The young girl stood in front of the intimidating building, a school, her elementary school, the place she would spend 5 years of her life. The very thought of walking into that school alone was enough to make her want to cry her eyes out. It wasn't supposed to be like this. Mary Redfox was supposed to walk into the red brick building with her older brother Ian. But the ten year old boy got sick at the last minute leaving the black haired eight year old by herself. Mary desperately wanted her brother there for the golden haired boy to be there with his dopy smile and words of encouragement, with the faded yellow shirt that in the past Mary would grip in large crowds to keep herself from getting lost. She wanted for him to find her at recess and to play poker with her while using buttons as chips and worn out playing cards. But she knew she had too be brave, so with a deep breath she gathered her courage and walked into the school for her first day of first grade.
Mary Redfox, not being a very brave girl walked timidly into the classroom hoping that she could just find a seat where she could be invisible. But as luck would have it the teacher walked in right behind her meaning all eyes were on Mary. Squeaking in fear, the young girl quickly moved out of the way of the scary looking teacher. The tall women had black hair that had been pulled into a tight bun, thick rimmed red glasses that reminded Mary of her older sister Octavia's glasses only the eyes behind them did not hold the sisterly love that she wished to see. The teacher, not giving Mary a second glance, walked to the front of the classroom and began to assign seats. In the end, Mary was seated in the second row closest to the windows. Normally, the petite girl would love a seat like that, but in this case not so much because on all all open sides Mary was surrounded by boys. Typically, Mary wouldn't be afraid of boys having grown up with four brothers and a less than girly older sisters, but as it seemed to be the theme of her day, that was not the case. For, all of the boys were much taller than her and had intimidating looks on their faces like they would pounce on any opportunity to hurt her whether it be physically or emotionally.
Once the first half of class was over, Mary ran out the door hoping to get away from the staring eyes of her classmates. Finding the cafeteria with little problem, the young girl thought her luck might be changing if only by a little. But in the cafeteria, there were what seemed to be millions of tables all looking to be full except for one in the center of the large room. There sat the most popular girls in school, from what her brother had said when she asked about what the first day would be like. Gulping nervously, she walked to the table and politely asked if she could sit at the table. But the girls took one look at Mary's unruly mass of black curls that had been tied back in a faded red ribbon that was slowly slipping out of her hair, hand-me down striped dress, and packed lunch and made mean faces saying in disgusted voices "why would we EVER let a little heathen like YOU sit with us?". Holding back tears Mary politely noded and walked away as fast as she could not caring what direction she went. By the end of lunch Mary had found a place to eat but it was all alone in the corner of the lunch room, with no chair or bench Mary sat on the floor too eat, and she silently hoped that this a full day would end soon.
After lunch was what Mary dreaded more than a math test; recess. Normally recess was a happy time were children would play and talk without the teacher breathing down their neck. But Mary was terrified she had no idea where to go, without her brother there she had no clue what to do. The young girl stood at the entrance of the playground utterly lost and confused. But taking her second deep breath of the day she gathered her courage and took a cautious step into the strange new land. After a few minutes of just wandering Mary had found herself at the swing set, and finding an empty swing she quickly ran to catch it before someone else did. Her luck seemed to be fickle that day because while she had the worst day ever in all other aspects, she had somehow managed to get the swing before any other kids could. Climbing onto the rubber seat she began to swing too her heart's content, feeling as light as a bird.
After what seemed like forever but was really only ten minutes or so, Mary was roughly pushed off the swing, landing face first on the dirt ground. She looked up too see the leader of the popular girls laughing at her. Feeling a rush of anger, Mary balled her fists and swung at the girl. Mary had managed to catch the older girl, Hanna, as she had heard earlier, in the face with her punch. Hanna was knocked to the ground and she sat there for a moment in shock until getting up and hitting Mary back, but Mary, who might have done without watching her two eldest siblings brawl all the time, knew how to dodge attacks like that. Quickly, Mary snatched Hanna's arm and threw her into the metal pole that kept the swings standing up. After that Mary only had a few hazy memories, mostly of her and Hanna fighting, and the principal having to come out to break the two up. When she woke up from her daze, she was in the nurse's office with Hanna and her getting bandaged by the nurse and scolded by the principal, Mary wished she had stayed in her daze.
After getting bandaged, the two girls were sent to the principal's office where he called the two's family to pick them up. Mary had tuned him out and only knew that she and Hanna had been suspended for a week. After about thirty minutes of waiting, Hanna's mother and Mary's eldest sister, Korie, walked in. Hanna's mother was immediately over Hanna asking what happened. Korie rolled her eyes and picked up Mary about to walk away when Hanna's mom stopped her. "Where do you think your going?! Aren't you going to discipline that little heathen?!" The women yelled, pointing at Mary, Korie whose face had turned to resemble a stone; a stone with a furious glare. "Ok lady, three things: one, your kid pushed Mary off the swings, so as far as I'm concerned she started it. Two, yes I'm going to discipline her but not in the office of an elementary school. And three, try applying your own advice on your bratty snob of a kid," Korie said in a dangerous tone.
The woman who was much shorter compared to Korie, gaped at her before uttering the worst possible thing she could say in that situation. "My child is not a bratty snob, and if she was at least she's not some street rat like Mary!" Korie and the woman glared at each other for a moment before Korie punched her in the face and walked out grumbling under her breath. Mary clutched her sister's purple T-shirt trying to hold back her laughter. She noticed that Korie had driven her motorcycle here, and had placed Mary in front of her before driving off, crouching over the young girl too keep her safe. It was silent before Korie spoke, "Ok Mary you don't say a word about me punching that lady ok? If you do Blake will NEVER let me hear the end of it". Mary nodded knowing her sister was right. If their oldest brother Blake were too find, out he would annoy them to no end. But probably not as annoying as finding a new elementary school in New York, because Mary knew that she probably wouldn't be allowed to attend that school anymore. Mary just hoped that at her new school Ian would be going with her this time.