I stood in front of our new classroom and watched as dad walked down the hall with Katie and Max in tow, little Anya in his arms. Katie had been talking about going to fifth grade endlessly. "I get to meet other kids, and I bet we get to play fun games, and I'm going to have so much fun, and..." Blah, blah, blah. Max was going to be in first grade, and Anya was in kindergarten.
"Bye, kids! Be good!" Dad called cheerfully. I stuck my tongue out at him.
"Yeah, right."
Nick looked at me. "So what now?"
That was when some lady walked up to us. "Hello, you must be my new students! I am Mrs. Jenkins!" She beamed at me, holding out a hand. None of us took it. I narrowed my eyes at her.
"What are your names?" she ventured, slowly pulling her hand back. I guess we didn't have the best manners.
"I'm Robyn," I blurted out.
"I'm Cla-Nick," Nick told her, and I snickered. "Clanick?"
"Shut up," he whispered.
"I'm Daniel," Daniel offered, his sightless eyes fixed on her eyes.
"Yes, you must be the blind child," Mrs. Jenkins said. Daniel's face turned red, and I glared at Mrs. Jenkins.
"You shouldn't talk to him like that," I told her. "I bet Daniel could beat you up-"
I stopped though, because Nick was giving me a look that said, Shut up before you say too much. I closed my mouth and looked back at Mrs. Jenkins.
"Riiight," she said, glancing at me strangely. "Well, let's go." Mrs. Jenkins led us into the classroom. Nick and I looked around at everything, and I started to describe it to Daniel.
"There's posters on the wall - like, projects that people must have done. Stuff about states and America and science. And there's desks. There's a chalkboard in the front, and lots of books everywhere. And there's one door, right behind us. That's our escape route, just in case." I said the last part in a whisper, as Daniel nodded.
"You'll sit here," Mrs. Jenkins interrupted us, pointing to three desks right in the front. I groaned. "Why do we have to sit in the front?"
She ignored my question and sat down at her desk, looking through papers. I crossed my arms over my chest, frowning.
Other kids started to trickle in slowly. They all looked at us like we were weird - well, we were, but they didn't know about the features. I guess it wasn't every day their class got three new kids.
The bell rang, and I practically dragged Daniel to our seats in the front. "Ow!" he shouted as he ran into another desk. I winced. "Sorry, Daniel."
Mrs. Jenkins glared at us. "We do not shout in the classroom."
"Sorry," Daniel and I said at the same time, sitting down. Nick gave me a look - he was already sitting down. I made a face at him, and he laughed.
"Robyn," our teacher said, "pay attention."
"You weren't even talking," I protested, and some kids laughed. Mrs. Jenkins didn't.
"We do not talk back to our teachers, Robyn," she continued, then turned her attention to the class. "Class, these are our new students - Robyn, Nicolas, and Daniel."
A couple kids waved. One kid said, "Hi," in a bored voice. I frowned. There was something wrong here. Dad said school would be fun - he was wrong as usual. Not like I had believed him, though.
"Now, who can remember what we talked about yesterday?" Mrs. Jenkins asked, looking at the class.
She received complete silence - was that supposed to happen? Then one kid stuck his hand in the air. I just stared at him. Why did he do that?
"Yes, Ryan?" Mrs. Jenkins said. The kid lowered his hand, then said, "The Boston Tea Party?"
"Very good," she responded. "Now, who-"
"Why are we learning about tea parties?" I interrupted. "I mean, not to offend anyone, but tea parties are for little kids. Anya - I mean, my....sister has them all the time with her stuffed animals."
A whole bunch of kids started laughing. Daniel was one of them. Nick managed a small smirk.
Mrs. Jenkins was now red in the face. "Robyn, if you'd like to interrupt again, then perhaps I can send you to the principal."
I shook my head. "No thanks. Does he like tea parties too?"
Ten minutes later, I was sitting in the office. "Robynne Carter?" a lady sitting at a desk said. "The principal can see you now."
"It's just Robyn," I grumbled as I headed into the principal's office.
"Miss Carter? Yes, come in," the principal said. She was an older woman with white hair and lots of wrinkles, but she didn't look as mean as Mrs. Jenkins. In fact....was she smiling?
I stared at her. "Sit down, please," she continued. I did - the chairs were surprisingly comfortable.
"I understand you got in an argument with your teacher about the Boston Tea Party?" She asked, a hint of a smile on her face. I nodded, noticing that the plaque on his desk said Mrs. Robin.
"Yeah, Mrs. Principal. She wanted to talk about tea, but I didn't see why that was important. So I said something."
Mrs. Robin laughed. "Robyn, the Boston Tea Party was an important historical event. Tea was thrown into the Boston harbor as a protest to the British by the colonists."
"Oh," I said, feeling stupid. Of course I hadn't known about some old history thing. Then I said, "I don't think Mrs. Jenkins likes me."
She laughed again. "Why so?"
"Because....because she sent me to you! She just wanted to be rude to me," I told her, frowning.
Mrs. Robin smiled. "She just wants the best for you. So do I. I want every student to succeed." She nodded at me. "Remember, the principal is your pal."
I decided that was the cheesiest thing I'd heard all day. For all I knew, my new "pal" was a whitecoat. "Thanks," I said, a little reluctantly.
Mrs. Robin sent me back to my class, but not before giving me a lollipop. "Have a nice day, Robyn!" she told me.
"Alright," I responded. At least I got candy out of that.
I walked back into my class and sat down in my seat, between Daniel and Nick. Mrs. Jenkins frowned.
Nick looked at my lollipop. "How'd you get that?"
I just grinned at him as I licked my lollipop. Maybe school wouldn't be so bad after all.
