It was Victor Frankenstein's first day of Kindergarten. When his mother dropped him off earlier that morning, he almost burst into tears and nearly had a breakdown because he was so afraid. As he stood in the doorway of his new classroom, he saw various kids running around and talking and laughing without a care in the world. He was always a shy boy who had trouble making friends, so he didn't know what to do or what to expect. He even thought about running right out the door, out of the school, down the street, and going back home right then and there. But then he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"It's okay, Victor." A kind woman wearing a red sweater and glasses said in a gentle voice. It was the teacher. "Everyone gets scared on their first day of school. Why don't you go find a cubby to keep your backpack in and take a seat, okay?"
He remained silent, but gave a shy nod. She smiled and led him to a set of cubbies lining the nearby wall before making her way back to her desk. Victor examined the cubbies, trying to find an empty one to choose from; quite a few of them were filled with jackets and backpacks in different shapes, sizes, and colors. He then found a vacant one in the middle, so he jumped at the chance and hung up his backpack and coat before looking for a place to sit. He glanced at his classmates as his nervousness flared up again; he always had trouble making friends and the not-so-nice expressions from a select few are definitely not helping. Then he spotted an empty seat at a desk in a farther corner of the room. He went over to the desk, but as he was walking, he felt something trip him and he fell to the floor. He cried out in surprise.
"Ha, baby!" A mean voice laughed.
Victor looked up and saw a boy with combed brown hair and a nasty look on his face standing over him with his arms folded over his chest. He was stunned.
"What was that for?" He asked as his eyes started to well up with tears.
"I didn't do nothing. You need to learn to walk better, you big baby." The bully mocked.
"Ahem!"
The two boys turned and craned their necks up to see the teacher standing over them. She had a very stern expression.
"What have I told you about tripping other kids?" She asked.
There was a short pause.
"…Not to do it?" The bully asked, looking like a kicked puppy.
"That's right. But it seems you still haven't learned your lesson. If I catch you picking on Victor or any of your other classmates again, it'll be the time out corner for you for the rest of the day." She pointed to a lone chair facing the farthest corner of the room. "Do you understand?"
He sighed. "Yes, ma'am." The bully gave Victor a dark glare before heading over to his own desk, which was luckily quite far away.
The teacher turned to Victor and helped him up. "Are you okay, sweetie?"
He wiped his eyes and nodded meekly.
"Good. Now go ahead and take a seat. Class is about to start."
"Okay." Victor hesitantly sat in his seat.
She took a little bell from her sweater pocket, rang it, and said, "Alright, class. Take a seat."
The other students soon piled into their own respective seats. The bully from before gave Victor the "I'm watching you" hand gesture after he sat down, which made him even more anxious. A round boy wearing a striped shirt and overalls quickly sat in the seat next to Victor and they shared a shy smile and wave with one another; that helped calm him down a bit. The teacher then made her way to the front of the classroom, set her bell down, and turned to face the students.
"Good morning, everyone. My name is Miss Poppy, and I'll be your teacher." She said with a smile, writing her name on the chalkboard.
"Good morning, Miss Poppy." The class said in unison.
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Before anyone knew it, class came to an end and it was now playtime. Some kids were playing with blocks, a few were playing dress up, and others were playing with the different kinds of toys Miss Poppy had. Victor was very anxious to join them, but after some encouragement from the teacher, he eventually went off to go play. He walked over to the play area to see different toys scattered about, one of them being a stuffed dog with black spots speckled all over its body. It looked like a Dalmatian puppy. Victor loved dogs, so he reached out his hand to grab it. But then another hand grabbed the toy at the exact same time he did, causing their hands to touch. He looked up to see a girl in front of him; she had pale skin, dark eyes, black hair pulled into pigtails and tied with white ribbons, and wore a purple dress and striped socks. They stared at each other for a few seconds until Victor's attitude changed.
"I wanna play with the puppy." He said, pulling his hand away and grabbing the toy.
"I wanna play with it too." The girl argued as she pulled the toy closer to her.
"Hey!" He shouted and tugged on the toy.
"Hey!" She cried and yanked.
"Hey!" He pulled.
"Hey!" She tugged.
"Fight! Fight! Fight!" A third voice mockingly chanted.
Victor and the girl stopped what they were doing and turned their heads to see the bully from earlier standing over them; he had hands on his hips and a big smile on his face. The girl frowned at him.
"What do you want?" She asked.
The bully ignored her and turned to Victor. "You shouldn't play with her." He pointed a finger at the girl.
Victor paused and let go of the toy, still looking at the bully. "Why not?"
"Because girls have cooties! Duh!" The bully wiggled his fingers and smiled evilly.
"No. Cooties aren't real." The girl retorted, dropping the stuffed puppy.
"They are too." The bully yelled.
"Are not!" She said.
"Are too!"
"No, she's right. Cooties aren't real. My mommy said so." Victor chimed in.
"No one asked you, baby!" The bully promptly shoved Victor, causing him to yelp in surprise and fall onto his back.
The girl gasped. She quickly got up and stood between the two boys with an angry look on her face. "Hey, leave him alone!"
By now, the squabble had drawn the attention of a few other students. Most of them quickly stopped what they were doing and turned their heads to see what was going on. The bully scoffed at the girl.
"Oh? What if I don't? You're just a dumb girl. What are YOU gonna do about it, pigtails? Huh? Huh? What are you gonna do?" He asked, sneering at her.
She paused, glanced to the side, and gave him a smile. "I'm not gonna do anything. She is."
"Huh?" The bully asked before he felt a sharp tug on his left ear. "Ow! Ow, ow, OW! Hey! That's my ear!"
"Do we really have to go through this again?" Miss Poppy asked sternly. She turned to Victor and the girl. "Was he bothering you two?"
"Yes, ma'am." Victor replied, sitting up.
"Yes, he was." The girl chimed in with a nod.
Miss Poppy turned back to the bully and let go of his ear. "That's it. I'm telling your mommy all about this after school, and I'm sure she'll have a few strong words of her own to say to you as well. But for now, time out corner. March, mister." She pointed a finger at the time out chair.
"But-but-but Miss Poppy—" The bully stammered, desperately trying to make an excuse.
"I said march." She again pointed to the chair, tapping her foot. She was having none of his nonsense now.
The bully relented after a moment and went to sit in the chair with his back facing the rest of the class. He pouted and rubbed his hurt ear as a few kids giggled at him under their breath. Miss Poppy sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose while shaking her head. The girl turned around and gave Victor a kind smile.
"Are you okay?" She asked, offering her hand to him.
"Uh… yeah. I'm okay." He hesitantly took her hand and she helped him up. The two of them stared at each other for a good few seconds; he felt his cheeks grow warm. "Uh… thank you for helping me."
"You're welcome." She said bashfully. "I'm Elsa."
He smiled. "I'm Victor." He looked at the stuffed puppy in his other hand and offered it to her. "You can play with the puppy."
Elsa's face lit up, but she stopped herself. "Thank you, but… you grabbed it first. You should play with it."
"I have an idea." Miss Poppy said, kneeling down to their level. "Why don't you two take turns? One of you can play with the stuffed puppy for a bit, and then the other will have a turn to play with it. What do you say?"
The two children looked at their teacher, then at the puppy before smiling at each other. "Okay."
After that, Victor and Elsa were practically inseparable. They sat together at lunchtime, played together on the playground at recess, sat next to each other during story time, and even napped next to each other. For them, this was the best first day of school ever. At the end of the day, they were sad to see each other go.
"I wish the day was longer." Victor said sadly as he collected his things from his cubby.
"Me too. Then we could have more time together." Elsa replied, putting on her backpack.
"Oh! I almost forgot! Wait here." He ran over to another corner where the arts and crafts supplies was, folded up a large piece of paper, and carefully stuffed it into his backpack before running back to her.
"What was that?" Elsa asked.
"It's a surprise. I'll show you in a little bit." He replied.
"Okay, kids. Your parents should be outside right about now, waiting to take you home. Have a good day, and I'll see you all tomorrow." Miss Poppy said, jingling her bell.
"Bye, Miss Poppy." The kids said unison.
And with that final bell, the entire class piled out of the classroom like a flock of sheep and Victor and Elsa walked out hand in hand. They followed the other students down the halls and out the main doors where several parents were outside, either standing on the sidewalk or sitting in cars on the curb, waiting to pink up their kids and take them home.
Victor then took out the paper out of his backpack, unfolded it, and offered it to Elsa. "I made this for you during arts and crafts."
She took it and her eyes lit up; it was a painting with two stick figures, one green and one purple, standing next to each other and holding hands. Elsa looked back at Victor, who looked very bashful.
"It's us." He said. "I wanted to surprise you. Do you like it?"
She wrapped her arms around him in a hug. "I love it! I'll keep it forever." They parted.
"Does… this mean we'll be friends forever?" He asked.
"Of course it does, silly." She giggled.
"Pinky swear?" He held out his pinky finger.
She smiled and wrapped her pinky finger around his. "Pinky swear."
"Victor?" A voice called.
Victor looked and grinned as he saw an old woman with silver hair and wearing a royal blue dress and glasses and carrying a cane walking towards him. She held out her arms, waiting for a hug.
"Gramma!" He cried, giving her a big hug.
"Surprise. I arrived earlier today." They parted and she took his hand. "How was your first day at school?"
He looked back at Elsa, who was now hugging a woman with black hair and wearing a pale blue shirt; he guessed it was her mother. He smiled. "It was great. I made a new friend."
"That's wonderful, sweetie. And I'm sure you'll have even more fun with your new friend tomorrow. Now let's go, your parents are waiting for you at home." Gramma said before she started to lead her grandson away from the school.
"Bye, Elsa." Victor called, waving at his new friend as he walked away.
"Bye, Victor!" Elsa waved back before walking away with her mother; she still had the painting he gave her clutched in her tiny hand.
And for Victor and Elsa, this was only the beginning.