I waved goodbye to all of my friends in New Jersey. Tears start to stream down my face, even though I had been trying to fight them. I took my last glance at Betshy. I would never see her bright red hair again. My parents tell me to say my last goodbyes, and she starts the car. I climb in, and we start driving away. I poked my head through the window, said, “Goodbye! Miss you!” MY friends started to become littler and littler until they became tiny dots in the distance. I didn’t want to take my eyes away from the spot where they were just standing, but I knew I would have to pull them away sometime. I turned my eyes to the windshield, covered with splashes of rain. The dark clouds were crying along with me. Bucketfuls of their tears crawled down the windshield.

We finally got to the highway, and I still couldn’t stop thinking of my friends. I pulled out my cell phone so I could text them, and ask them what they have been up to since my departure. My fingers could barely move across the keyboard, but I managed to text my best friend, Betsy. I already missed her smiling face. I was reassured that she missed me, too, when she texted me back. “Who are you texting?” my mom asked from the passenger’s seat.

“Betsy,” I replied.

“I love how you are keeping in tough with her, but you should keep you mind open to new people you might meet in California,” she stated. Yea right, I thought. I didn’t think that I would make any new friends. They wouldn’t accept me, and besides, it’s already halfway through the school year. I groaned to myself in the backseat.

WELCOME TO CALIFORNIA, the sign read. I doubted that I would ever be welcome here. I looked out the window again. The last time I had looked out of my window was all the way back in New Jersey. I now saw a bunch of kids playing in the street. ONe had dark, wavy hair. Another had blonde hair, and she looked model-worthy. Yet another was wearing heavy black eyeliner, and the last had bright orange hair. She reminded me of Betsy back in New Jersey. The last tear that I had bottled up in me leaked out of my eye.

I couldn’t escape the fact, though, that these girls looked extremely friendly, by the way they were acting and the way they held themselves. They seemed very confident in themselves, and they were most definitely popular in their school. They didn’t seem like the snobby type, though. They didn’t seem to think that they were more important than everyone else, but were still confident. “Hey, Carly!” the redhead screamed across the street. “Let’s go to Starbucks. Jess and Kelly are coming, too.” She seemed to be talking to the girl with dark, wavy hair. They al ran across the street into the coffee shop. They were definitely best friends. I wondered if girls always hung out in this area. We stopped at a nice brick house, right across the street from Starbucks.

“Is this our new house?” I asked.

“YOu bet. Isn’t it nice?” my dad responded. I nodded. It was very nice. “And I have some more news for you. The school is very strict, so you are going to start this afternoon!”

“Exciting.” I answered. My dad shook his head, and then started laughing.

I entered Lakeside Middle through the big red doors in front, and strutted my way to the office to grab my schedule. When I got it, the secretary told me that it was 3rd period right now, and that my lunch would be at 4th period. 3rd period, on my schedule,w as science with Mrs. Anderson, room 128. I headed off to class. Luckily, the school was easy to navigate, but still intimidating. The doors seemed too tall, the hallway too wide, the windows too big. I think that I was almost sweating when I entered the room.

“Good morning. Take a seat wherever you wish.” Mrs. Anderson greeted me in a happy tone. She seemed like a happy woman. She was tall, African-American, and had beautiful black hair that stopped at her shoulders. I recognized the red-headed girl from Starbucks sitting at a table all by herself. She seemed to recognize me, and waved me over to where she was sitting. I happily sat down next to her, and we were instant friends.

All through class, she talked away at me. It was nice, because I wasn’t the most talkative person, so she would always keep the conversation going. When I asked her what her name was, she said it was MOnica. WE compared schedules in the middle of class, and it turned out the we had 2nd period, 3rd period, and lunch together. I was very excited to be spending time together with her, but I wanted to have other friends, too. She seemed to read my mind.

“I know you’re worried that you won’t meet anyone else, but I’ll introduce you to all of my friends at lunch.” She reassured me. I was instantly grateful to her, and I knew we would be friends for a long, long time.

It finally became time for lunch, and Monica showed me to my locker so I could drop off my backpack. She escorted me to the cafeteria. When we entered, the girls that I had seen earlier in the day were there, waving Monica over to sit with them. She took my hand and pulled me along. When we got to the table, she introduced me to everyone. “This is Carly.” She pointed to the girl that belonged in Vogue with her shiny blonde hair. The last one was Kelly, with the heavy black eyeliner and cropped brown hair. She looked ASian. Just looking at them, I knew we were going to be fast friends.

Although it seemed like they were the snobby type by their looks, their conversations weren’t about makeup of beauty. In facet, the first thing that they talked about was their good grades on the recent math test. Then, they talked about their weekend plans, and whether they should have a welcome back party for their other friend, Michelle, who was on a vacation in Hawaii. They seemed very excited for me to meet her, and they included me in all of their conversations.

My next class was math, and Kelly and Jess were in it with me. Maybe I would have a good school year, after all.