First Day in Hell

“Wham”! Was the sound of my book as it was being slammed on my desk in Mrs. Jenkins’s fifth grade class. I looked up to see a skinny, 5’3”, big brown eyed girl named Allison King. She was very pretty, long hair, light brown eyes, and skinny. Everything I wanted to be and nothing I was. “Well thanks for the book”. Those were the words I mouthed as she ferociously walked away.
It was my first day at a new school and like any other fifth grader, I was terrified. I knew absolutely no one and the one person that I kind of new was a sixth grader named Melvin, who by the way didn’t want to be caught dead hanging out with a fifth grader. So when lunch time came, I sat alone. Then, to my surprise, comes the mean girl who slammed my book on my desk. “What’s your name”, she said. “Me”, I stupidly asked knowing she was talking to me because there was no one else around. “Yeah you”, she responded. “Christy”, I mumbled. And with a seemingly jealous nod, she walked away. “Well that was weird”, I silently said to myself. I had no clue as to why this girl was already giving me problems. I mean it was my first day and as if it weren’t already frightening enough, to top it all off I had my first elementary school enemy.
The next morning, I woke up to the smell of French toast, eggs, and coffee with a hint of vanilla. As I walked down the stairs I could hear my big sister telling my mom about my first day of school and how the girl was giving me trouble. I had confided in her the night before and told her not to tell anyone but unfortunately, she didn’t listen. “Good morning”, I said to my mom without looking at her because I was angrily staring at my sister. “Well good morning to you, too, Christy”, my sister happily said replying for my mom. “Yea whatever”, I responded. I sat down and ate my French toast and gulped down a glass of milk. I looked at the clock that said 7: 45. I had about fifteen minutes to get dressed because school started at 8: 15. So I ran up the stairs and put my uniform on.
While my mom drove my sister and me to school we listened to the radio station. One of the songs that I had been singing all week came on but yet I didn’t budge. I was too deep in thought thinking about the girl who didn’t like me. My mom must have noticed it, too, because she looked at me through the rear view mirror and asked me what was wrong. I heard every word she said, but yet I pretended I heard nothing and ignored her.
When my stop came, I dreaded the fact of getting out the car and facing yet another day of the cruel elementary school world. I kissed my mom goodbye and slapped my sister on the arm and gave her one of those “I’m gonna get you” looks. As I walked up the stairs to my classroom I saw the girl standing out in the hall with some of her friends. As I turned to walk away, she yelled, “Hey Christy!” I stopped in the middle of the hall, scared of what the outcome of this might be. So many thoughts raced through my head. “Was she about to beat me up? Were they about to make fun of me? Were they going to pull my hair and shove me around?” I turned around and as a cool as possible I said, “Hey, what’s up”, she said “My name’s Allison and this is Precious and Kelsey.” I smiled at her and nodded to the two of them. As her and her friends walked off she smiled and said, “Well I guess I’ll see you in class.” At that moment, I felt a warm sensation inside of my stomach, I knew I had made friends.
“Alright class, partner up be sure to choose someone you aren’t familiar with”. We were instructed by Mrs. Jenkins to find someone we didn’t know and introduce ourselves and then to introduce our partners to the class. I had plenty of options because I didn’t know a single face. I walked around for about five minutes looking for someone who didn’t have a partner. It felt like I was a mouse caught in a maze trying to find my cheese. I felt a tap on my shoulder , I turned around and saw it was Allison. “Wanna be my partner?” I smiled and agreed.
We found out so much about each other within those thirty minutes. We also realized that we shared the same likes and dislikes. She hated green food and so did I. She loved macaroni and cheese and so did I. We also found out we were both fans of the color pink. And oddly enough, we looked down and saw that we were wearing the exact same pair of shoes. We laughed the entire time. So when I felt comfortable enough, I confronted her about the day before. She said, “Well I was a little upset because you were wearing the exact same bow I was wearing”. (It may seem a little strange but we were ten years old and just about anything could upset us). That became a turning point in our relationship and the start of a new friendship.
From that day on we became inseparable. Wherever I was, she was. Whatever I did, she did. She even invited me to come with her family on a vacation to Florida. We made prank phone calls all night long, we stayed up until about one in the morning, which was pretty late for ten year olds. We ate just about anything that was edible. We went swimming every morning and every night and even cried when it was time to leave the resort because we knew we weren’t going to have another vacation like that for a while.
How could what seemed like a bully and a nerd become such close friends? The question still remains unanswered because we choose not to answer it. What appeared to be a story of elementary school blues turned into a life of happiness between two girls who were the exact opposite in appearance but the exact same at heart. And to this day we talk on the phone for hours, text message each other in every class, and hang out on every weekend. The representation of an eternal friendship!