<img src="./images/place.jpg" />
You are a ten-year-old child that [[recently moved]] cities because your parents saved up enough to purchase a new home double the size of your old apartment. It is located in a quiet suburban neighborhood with little diveristy. You and your sister, [[Anna,]] are close and vow to be each other's best friend in your new life in the city.
Prior to your first day of class, you visited your new elementary school, and you were impressed by the size of the classrooms, the massive recess area, and how nice all the staff you met were. But deep down, you are still struggling with the thought of making new friends all over again. You are an introverted child, and making friends was never easy for you, somehow you managed to make [[a couple of great ones]] in your old school, which made leaving them behind that much harder.
[[Next]]. It's a windy but sunny Monday morning.
You walk to the bust stop, eager for your first day of class at your new school. You hardly slept last night because of your excitement. Nevertheless, you are awake as ever. At the bus stop, you see the other kids in your neighborhood who also go to your school; you contemplate going up to one person and starting a conversation but end up not saying anything.
After waiting for what seemed like an eternity but was probably about 10 minutes, you see a yellow box-like car approaching the stop sign. You get in line and board the bus. Inside, you see many seats.
What do you do?
[[1. Take a seat next to someone who looks to be your age]]
[[2. Take an open seat by the window]]
[[3. Try to find a seat with your sister]]
You lived in a small apartment complex for as long as you can remember. The apartment had two bedrooms, one bathroom, and one kitchen. It never felt like it was too small, though. The downside was how dirty the place was. Not solely your apartment, but the whole neighborhood had a mouse and roach infestation. Your parents wanted you and your sister to grow up in a better place and got a house in a city 45 minutes away. This house is significantly larger than your old apartment to the point that you need to figure out what to do with the extra space, but you are excited to have your own room finally.
[[Back.]]Anna is your younger sister by almost a year. Because of your close age gap, you grew up as best friends. Many of your core memories from your early childhood are with her. Like any sibling relationship, you fight and argue, but not over anything serious. For the most part, you and Anna are alike, except unlike you, she is outgoing and tends to make friends easily, which you envied her for.
[[Back.]]You met Robby and Leo in Ms.Parsley’s 4th-grade Maths class. You guys were assigned seats next to each other and, over time, developed a friendship bond that exceeds that of any other in your past. By coincidence, you also discover that they both live in the same apartment complex, strengthening your friendship even more as you would consistently hang out with them outside of school.
You almost cried saying goodbye to the two after you packed up all your belongings, and you could tell they did too. You promised to visit them and catch up from time to time before you left.
[[Back.]]You figure if you want to meet new people, you might as well start on the bus ride there.
“Can I sit here?” You ask in a quiet tone.
“Sure.” A student replies as he moves to his right, leaving space for you to sit.
You take a seat and introduce yourself. The kid’s name is Yarid; he is in the same grade as you but has a different teacher. You tell him today is your first day, and he talks to you about the school and how things work. Things are a bit awkward at first, but you get more comfortable after a while.
You arrive at the school and say bye to Yarid as you begin to roam the halls in search of your class.
[[Next.|Cafe]]<img src="./images/window.jpg" />
You decide to start the day alone, allowing yourself to take everything in. You walk up the aisle, shifting your eyes left and right, looking for an open seat. Finally, about 3/4th of the way into the bus, you find an open two-seater and take a seat. You place your backpack next to you like a placeholder to prevent anyone from sitting there and look out the window on the way to school. ‘
After a 15-minute bus ride, the bus arrives at the school. You get off the bus and roam the halls searching for your class.
[[Next.|Cafe]] You look over your shoulder to see your sister with a somewhat frantic look. You decide to sit next to her, hoping she might calm down a bit before her first day. You walk up the aisle until you find an empty seat and invite your sister to sit next to you.
You try to get her mind off the first of class and talk about her favorite shows and the new house. You slowly see the worried look on her face disappear, which is replaced with the smile you know.
Though you are helping your sister with her anxiety about school, you wish someone would help you with yours.
After a 15-minute bus ride, the bus arrives at the school. You get off the bus, say goodbye to your sister, and roam the halls searching for your class.
[[Next.|Cafe]]You try to remember where your class was from your tour earlier last week, but you just can't seem to remember; after blindly following students from your grade, you arrive at your classroom door. You see "Mrs. Martin's 5th-grade class" written in large bubble letters on the door. As you look inside, you notice all the students have sat down, but one chair in the front of the class is empty.
You feel your heart racing as you slowly walk in without taking your eyes off the teacher. As soon as you walk in, you hear chatter from the students, and the teacher guides you to your desk. A student helps you get situated, and you think he may be your first friend; on his desk, there is a name tag, and you see his name is Sam.
The first half of the day was uneventful; you took notes on multiplying fractions and correct grammar. Luckily lunchtime rolled around, and the bell sounded your freedom. You walk from your class to the cafeteria with your lunch box gripped tightly in your left hand.
What do you do when you get to the cafeteria?
[[1. Sit alone in the back of the cafeteria with other kids eating alone]]
[[2. Sit at the most popular table with and try to talk with others]]
<img src="./images/lunch.jpg" />
<<audio mainsong play>>
You walk into the cafeteria, and you are immediately greeted with indiscernible talking and laughing. You scan the room, looking for a place to sit, and spot a table in the back with only two kids; you decide you want to take the first day a bit slow and sit there alone.
Your mom packed you traditional food, which you love, and finished quickly. After 30 minutes, the bell rang, and it was time to head back to class.
[[Next.|WEDa]] <img src="./images/lunch.jpg" />
<<audio mainsong play>>
You walk into the cafeteria, and you are immediately greeted with indiscernible talking and laughing. You remember your vow to yourself to break out of your comfort zone and try to meet new people, so as soon as you see a table with many students, rush over to secure a seat. A couple of students greet you and think you are off to a great start, but as you start unzipping your lunch box and begin eating, you notice the side eyes of your peers. You notice them whispering and pointing at your food; you put two and two together and realize they are making fun of your traditional food for its unique smell. You hurry up and east as fast as possible so the scent won’t linger and zip your lunch bag. You didn’t end up talking to anyone from that table for the rest of the lunch period.
[[Next.|WedP]]
It's a chilly Wednesday Morning.
You are beginning to get used to your new routine. You eat a quick breakfast and speed walk to your bus stop to get there first. You are excited about school today because it is your gym day. Once a week, you have Gym for 30 minutes and today is that day. In your old school, you enjoyed playing basketball with your friends and hoped you could redeem yourself from the embarrassing situation with your smelly traditional food and make new friends.
During class, you daydream about how you are going to replicate the moves of your favorite NBA player Lebron James. Finally, after 2 hours of boring in-class assignments, the teacher announces to line up at the door for Gym. You get in the middle of the line and begin walking. Once there, you sit in a large circle as the gym teacher explains the basic rules of basketball.
Once you pick your teams, you begin your first game. Your team is defending first, so you go up to the person with the ball and start jabbing your arms at the ball.
After a couple of seconds, the student gets frustrated and screams,"That is a foul!".
Confused, you look around for support, but everyone also agrees. Your team has the ball in the next possession, and you are open in the corner. You call for the ball, and your teammate chucks a bullet pass from inside the paint. You catch it and immediately feel a stinging sensation in your hands, but you quickly throw it up and hope it goes in—you airball. You see people start laughing, some of who are your teammates. The excitement you had pent up for this day turned out to be for nothing; You decide not to shoot for the rest of the game to avoid that happening again. Your team loses 12-5, and you head back to class.
[[Next.|try]]
<<audio mainsong stop>>
<<audio song play>>Friday.
It's finally Friday, the best day of the week. You forget about all that happened earlier this week because you are almost at the weekend. During class, you keep eyeing the clock located above the entrance, waiting for it to strike at 3 pm. After what seemed likes years, the bell rings, and you get up to leave class.
Though you are excited for school to be over, the incidents from this past week are still on your mind. So you figure you will try to make friends in your neighborhood later today since your efforts in school were unsuccessful.
On the bus ride home, you begin thinking about who you could possibly make friends with and remember that you saw a couple of kids two houses down that look to be your age playing outside this past Thursday. You decide to try to play with them later.
Once you get home, you immediately drop off your backpack and start heading out, but right as you open the door, your mom asks if you have done all of your homework.
What do you do?
[[1. Lie and tell her that you don’t have homework this week]]
[[2. Tell the truth and admit you have homework]]
<<audio song stop>>It's a chilly Wednesday Morning.
You are beginning to get used to your new routine. You eat a quick breakfast and speed walk to your bus stop to get there first. You are excited about school today because it is your gym day. Once a week, you have Gym for 30 minutes and today is that day. In your old school, you enjoyed playing basketball with your friends and hoped you can make new friends that way because you didn’t sit with anyone during lunch yesterday.
During class, you daydream about how you are going to replicate the moves of your favorite NBA player Lebron James. Finally, after 2 hours of boring in-class assignments, the teacher announces to line up at the door for Gym. You get in the middle of the line and begin walking. Once there, you sit in a large circle as the gym teacher explains the basic rules of basketball.
Once you pick your teams, you begin your first game. Your team is defending first, so you go up to the person with the ball and start jabbing your arms at the ball.
After a couple of seconds, the student gets frustrated and screams,"That is a foul!".
Confused, you look around for support, but everyone also agrees. Your team has the ball in the next possession, and you are open in the corner. You call for the ball, and your teammate chucks a bullet pass from inside the paint. You catch it and immediately feel a stinging sensation in your hands, but you quickly throw it up and hope it goes in—you airball. You see people start laughing, some of who are your teammates. The excitement you had pent up for this day turned out to be for nothing; You decide not to shoot for the rest of the game to avoid that happening again. Your team loses 12-5, and you head back to class.
[[Next.|try]]
<<audio mainsong stop>>
<<audio song play>>"Mom, it's my first week here, so the teacher didn't give me any homework this weekend." You say as convincingly as possible. You look outside to avoid eye contact with your mom, and she lets you go.
Another great part of your new neighborhood is the large field in the back, perfect for playing soccer. So you run out to the house you had in mind earlier. Once you arrive, you second guess if you should do this; after all, they are strangers, but you muster up all the courage you have and ring the doorbell. After maybe 10 seconds, you hear the door unlock, and a tall man opens the door and asks what you want. You ask if his kids can play soccer, and a smile appears on his face as he yells their names.
James and Kirk are your first friends in your new life here. They are identical twins, one year younger than you. It turns out they also go to the same elementary school as you, but their parents drive them to school, which explains why you haven't seen them at the bus stop.
You guys played soccer together for 2 hours until it was time for them to eat dinner. You go home happy that you finally broke out of your shell and made new friends.
[[Next.|Fight]] You turn your head slowly to make eye contact with your Mom. You think about lying to her but realize it will not be worth it if you get caught.
“I think I have a 10-question worksheet for Maths class.” You say in a whimpering tone.
Your Mom does not say anything for a second, then replies,” I appreciate your honesty, so you can go play; just make sure you are back in a couple of hours.” You run over to hug her and quickly run out of the house before she changes her mind.
Another great part of your new neighborhood is the large field in the back, perfect for playing soccer. So you run out to the house you had in mind earlier. Once you arrive, you second guess if you should do this; after all, they are strangers, but you muster up all the courage you have and ring the doorbell. After maybe 10 seconds, you hear the door unlock, and a tall man opens the door and asks what you want. You ask if his kids can play soccer, and a smile appears on his face as he yells their names.
James and Kirk are your first friends in your new life here. They are identical twins, one year younger than you. It turns out they also go to the same elementary school as you, but their parents drive them to school, which explains why you haven't seen them at the bus stop.
You guys played soccer together for 2 hours until it was time for them to eat dinner. You go home happy that you finally broke out of your shell and made new friends.
[[Next.|Fight]] It is a sunny Saturday Afternoon.
You can't stop thinking about how much fun you had with James and kirk yesterday and decide you will play soccer with them again today. You wait until 4 pm before going outside so it can cool down; meanwhile, you get some of your maths homework done. Once 4 O'clock rolls around, you put on your running shoes and ride your bike to James and Kirk's house. When you knocked, Kirk answered this time and said to give them a minute to get ready. You park your bike on the sidewalk tangent to the field and wait for them to go out. After a couple of minutes, you hear a bouncing ball, and you are greeted by James and Kirk. They run to the field, and you guys play soccer for 45 minutes before issues arise.
During one of your runs, James slide-tackled you, and you fell face first, you questioned James why he did that, as it was clearly a foul, but he just laughed it off. This upset you, but Kirk instigating the situation was your last straw. You get close to James and slightly shove him, and he realities with a stronger shove; you can see the rage growing in both of your eyes.
What do you do?
[[1. Shove James back harder and begin a fight]]
[[2. Try to deescalate the situation by apologizing for shoving him first]]
[[3. Take your bike and go home]]You try to think of the best path of action and think back to when your Dad told you to avoid violence if you can. You decide to honor what he taught you and begin walking away toward your bike. You look back at James once you get on your bike and notice his confused expression. You tell him, your Mom told you to be back early today, so you have to leave, then begin riding your bike home.
[[Next.|cons]] You take a step back and think of ways to de-escalate the situation. By the look in James's eyes, it isn't going to be easy. You figure you will apologize for shoving him first and hope that he will do the same.
"Hey man, sorry for pushing you." You say. James looks at you, then at Kirk. Then he laughs, which confuses you because you thought he was angry. He walks over to you, puts his hand out, and initiates a handshake. You accept, and he tells you it is not even serious. Sadly by this point, it is too late, so you can't play longer, and you have to head home; you say bye and ride your bike home.
[[Next.|cons]] You got even angrier at James and gave him a shove that was twice as hard as your first one. He stumbled a few steps back, causing Kirk to start laughing. James then charged at you like a football player, grabbed you around the waist, and put you on your back. Then you guys wrestled for a couple of minutes, both of you unable to gain complete control of each other. Once you start getting gassed, you hear the stern voice of their Father from a distance calling James and Kirk to go inside. James gets off you and runs to his house, followed by Kirk.
[[Next.|cons]] This page is still under construction
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