"Kevin! Kevin get down here right now!" Sandy yells up the stairs. It's the first day of school and as usual, things are very hectic. Sandy is never able to get ready on time. But, as usual, I'm relaxing on the couch watching TV. This morning, I got up at 6 in the morning so I could be ready early. Kevin comes running into the living room and jumps right on top of me.
"Hey! Don't do that! Get off of me!" I fight him off and pin him to the floor. I smile at my easy accomplishment and he starts to pout. He hates it when I beat him at anything. I get up and dust myself off. "Don't you have to go do something?" I ask, trying to get him to leave.
"No. Mom's the one who's late." He tells me. I look over to the doorway and see Sandy getting her shoes on.
"Come on. Let's get in the van." I say and we run to the door.
"Hey, no running inside. Tess, can you put your sister in the car seat? Thanks" Sandy gives me Meghan and I carry her to the van. Sandy comes almost right away and we speed down the highway. It takes five minutes to get to the school. I'm feeling disappointed because my friend Liz doesn't go to my school.
"Sandy." I say, trying to get her attention.
"Yes Tess?" She answers.
"Why can't I go to Liz's school?" I ask, knowing the answer already. She's told me many times already why I can't go to Liz's school.
"Tess. We don't have to discuss this anymore. You know that her school is on the other side of the city. That's too far to travel every day. You go to East Roswell Elementary and you're not changing that. I'm sorry, but that's the way it has to be." I can tell she's fed up with telling me that over and over again.
We get to the school and walk Kevin to his class first. This is his first day ever, since he's in kindergarten. We bid farewell to him and then start on our way to my class. My classroom isn't too far away and we arrive very quickly. Inside, there are about 20 other kids scattered through out the room. There's a teacher sitting at the desk, so we walk over to her.
"Excuse me. Um, are you Ms. Plett?" Sandy asks politely.
"Yes. Oh, you must be Sandy Madras. And you must be Tess." The lady looks at me and gives me a sweet smile. I like her already. "Okay, um. Here, this is your desk. You can put all your stuff inside. When class starts, I'll introduce you to everyone. Is that okay with you?" She asks me. I'm surprised that she's asked for my permission. I nod my head and then go to my desk. Sandy follows me and kneels down to my height. She sets down Meghan on the floor.
"Okay Tess. This is it. Do you need anything before I go?" She asks me, looking very concerned about my happiness.
"I'm fine Sandy." I say and then sigh with nervousness. She gives me a hug and tells me she loves me. "I love you too. Good bye." I say. The bell rings and every one runs to their seats. After the morning exercises, Ms. Plett walks to the front of the class and starts to introduce me.
"Okay class. I hope you all had a great summer!" She says enthusiastically. "Today, we have a new student. Her name is Tess. Tess, would you like to come up here?" She motions for me to go up to the front. Reluctantly, I get up and obey her. "Tess, would you like to tell us where you came from?"
"I used to live in Phoenix, and then I moved here with my family."
"That's interesting. What was it like living there?" She asks, trying to get more information out of me.
"I hate Phoenix. Roswell's better." I say. Ms. Plett notices that I don't appreciate being up here and says I can go sit down. She goes on to talk about what we'll be learning this year.
At the first recess, I go over to the sandbox and start building a sand castle. There are some other girls in the other corner playing with some toy trucks. One of them comes over to me.
"Hi, my name is Ally. Do you want to come play with us?" She asks me. My eyes light up at the invitation and I follow her to the other side. The other girls say hi and then give me a truck to play with. All recess we focus ourselves on building the biggest hill in all the sandboxes. In the end, we succeed. When we go back in after recess, they're all in my class. I'm glad because at least I know a few girls now.
When school ends, I walk over to the kindergarten room and get Kevin. He's telling me all about his day while we walk outside to wait for Sandy. We stand in front of the school for about five minutes before Sandy arrives. She's late, but I don't care.
It's been a few weeks since I started school and I've made a few friends. Although I see Ally everyday, Liz is still my best friend. I've been over to her house seven times already and I'm going again in a few minutes. We're having a sleep over. She told me last night on the phone that her friend Maria will be there for a while with us. I'm fine with it, just another friend to add to my list. Sandy's ready to go and we leave in the van. Kevin was sulking again as we left the house. He hates it when I leave to go play with someone else. He's such a spoiled brat.
We arrive at the Parker's and I run up to the door. Liz answers the door and pulls me inside. We run upstairs to her room where her friend Maria waits for us. I walk in and see her sitting on the floor listening to some music.
"Maria, this is Tess. Tess, this is Maria." Liz introduces us. Maria looks at me and smiles.
"Hi! Liz talks about you all the time at school. What's it like going to East Roswell Elementary? I heard that school really sucks." Maria asks me rather bluntly. I smirk at the comment and respond.
"It's okay. I like it. Why? What's it like at your school?"
"Our school is cool! We got the best teachers ever!" Brags Maria.
"Yeah, well I'm happy where I go. Um, do you know Ally?" I ask, wondering if they know my friend.
"Ally? You mean Ally the richest girl in Roswell? I wish!" Maria responded. My eyes widen when she says that Ally is the richest girl in town. I could have never guessed! "Why? Do you know her?" Maria asks me hopefully.
"Yeah. I play with her at school all the time." I say as if it's not a big deal. Her mouth opens in surprise. "Maria, it's not a big deal. She's not any different than us. She just has a lot of money is all." I try to shrug off the subject. "Liz, can we go downstairs to your restaurant tomorrow morning? I'm supposed to pick up some asteroid pie for my mom."
"Sure. Hey, you guys want to watch a movie?" We nod our heads in excitement and rush downstairs. We look in their video case for a good movie to watch.
"How bout E.T?" I suggest. We've been looking for a while and haven't found anything good so they agree. We make ourselves comfortable on the couch and pop in the movie. Through out the entire movie, I can hear Liz and Maria whispering to each other. I know that they're bored of the movie, but I don't say anything. This is my favorite movie in the whole world and I'm not going to let those two ruin it for me. When the movie ends, Maria jumps up in a panic.
"Oh no! I'm late!" She exclaims.
"What do you mean?" I ask her.
"I was supposed to be home half an hour ago. My mom's gonna kill me! I gotta go." She says and runs out the room. Liz and I look at each other and break out laughing.