1 Waking Up Daisy Daisy Martinez lived in a loud house It was always filled with laughter and noise There were no quiet places in the white house with trim as blue as the sky Daisy was the oldest of the Martinez kids She shared her room with her hermana Paola and her abuela Lupe The room next to hers was shared by her twin hermanos Manuel and Diego Every night her new baby sister Carmen slept between her parents in their own room All of the bedrooms were upstairs Downstairs Mami was already busy cooking in the kitchen when Daisy woke up Today she
was making a special breakfast It was the first day of school after the long summer The smell of cinnamon filled the air Mami would serve banana empanadas with milk and juice Daisy could hear Manuel and Diego fighting over the first plate Boys she thought they're always eating too much and not thinking enough Daisy knew this because Manuel and Diego never made good grades at school like she and Paola did Paola was already getting ready for school Paola was younger and only in the second grade With all of her family around her Daisy was never ever alone and she liked it that way When it was time to get ready Daisy let Abuela brush her long black hair until it was shiny Then she felt her grandmother's hands quickly make one long braid down her back
Hurry mi ja Abuela said or you will not get any breakfast You know how your brothers like to eat Daisy knew it was true so she hurriedly pulled on a tan jumper Then she put on hot pink socks and black high top tennis shoes with the tops rolled down She finished by putting a hot pink daisy at the top of her braid and a hot pink band at the bottom of it Then she looked in the mirror Daisy saw a ten year old girl who was not short but not too tall either Her eyes were light brown her hair was black and her skin was the color of warm caramel Daisy knew her face was round In fact she was a little round all over She knew she was not a skinny stick like some of the girls at school but that was okay with her She thought she looked very beautiful and that everyone at school would wish they had hot pink socks too
