Since Nursery up to second grade I was in the same school, the same people and same building. But during 3rd grade for security reasons I had to change from both my old house and school. It felt alien to me seeing new faces everywhere and not really knowing my way around the building.  One of the things that seemed very changed since I first walked in the building with all the other kids was the environment. In my other school the environment was friendly and everyone really got along, but now it seemed everyone was separated into small groups.

“This is Gabriela, she’s new this year. I know you will all make her feel welcomed wont you class?” The teacher asked, as I had to awkwardly stand next to her.

“Yes Miss,” the class answered in an almost bored tone.
“Very well then, go sit in the table back there,” she pointed to the last table. There were four seats, two girls and a guy. They were in deep conversation when I sat down in the empty desk
. “Oh my god, that’s like um so totally true” I heard one of the girls in my table whispered as I got closer My desk seemed too high for me and most people in the room, the classroom was decorated with drawings done by my classmates and words pasted on the white creamy walls.

“So you’re new huh?” the guy asked me nodding his head. I nodded softly and saw that he had a nametag with the name David written in scribbly handwriting. Both the girls giggled again and I turned to look at them. The girl sitting across from me was about my height, she had black hair let loose around her shoulders and like the rest of us was wearing the uniform, her nametag was written in a neat handwriting and had “Ana Karen” written on it. The girl next to her was a few inches shorter, her brown hair was done up in a ponytail, she had long curled eyelashes. Her nametag said Roby. 

“See that girl over there?” She pointed to someone sitting alone. She was in the corner of the classroom where the classroom impossibly seemed calm and vacant for other than her. 

“Well, her head is shaped like a potato, she smells so weird and she always tries to come hang out with us. Can’t she notice that we don’t really want her that close? What a loser,” the girl with the nametag Ana Karen said in a mean tone. This surprised me since I had never been exposed to this kind of things. Roby just nodded in agreement. I didn’t have the chance to say anything since the girl they had just been talking about stood up and walked slowly toward us. The girl had an oval shaped head, full lips and her hair was done in a braid down her back.

“Hey Ana Karen, Roby, David and Gaby right?” she greeted us with a big smile and you could see the nervousness pouring out of her. I smiled back; Roby nudged me and shook her head disapprovingly.
“Yes, do you need something,” Ana Karen said in a clearly annoyed tone. She rolled her eyes and looked at the girl disgustingly.

“Umm, well, I wanted to see if I could sit here since the teacher told me I could move,” she stuttered, she was fidgeting a lot and she pushed a messy strand of hair behind her ear.

“Hmmmm, how about no? I mean there are other tables. This one is full and I'm pretty sure I see your nerd buddies over there so why don’t you go join them,” Ana Karen turned her back on the girl and rolled her eyes again. Ana Karen looked at me, “OMG, she’s so annoying. Don’t ever talk to her, she might be contagious.”

After what seemed like an endless hour of hearing Ana Karen and Roby gossip about people, I felt like my head was about to explode. When the bell signaling that it was recesses came on I felt a big relief fill me, unfortunately that only lasted for a second. I realized what recesses meant. I would have to choose with whom to sit with, and see if they actually welcomed me. Just from the first hour hearing how the girls talked about each other I knew it was going to be dreadful. My table was walking out of the classroom when the teacher shouted something at us, “Ana Karen and Roby, make sure to include Gaby in your lunch table and introduce her to all your friends,” the two of them just kept walking and I followed a step behind them. I felt my stomach sink way before we actually reached the cafeteria. You could hear the loud kids right when you walked down the long broad stairs. My hands were sweaty and I suddenly became ten times more conscious of how I looked like. I stopped in front of the cafeteria and let all the people sink in. The cafeteria was big; it was full of circular tables with people crowded all around them and teachers yelling at people not to do things. The cafeteria line snaked around the front of the cafeteria. It smelled like popcorn and a mixture of other foods.  Ana Karen and Roby kept walking and sat on a table full of girls. Most people in the room looked a few years older than me. I felt everyone’s eyes on me and it was an enormous reminder that I knew no one here. I walked up to Ana Karen’s table and quietly sat down. 

“Hi,” I said quietly to everyone and no one in particular. Some girls looked at me like I was a teacher giving last minute homework.  I saw Roby, Ana Karen and a few other whispers but I couldn’t really make out their words that were surely about me. “Girls, lets go buy something. Now,” Ana Karen said and stood up with everyone behind her. I gave out a heavy sight and sunk down in my too chair. I knew they weren’t going to come back and that that was just a bad excuse but it still felt horrible seeing all of them sit down at another table just to get away from me. Words can’t really explain how any person feels in that moment. No one could really understand it unless they’ve lived through it. I saw them out of the corner of my eye sit in another table and I felt my face getting hot. I didn’t trust my self not to cry and therefore stood up and walked to the bathroom with everyone’s eyes searing onto my back.

I was entering the bathroom when someone put their hand on my shoulder and stopped me. I stopped walking but looked down at my shoes. I wasn’t entirely sure who had stopped me at first but all doubt vanished when she spoke, it was the same nervous voice that I felt bad for not defending before: “Hey are you um okay,” the girl from the class asked me. I looked up slowly and nodded, she gave me a smile and that just made me feel worse. I again turned red from embarrassment that she knew I hadn’t defended her and she was still being nice to me.  “I saw what they did back there… I'm sorry, you know you could always come sit with me if you want to,” I heard the sincerity in her voice. I gave her a small smile and she smiled back. She took that as a sign that I had agreed and pulled me to the cafeteria. We sat at an empty table. I could see Ana Karen and the rest of her table whispering about us, I didn’t really care since this girl had proved to be ten times nicer and better company than all of them put together in the last minute.

“What’s your name?” I asked her. 

“Andrea,” she looked at me and since then I knew we would become great friends.

All the people who say things about others are not real friends because when you’re gone they’ll do exactly the same thing about you. Friends can be all different type of people, if someone is saying something bad about someone even though you don’t know them you have to defend them. You never know when you might be in the other place and a small act of kindness like that can mean the world to anyone. I realized that even though if I did everything everyone told me to that wouldn’t make me happy, if you always try to be like everyone else no one will be able to realize all your amazing qualities and what makes you unique, only please yourself because if you try to please others you will never be satisfied or happy.