Meeting Melanie Isabella Rodriguez-Gil- 7th grade
It was the first day of the fifth grade. My parents brought me to school early to make a good impression on the teacher, but I knew arriving early wouldn’ t make me the teacher’ s favorite. Plus, I wasn’ t even the first kid to sit down. A girl I had never seen before— and that was a feat, I know practically everyone— rushed past me in the hallway, practically running to room 26. I entered the room just a couple seconds after her, but she was already sitting down. I wondered why she was so anxious to be quick while I looked for my seat. As it turned out, I was sitting in the same desk clump she was. When I finally sat down, others were starting to pour into the room. A light, nervous chatter filled the air. The odd girl didn’ t try to talk to me, though. I noticed her eyes darting around the room, never lingering on anything for long, as if she were trying to absorb all the information about every little object before class started. If that really was what she was trying to do, she must have failed, because the next moment, the teacher called for attention.
“ Okay, class! My name is Mrs. Katz. You may know some of your classmates and you might know me from the choir club; I see some familiar faces.” She wiggled her pointer finger and smiled at a couple kids sitting in the far corner. Then she gestured to the girl sitting across from me.“ You should not recognize Melanie Carter. She just moved here from California, if I am not mistaken.” Melanie nodded at her in tiny, quick motions, desperate for the eyes of the class to be diverted from her. Mrs. Katz understood and moved to the whiteboard, where she had written some goals for the year.
My eyes stayed with the new girl, Melanie. She caught me looking, but I didn’ t drop my gaze. Her face flushed with embarrassment, though she was obviously curious about me, as she kept glancing back my way. After a minute or so, Melanie got sort of pissed off with me, I think, for not being ashamed of staring and not paying attention to the teacher, so she started looking at me too. At first, just my arms, covered in doodles as always. Then my clothes, then my hair, then we were in a full-fledged staring contest. I grinned when I realized what was happening and leaned forward on my desk suddenly, which surprised her into blinking. She shook her head, ever so slightly, and looked back at the board, but I could see a hint of a smile involuntarily forming.
Later that day when Mrs. Katz brought the class outside for recess, I went off with a couple of girls I knew from last year. Melanie was sitting on the top of the slide, solemnly watching the rest of the class play. Nobody went near the slide because it was wet. I suspected that wasn’ t the only reason. I stopped walking to keep on looking at Odd Girl. Katherine and Paige didn’ t mind and kept on walking laps around the park without me. Again, Melanie saw me watching and her face changed from thoughtful to startled. I waved and smiled and started approaching her.“ Hey Melanie! So, you came from California, huh? Why’ d you move?”
“ Dad got a job offer. Took it. Here I am.”
“ Here you are,” I agreed.“ So,” I paused for a second before adding,“ do you want to be friends with me?” I started climbing the ladder to get up to her hight.“ You are going to need someone to teach you the ropes. Might as well be me. My name’ s Victoria Kelly. Call me Vicki.” I stuck out my hand for her to shake and she stared at it in disbelief for a moment. Then she took it in a surprisingly firm handshake and told me to call her Mel.