"Are you ready to go?" Mom asked.
She was standing beside me, looking anxious. I was at a new school. It was 2001, just three years earlier. I was nine years old.
"Yeah, I'm ready," I said.
"How are your teeth?"
"Fine!" I batted away her hand.
"Do they hurt?"
I gave her a big smile. "No. They're fine! Good as new."
I'd managed to smash my front teeth into fangs while playing Marco Polo in the pool the previous day. It was a stroke of pure luck that I could get them repaired before my first day at a new school.
"Okay. Now, I know this is a lot of change, and we've discussed this before, but the teachers think you need to skip a grade. You're going to be the youngest in grade five, but you're a tall girl, so you won't look it. Just let me know if you're having trouble fitting in, okay?"
"Okay," I agreed.
"Okay. Let's go." We walked up to the teacher, who introduced herself and two other girls in uniform. "This is Sarah, and this is Gen. They're going to be your buddies. They'll show you around."
The two girls smiled sweetly at the teacher.
"I'll see you after school," Mom said as she waved goodbye and walked away.
"Hi," I said to the girls when the adults were gone.
They both looked me up and down, then looked at each other. A second later, they turned on their heel and walked in the opposite direction, fading away into oblivion.
And I was all alone.
What's wrong with me? My mind asked. Why don't they like me?
I turned around in circles. Happy kids were laughing and screaming and running around, playing handball with each other.
What's wrong with me? My mind asked again.
