“Everyone, this is Katie! She transferred to our public school from the Christian school on the other side of town. Say hello, Katie.”

I looked up at Mrs. Trojanowski and asked her if I really had to. She gave me a vaguely threatening look and said yes, it was polite to introduce myself to the rest of my class. I gulped and slowly raised my hand, fully aware that there were thirty-two pairs of eyes staring at me, scrutinizing me. I could already hear what would be said later at recess, she’s mousy looking, she’s so quiet, I haven’t ever seen anyone that shy before, and so on. But I went through with my greeting, which was only a terribly timid sounding ‘hi!’ while I gazed at the carpet beneath my feet. There were a few scattered greetings from around the classroom, but most of the kids just went back to doodling on their papers and sharpening their pencils.

The classroom was filled with neat rows of desks (each desk fit two people, with just enough room on the surface for elbows and a paper or two). The desks were all facing towards the front of the room, where a large desk cluttered with papers and folders (Mrs. T’s, of course) and a projector sat. Most of the student seats were filled, except for two or three. Mrs. T quickly assessed the situation and pointed to one of the empty seats. “You can sit next to Kelsee,” she said, then walked back to her desk.

Kelsee was a little younger than me; even though she was about six inches taller (I’ve always been the shortest person in my grade). She had long curly blond hair that seemed almost big enough to come to life and swallow me whole. She had glasses like I did, except hers were a bright purple instead of a dull brown. She looked up as I approached and asked, “Are you the new kid?” I was a little puzzled, I mean, hadn’t she just watched as the teacher showed me off to the class and told them that I was new? But instead of arguing I just said yes. She nodded her head in a wise way and said, “Yeah, that was me a couple years ago. I’m Kelsee, who’re you?” Once again, I wondered if she had listened to the teacher at all. But, once again, all I did was say my name. And, once again, she nodded. Kelsee was quiet for a couple seconds, but then started up a conversation about all the cute boys in class. Well, conversation isn’t quite the word. She was the only who said anything; I just sat there and listened, a little bewildered but content to let her ramble.

Mrs. T started up the class, and Kelsee fell silent, which I was a little grateful for. I wasn’t used to someone talking so much. But it seemed she really wasn’t done yet, she started scribbling away on a scrap of paper, which she then folded up and stuffed into my hand. I blinked and looked down at it, then back up to her. She waved her hands in the air and pointed at the note, then my pencil. Oh. I unfolded the note and read her little blurb about how Sam Johnson was really quite adorable, then wrote down a sentence long response. I clumsily crumpled the note back up into a square and handed it back to her. This went on for the entire first half of the day, and it was only interrupted because of lunch.

Ah, lunch. I had had friends to eat with at my old school, but I didn’t know a single person in this school. I shifted from one foot to the next as I looked around the cafeteria. I was about to take my little cold lunch into the bathroom to eat, but was interrupted by Kelsee, who had somehow snuck up to my side without my noticing. She grinned and pulled me over to a table with a few of her friends and then sat me down. She plopped herself down next to me and said that she really hoped I didn’t mind spending lunch with her, and that she also really hoped that I would play with her at recess. I looked down at my sandwich so that she wouldn’t see my red face or my cheesy smile and said that I would be happy to. She just laughed and started stuffing her face while simultaneously talking about Sam (I couldn’t understand how she could do both things at once, and I still don’t).

And so, the start of fifth grade wasn’t nearly as bad as I had thought it would be. The worst thing that happened was almost getting my ear talked off by Kelsee, but to be honest, that isn’t so bad.