Ignorance is Bliss

Four children. Just four children running around together. So innocent. So uncaring about the world. So young, only five, six, or seven years old. Just four children running around together, having some fun. How I wish I could go back to that time. Where innocence was pure and ignorance was bliss, but we didn't know that yet. Maybe I can. Maybe I can just think about the time of childhood. Just pretend I'm back, running around, as one of the four children. Just go back...just for a moment...

**15 years ago**

"Rose, Come on!" I call out, sprinting over to the boys.

"I'm coming, Avery!" She replies, running after me

"Guys, hurry up!" Ezra whines, crossing his arms.

"We're here, we're here!" I heave, almost out of breath.

"Finally!" Ezra huffs, playfully glaring at Rose and me.

"Leave them alone! At least they're here!" Nikko told him, shoving him lightly.

"We're here!" Rose agrees.

"It's not our fault! We had swim!" I exclaim.

"It's okay," Nikko said, shrugging.

"Yeah, okay!" Ezra agreed, now smiling

Rose and I smiled, linking arms.

"So what now?" Nikko asks

"Let's play a game!"Rose says, bouncing up and down excitedly

"Yeah! A game!" I squealed, happily agreeing with the idea.

"Tag!" Ezra suggests, starting to bounce up and down with us

"I’m it!" Nikko tells us, a mischievous grin on his face.

The rest of us shriek and start running around, dispersing across a vast area of grass and land, all known as Ezra's backyard, and technically Rose's too, since they're neighbors. I use my master technique and go to the front of the house, running into Ezra's garage to hide.

"Run, run, fast as you can! You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!" I hear someone, most likely Ezra, cackles childishly

"Watch me!" Nikko replies as I now see them rush past the garage.

I hear a small giggle near me, and I look around, trying to locate where the voice is coming from.

"Huh?" I whisper, confused

" Over here!" I hear someone whisper.

I look around a little more to see Rose waving her arms

"Rose!" I whisper-yell, prancing over to her.

"We're so good at tag! We don't even have to run!" She says with a giggle

"Tag! I saw you!" Ezra exclaimed, lightly tapping me on the shoulder.

I suddenly tap Rose on the hand and sprint away, squealing with delight

"Hey! No fair!" I hear Rose call before starting to sprint

We go on like that for a bit, just running around, laughing, and sprinting like the kids we are.

"Nikko, it's time to go home!" his dad calls, ushering him over

"But I wanna play some more!" Nikko complained, pouting.

"You've been playing all day! Besides, I want to spend time with you," his dad says, crossing his arms.

"Oh, fine," Nikko says reluctantly, waving goodbye to us as he walks over to his dad so he can go home.

"Avery, you have to go home too," My own dad says, suddenly appearing.

"Quick! Run to my house and hide!" Rose exclaims, starting to push me to her house.

"Not so fast," my dad says, picking me up.

"But papa! I wanna play with Rose and Ezra longer!"

"After school, you already went to swim class with Rose, and you're in the same class as Ezra. Oh, and you spent one and a half hours playing with them," He says, stating some very true facts.

"Can I come over tomorrow?" I ask, still not wanting to leave.

"Yes, you can," He says, smiling at me.

"Okay!" I say, satisfied with that, "Bye guys!" 

I wave to them with a smile as my dad walks me to our car.

This was my entire childhood life. Yes, I've had many ups and downs, like when Nikko moved away when I was seven, or when Rose left when I was eight. Ezra and I grew apart a little, but I still made friends. Take Mabel for example, we were always friends, but we grew a little closer as we got older. Sabrina and Skylar too. I also met a girl later on. Her name was Kenzie, and she helped me meet Aliya, Adrian, and Summer. I can't forget my innocent grade-school crush, Alex. But all this happened in fourth grade, the year I first learned about the true world we live in.

***three years later***

"Hi, Sabrina and Skylar!" I call out, as I get on the bus.

"Hi, Avery!" They say, smiling at me.

"Are you excited? Our field trip is next week!"

"Yes, I'm excited! We get to go see a baseball game." Sylar exclaims happily.

"Eh, It’s okay," Sabrina says with a shrug

"Oh stop being a party pooper!" Skylar says in a joking tone

We all laugh and chat for a bit longer before we come to our school. We jump off the bus, smiling as we walk to our lockers that don't lock. Skylar waves bye to us as Sabrina and I walk over to our shared locker.

"Hey, did you finish the lighthouse project yet?" I ask Sabrina

"Don't remind me about that," Sabrina tells me

We both giggle lightly, putting our stuff into the locker

"Well, at least you didn't get the most boring lighthouse in the world!" I mean, look at Noah's! His lighthouse is haunted!"

"Don't be silly, your lighthouse it just fine. Besides, what girl would want to have a haunted lighthouse?"

"I would! That would be so cool!"

"You are such a weirdo."

"It’s my talent!"

We laugh once again, grinning at each other.

"Aves!" I hear Kenzie call out.

I turn to see her walking towards me. I wave at her, getting out my homework folder.

"I'll see you later, okay?" I say to Sabrina

She nods and smiles at me.

"Hey, Kenz!" I say, running over to her.

"How's it going? She asks, walking with me to class

"Pretty good," I reply, "How about you?"

"Pretty awesome," she says, grinning at me

“Come on, let’s go in!” I say, to her, starting to pick up my pace.

We enter the classroom smiling as I slide into my table seat. Kenzie sits next to me and Summer, while Aliya sits next to me.

"Ugh, Spring is so annoying!" Summer complains, rolling her eyes

"She can’t be that bad, right?" I ask, tilting my head a bit

"Yeah, I'd kill for a twin sister," Kenzie says, looking at Summer

"Today she stole all my lunch money! And yesterday she used my account! So then I couldn't get a treat for treat day!"

"That really sucks," Aliya says, wincing a bit.

"What sucks?" Alex asks, sliding down in his seat, which was right in front of mine,"

"Spring according to Summer," I tell him, shrugging a bit.

"The constant twin rivalries," he says, shaking his head.

"Do any of you guys have siblings?" Aliya asks, "You know, other than Summer."

"I've got two older sisters," Skylar replies from another table.

"I've got a younger sister," Sabrina chimed in.

"Same," Mable tells us.

"I've got a little brother, and he is such a handful," I tell them, sighing a bit.

“At least you guys don't have to worry about a screaming and crying baby," Adrian says, sitting down in his seat

"But your sister is adorable!" I exclaim.

"Funny, isn't that what everyone says about your brother?" Adrian asks, raising an eyebrow

"Touche," I reply, laughing

Summer glares at me for a second before smiling at Adrian. The two engage in some chit-chat and I roll my eyes.

"Hey, Avey," I hear Alex say

"I told you to stop calling me that!" I tell him, biting back a smile

"You like the nickname though."

"Do I really?"

"Of course you do!"

I laugh and suddenly our teacher claps her hands, stopping at the noise.

"Good morning class!" Mrs. Piazza exclaims happily.

"Good morning Mrs. Pizza!" The class replies, calling her by the nickname we've dubbed her.

"Today, we are going to be talking about things that are unequal," she tells us, turning to the smartboard, "To start off, there is a little girl and a little boy going to a store. There are two toys. A car and a doll. Which do you think each person should have?"

The entire class raised their hand to answer.

"Kenzie, what do you think?" Mrs. Piazza asked

"The girl gets the doll and the boy gets the car," She replied, putting her hand back down

"Okay, what about you James?"

"I agree with Kenzie," James says, leaning back in his chair

"Okay, class, raise your hand if you think Kenzie and James are right?"

Almost the entire class raises their hands. But not me. I sit there, stunned. I look around the room to see if anyone isn't raising their hands, like me. I catch the eyes of Mabel, who also looks confused.

"Avery, why don't you agree?' Mrs. Piazza asks, snapping me out of my trance.

"Well, how should we know which one they should have? It's not our decision, it's theirs," I say, twiddling my fingers as the class looks at me.

"Yeah! What if the girl wants the car and the boy wants the doll? Or what if they both want to share one toy?" Mabel chimes in, crossing her arms.

"Those are both great points," Mrs. Piazza says, nodding.

The class starts to whisper and my face turns hot.

"Okay, now, let's say these two people grow up and get a job as an actor and actress. They both have the same skill, but the girl is paid less. How do you feel about this?" she asks

Most of the boys start laughing and cheering, starting to tease the girls, shoving and mocking them.

"That's enough!" Mrs. Piazza scolded, glaring at the boys.

I knew that girls weren't always treated fairly, but this was the moment I realized, that nobody cared. Not unless you were a girl. And this was just the beginning of today. A little while later we have social studies, and as I walk back with my class to Mrs. Piazza's room, I’m still thinking about what happened earlier today.

"Okay, as you know, we're on our slavery unit in social studies, so who can tell me what we learned yesterday?" Mrs. Piazza asked the class.

"We learned about Martin Luther King Jr.!" Veronica blurted out.

"That is correct, but please raise your hand instead of blurting, I believe you learned that in preschool," Mrs. Piazza told her.

The class laughs as Veronica blushes.

"Anyways, today we will be talking about the effect of slavery right now, or, as many people call it, racism," Mrs. Piazza says

The room turns still, everything stopping

"Now, this is a very sensitive topic, so you need to be very serious. If you cannot handle it, please leave the room," She tells us, a serious look on her.

Nobody leaves, we all just silently look at each other. It was honestly hard to know if anyone was even breathing.

"So, many people in the present still don't treat people of color fairly. Many people still don't give them good jobs, and they get judged still," Mrs. Piazza says.

Someone snorts, muttering something rude under their breath.

"WHO SAID THAT!?" Mrs. Piazza yells

Everybody shrinks down a little. She’s never screamed at us before. Noah raises his hand to confess, his eyes wide.

"OUT OF MY CLASS. NOW!" Mrs. Piazza commands, clearly angry.

Noah scrambles out here and my world goes still. Like before, I knew that slavery was a thing, but the fact that people didn't care made it so much worse. I remember running out of the class. I remember how that was the day, I realized, almost nobody cared. That was the first day where the term 'ignorance is bliss' was something I truly acknowledged. I tried to forget about this, but of course, it had to come back and hit me at some time. Hit me even worse than it had before. And as old things came to the surface, new things got introduced.

***two years later***

"Hi, Mia!" I exclaim, forcing a smile

"Hi, Avery!" Mia replies, smiling back.

"Where’s Rae?" I ask her, looking around as I jam things into my organized mess of a locker.

"I dunno," She says, grabbing her binders.

"Ugh. I hate school."

"Yeah, same here."

"Mimi! Aves! Hi!" Rae calls out, running towards us with Valerie and Sydney.

"Hey, guys!" I say with fake cheerfulness.

"I bought these really cool clothes yesterday!" Rae told us

I tried to focus on the rest of the conversation, but I just tiredly zone out, not paying attention to anything.

"Cmon Avery, we gotta get to class," Mia says, snapping me out of my thoughts

"Yup. We do," I say, sighing

I say bye to Rae and her friends before walking off to class. As Mia and I get in, it's chaos. Like always. Everybody is screaming like kindergarteners. Mia and I sit down in our seats, trying to ignore the noise.

"Avery, you okay?" Mia asks, cocking her head 

"Huh? Oh, yeah, definitely. Just kinda tired,” I reply

I zone out through all my classes, blindly walking with Mia as we go to our classes. I finally snap into focus during science, though I wish I hadn't

"Hey Avery," Evie greets, sliding into her seat next to me.

"Hey Evie," I say, looking at her

"So, Lily and I have a hockey game soon and I was wondering if you could come to watch?" She asks, smiling at me.

"Oh, of course! I'd love to! When is it?" I ask, smiling back

"Saturday at 4:00."

"Sounds great! I'll be sure to be there!"

"Hockey? Really? Shouldn't you leave that to the people who can actually play the sport?" An obnoxious voice chides, butting into our conversation.

"What do you want Ian?" Evie asks, glaring 

"I want to know why you even play hockey? It's not like you're going to make it big or do well, since, you know..." he trails off, smirking

"What exactly do you mean?" I ask him

"Since you're a female. Far too weak to be playing a sport like hockey," he sneers

"Excuse me?" Evie asks in disbelief

I sit there in utter shock of what was just spoke.

"You heard me. You probably haven't even made one goal," Ian huffs.

"And how many have you made?" Evie asks, raising an eyebrow

"Five. And that's just this season."

"Oh, really? I've made fifteen. The second most on our team. Lily has the most, and she's made nineteen. The lowest is actually six on our team."

Ian's eyes go wide as he lunges at Evie.

"You lier! He roars, punching Evie in the arm

Evie shrieks and the entire class stops what they're doing to look. I shove Ian away from Evie and glare at him.

"Leave her alone!" I snarl, glaring daggers at him.

"That's quite enough! Evie and Avery! To the office!" Mr. Smith commands.

I stand there, refusing to believe the words that came out of my teacher's mouth.

"Why us? I shoved Ian because he punched Evie! And Evie didn't even do anything!" I exclaim, refusing to let this happen.

"Just go!" She yells, glaring at us.

As I storm out of the room I see Ian smirking at us, and I growl.

As I enter the office with Evie the principal comes to us.

"Girls, It is my understanding that you have struck a student," he says calmly

"No. What happened is that we were having a discussion with another student, he got angry at something I said, and he punched me hard. After that, Avery helped me by pushing him away," Evie stated.

"There's no need to lie, girls," he says

"She's not lying. That’s what happened," I hiss

"Well, what did you say to make him angry?" he asks

"He started it by butting into our conversation saying that I can't play hockey and wouldn't make it far because I was a girl, and I countered saying I have made fifteen goals in one season and that the lowest number of goals someone in my team scored was higher than his," Evie said

"Look, you should've just ignored him, boys will be boys. And, to be fair, he is right. And not to be racist, but your skin color too..." he trailed off.

"EXCUSE ME!?" Evie asks, fuming.

"It's just facts. It's based on real-life events and records. And he probably butted into the conversation because he got distracted by Avery's clothing choices."

“WHAT!?” I yell

"Apologize," A new voice cuts in.

We turn around to see Evie's mother standing there, glaring at the principal.

"Look, I meant no harm, but-" he gets interrupted by Evie's mom

"Apologize," she says sharply

"Okay girls, fine, I'm sorry. But seriously, you should've ignored him," He tells us

"Avery, Evie, come on. I'm getting you, girls, out of here." she says, "And as for you, 'Mr.principal', expect some lawsuits from me."

I stomp out of there with Evie, both of us fuming with anger. I couldn't believe it. Two grown adults were telling us that this was our fault. My clothing choices? I was wearing capris and a T-shirt! Evie's skin color and gender? Who says that she can't make it big? Society. That's who. This was the moment that all my innocence and ignorance was gone, replaced with cold hatred for society and the way it shaped us. And like that, my mind snaps back to now.

***present time***

I look out my window and wonder when did the world change? When did it transform into something so bad and hateful? But as I think about it some more, I realize it wasn't the world that has transformed through the years. It was how my mind had viewed it.