(preschool to kindergarten years)


    (before Kai met Charlie and Sam in first grade)


    July of 2009.


    It''s the summer before Kai Lynn starts kindergarten.


    Kai and Bella Lynn are dropped off each morning at a summer daycare run by their school.


    Though there''s some stuff like scheduled quiet naptime, lunch, snacktime, exercise in the gym, outside games on the playground, Movie Fridays, (and the occasional mini-field trip), most of the day is just the kids playing together in a large room full of many toys, board games, art supplies and paper.


    But in a corner of the room are two book shelves that make a little reading corner, and Kai loved reading all those books alone.


    While the other kids ran around and played with dolls and car and board games and drew pictures together, Kai just sat in that corner and read all day.


    This was normal for Kai- Bella knew- but the younger sister also understood it wasn''t normal for the other kids, because nobody else was alone and nobody else was in that corner all day.


    Bella found other kids a bit tiring and confusing at times, but she made her best efforts to join in their antics and have fun like the others.


    Bella wasn''t gonna be alone like Kai.


    Bella had seen her sister be alone all the time.


    While Bella craved attention and wanted to make friends and even chat with the teachers and daycare leaders, Kai almost never spoke and was always on her own, refusing to join any activities.


    In preschool, Kai didn''t want to take naps and would just stay awake, playing educational children''s games on the only computer in the room. (Why the teachers allowed this, I have no clue)


    During playtime on the playground, Kai sat alone on the ground and organized leaves into groups based on shape, then pebbles or mulch wood chips into groups based on size.


    Other times, Kai would just walk the perimeter of the playground, watching other kids play while she just hummed to herself.


    Kai also ate snacks and lunch away from everyone else, and not even the preschool''s Movie Fridays interested her.


    Even now, Bella could see Kai, hidden away in her corner.


    Why doesn''t she want to play with us?


    It''s not reading time... it''s playtime.


    Bella''s attention is brought back to pretending with the doll in her hand, while two other girls (Anna and Grace) lead her in a game of imaginative play with dolls.


    In a little voice, Anna speaks for her doll. "Welcome to my city! I am the mayor!"


    Grace interrupts, "What''s the mayor?"


    "I make the rules for the town!"This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Grace drops her doll and pouts. "No fair! I wanna make the rules!"


    Clenching her doll, Anna insists, "No! I''m the mayor!"


    Unsure what else to do, Bella declares, "No, I''m the mayor!"


    Grace points a finger at Bella. "You can''t be mayor! I said it first!"


    Anna cries, "You liar! I said it first!"


    As the two continue to bicker, Bella thinks to herself "maybe I should''ve played with someone else..."


    (LITTLE KAI''S POV)


    I feel a small part of my mouth turn up seeing Skippy John Jones visit a colorful alien world in outer space full of cats.


    But only for a second. Then my face calms down again.


    Then some kids run past yelling, and it bothers me.


    As they run past, I wish kids weren''t so loud.


    (* Narrator:  Kai! Aren''t you a kid??)


    I turn so I''m facing away from the rest of the room, because books are better than the games they''re playing.


    Playing with them would be boring.


    It''s nicer over here anyway.


    They all need games and friends to have fun.


    But I don''t.


    This is easier.


    I can read all these books, and I can even change the shelves.


    I learned that it''s called organizing. We learned about it in school. We had to put circles with circles and triangles with triangles, but then we had to keep the green circles with the green circles and blue circles with the blue circles.


    Books are harder to organize.


    But I know how to organize.


    I can put the books with the same first letter in their name together, or books with the same color together, or the size.


    I learned that there''s nonfiction books, and fiction books. Fiction books are made-up stories, but nonfiction really happened.


    There''s a lot of fiction books on this shelf, but there''s some nonfiction, like the world encyclopedia and the dictionary.


    I like those better because they have more words and they''re longer, and you can learn things from them.


    But I also like fiction books because they always have drawings and I like looking at them. Some fiction books are funny, too.


    Nobody gets mad when I move the books around, so I can organize many times.


    Sometimes adults come to the corner and ask if I''m okay or if I''m unhappy.


    I don''t know why.


    They should be asking the other kids, because they''re making so much noise. I think the kids don''t like playing as much as they say, or else they wouldn''t yell like that.


    I''m making their job easy. Mom said a teacher''s job is to watch over the kids, and I''m just reading and organizing.


    Other kids are being loud or running around or crying or getting in trouble.


    Being alone is the better idea.


    If the kids were alone and reading like me, it''d be quieter and the adults would not have to worry as much.


    "Sister!"


    WHO DARES INTERRUPT MY SOLITUDE?? (jk, Kai doesn''t know that word yet... I think)


    I look up and see Bella, and she seems unhappy... Go away. Go ask someone else for help.


    "Sister, I don''t know what to do."


    I glare at her and hand her the Skippy John Jones book I was just reading.


    "I don''t wanna read that."


    I point at the shelf, silently telling her she can choose other books.


    My sister stamps her foot. "No!"


    I turn away from her, not sure what else to do.


    Bella whines, "I wanna play with someone but everyone is playing with someone else!"


    I want to cover my ears. I hate when people whine. Instead, I shrug at her, because I don''t know how to help her.


    "Play with me."


    I shake my head.


    "Please~?"


    I shake my head again and turn away from her.


    "Pleaseeeee~?"


    I hate when people say please like that. It''s so annoying.


    (LITTLE BELLA''S POV)


    My sister is being mean!


    Why won''t she play with me?


    It''s not hard!


    I tug in her shirt (not that hard) and Kai falls over onto the floor with a loud sound.


    I gasp. "Kai! I''m sorry!"


    Please don''t be mad, please don''t be mad! Oh! She hates me now!


    Kai slowly sits up again, and when I see her face, she doesn''t look mad.


    But her eyes are big, and her mouth is open.


    What does this mean?


    Then, Kai says the first words I''ve heard her say all day!


    "Do you know what a scavenger hunt is?"


    ???


    I don''t know what that is, so I shake my head.


    Kai reaches at me, and says, "pa... pa... paper?"


    I don''t get it, but then I guess she wants paper.


    I go and get her some paper and bring it back to her.


    She has a pencil, and she starts writing on it...


    oh no... I''m not good with reading...


    When she''s done, she hands the paper to me.


    I read it aloud slowly. "Rainbow... sca... ?"


    "Sca-ven-ger... hunt"


    I look at the other words. "Find ... some... thing... in... this... room... from... every... color... of... the... rainbow."


    Kai nods, then stands up. Is she going to help me?


    I gasp, feeling excited. "Are you gonna help?"


    My big sister nods again.


    She speaks, this time quietly and slowly. "not... alone ..."


    ?  ?  ?  ?


    At the time, I thought she just meant I''m not alone and she''d play with me sometimes.


    But now, I wonder if maybe she was reminding herself, too.