“Finally arrived!” I stretch my body as I step out of the car’s cozy cabin. Unlike my neighborhood in Shanghai, which is surrounded by countless skyscrapers, Maryland has luxuriant grasslands and vegetation that emerge everywhere. My new high school, Georgetown Prep, is covered by trees from the resident building to the cafeteria; Trees provide a perfect habitat for the insects–I can even hear them chitchatting; the wind blowing past me makes me reminisce about my trip to Fiji. However, the serene surroundings do not ease my confusion – no person is wandering or talking! I glance at my watch, mumbling, “Ten thirty…..Already ten thirty at night!” 

“How can we make it when we have the first class at eight-fifteen tomorrow?”Billy, one of my best friends in China, shakes my body while he keeps sighing. 

“ Do not ask me any single question about school,” I stared at Billy while carrying four suitcases up the stairs. “I have not slept a single minute since I left Shanghai!”

“Fine. I’ve also got no idea how to pick any useful item from my suitcase. My first day is going to suck.” Billy complains as he enters his room, and the door separates me from Billy– No one is with me now. Alone in the unknown land for the first time, my initial enthusiasm soon fades into unceasing loneliness enclosing me inside my jacket: How will the school be going tomorrow? What are lives like in America with distinct cultures and students from everywhere? Now the chatting birds and the gentle breeze seem to be laughing at this stranger wandering here and there. 

The moon is hanging high in the sky, about to finish half of its route, so I hasten to my new dormitory like Bolt running in a one-hundred-meter race. My foot stops in front of my new room, trying to touch the handle. A mind suddenly strikes me when I remind myself that new students often find it challenging to communicate with roommates; My hand stops; I attach my ears to the doors, but I can hear nothing. Huhh….I take a deep, deep, deep breath, turn the handle, and smile so can leave my best impression on my roommates. 

Slowly pushing the door open, I see my roommate playing on his phone in bed. He waves his hands as soon as he catches my stiff body and unusual smile. “What’s up!” he says, “ My name is Franky from Shanghai!” He shakes his hands with me when I finally get a chance to observe him. Having curly hair and wearing glasses, Franky has strong muscles — I can feel his strength transferred when we shake hands. At least two footballs lie silently in the corner, with the closet next to it filling with belts and clothes of Balenciaga. Organized piles of books sit on his desk, and the pencil case next to them remains open. “By the way, do you need my help unpacking those heavy luggage? It’s pretty late at night.” Franky asks me with his cheeks raised, and I can recognize his body about to move! Without me replying, he takes one shoe out of his collection, puts it on like lightning, and kicks open my suitcase. My socks, clothes, and suits pour out from the cases uncontrollably. I watch the clock pointing at the number two; Two—I was once alone in the hospital when I was two years old.  Will I be falling into the same situation for another time? Will I be deserted by my most dear ones? My mind wanders through everything I have experienced until I barely wake from unconsciousness. Franky! It is Franky who silently organizes piles of clothes, brushes, and books in the designated places. I stare at him for a long, long time, when I am finally able to open my mouth.   

“Than….Thank you for helping me! Thank you so much!” I reply with the most sincere voice in my whole life. Without saying anything, I hug him when tears drop uncontrollably like waterfalls: “I do not know anyone here; America, the world which I can only hear and imagine –I am right on this land!”

“No need to cry!” He consoles me and helps wipe the tears off my face. “This is how a friendship usually starts, right?”

Yes. A friend will cheer with you when you are shining like stars on the stage, but only a true friend will sympathize with you when you are as weak as a fledgling.