Across the pond

Map club

The last dismissal bell had just rang for the day, but Sam didn't head for the exit. Instead he walked to a history classroom on the second floor, walking through stampedes of students rushing to leave and be free.

"I don't get it, what's so cool about maps??" Benji asked, cleaning out his nails as they got to the door

"Well, it's good to know where you're going in unfamiliar places.. it stops me from panicking. It's fun to see old maps from history that show the world as egg shaped, and show the countries in the wrong places.. I like making maps for towns and cities I create for dnd and story writing. Plus Caleb likes them, and it's fun to do something that genuinely interests your friends.. and I read that doing activities like this can make friendships stronger" Sam listed

"That's why you were looking up how to make friends. I thought you were trying to make friends with Teto or something.

Sam opened the door and walked into the classroom. There was about four other students in there, including Caleb who was busy placing laminated maps on the tables. He walked in and put his bag on a chair "hi, sorry if I'm late"

"The club starts at four forty-five. You are on time" Caleb stated, finishing putting the maps out. Sam noticed a teacher in the corner reading a book. She was quite young, probably fresh out of getting her teaching degree.

Before long everyone had sat down, the club consisted of three boys and one girl. Caleb spoke up "today we will be redesigning the map of the school that resides on the back of the welcome packet. The principle has finally permitted us to do so following the rigorous letter campaign we sent to her office regarding the anachronous state of the current one." The others cheer quietly but enthusiastically at the news, Sam smiled. He had noticed the inaccuracies but hadn't spoken out about them because he was too anxious. Caleb stood up "but first I will draw your attention to our new member Samuel, he has moved here from England and has prior experience with map making"

Sam nodded awkwardly, he didn't know Caleb was going to do that, but he didn't really mind it. The only girl smiled "hi, my name's Jackie" She fixed her purple glasses. The other student in the club was a boy with brown hair and a green top with a yellow stripe, he didn't really speak mutch.

Caleb opened the box in the middle of the table to reveal rulers, compasses, sheets of paper, pens and pencils. The rest of them started to take out paper "we should start by listing the things that can stay from the old map, then discussing what we need to change in the new one" Jakie said witch was met with agreement from the boys.

They did so for five minutes before moving onto the things they should change portion of the meeting "well I say we definitely should change the maths and English classrooms, since they've swapped at some point Im guessing, since they are shown opposite on the map. We also need to add the second floor bathrooms and the new lockers that were added last week.. and the stairs to go to the football pitch, i almost broke my neck the first week i was here" Sam said, fiddling with his pencil

"That would be ideal" Caleb noted down

"I say we colour code the rooms by their function to aid the visually impaired students" Jackie added, cleaning her glasses

"As it serves a purpose I will try to have the principle allow it" Caleb notes it down

The teacher walked over to see what progress they had made "ok boys and girls, let's see what we've done" she said in the tone you use for talking to a small child or a dog. She picked up the list "very good!" She said after a second, surely not understanding anything about maps before walking back to her table to write in a notebook.

"What was that about?.." Sam asked quietly

"She's a teaching assistant for the special ed classrooms. She's the designated teacher chaperone, she talks like that to us all the time" The other boy spoke up for the first time in half an hour

Sam rolled his eyes, he's been infantilized for most of his school life, why should it stop when he moved to a different country?

"She's going to get torn apart" Benji said, leaning back on a chair next to Sam

They finished designing the map, complete with a compass and colour key on the right top corner, colour coded classrooms for the first and second floor of the oddly shaped building and clearly marked bathrooms and stairs. The group was very happy with themselves. As the clock struck half four it was time to leave, Sam collected his belongings and walked out of the class. Halfway down to he hall he bumped into Caleb who was walking to the stairs "hi, that was really fun"

"Usually we study old maps during the week and design new ones on Saturdays." He said walking down the stairs, carrying his rolly backpack

"Well I look forward to doing it more" Sam walked down too, he remembered something he had read online "um..I have some maps I created for fantasy and fictional towns. I'd be happy to show you at some point if you'd like?"

"That would be enjoyable" Caleb said as they walked down the hall

"Mrs Birch is picking me up, how about you?" Sam asked, adjusting his satchel

"Momma will pick me up at four thirty five from the designated pick up and drop off zone"

"Ok, I'll wait with you" Sam said as they left the building. They both walked over to the pick up zone and waited.

"This kids alright." Benji smiled

"Yeah, he is" Sam answered before two cars pulled up, one was Mrs Birch's

A lady with grey hair stepped out of the other car "how was your day Caleb?"

"Great, our objective in map club was a success" Caleb said, putting his backpack into the back seat.

At this point Mrs Birch had gotten out of the car and came over "Sammy! How was your little club?"

"It was really fun" Sam smiled, bouncing on the balls of his toes, he did that a lot when he was happy

Caleb's mother smiled "you must be Samuel, hello"

Sam looked over, still bouncing "hi"

Mrs Birch put her hand on Sam's shoulder "and you must be Caleb's mother, hi I'm Diane"

"I'm Lindsay" she opened her car door and took a notepad out of a backpack, she wrote down a few digits "this is my phone number, I'm glad our children are friends" he gave the paper to Diane

"Thank you, I'll be sure to set up a day out or something, ok Sammy c'mon I have to get back to making desert"

Lindsay nodded "it is almost dinnertime for us as well, have a great night" she smiled

Sam smiled "bye Caleb"

"Goodbye Samuel" Caleb said before rolling up the backseat window. Sam got into their car in his usual spot and buckled in.

"Well you deffinetly had a fun time" Diane smiled

"It was nice to hang out with people who didn't make fun of me.. and who knew the importance of detailed maps" Sam smiled, looking out of the window as the light breeze blew into the car.