I sat against the hard brick wall of my school, silently reading the book I had picked out yesterday. It was the first day of school, and everything seemed fresh and new. My teacher, Mrs. Katy, seemed nice when I had met her at the Open House. I looked around excitedly. I hadn't met my class yet, because it was the morning and we still had to wait to be let into the school. 'I wonder who's in my class!' I thought with curiosity. All around me swirled the cheerful conversation of the other kids. "Hey, pass me that ball!" I looked up. Looming over me was a girl I knew I didn't want to get mixed up with. Everything she wore was bubblegum pink, and her earrings and hair were polished to a shine. Her hands were on her hips and she didn't look happy. 'Uh oh,' I thought. 'Why me?!' "Uh, hi..." I said awkwardly. "Who are you...?" She looked shocked that I had asked, as if I was supposed to already know! She flipped her long blond hair over her shoulder as another girl came up behind her. This girl was the absolute clone of the blond girl, except her hair was shoulder length and a deep black. Setting her hand on Blond Girl's shoulder, she answered the question herself. "Uh, this is obviously Anna. And I'm Hanna! We have matching names!" In unison, the two girls looked at each other and then back at me. "What's your name?" Anna asked in a mean voice. I looked at my shoes, not pink like theirs, but a normal black Converse. "Uh... well..." For some reason, whenever Anna or Hanna's questions were directed at me, I just couldn't answer them. There was something about her, as if she gave off a simply MEAN glow. Hanna stared at me and tapped her foot. Looking at her pink plastic Hello Kitty watch, she tapped harder. I knew she meant for me to hurry up, but not in a nice way. "My name's Ashley. I'm in Mrs. Katy's class. She's nice." I silently prayed that these girls weren't in my class. To my surprise the two girls looked at me accusingly. Hanna stepped forward as if she was going to say something harsh to me, but Anna held her back. When Hanna stepped behind her, Anna looked at me and released her anger. On me. "Did you ASK Mrs. Katy?" She said. Her face was so red that I wouldn't be surprised if smoke started pouring from her ears. My fingers trembled, so I held them behind my back where Anna and Hanna wouldn't see. I gulped. Looking at Anna with a worried expression, I stumbled through my words. "Asked her what?" Looking at my shoes, I realized that if I stand up, maybe I will have a better effect on them. Jumping up, I can see the girls even better without the sun in my eyes. Anna looked smug, as if she knew how scared I was. She was clearly the more important of the two. Hanna seemed to have more sympathy, as if Anna had started this mean spree and Hanna had just happened to be her friend before she changed. I felt sad for her. I mean, her only friend was Anna, because nobody liked her being mean to them and decided to not be her friend. Anna didn't seem to care for her 'best friends' feelings at all, and I wouldn't be surprised if Anna dumped her entirely. I think that Hanna is nice, just trapped in a world with Anna that she doesn't want to be in. Anna opened her mouth to answer my question. Her tone of voice clearly stated that she didn't want to be here. "Asked to be in her class! Duh! What else? I got into her class because my family knew her personally." Crossing her arms, she raised her eyebrows as if to challenge me. I stared at her for a second, considering my options. But suddenly, as if to save me, the bell rang. Hanna jumped, and Anna glanced sharply at her. Noticing that sudden distraction, I turned, clutched my book tightly, and ran towards the playground doors with Anna and Hanna's eyes on my back.
You could tell that the school had been cleaned and shined perfectly for our arrival. After all, it was the first day of school. But even worse, it was the first day of fifth grade, and so far it hadn't turned out they way I had hoped. The meet with Anna and Hanna had only been a few minutes, but it had seemed like forever and had ruined my morning. 'Or maybe not,' I thought silently. I decided to make the best of it. I held my head high and headed for my locker. I was so thankful I knew where it was! We had been given our locker numbers and their combination during the Open House. I swiftly opened my locker, set my backpack inside, and kept my book. I might as well, right? When I closed my locker and turned the dial to 0, I turned and came face-to-face with the exact people I didn't want to see. Anna and Hanna seemed to be everywhere! Without a word, Hanna walked to the locker next to mine and began to put in her combination. I breathed a sigh of relief. Hanna isn't SO bad... It would be worse if it was Anna. Almost as if she had heard my thoughts, Anna turned and stared meanly at me. Then, she sharply turned around and headed for the classroom. I turned to Hanna, risking my chance to talk to her alone.
"Hey, how long have you known Anna?" Hanna didn't answer for a minute, and I almost thought she hadn't heard me. But then she looked up at the ceiling. In a quiet voice, she answered me, every so often taking a look down the hallway to check if Anna was mysteriously watching.
"I've, um, known her since kindergarten. I'm really sorry if she was mean to you today. Ever since this summer, she kinda been... like that." Before I could even get out a word, Hanna closed her locker, nodded at me, and rushed down the hallway to catch up with Anna. I stood in shock. Turning around, I watched Hanna disappear into Mrs. Katy's room. When I first saw Hanna, she seemed so mean and fake. But now, I almost felt like her friend.
When I stepped into the classroom, Anna nudged Hanna and whispered something. I looked down at the blue carpet, as if I was suddenly very interested in the design of the floor. I knew I wasn't doing anything, so why was she being mean? I'm not afraid to say that I'm the kind of person who would answer the teacher in a whisper, even when I was positive my answer was right. But what does that matter? Anna and I are different, but that gives her no right to be this way. But I still had a long day ahead of me, so I dragged my feet to my seat and sat down heavily.
"Welcome to 5th grade everybody!" My new teacher, Mrs. Katy, stood in front of the class with a confident smile. She seemed happy, as if she had a surprise for us.
"Everybody stand up and line up at the door. It's time for the opening assembly!" Mrs. Katy walked to the door and waved for us to get up. I automatically stood up and walked to the door. Great. I just so happened to walk to the door at the same time as them. Anna and Hanna.
Epilogue
For the entire week, we stayed friends. When we made our website together, I found that I was talented! I didn't know that I could put my thoughts into words so well! As it turned out, we all discovered something new about ourselves. Hanna was really smart when it came to computers! If you ever have a problem, I guarantee that Hanna can fix it. As for Anna, she was really talented. It was amazing that she had never known her talent. We put her in charge of talking and communicating with every single person that wrote something- anything- to us about our website. She could make anybody feel better, and she was very good at helping people that didn't think they could get help. For example, a little girl sent us a letter that included a picture of her. She was in 1st grade, and she was short for her age with bright blonde hair and glowing blue eyes. You would never think that out of her class of 27 kids, she was being bullied. For something that didn't matter. She was bullied about her height. Even though she was so pretty and the smartest student in the class, the bullies ignored all her good traits and decided to hurt her about something that she had no control over. Hanna and I were heartbroken, but we didn't know what to do! I mean, we're only kids! But Anna didn't listen to the problems, and she cheered the girl up and made sure that she knew how to stand up to those bullies. To this day, I no longer doubt what a group of kids can do to change the world.
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