A/N: So, my best friend wrote Gilbert's POV, so I'm just going to put it here. Please enjoy!
As I look out the frosty window of my grandfather's apartment, I see a whole new world of opportunities. You see, I moved all the way from Europe to the States where my grandfather lives, and right now I am awaiting my first day of school. As I am driven to school by my grandfather, I see a boy looking rather flustered. He trips and falls on the curb, and I suddenly feel bad for the kid. I arrive soon at a long, flat building, that is now my school. I am going to be a fourth grader, and that meant I was one of the big kids at school. I boldly walk into the school, with my white hair swishing on my head. I snake past all the lost, and obviously confused third graders, to my new teachers room. I see the name of my new teacher's name printed on the name-slot outside the room. I march into the room in the middle of what seems like a math lesson, and the teacher abruptly stops to look at me.
"Well, there you are! Welcome, welcome. Class! This is our new student from Germany!" The teacher says with a sickly-sweet voice. "Well, I'm Miss Hedervary, and I'll be your teacher this year!" With that she sits me in one of the desks near the front, and gives me books I will need for separate academics. It's in the middle of winter, so all the other children have caught on pretty well to the routine of this class. So, that leaves me in the dust. I suddenly feel all eyes piercing my skull as I take out my math book. Am I really that foreign to all these kids? Is that a good or bad thing? Whatever it is, my head sure does hurt already. This wasn't supposed to happen like this. I was supposed to make new friends instantly, and have a different life from before.
I am herded off to lunch by a huge group of my new peers. I am suddenly shy (I don't even know why because I'm the loud one in my family), and decide to sit at a table in the corner, alone. I am met with my own mind, the only thing to preoccupy myself. Suddenly, I am shaken out of my thoughts by a small voice that wasn't in my head. I peer up, and instantly recognize that kid. 'He was the one that fell on the curb', I thought to myself. I couldn't help but allow my lips to tug up into a smile as I looked at the clumsy 'kid'. The shy boy starts to stutter out a sentence that is barely audible,"H-hi m-my name is Matthew, b-but you can call me Matt." He slowly sits at the table I am at, and I don't really mind. We start to eat our lunch without saying a word, and then I decide to break the boring silence. "Sooo…do you like this school?" I can see Matt stiffen from being asked a question as if he hadn't before this. "Uhhh… well, I mean, It's a pretty good school and all… But…" I know what he's getting at, " Dude, don't lie, I know school is a drag. How 'bout we get through this year together? Oh! I almost forgot, my name is Gilbert." I finish on an obnoxious note. " Well, nice to meet you Gilbert, I hope we can be good friends." he says with a smile. We start talking more, and it turns out we are very different, but we like a lot of the same things. 'Matt is my new friend', I think to myself. Out of seven hundred kids of this school, destiny chose me and Matt to cross paths.
The next day comes as a slap in the face. First of all, I am rudely mocked by the boys for my hair color. Can't they just deal with the fact that my hair isn't the normal brown or blond? Second of all, I am confused with almost every subject because I came so late in the year. Do I know my times tables yet? No, of course not because my memory is so horrible. Third of all, and this is the worst, I am headed to lunch and decide to be friendly with some boys that are in my class. I walk up to their little group, and try to make some small talk, but no one even acknowledges my presence. After a while of failed attempts, a boy from the group speaks up, "Can't you see no one cares what you're saying right now?" I am taken aback. I lower my head and slowly walk away. I can hear the mocking laughs of the boys behind me. The window of opportunity disappears right before my eyes.
The only way I can find happiness nowadays is through my only friend Matt, and even now he's acting weird. Usually, we liked to sit at our secluded lunch table and talk our cares away, but today was different. He sits up straight, and is looking around for something I cannot identify. I ask, "Hey, What 'cha lookin' for Matty?" We've been friends for about a month now, and I know that he never lies, or keeps secrets. "Uuuhhh… just looking for some people... " He distantly says as he abruptly gets up to scurry to another table. I can see him talking, almost pleading, to another person at a different table. He walks back over with a sad, angry, and rejected look on his face. "Hey Matt, what the matter?" I ask in full seriousness. He says something quietly that I can't quite hear. "What was that?" I ask. His eyes get bright with anger, and he blurts. "Maybe we should never have become friends in the first place, because now everyone else has forgotten about me!" With that he grabs his things, and walks away. I am left by myself, feeling abandoned someone I thought liked me for what I was. Yet again, another window of opportunity is shut, and I am left with nothing but the voices in my head to keep me company.
You know that time in your life when you really don't know what's going on, but you follow along? That's how I was after that encounter with Matt. It felt as if I were only floating along the days, and no one seemed to notice me slowly fading into the background. My grandfather noticed too; he would always say I used to be such a vibrant personality, but now I seemed drained. I was just floating, you see, I was just another character in this big play of life.
One early spring morning, the air seemed to glisten with melting coldness, signalling the end of winter. I was walking to school by then, and as I walked I drank up the cool air. I saw a distant shadow in the corner of my eye, tempting me to look. I pretend it doesn't exist for a while, until it's right behind me. I whirl around,"WHAT… do you want?" I suddenly get hit with a load of emotions. I see Matthew standing there, with a surprised expression. " I-I-I w-was hoping I could walk with you to school?" He asked tentatively. I gestured for him to walk alongside me because at that moment, I really needed to be with someone. I knew all the things he said to me, but at that moment I realized that he has been my only true friend in this whole year. I quiet the voices in my head, and finally think, we have a lot to talk about.