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. I tried to look extremely interested in my book, but that didn't stop her from coming up to me and blocking my light. She didn't move, and since I couldn't read without sunlight, I was forced to look up.
"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. I looked back and forth in shock. They looked exactly the same! The only difference was that the second girl's hair was shoulder length and a deep black. The new black-haired girl stepped up and answered the question herself.
"Uh, this is Alicia. And I'm Hanna!"
In unison, the two girls looked at each other and then back at me.
"What's your name?"
I looked at my shoes, not pink like theirs, but just some normal tennis shoes.
"Uh... well..."
For some reason, whenever Alicia's questions were directed at me, I just couldn't answer her. I've never actually heard someone my age act like this. But Alicia still stared at me and tapped her foot. Looking at her pink plastic glowing 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 Alicia held her back. When Hanna stepped behind her, Alicia looked at me and raised her eyebrows, and her expectations.
"Did you ASK Mrs. Katy?"
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 Alicia and Hanna wouldn't see. I gulped. Looking at Alicia with a worried expression, I stumbled through my words.
"Asked her what?"
Looking at my shoes, I realized that if I stand up, I might have a better effect on them. Jumping up from my uncomfortable spot on the pavement, I can see the girls even better without the sun in my eyes. Alicia 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 Alicia was the girl who meant what she said, and Hanna had just happened to be stuck with her. I felt bad for Hanna. I mean, her only friend was Alicia because nobody liked her being mean to them all the time. Alicia didn't seem to care for her 'best friends' feelings at all, and I wouldn't be surprised if Alicia dumped her entirely. I think that Hanna is nice, just trapped in a world with Alicia that she doesn't want to be in. As if to prove my point, Alicia opened her mouth to answer my question. Her tone of voice clearly stated that she didn't want to be here.
"Did you ask Mrs. Katy to be in her class? I didn't, I'm a old friend of hers."
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 Alicia glanced sharply at her. Noticing that sudden distraction, I turned, clutched my book tightly, and ran towards the playground doors with Alicia 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 Alicia 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. Alicia 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 Alicia. Almost as if she had heard my thoughts, Alicia 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 Alicia?"
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 Alicia 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 Alicia. 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, Alicia 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? Alicia 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. Alicia and Hanna. I smiled at Hanna, but I wasn't sure how to react to Alicia. She didn't seem in the best mood today. But when my class walked out the door towards the assembly room, Mrs. Katy pulled all three of us back into the classroom. I looked up, startled. What did I do?! It's only the first day of school! Alicia didn't seem to be in the best mood either, so I avoided her piercing gaze on my way over to Mrs. Katy's desk. When we all sat down, Mrs. Katy turned to me.
"So, Ashley, how's your first day going? I know Alicia and Hanna have been to this school before, but I heard its your first year."
She winked at me. I smiled and nodded.
"It's going okay, I guess. Why do you ask?"
When Mrs. Katy heard that, she raised her eyebrows and shifted her point of view over to Alicia and Hanna. She quietly whispered something to them, and all I could make out was 'tell her' and 'story.' Alicia groaned inwardly, but she turned to me and started talking with her point of view facing the ceiling.
"We're sorry we were mean to you. We want to make it better. Is there anything that we can help you with?"
I thought for a moment. I didn't truly think that Alicia wanted to help me with anything, but Hanna seemed happy and willing at least. Alicia had practically been telling me to my face that she didn't want to help. She had spoken that entire thought in less than thirty seconds in a boring monotone voice. She didn't even look at me! But now that my problems were at least close to okay, I wanted to help other people. Maybe we could start a website or something?
"I think we should make a website. For other people who are being bullied. They might need some help, and we could try."
I spoke in a small voice, but they all apparently still heard me because Mrs. Katy nodded in approval and Hanna bounced up and down in excitement. Alicia, however, seemed upset about something. I looked around. 3/4 of the people around me were perfectly happy, but 1/4 didn't seem so carefree. I looked at her and waited until I had her attention. When I did, I made the best of it.
"Alicia, can we be friends?"
She smiled and nodded. Little did we all know that we had just become the best of friends.
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 Alicia, 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 Alicia 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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