Adam had always felt very lonely at school, and he definitely wasn’t looking forward to his first day at this new school. His dad had taken a new job in California, and now he was being forced to change schools halfway through the school year, and all the way across the country. 

Even though it was January, it was a sunny day, very different from what it was like in Virginia. Adam enjoyed getting rid of his humongous coat, and instead of sporting a simple t-shirt. At least the weather was going to be better here, he thought. As he rode his bike to school, he stopped to stare at the palm trees, they weren’t like any tree he had seen before, they were so tall and skinny, like a row of straws. The warmth covered Adam’s face and a feeling of relaxation spread throughout his body. 

When he pulled up to the school, he noticed a line of cars dropping off their kids. One of the cars was in fact very fancy, truly splendid with the color mix of black and white making it look very elegant, it was not like anything he had seen before. Adam wished that his parents would drop him off too but they were both too busy from working.

 His new school was short and wide, with a blue-trimmed roof across the top. Woodside Middle School was written in big white letters across the main wall. The front doors were open and students were talking to each other on the way in. Adam noticed the middle schoolers were using lots of slang and had really cool handshakes with their friends. Adam tried to fit in but it didn’t work well for him. 

Adam didn’t know where to go, so he stopped by the office to check-in. “Excuse me, can you tell me where my classroom is?” Adam asked.

“What’s your name, dear?” An old lady responded.

“Adam Kim.” 

The old lady stared at the computer scrolling through it for a few seconds and then started typing on the keyboard and after a few moments she said: “Ok dear, go straight and make a left to room 05.”

As one of the staff students walked Adam to his assigned classroom 05, he was surprised when no one stared at him or made him feel like he was not a part of the classroom. Adam tried to blend in with all the other students who were taking their seats, but the teacher made him walk to the front of the room. She put her arm around his shoulder, “Class! We have a new student today. His name is Adam.” She looked down at Adam with a big smile and told Adam to introduce himself. 

Nervously, he stood in front of the class and began speaking. As he tried to decide what to say, he could feel the sweat starting to drip from his forehead. He could hear silent whispers from his classmates who mumbled as they looked up at him. 

“ Hey, ummm my name’s Adam.”

“I just moved here with my family from Virginia because my dad took a new job here.”

His teacher looked at Adam and asked, "anything else?”

“Oh and I really like to play basketball.”

Suddenly he heard someone quietly giggle and point fingers at him, then some of the kids laughed and made fun of him. There weren’t any particular problems with Adam, just that his accent was a bit different from the others. But Adam couldn’t understand why having this accent could keep him apart from everyone else. Adam’s teacher pointed Adam to his assigned seat and told him to take a seat there. 

Adam walked up to his seat and sat down, while everyone else was staring at him. He started blushing and began picking his skin, like nothing ever happened. As Adam took his seat his teacher said “alright, shall we begin class now?” Adam couldn’t pay attention in class at all, and he just zones out unintentionally.

Bing! Bing! The bell for lunch startled Adam, who jumped in his seat, his ears hurting from the loudness. The cafeteria wasn’t much better than Virginia, it reeks the smell of cheese pizza everywhere around it and there were trash laying around on the floor, also the line really looked like there was no end to it, there are always these students cutting in front of other people, Adam sat down and started eating lunch alone, he could see some of the kids from his class pointing over at him and whispering to their friends. Out of nowhere, a girl came over and sat right next to him. “It sucks being a new transfer student, huh?” she blurted as she set her backpack hard on the table.

“Who are you?” said Adam out of confusion.

“My name’s Madison.”said the girl that just approached Adam.

“Well anyways why are you here.” said Adam not knowing why she started a conversation.

“Well you looked like you needed someone to talk to you.” said Madison

“You don’t even know me, how would you know that I’m having a hard time here?”

As she starts sitting in front of Adam she says “Maybe you should try and go play basketball over there with the teachers and students, that could be an opportunity to make some new friends.” Adam turns around and says “maybe next time.” Adam spends most of his lunch time being in line, just barely finishing his pizza after the bell rings.

 The girl that gave Adam some tips actually went through similar things like this before Adam arrived. She’s from Florida, also Asian and told Adam that being in between is really not a bad thing in fact it's a good thing, it really doesn’t suck being special, no one ever said that being special is a bad thing. Adam continues to spend time with her and having conversations about school and gradually became very good friends with each other since they had so much in common. Adam was really grateful for everything the girl told him.

That girl told Adam that being in between makes you be friends with everyone no matter what their identity is. 

Adam thought this was quite a special first day of school, although he did not make a lot of friends he plans on playing basketball tomorrow with some students. 

As Adam gets home his mom says “How was school today honey?”

Adam responds slightly smiling “Not that bad.”