To Daniel's relief, most of his classes were with the same students. This school was much smaller than any of the public schools he had attended, where he could expect to meet a new set of bullies in each class. His art and music classes were bundled together at the end of the school day, and Daniel was as nervous about being in classes with students his age as he was with students three years his senior. He'd never been in classes with kids his own age. He also found that these classes only had five or six students in them at a time, which allowed for personalized attention. Biology and math Daniel could handle, but this new situation for art and music was overwhelming him too much for his comfort.
He was awkwardly silent as he was introduced to the class, and hesitated from jumping into the clay-molding project. He distractedly shaped a pyramid out of the clay. Mrs. Bernard kneeled down beside him at the workbench at which he was stationed. "What are you making?" Her tone was geared towards sixth graders, and Daniel found it slightly patronizing.
"Oh, um…" Daniel stared at what he had created. "I guess I'm making the pyramids at Giza." He shrugged with a hint of apathy. His energy was flagging, and he knew his day wasn't nearly complete. He still had another meeting with the headmaster.
"Giza, eh? Shouldn't there be three pyramids then?" She tapped her shoulder to his, and he turned to face her.
"You know about Giza?" He asked with approbation. None of his other teachers had ever known anything about his homeland.
"You sound like you don't know anyone who's heard of Giza! Huh! So, tell me kind sir, how do you know about Giza, if it's such a big secret?" She smiled at him genuinely, trying desperately to open up to her. She managed to make him blush in embarrassment. Mrs. Bernard had a knack for engaging the silent kids and bringing them out of their shell, if not by art than by her personality.
"I was born in Egypt. I mostly lived there until I was eight with my parents. Cairo is my home. I plan to move back there after school, you know." He was fiddling once again with the clay, forming a second pyramid in the palms of his hands. The class was nearly over, and Mrs. Bernard took an extra moment to help Daniel wrap up his clay models in plastic and store them for next time. She also asked him to come up with a paragraph or two about Giza so he can share it with the rest of the class next week. Before the bell rang seconds later, he already had several thoughts about what he wanted to say.