New Kid

Have you ever been the new kid in school?

Hi, my name is Chester Liam Scott and I just moved to Weather Springs; which is located on the outskirts of Denver, Colorado. I am ten years old; a very odd and critical age in a boy’s life, and my parents just moved my older sister, Becky and I from our native town, Houston, Texas.

Let me tell you about my first day of fifth grade. I walk into the only Elementary School in town, which I am still trying to get over, what kind of town has only one elementary school? Anyway, my father Lee and I walk in to the Administrator's office and a husky woman that looked to be in her mid fifties greeted us. She had jet-black hair with gray highlights that she tied tight into a bun on top of her head, and her shoes squeaked when she walked. “Hi, you must be the new kid from Texas, my name is Mrs. Lawson.” She said as she introduced herself, but I didn’t hear another word after she made the comment “the new kid”. I was already branded with a label that ever kid dreads, and from that minute on I knew it was going to be a long day. After my father left the school, I was escorted to my homeroom class. “This is your homeroom teacher, Miss Francis.” Mrs. Lawson said in a sweet voice as she bending down to make sure I heard her. I dropped my backpack, I couldn’t get over it; the school didn’t have walls between their classes. I could see every classroom in the fifth grade plus every class in the forth grade. “Good Morning Chester and welcome to Weather Spring.” Miss Francis said. “Where are the walls?” I replied with a blank face. “Oh, we have what is know as an open school policy” Miss Francis replied with a chuckle. I sat down in my assigned seat; seat C for Chester, and then, over the intercom came the blow of all blows, a voice that sounded a lot like Mrs. Lawson announced “Please welcome our new fifth grade student from Houston, Texas, Chester Scott.” I felt like melting under the table. I could feel all the students staring at me and I tried not to let it show that I was embarrassed. I am sure my cheeks were as red as the apple that Miss Francis had on her table. “Where are the walls when you need them? I hate being the new kid.” I muttered to myself.

Please let me go on, my story gets even better. We were walking in a straight line to the cafeteria and I could over hear two girls talking and giggling about me or should I say “the new kid”, and they were talking about my calic and how it sticks straight up in the air. I just wanted to turn around and say “hey, I am only ten years old” but I didn’t. I continued to look down at the floor trying not to attract any more attention to myself then I had to. My mother, Doris packed my lunch for me since she thought the school cafeteria food cost too much for children to eat. I think lunch is the worst part of the day for the new kid in town because where does he sit? I sat at the end of the table by myself when two other students came down to sit with me and before I could say hello, one of the boys said, “We are only sitting by you because Miss Francis told us to. She told us to be nice to the new kid.” I wasn’t sure what to do, so I nodded and proceeded to eat my lunch. After 10 minutes of the two boys yacking back and forth about the new Play Station II NBA game, one of them asked, “do you like to play tether ball?” I looked up not sure that I was being asked the question when I noticed the freckled face boy was staring at me. “Sure, I can play.” I answered excited that some one was talking to me. I didn’t know what they were talking about, but how hard could it be to play tetherball. I wanted to make some friends my first day. “My name is Todd Johnson and this is Goat.” The short little boy with a million freckles and bight red bushy hair introduced himself and his friend. “Why do they call you Goat?” I dared to ask. “We are the only goat farmers in town, so I kind of adopted the nick name when I was five years old. Lets go play some ball!” Goat yelled out as he jumped off the lunch table stool. Goat was also a short boy, but he had blonde curly hair and was very tan from being outside herding goats.

Okay, you are probably thinking, I have found not just one friend but two friends and I did it before the end of the day. Guess again, tetherball was going great. I surprised myself; I was a really good baller. I was winning most of the sets. We were having a great time until Chuck came along and spoiled it all. Chuck was the bully of the fifth graders. He was tall, chubby and had buck -teeth. I am not sure Chuck new how to tie his shoelaces because they were untied and laying on the dirt. Chuck came over and as he pointed his scrawny finger he blurted out “Look, the new kid thinks he is the best and is showing off for my girlfriend.” I didn’t even see the two girls standing there watching us nor did I care. I wasn’t into girls; all I was doing is having fun with the guys. Chuck stepped up to play me a game; he waited when I wasn’t looking and smacked the tetherball right at my head. I fell instantly to the ground and woke up in the nurse’s office.

Yep, that is how I ended my first day at school, in the nurse’s office. I had to stay at the nurse’s station to make sure I didn’t have any head injuries. I was so embarrassed that I had to be carried off the playground by the gym teacher Mr. Spock who I didn’t even get to meet since Chuck had to ram the ball into my head over some girl, and besides, if the other kids weren’t talking about me before, I am sure they were now and with good reason.

I was getting into our Astro Van that was so out of date, but Doris wasn’t going to get rid of it, she never got rid of anything. As I was about to close the sliding door to finalize a disaster of a day, Goat stuck his head in and yelled “ hey new kid, I will see you tomorrow in homeroom.” With that, I closed the door and sat back in the bucket seat trying to relax. “How was your first day of school?” Doris asked in a warm motherly way. “Whelp mom, there are no walls holding the school up, Mrs. Lawson has gray highlights, which I thought ladies got highlights to cover up the gray, I got a shiner on the face from a guy named Chuck, non of the students know my name, they call me “the New Kid,” but overall I had a great day…I met two friends Todd Johnson and Goat.

The End