I Ship It

The Beginning

"Hi! I'm Chanel! I once stuck a carrot in my nose. Wanna be friends?"
"That's really weird" then that girl walked away. I said that to a million people and not one of them wanted to be my friend! At least it seemed like a million. Suddenly, the school bell rang and everybody trampled me to rush in the classroom. My 1st grade teacher, Ms. Rose, shut the door before I could enter. Guess I have to enter through the hall.

"Okay class, we have two new students today. They both moved from Illinois from the same city, Chicago!" Ms. Rose said as I entered the classroom.
"Chanel, do you have a tardy slip?"
"No. I was locked out. Again."
"Oh I'm sorry," she sighed, "Next time, I won't forget you" like she always says.

* * *

At lunch, I sat at my usual spot, the trashcan. Even rats wouldn't want to sit with me. Look, the trash can is LITERALLY moving away from me. Oh wait, that's the janitor.
"Hi Larry!"
"Who's Larry?" someone laughed. Wait, what?! Someone's talking to me?
"Are you just going to stand there?" someone else says. TWO people are talking to me!
"Well, no. I'm sitting down."
One girl giggled, "That's funny. Hey, I'm Elani! She's Jade."
"I'm Chanel" I replied.
"What are you doing here? Aren't there lunch tables?"
Jade and Elani headed towards the tables so I had to follow them. I couldn't lose the only people who talked to me! But I instantly regretted it. They were heading to the...dun...Dun...DUN! The popular table. Oh, no! I couldn't look! They were going to get rejected just like I was when I asked to sit there. They—got in? They just sat down!
"Come on, sit with us, Chanel!" Elani said.
As I sat down, I didn't receive any dirty looks! Finally, I was one of the kids!
"This is exhilarating!" I exclaimed.
"Ex-ill-e-ra- that's a long word" Jade pronounced.
"Yeah, this dork here has a principal award for all-around." said Lori, the most popular girl in the grade.
"I didn't know that they handed those awards to 1st graders!"

When lunch ended, I went up to Jade and Elani and asked them, "How did you have access to the popular table? Do you know them from another place?"
"No, you just have to have confidence!" Jade told me.
"That's all I do!"
"What's your approach?"
I inhaled—"Hi i'm Chanel! I once stuck a carrot up my nose! Wanna be friends?"
I knew I messed up. Jade and Elani stared at me like I was a weirdo.
"Yeah, um...maybe try to be-"
"Less...weird?" Elani interrupted, "Let's get to class."

As the kids were lining up, I walked through the hall because I knew I was going to get locked out again.
"What are you doing?" Jade asked.
"Um, can't you go through the class door?"
Huh. I've always thought that I'd get locked out and never tried to do things because I'm scared of failure. "Nope."
"Come on!" Elani gripped my arm and lined up near the door along with Jade. Additionally, many of my classmates keep exchanging glances and stared at me.
"Is that another new kid?" Someone whispered.
"Are you a celebrity? How do you do everything?" It seems like Jade and Elani could do anything they want to.
"No. You don't think. You just...do."
With these guys, I knew my life was about to change.