Today was Claire’s first day of second grade. The shy girl had never been to “real” school before. She had only been homeschooled by her loving but overbearing mother. As Claire walked from the sweltering hot outside into the cool, breezy classroom she slowly breathed in the smell of finger paint and newly sharpened pencils. She timidly played with the straps on her brand new backpack. She vaguely thinks back to when she got her new backpack only three weeks ago at arget with her mom. She vividly remembers pleading with her mom for the backpack with her most favorite character, Spongebob, on it. Now she nervously wonders if she should have just got a plain colored one so she could blend in. She slowly makes her way over to her assigned seat and sits down. The girl sitting next to her gives her a small grin which she returns with a small, close mouthed smile. She realizes that school will not be as bad as she worried about.