February 2, 2017
"Stella," the girl with the orange bow and dress answers after Lincoln asks what her name is. She reaches her hand to Lincoln, and the two shake hands.
Lincoln is blown away how his new friend is welcoming after his embarrassing turn of catching up the bus. But he did observe that she is the only person not to laugh at him for redoing the stunt from the first Spider-Man movie.
"Awesome to meet you, Stella."
"Me too. Well, I could put this as one of the few awesome things around me this week."
Wanting to get to know her more, Lincoln reacts, though with a slight stammer, "Really? What other awesome things that you got to see this week?"
Stella is rather delighted to sense another kid like her would be interested in hearing her stories. Even with the first few days in Royal Woods, she has yet to find her solid group of friends. So, she continues from there, "Okay! So when my family and I got to our new house, we saw these line of geese and her baby geese. What do you called them? Gosling? Gosling. Gosling I think. Anyway, they were in this straight line in front of our house. My dad got so hyper about it since only saw farm animals like that in funny videos online. But he went outside…"
Her story goes on from there on how her father pretended he was a gosling and stayed in line with the goose flock and her mother recording on her phone.
But Lincoln slowly zones out from her when he returns to his infatuation. His mind lingers on how he is smitten over the presence of Stella. His innocent heart beats faster, now that he has a close interaction with her.
He could only see her face glow to his eyes. He could only hear her voice and her instances of laughing as music to his ears. He could only glance at her distinctive orange bow to be an indication of how cute she is. And he could only think of how special this moment is for him, as it is for her.
There is nothing more but an innocent puppy love sensation that rocks his stomach with butterflies to the core. There is no denial for him personally that he falls for the new girl. And he never sees it as a possible wedge to him being friends with her.
Eventually, Stella ends her story about her family's goose hijinks. "…lesson learned for us. Not to mess with farm animals, which would be hard for me since I used to enjoy chasing them when I was little. But lesson learned the hard way. Am I right?" When she links back to Lincoln, Stella sees him briefly zoned out.
But Lincoln snaps back immediately. "Yeah! Yeah! Yes indeed, you are right. You are right for me. I mean, of course, yes! You are definitely right. What a lesson to learn sorely." He then nervously laughs, just to react "naturally" to her story.
"I know right. Well, we are all learning even outside the school. Kind of bums."
"Oh, I know how that feels." Lincoln truly remembers what he learned fifteen minutes prior, during the events of "White Hare".
But Stella misconstrued what Lincoln is referring. "I get what you mean. School kind of bums."
Lincoln gasps, "What? No. I mean school sucks. But not really. It just needs a lot to get used to."
"Yeah, but it was kind of a déjà vu."
"What do you mean?"
From there, Stella shares another story she had from her past. "Back from where I came from, school was pretty harsh. There are the presence of many cliques. The cool kids. The pretty kids. The athletes. The geeks. The bullies. And the rest of us who just cope. It was stupid since those kids who think they are better than me, than those like me, always mock us."
"What did they mock you for?"
Stella gives out a sigh before she gives her answer. "Different."
Lincoln wants to clarify as to what kind of "different" her school enemies are mocking her for. But once he looks at her from top to bottom, he gets her point. "Oh."
"I mean they also mock me for having veggies as snacks. But who would blame me for staying healthy. But I feel there's something from them that just bugs me. Like they want me to look this geeky. Like I should be in my own place. I don't know but I got that feeling from them." She looks back at Lincoln, not wanting to think that she is ranting right in front of him. "My mistake if I sound that I am ranting."
"No, it's okay that you got to share these things. Just to get that chip off your shoulder."
Stella chuckles.
"But I understand you. I know. I've been there a lot. But I soon learn that it's okay to be different. I am different. I mean, yeah, the other kids will mock me for it. But I know that they won't last. So, I stick to my game and stay cool in my own way."
"Does that explain you chasing the bus?"
"Yeah…sorta…" Lincoln slightly sweat when Stella brings that up again.
"You know what Lincoln Loud, you are one of those rare kids that really surprised me. Nobody, or any boy, had the guts to introduce himself to the new girl. There's just one girl in class who showed me around the school. And that's it. Nothing went out of it. But there was you, caution cone."
"You also look like a caution cone," Lincoln points out as he laughs.
Stella laughs along, then jokes, "With the dress? No, you're the caution cone!"
"It counts as orange. So, you're also a caution cone!"
"Caution cones have with strips on them. Your hair is white. So, you're the caution cone!"
They keep joking among themselves until they reach the school. They walk inside together until they reach where their assigned classrooms go on opposite halls. Lincoln is having his classes on the left side, while Stella is required to attend another session of school orientation on the right side halls.
Stella turns back at him to greet him goodbye. "So Lincoln Loud, see you around?"
"Most definitely," he replies. "You're kind of a cool girl, Stella."
"You too."
"See you around!"
The newly formed friends wave each other goodbye and part ways to their destinations. Lincoln meets up with his buddies Clyde, Rusty, Liam and Zack before they go inside their classroom.
On the other hand, Stella arrives in the hall where the next batch of her orientation takes place. She joins with ten other new students in Royal Woods Elementary. The primary purpose is to educate the newbies with the school guidelines, which will "surely be followed by those students".
Yet, Stella keeps an optimistic outlook after her encounter with Lincoln. Confident, she starts becoming the most participative of the new students. After the brief orientation, she sits in on a temporary class, held by Ms. DiMartino.
It is refreshing for Stella to feel this excitement for school. Her perky girl getup never gets the best of her for the day. Even if she sees other passing kids distance from her, she keeps her stride.
But more than that, she realizes something: Stella has the power to seize a new identity in school.
Once she gets home, the giddy 11-year-old heads to her room and lays her stuff on her bed. Afterwards, she faces in front of the mirror and removes her orange bow headband. Her hair falls gracefully, becoming the hair that Lincoln and his gang knew from her. She changes her orange blouse and skirt, to a shirt with a red star and a knee-long black skirt.
Stella expects to slowly adapt to her new wardrobe. However, she feels…free, free from the shackles of her formal attire. She stretches her arm above and in any direction. Carefree and freely, she projects her arms.
"This is perfect," she utters to herself.
At that moment, her mom enters her room. "Stella, I have ube cake."
"Love some, mom." She receives the small plate from her mom and takes a bite of her cake.
"How was school?" her mom asks.
"It needs getting used to," Stella tells her, "But I met this new friend. Well, he nearly missed the bus. But he caught up and sat beside me. He is the first kid in school who introduced himself to me. He is kind of funny."
"Is he? Was he your classmate?"
"Not sure. I have yet to be assigned to a permanent class." Stella then makes an optimistic thought, "I hope he is. Then I can meet more friends like him."
"Well, at least you won't be lonely anymore."
"Yeah. It's great."
"Now, remember: tiwala lang na magiging masaya ka."
Stella agrees with her.