.

            "It wasn't right of him to push you.  But calling him a bully wasn't nice either.  If I were in his shoes I would have felt quite hurt by that name.  It's probably one he gets called a lot too because he's big, even though that's not fair to him.  And who knows, maybe he was coming over to comfort you, not to make your day worse," responded her mother.

            "Hmmm well when you put it that way, I guess you're right.  If someone always called me bully no matter what I did it would get quite frustrating.  And probably pretty lonely too. Thanks for the help Mom! I feel better, but also a little guilty now," said Betty.

            "We all make mistakes, Honey," reassured her mother.

            Betty went to bed that night in a much better mood than she had been in for most of the day, and knowing that she had set her alarm correctly.  When she woke up the next morning she had a new positive outlook, after all she was up on time.  No one yelled at her and she didn't forget anything.  By the time she arrived at school she was practically glowing.  In class she was again called upon, but this time she was ready and answered the question correctly.  All was going well until recess.  

            Betty was out on the playground, having a good time playing kickball with some classmates when she heard shouting and laughter.  She turned to see what was going on and saw Sam with a group of kids around him pointing and laughing.  Betty headed over to see what all the commotion was about, but she already had a bad feeling about it.  When she arrived at the circle she started to hear what the kids were saying. 

            "How are you so hairy?  It's like you're a monster. Oh wait, you are!" said Sarah the Squirrel as everyone burst into laughter. 

            "More like how are you so ugly!" yelled Peter the Possum and the laughter rose.

            Betty felt awful.  She put herself in Sam's shoes and could only imagine how bad he must be feeling and indeed he looked as if he might start crying.

            "Hey look the big baby's going to cry!" laughed Bret the Brown Bear

"Stop it!" asserted Betty surprising everyone, including herself.

            "What?" the crowd said collectively.

            "Stop it!" she said with more confidence this time. "Stop making fun of Sam.  Think about how you'd feel if everyone was making fun of you."

            At first everyone stood there looking confused.  But gradually people came to and started to side with Betty.

            "I never thought about it that way.  Sorry if I hurt your feelings Sam," said Peter.

            "Yeah I'm sorry too Sam, you're not really a crybaby," added Bret.

            "Me too!  I apologize Sam, the hairs a good look for you," said Sarah.

            The crowd dispersed, all the students heading to different activities, but Sam and Betty remained behind.  Neither said anything for a long time, both just looked at each other.  Finally Sam broke the silence, "Thank you Betty." 

            "No problem at all Sam.  I'm sorry too.  About yesterday.  It wasn't right of me to call you a Bully, you aren't!  I was just having a bad day and took it out on you which wasn't fair,"

said Betty.

            "Don't worry about it.  I could tell, that's why I was coming over.  I thought maybe you could use some company. Sorry for pushing you," replied Sam.

            There was again a silence and they both just smiled. 

            "Well, Sam, do you want to go play some kickball?" asked Betty.

            "I'd love to!" said Sam.

            The day after Betty had what may have been her worst day Betty had her best one.  And in the process she made a new best friend.