Natalie's+Memoir!

 Transferring Schools and What it Did To Me I shoved my freezing hands into my jacket pockets and stepped outside. My backpack slumped heavily on my back as I waited for my parents to put on their shoes. “Hurry up hurry up hurry up hurry up!!” I thought as I hopped from one foot to another, bursting with nervousness and excitement.  In my mind, I was picturing a dark, haunting school filled with evil principals and mean kids, and my friends crying for me to come back.  My friends. My stomach clenched at that thought. I wondered if they'd miss me, and if they'd still try to talk to me even though we now lived far apart.  My parents and I walked to the front doors of the apartment building in silence, fear gripping my heart. The wind blew gently through my hair, the trees and the flowers sashaying back and forth. Suddenly, my stomach exploded, and I flew to the grass and threw up my breakfast sandwich, groaning. Unfortunately, my new neighbors had just walked by, and it wasn't long until they started fussing over me.  “I'm fine, really,” I mumbled, mortified, as my face turned a bright red. “Oh great! I have to go back home now to get cleaned up. How embarrassing!” I thought as I buried my face in my hands. My mother, sensing my embarrassment, quickly escorted me back to the apartment. After I had changed and drank some water, we tried again.  * * *  The butterflies in my stomach grew worse with every step; it was like the butterflies split into two with every second that passed. We walked down the block, seeing lots of lush, green plants that grew everywhere we looked, the air filled with the scent of freshly watered plants. The plant that would become my favorite was a small, thin, crooked tree in the yard of a small house by the corner of the block. Thousands of birds chittered away in that tree; it was like the birds were more nervous than I was, which helped me calm down a little.  We got to the corner across from the school, the only thought going through my eight-year-old mind was “Oh no.” The smiling cross guard was proudly holding up a bright red stop sign in his neon yellow vest, blowing his whistle as a signal for the cars to stop.  “Hello!” he greeted us. “I hope you have a nice day at school!”  This was addressed to me, so I murmured a “Thanks, you too,” and flashed a weak smile at him; then, we crossed the street.  The front of the school was loud and crowded, like Walmart during a Black Friday. My parents weren't the only ones there (Thank goodness!) — other children's parents were there too, even though it was already half-way through the school term. I wasn't the only one wearing the school uniform either. The school uniform at Joaquin Miller Elementary was simple— a polo shirt with navy pants (I was never much of a skirt person), and it wasn't even required. On the other hand, at my previous school, St. Paul's First Lutheran, the uniform was something similar that you had to wear everyday, so there wasn't much “fashion” at my previous school. But now, kids were wearing sparkly, bright colored shirts, jeans, and wearing shoes of all kinds of brands. My mind practically exploded from all the color it was trying to process (St. Paul's wasn't exactly a //colorful// school either). This was a // huge // change— from polo shirts and navy pants to bright pink Disney princess shirts and baggy jeans.  The bell rang a few minutes after we got there, and the smiling lady, who I assumed was the supervisor, opened the gate. Immediately, everyone started pushing to get to the front, while my parents and I huddled safely in the back like penguins. When most of the kids were inside the school, we walked towards the gate. The supervisor reached her hand out and said, “Sorry, parents can't enter the school.”  “It's our daughter's first day of third grade— we'll drop her off then leave,” my father replied. My heart dropped. They were going to leave me that quickly?! I started panicking and looked at my parents as the supervisor nodded and winked at me. Before I could react, I was ushered through the gates.  The school was larger than I thought it would be<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;">— smaller than a football field, but close. Teachers were walking around the school, holding bags probably full of boring things like paper work and tests. There was a big building that looked a monster, with it's many eye-like windows and height. On a smaller, different building, there was a mural; half of the wall was colored yellow, and it said “Peace” in different languages and colors. It was lively, with kids running around and playing tag. Much to my surprise, the place actually looked like. . . //fun!// <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13pt;"> Near the middle of the school, there was a long, circular area called the quad that had three long steps that the kids used as benches. The quad was also where most of the classes lined up in the mornings, so we decided to look for my class there. Instead, we found a friendly looking woman in a navy suit and black heels, not looking intimidating at all. “Hello, you must be Natalie! I'm Mrs. Monroe, your new principal! Let me show you where your class is.” She led us deep into the mob of students, and we found three girls sitting down quietly (unlike the rest of the school) amongst a heap of backpacks. The picture of mean kids flashed through my mind once again. “This is Katie, Alexandra, and Kumani,” explained Mrs. Monroe. “Say hi girls!” A low chorus of hellos rose from two of them, but the girl with dark skin and an exotic-sounding accent chirped out a cheerful hello. I smiled weakly at them. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13pt; text-align: left;"> “Okay Natalie, we have to go now. Good luck, we know you'll do great!!” My parents squeezed me tightly and kissed me goodbye, and left with the not-so-evil-looking principal. <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13pt;"> As I watched them leave, a new feeling dawned on me. I was alone. I didn't know anyone in this hectic mob of people around me, and I began wishing that we had never moved. I started panicking again, the noise of the people around me blurring into one loud sound. My breath had become ragged as I fought to keep calm, and I was close to tears. <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13pt; text-align: left;"> “No!” I thought, pushing my eyelids together, squeezing in the tears. “I will NOT cry on my first day and make myself look like a baby. I'm in third grade! Third graders don't cry!!!” I sucked in a deep breath, the three girls looking utterly baffled at what I was doing. I looked at them with fear in my eyes, and I blurted out what I wanted to say. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13pt; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">“Hi, I'm Natalie,” my stomach fluttered for the billionth time that morning and my cheeks turned a light maroon. The shy looking girl with pencil-straight black hair and glasses introduced herself as Katie, and the small girl with light brown hair introduced herself as Alexandra. The dark-skinned cheerful girl proudly proclaimed herself as Kumani, and I smiled slightly at the cool-sounding name. We sat there quietly for a moment, then we slowly began to talk. Thanks to Kumani, who kept the conversation going most of the time, I discovered that the three girls and I had a few things in common. “These girls are really nice! And they seem like a lot of fun too!” I thought. By the time the second bell had rung, we were already close friends, and we walked to class laughing and talking. Since I wasn't alone anymore, I easily mustered up some more courage and became quick friends with a few other people. By the end of the day, I had a classroom full of friends whom I greeted everyday for the rest of the year. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13pt; text-align: left;"> I guess changing schools wasn't a // completely // bad thing after all. I got to meet a lot of new people and make a lot of new friends, but moving away and changing schools would still be a near-traumatizing thing for me to do.