Jade walked into her first class of the day, English. The classroom was average sized; the walls painted the same eggshell-white as they were at her old school and the floor in the classroom was the same blue-gray carpet.
A couple of the other students stared or whispered as she made her way to the back of the room, it didn't bother her too much, she was used to it. After all she was new, and it's just human nature to notice when something is new or different.
She sat down in one of the small wooden desks next to a, rather pale, red-haired boy. As she took out her binder she glanced over at the boy. He was hunched over a piece of paper which he seemed to be drawing little stick figures on. Jade leaned a little closer to trying to see a bit more, but as if he sensed her presence, he shifted so that she couldn't see.
Jade just turned back to her binder and started doodling on her own paper, ignoring the fact that the teacher had just walked in and started talking. As she carefully drew in the last few details of a rose she had drawn, she was barely aware the teacher was calling her name.
"Jade Perdita…Jade…could you please stand for the class?"
"Huh?" Jade said in almost a squeak as she looked up at the sound of her name. Everyone was staring at her and a few people giggled at her reaction.
"Could you please stand so the class can see who you are?" The teacher said in a kind voice.
"Oh! Okay." Jade said as she stood up.
"What is it that you were focusing so intensely on?" The teacher asked.
"J-Just a drawing…" Jade stammered in her small, shy, voice.
"Could you bring it here please?" The teacher said, her voice stayed kind but her face was stern.
"Okay." Jade took the paper out of her binder and walked to the front of the room where she handed it over to the teacher. Her hands shook and she tried not to cry. Only her first day, and she was in trouble.
The teacher took the paper from Jade's shaking hands and looked at the beautifully sketched and shaded rose that was covering most of the paper.
"This is very beautiful Jade. But please refrain from drawing in class." The teacher said sternly. "Now this is your first day, and you aren't accustomed to the rules yet, so I'll give this back to you and I hope in the future you are more responsible." She handed the drawing back to a terrified-looking Jade.
"Yes…I…I'm very sorry…" Jade squeaked as she took her paper back with shaking hands.
"You may return to your seat now." The teacher said sternly.
Jade just nodded and walked back to her seat, receiving snickers and stares from her fellow classmates, as the teacher turned and started to write notes on the board while continuing to talk.
Jade set the picture on top of her desk, pushed her binder aside, and proceeded face-plant onto her desk, hard. Then she lifted her head off the desk but remand hunched over and staring at the picture that she drew, trying not to cry as a single tear escaped and landed onto her paper.
"Ha ha! You- huh?" The boy who was sitting next to Jade stopped mid-insult, noticing the tear that had fallen onto her paper. "Are you okay?"
Jade shook her head, causing a few more tears to land on her paper.
The boy, not knowing what to do and probably feeling a bit awkward, just continued taking notes and left Jade alone.
Jade went through the rest of the day feeling worthless and sad. She hoped her first day at her new school would be better, but she got in trouble in English, got the wrong answer multiple times to the equations in algebra, didn't know all 50 states in history, broke a beaker in chemistry, spilled a can of paint in art class, and messed up while singing in choir. It seemed that no matter where she went or what she did, she'd always be a loser.
As she walked home she stared at the ground. She had a long way to walk, but she didn't want to take the bus. She couldn't risk doing something stupid there too.