Supergirl

Bazinga!

Mr. Branson told us to draw a picture of our favorite animal. As my hands scrawled across the paper, hues of orange were mapping out the outline of a small boy. The shape of his frame, eyes, and hair were starting to emerge and take shape. Mr. Branson called time and asked each of us to stand. Twenty-four second-graders stood, chairs scraping across the tile floor, a crescendo of sighs reverberating around the brightly colored room. It was the first day of second-grade, and I was mildly excited. First-grade was a little rough. Learning how to takeaway numbers was difficult and my teacher, Ms. Todd, tried to help me learn but didn't do a very good job. I didn't like it. But, Mr. Branson always took his class to the comic book shop at the end of the year, so it was going to be great! I zoned out on the other student's explanation of their favorite animal as none of them included superheroes, until I noticed Mr. Branson staring at me.

"Do you want to introduce yourself to the class and explain your drawing?" he asked in a soft voice.

"My name is Abia and my favorite animal is Beast Boy. He can transform into any animal. So, he's really cool." I stated quietly.

"Beast Boy isn't an animal. Also, he's green. Not orange." Maddy Waylan announced to the class. I didn't respond. I didn't like Maddy Waylan much ever since that first day of Kindergarten when she said she didn't like superheroes. She and I didn't have anything in common, and my mom said that people I don't have anything in common with have a hard time relating to me.

"It's orange day." I muttered too quietly for anyone to hear.

"Beast Boy is really cool, Abby." Mr. Branson nodded his head. I wanted to correct him, but he had already moved on. It was a long day. In our class, desks were grouped together in fours and each of us had three partners we had to work with. My partner was Kyle Branon, he was a paste-eater. Though he could've been a booger-eater like Haden Finckle, so he was alright. My other two partners were Taylor and Tyler, the only pair of twins in our class. They were funny but they hogged the swing set at recess, so I liked them a little less than at the beginning of class. We spent the first half of the class learning about the states of matter that water can be in at any time. It was boring and I didn't pay much attention. At lunch, I grabbed my orange lunchbox and walked with my class to the cafeteria. Staring the year, the teacher would dole out assigned seats to everyone at lunch. Since kindergarten, I always sat in the fourteenth seat on the left side of the table. It was my seat. Mr. Branson didn't seem to think so, because right before my eyes Maddy Waylan sat in my seat.

"Abby, you are in seat 15, next to Maddy." Mr. Branson declared.

"No, I sit in seat 14." I could feel myself getting slightly angry. My mother always tried to remind me to remain calm, breathe. She said change was going to happen and that it would be okay, because I've been through change before.

"I know this is a change in your routine, but starting now you will be in seat 15. It's only one chair down." Mr. Branson said calmly. He continued to call out assigned seats. I balled my fist up around my lunch box. I didn't like it. I didn't want it. I didn't like it. Seat 14 was my seat. I stamped my foot at Mr. Branson before quickly walking back to the classroom. He followed me moments later.

"Abby, you aren't remaining calm. Sometimes change is good and okay." Mr. Branson said in a quiet voice, kneeling down beside me. I looked away. After a few minutes of silence, he let me eat my lunch in the classroom. We weren't off to a very good start.

Eventually, Mr. Branson said that class was over for the day and we would start walking toward the front of the school so that our parents could pick us up or we could get on the bus. He told us that our homework for the night was to write a short story about something we loved. I wasn't excited. I was tired of school now. I quickly grabbed my orange Wonder Woman backpack and got into the line that was forming in front of the class door. Mr. Branson took us to the bus pickup area, and I spotted my bus, #2. I've been a member of bus #2 since Kindergarten and Mr. Roe, the driver, and I were close pals now. I climbed on board, high-fived Mr. Roe, and went to my assigned seat #6. I felt happier sitting in this seat. It was my seat and Mr. Roe had agreed he would never change it. No one was assigned the next to me because none of the other kids understood me very well. They didn't like to talk about superheroes much and I didn't want to talk about their toys. I kept my distance from them when I could.