Mallory Heyser

Lisa Cook

English 1101

9/8/21

That First Day Feeling

With a long summer coming to an end, I was getting on the bus to go to sixth grade. A

brand new school, I had nerves like no other. Going from elementary school to middle school

was a huge step, anyone else could agree. All the same friends and the same town but something

was different about it. I was growing up.

The long summer was coming to an end and nobody was ready to take on the troubles of

sixth grade. Like switching schools wasn’t hard enough, my parents were going through a

divorce. This was a very difficult time in my life. Constantly hearing your parents fighting.

Going to bed at night, covering my head with a pillow so I didn’t have to listen. I felt like

nothing could go right.

The first day of school comes around and I’m filled with all different types of emotions.

Am I happy? Am I scared? Am I nervous? The answer was all the above. The normal first day of

school routine went just as planned. Woke up, got ready, and of course, Mom had to take our

pictures. After this moment in time, everything began to go wrong. Walking to the bus on a rainy

Monday morning, nervous to see what will happen next.

The bus arrives at school. Everyone else itching to get out and see all their friends. Being

the shy and nervous kid I am, I was dreading the day. Counting down the minutes until I could

go back home. Home was my safe place. The school was my enemy. As I’m walking into school
the principles all greet us. “Good morning everyone, it’s a great day to be a panther!” Looking

around seeing everyone laughing and reuniting with all their school friends.

The Hallway was filled wall to wall with students. Trying to find my locker and hoping I

won’t be late. Locker 489, my locker. Right next to me was the most popular girl and school. Her

locker was crowded with people. I spent a total of 5 seconds there. I grabbed my supplies and

made my way to first period. Not like being popular was a bad thing, it just wasn’t my thing.

Voices around the hallways of people catching up. “How was your summer, I’ve missed you!”

“Are excited about the new school year.” Rushing to first period just to go sit at a desk

and stay silent. Mrs. Ward was my first period teacher, she taught social studies. Social studies

has always been my least favorite subject at school. I struggle with the topics and I’ve always

been too shy to ask questions. A pretty little blond girl sitting next to me. I could tell she was just

as shy as me. She whispered over my shoulder, “Hey, it’s okay I’m lost too.” I was relieved that

I wasn’t the only one.

The rest of the school day would go on as normal. Walk to class, sit down and listen, then

leave. But for some reason, I could tell this school year was going to be different. The next day

comes around and I do the normal morning routine and get to school. I walk into first period and

sit down. The girl next to me leans over again, “My name is Riley by the way.” We introduce

each other and begin to start talking. After years of not really having any friends at school, I had

finally made my first one!

Day by day the conversations got better and longer. We began to get to know each other

pretty well. We found out we had a lot of things in common. We both loved to draw and play

volleyball. This was the first time that I was ever excited to go to a class. We had each other’s

backs. She would help me with an assignment and I would help her. Doing these assignments
together helped us both have a better understanding of the content. Usually, Mrs. Ward didn’t

like partner work, but we were an exception. She knew we were shy and that our grades were

improving because of each other.

The first week of school had come to an end. It was the first weekend and everyone was

making plans. I decided to ask Riley if she wanted to come over. She had said yes! I had never

had a sleepover before. We planned it that Friday in class. Riley was going to come over to my

house and we were going to get ready for the football game. We both are super excited because

we don’t normally do stuff like this. She rode the bus home with me and we began to get ready.

“Hi, I’m Riley thanks for having me over.” My mom said, “Of course, it’s great that

Mallory finally found a friend.” We go upstairs and after we are done getting ready, my mom

takes us to Careflight Field. We arrive at the stadium and there are hundreds of people there. The

Springboro Panthers take on Beavercreek. Riley and I had a great time at the game. It was so

much fun to hang out with someone outside of the classroom.

If you are the shy kid in class, remember all it takes is one small conversation that could

start a great friendship in the future. Even if you think it’s the end of the world I promise it’s not,

it gets better. Going through hard times just makes you so much stronger as a person. I went

from going to school every day hating every last second to looking forward to going every day.

This was all because of one person. One person can make a huge difference in your life. To this

day we are still friends and we have both became move outgoing individuals.