A Little Boy Named Adolf

First Day of School

Tomas looked up at the big two story elementary school and couldn't believe it. Again, he was the shy, new kid in school, but this time it was worse. Since he was just starting 5th grade, it meant that everyone had known each other for a couple of years already, and he would stick out like a sore thumb. It was going to be okay though, he had moved, what was it, 6 times now. He knew how to get along without embarrassing himself too much on the first day of school. With a small shudder, he looked up at the doors that led inside, hoping for an okay school year as he pushed them open. Inside the school, it was very small and confined yet big and full at the same time. The hallways were all littered with sad, screaming kids, clinging to their parent's legs and bawling to be able to go back home where they could spend their days watching tv and eating whatever they wanted whenever they pleased. He started moving forward, keeping his head down and smiling to himself, remembering when he was a little 1st grader holding on to the legs of his parents in the hopes that they would change their minds, let him stay home and never have to go to school again. He was so involved in his thoughts that he wasn't paying attention to where he was going and ended up stumbling and falling on top of who was soon to be his best friend, Sabrina. And their first encounter went a little like this:

"Hey what the heck, watch where you're going! Geez, has no one ever taught you how to walk properly?"

"I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry I-I wasn't paying attention, I'm so sorry, please don't beat me up. My parents would be super mad if they think I got into a fight on my first day, please don't hurt me."

"Woah relax man, I'm not that mad. Say, you don't look familiar, did you just move here?"

"Yeah I moved here 2 weeks ago from New York."

"Wow, from New York to little Ferndale, California. What made you guys want to move all the way out here on the other side of the country?"

"Well my dad Philmore has a job that has him move at least once a year, so wherever he is, we are."

"Oh, cool. I actually used to live in San Francisco, but my mom didn't like that it was a big city, so we moved to Ferndale. Which was easy to do since my mom is a nurse and she easily found a job here. You know when I'm older, I want to be a nurse, what do you want to do? Would you want to live in a big city or a small one, because honestly I like big cities. Since big cities mean more people and I like there being more people instead of less people-"

"Hey, um, I don't mean to interrupt, but I think I have to go to class."

"Oh right, sorry. I tend to talk a lot when nobody stops me. So which class are you in, maybe I can help you find it."

"I'm with Miss. Grantham in room 420."

"Lucky, she's like super nice and I've heard that she is the best 5th grade teacher ever. Anyways, you're in luck because her room is right down the hall from my class, so just follow me and we'll get there in a jiffy. The trick is knowing how to avoid all the crowds."

And just like that Tomas' first, and only, friendship in Ferndale Elementary was starting to form. He walked right behind this very peculiar girl to class, now very curious as to how his teacher was going to be, and how this classroom of his was going to be. He was so excited to find out about his class and teacher that it seemed like it took ages instead of just mere minutes to get to room 420. Sadly the room he had imagined in his mind looked nothing like what stood before him when he took the first step inside. Instead of the beautiful, colorful room with a dome ceiling, large windows overlooking a beautiful landscape and a nice teacher who taught at the front of the class with a tv. Room 420 ended up actually being a medium sized, bland room with a large whiteboard taking up almost the whole wall to the left of the entrance. And to the right stood neat rows of gray desks that complimented the gray walls that only had one window with a small table under it positioned opposite of the door. And in the far back corner stood a little brown desk with a matching chair that could only belong to the teacher. Adjusting his backpack so it was only on one of his shoulders, he looked back to thank the kooky girl that had guided him here, but by the time he'd turned around she was gone. With a sigh of disappointment he walked in and took the seat farthest away from where everyone else was sitting, looking foreward only to the sweet release lunch would bring. When Miss. Grantham walked in Tomas immediately saw that she was, in fact, nice. She wore a flowery button up shirt and and one of those colorful skirts that you can never tell what color it was first intended to be, and she wore these cool bird earrings that had the homemade look. She took her spot at the front of the class next to the whiteboard and started talking.